Devarim 28
Orthodox Jewish Bible
28 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt give heed diligently unto the voice of Hashem Eloheicha, to be shomer and to do all His mitzvot which I command thee today, that Hashem Eloheicha will set thee on high above kol Goyei Ha’Aretz;
2 And all these berakhot shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt give heed unto the voice of Hashem Eloheicha.
3 Baruch atah baIr (blessed shalt thou be in the town), and baruch atah basadeh (blessed shalt thou be in the field, country).
4 Baruch shall be the pri of thy womb, and the pri of thy adamah, and the pri of thy animals, the increase of thy livestock, and the flocks of thy sheep.
5 Baruch shall be thy basket and thy kneading bowl.
6 Baruch atah when thou comest in, and baruch atah when thou goest out.
7 Hashem shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be defeated before thy face; they shall come out against thee derech echad, and flee before thee shivah derakhim.
8 Hashem shall command the brocha upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and He shall bless thee in ha’aretz which Hashem Eloheicha giveth thee.
9 Hashem shall establish thee an Am Kadosh unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt be shomer over the mitzvot of Hashem Eloheicha, and walk in His ways.
10 And all people of ha’aretz shall see that thou art called by the Shem of Hashem; and they shall be afraid of thee.
11 And Hashem shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the pri of thy womb, and in the pri of thy livestock, and in the pri of thy ground, in ha’adamah which Hashem swore unto Avotecha to give thee.
12 Hashem shall open unto thee His otzar hatov, the Shomayim, to give the matar unto thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thine hand; and thou shalt lend unto Goyim rabbim, and thou shalt not borrow.
13 And Hashem shall make thee the rosh, and not the zanav (tail); and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou give heed unto the mitzvot Hashem Eloheicha, which I command thee today, to be shomer to do them;
14 And thou shalt not turn aside from any of the devarim which I command thee today, to the right, or to the left, to go after elohim acherim to serve them.
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not give heed unto the voice of Hashem Eloheicha, to be shomer to do all His mitzvot and His chukkot which I command thee today, that all these kelalot (curses) shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
16 Arur shalt thou be in the town, and Arur shalt thou be in the sadeh.
17 Arur shall be thy basket and thy kneading bowl.
18 Arur shall be the pri of thy womb, and the pri of thy adamah, the increase of thy livestock, and the flocks of thy sheep.
19 Arur shalt thou be when thou comest in, and Arur shalt thou be when thou goest out.
20 Hashem shall send upon thee me’erah (curse), mehumah (confusion), and migeret (rebuke), in all that thou settest thine hand unto to do, until thou be shmad, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me.
21 Hashem shall make the dever (plague, pestilence) have deveykus with thee, until He have consumed thee from off ha’adamah, whither thou goest to possess it.
22 Hashem shall strike thee with a shachefet (consumption), and with a kaddachat (fever, Mk 1:31), and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the cherev, and with scorching, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
23 And thy Shomayim that is over thy head shall be nechoshet, and Ha’Aretz that is under thee shall be barzel.
24 Hashem shall make the matar of thy land powder and dust; from Shomayim shall it come down upon thee, until thou be shmad.
25 Hashem shall cause thee to be defeated before thine enemies; thou shalt go out derech echad against them, and flee shivah derakhim before them; and shalt be an object of horror unto all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 And thy nevelah shall be okhel unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of ha’aretz, and no ish shall frighten them away.
27 Hashem will strike thee with the shekhin (boils) of Mitzrayim, and with the tumors, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
28 Hashem shall strike thee with shiga’on (insanity), and ivvaron (blindness), and timhon levav (confusion of heart);
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the ivver gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways; and thou shalt be only oppressed and plundered evermore, and thou shalt have no moshi’a.
30 Thou shalt betroth an isha, and another ish shall lie with her; thou shalt build a bais, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a kerem, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
31 Thine shor shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof; thine chamor shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee; thy tzon shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have no moshi’a.
32 Thy banim and thy banot shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them kol hayom; and there shall be nothing you can do.
33 The pri of thy adamah, and all thy labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed kol hayamim;
34 So that thou shalt be driven meshuga because of the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
35 Hashem shall strike thee in the birkayim (knees), and in the legs, with shekhin rah (foul boil) that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
36 Hashem shall bring thee, and thy melech which thou shalt set over thee, unto a Goy which neither thou nor Avoteicha have known; and there shalt thou serve elohim acherim, etz va’even (wood and stone). [2Kgs 25:7]
37 And thou shalt become an object of horror, a mashal, and a byword, among kol haGoyim whither Hashem shall lead thee.
38 Thou shalt carry much zera out into the sadeh, and shalt gather but little in; for the arbeh shall devour it.
39 Thou shalt plant kramim, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the yayin, nor gather the grapes; for the tola’at (worm) shall eat them.
40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy territory, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the shemen; for thine olives shall drop off.
41 Thou shalt father banim and banot, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into shevi (captivity, the golus).
42 All thy trees and pri of thy adamah shall the locust consume.
43 The ger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be the rosh, and thou shalt be the zanav.
45 Moreover all these kelalot shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be shmad; because thou gavest not heed unto the voice of Hashem Eloheicha to be shomer over His mitzvot and His chukkot which He commanded thee;
46 And they shall be upon thee for an ot and for a mofet, and upon thy zera ad olam.
47 Because thou servedst not Hashem Eloheicha with simchah, and with gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which Hashem shall send against thee, in ra’av (hunger, famine), and in tzama (thirst), and in eirom (nakedness), and in choser (want) of all things; and He shall put an ol barzel (yoke of iron) upon thy tzavvar (neck), until He hath made thee shmad.
49 Hashem shall bring a nation against thee from afar, from the ketzeh ha’aretz, as swift as the nesher flieth; a nation whose lashon thou shalt not understand;
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not respect the zaken’s person, nor show favor to the na’ar;
51 And he shall eat the pri of thy animals, and the pri of thy adamah, until thou be shmad; which also shall not leave thee either dagan, tirosh, or yitzhar, or the increase of thy livestock, or flocks of thy sheep, until it hath destroyed thee.
52 And it shall besiege thee in all thy she’arim, until thy high and fortified walls come down, wherein thou trusted, throughout all thy land; and it shall besiege thee in all thy she’arim throughout all thy land, which Hashem Eloheicha hath given thee.
53 And thou shalt eat the pri of thine own womb, the basar of thy banim and of thy banot, which Hashem Eloheicha hath given thee, in the matzor (siege), and in the desperate straits, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee;
54 So that the ish that is sensitive among you, and very refined, his eye shall be hostile toward his brother, and toward his eshet kheyk (wife of his bosom), and toward the remnant of his banim which he shall leave;
55 So that he will not give to any of them of the basar of his banim whom he shall eat; because he hath nothing left him in the matzor (siege), and in the desperate straits, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy she’arim.
56 The sensitive and refined woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, she shall be hostile toward her ish kheyk (husband of her bosom), and toward her ben, and toward her bat,
57 And toward her afterbirth that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her banim which she shall bear; for she shall eat them for choser (want) of all things secretly in the matzor (siege) and desperate straits, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy she’arim.
58 If thou wilt not be shomer to do kol divrei hatorah hazot that are written in this sefer, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Shem, HASHEM ELOHEICHA,
59 Then Hashem will make thy makkot (plagues) extraordinary, and the makkot of thy zera, even makkot gedolot, and of long continuance, and cholayim ra’im (evil sicknesses), and of long continuance.
60 Moreover He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Mitzrayim, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall have deveykus unto thee.
61 Also every choli (sickness), and every makkah (plague), which is not written in the sefer of this torah, them will Hashem bring upon thee, until thou be shmad.
62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the kokhavim of Shomayim for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of Hashem Eloheicha.
63 And it shall come to pass, that as Hashem rejoiced over you to do you good, to multiply you, so Hashem will rejoice over you to make you shmad, to bring you to nothing; and ye shall be plucked from off the adamah whither thou goest to possess it.
64 And Hashem shall scatter thee among kol ha’ammim, from the one end of ha’aretz even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve elohim acherim, which neither thou nor Avoteicha have known, even etz va’even.
65 And among these Goyim shalt thou find no mano’ach [see Ruth], neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but Hashem shall give thee there a lev rogez (anxious heart), and failing of eyes, and da’avon nefesh (suffering of soul);
66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear lailah and yomam, and shalt have none assurance of thy life;
67 In the boker thou shalt say, Would it were erev! And at erev thou shalt say, Would it were boker! For the pachad of thine lev wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
68 And Hashem shall bring thee into Mitzrayim again with oniyyot, by the way whereof I spoke unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again; and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for avadim and shefachot, and no ish shall buy you.
Deuteronomy 28
New King James Version
Blessings on Obedience(A)
28 “Now it shall come to pass, (B)if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God (C)will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and (D)overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
3 (E)“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be (F)in the country.
4 “Blessed shall be (G)the [a]fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 (H)“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord (I)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 “The Lord will (J)command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you (K)set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
9 (L)“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are (M)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be (N)afraid of you. 11 And (O)the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord [b]swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you His good [c]treasure, the heavens, (P)to give the rain to your land in its season, and (Q)to bless all the work of your hand. (R)You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make (S)you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you [d]heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. 14 (T)So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Curses on Disobedience(U)
15 “But it shall come to pass, (V)if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 “Cursed shall be the [e]fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
19 “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 “The Lord will send on you (W)cursing, (X)confusion, and (Y)rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. 21 The Lord will make the [f]plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. 22 (Z)The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with (AA)scorching,[g] and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And (AB)your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. 24 The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25 (AC)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become [h]troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 (AD)Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. 27 The Lord will strike you with (AE)the boils of Egypt, with (AF)tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and (AG)confusion of heart. 29 And you shall (AH)grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
30 (AI)“You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; (AJ)you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; (AK)you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. 32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to (AL)another people, and your eyes shall look and (AM)fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be [i]no strength in your (AN)hand. 33 A nation whom you have not known shall eat (AO)the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. 34 So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. 35 The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36 “The Lord will (AP)bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and (AQ)there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. 37 And you shall become (AR)an[j] astonishment, a proverb, (AS)and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.
38 (AT)“You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for (AU)the locust shall [k]consume it. 39 You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the (AV)wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for (AW)they shall go into captivity. 42 Locusts shall [l]consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
43 “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45 “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you [m]did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 And they shall be upon (AX)you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
47 (AY)“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, (AZ)for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in (BA)hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He (BB)will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. 49 (BC)The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, (BD)as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance, (BE)which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. 51 And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.
52 “They shall (BF)besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you. 53 (BG)You shall eat the [n]fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. 54 The [o]sensitive and very refined man among you (BH)will[p] be hostile toward his brother, toward (BI)the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, 55 so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. 56 The [q]tender and [r]delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, [s]will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, 57 her [t]placenta which comes out (BJ)from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
58 “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear (BK)this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, 59 then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants (BL)extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. 60 Moreover He will bring back on you all (BM)the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. 62 You (BN)shall be left few in number, whereas you were (BO)as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. 63 And it shall be, that just as the Lord (BP)rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord (BQ)will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be (BR)plucked[u] from off the land which you go to possess.
64 “Then the Lord (BS)will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and (BT)there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. 65 And (BU)among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; (BV)but there the Lord will give you a [v]trembling heart, failing eyes, and (BW)anguish of soul. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. 67 (BX)In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and (BY)because of the sight which your eyes see.
68 “And the Lord (BZ)will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, (CA)‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 28:4 offspring
- Deuteronomy 28:11 promised
- Deuteronomy 28:12 storehouse
- Deuteronomy 28:13 listen to
- Deuteronomy 28:18 offspring
- Deuteronomy 28:21 pestilence
- Deuteronomy 28:22 blight
- Deuteronomy 28:25 a terror
- Deuteronomy 28:32 nothing you can do
- Deuteronomy 28:37 a thing of horror
- Deuteronomy 28:38 devour
- Deuteronomy 28:42 possess
- Deuteronomy 28:45 did not listen to
- Deuteronomy 28:53 offspring
- Deuteronomy 28:54 Lit. tender
- Deuteronomy 28:54 Lit. his eye shall be evil toward
- Deuteronomy 28:56 sensitive
- Deuteronomy 28:56 refined
- Deuteronomy 28:56 Lit. her eye shall be evil toward
- Deuteronomy 28:57 afterbirth
- Deuteronomy 28:63 torn
- Deuteronomy 28:65 anxious
Deuteronomy 28
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Blessings for Obedience
28 ‘Now(A) if you faithfully obey the Lord your God(B) and are careful to follow all his commands I am giving you today,(C) the Lord your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth.(D) 2 All these blessings will come and overtake(E) you, because you obey the Lord your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city
and blessed in the country.(F)
4 Your offspring[a] will be blessed,
and your land’s produce,
and the offspring of your livestock,
including the young of your herds
and the newborn of your flocks.(G)
5 Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in
and blessed when you go out.(H)
7 ‘The Lord will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you from one direction but flee from you in seven directions. 8 The Lord will grant you a blessing on your barns and on everything you do;[b](I) he will bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.(J) 9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people,(K) as he swore to you, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you bear the Lord’s name,(L) and they will stand in awe of you.(M) 11 The Lord will make you prosper abundantly with offspring,[c] the offspring of your livestock, and your land’s produce in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you. 12 The Lord will open for you his abundant storehouse,(N) the sky, to give your land rain in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.(O) You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. 13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail;(P) you will only move upwards and never downwards if you listen to the Lord your God’s commands I am giving you today and are careful to follow them. 14 Do not turn aside to the right or the left from all the things I am commanding you today,(Q) and do not follow other gods to worship them.
Curses for Disobedience
15 ‘But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all his commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake(R) you:(S)
16 You will be cursed in the city
and cursed in the country.
17 Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed.
18 Your offspring will be cursed,
and your land’s produce,
the young of your herds,
and the newborn of your flocks.
19 You will be cursed when you come in
and cursed when you go out.
20 The Lord will send against you curses, confusion,(T) and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish,(U) because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning me.(V) 21 The Lord will make pestilence cling to you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering to possess.(W) 22 The Lord will afflict you with wasting disease, fever, inflammation, burning heat, drought,[d] blight, and mildew;(X) these will pursue you until you perish. 23 The sky above you will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your land into falling[e] dust; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed. 25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions.(Y) You will be an object of horror(Z) to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, with no one to scare them away.(AA)
27 ‘The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt,(AB) tumours, a festering rash, and scabies, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and mental confusion,(AC) 29 so that at noon you will grope as a blind person gropes in the dark.(AD) You will not be successful in anything you do. You will only be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will help you.(AE) 30 You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it.(AF) You will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will help you. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes grow weary looking for them every day. But you will be powerless to do anything.(AG) 33 A people you don’t know will eat your land’s produce and everything you have laboured for. You will only be oppressed and crushed continually.(AH) 34 You will be driven mad by what you see. 35 The Lord will afflict you with painful and incurable boils on your knees and thighs – from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.(AI)
36 ‘The Lord will bring you and your king that you have appointed to a nation neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone.(AJ) 37 You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.(AK)
38 ‘You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant and cultivate vineyards but not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but not moisten your skin with oil, because your olives will drop off. 41 You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will be taken prisoner. 42 Buzzing insects will take possession of all your trees and your land’s produce. 43 The resident foreigner among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.
45 ‘All these curses will come, pursue, and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the Lord your God and keep the commands and statutes he gave you. 46 These curses will be a sign and a wonder(AL) against you and your descendants for ever. 47 Because you didn’t serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart,(AM) even though you had an abundance of everything, 48 you will serve your enemies that the Lord will send against you, in famine, thirst, nakedness, and a lack of everything. He will place an iron yoke(AN) on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 The Lord will bring a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth,(AO) to swoop down on you like an eagle,(AP) a nation whose language you won’t understand,(AQ) 50 a ruthless nation, showing no respect for the old and not sparing the young. 51 They will eat the offspring of your livestock and your land’s produce until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, fresh oil, young of your herds, or newborn of your flocks until they cause you to perish. 52 They will besiege you within all your city gates until your high and fortified walls, that you trust in, come down throughout your land. They will besiege you within all your city gates throughout the land the Lord your God has given you.
53 ‘You will eat your offspring,[f] the flesh of your sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you(AR) during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you. 54 The most sensitive and refined man among you will look grudgingly at his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children, 55 refusing to share with any of them his children’s flesh that he will eat because he has nothing left during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you in all your towns. 56 The most sensitive and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her refinement and sensitivity, will begrudge the husband she embraces, her son, and her daughter, 57 the afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you within your city gates.
58 ‘If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by fearing this glorious and awe-inspiring name – the Lord, your God – 59 he will bring wondrous plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic diseases. 60 He will afflict you again with all the diseases of Egypt,(AS) which you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The Lord will also afflict you with every disease and plague not recorded in the book of this law, until you are destroyed. 62 Though you were as numerous as the stars of the sky, you will be left with only a few people, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 Just as the Lord was glad to cause you to prosper and to multiply you, so he will also be glad to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be ripped out of the land you are entering to possess. 64 Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other,(AT) and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone,(AU) which neither you nor your ancestors have known.(AV) 65 You will find no peace among those nations, and there will be no resting place(AW) for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despondent spirit. 66 Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be in dread night and day, never certain of survival. 67 In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening! ” and in the evening you will say, “If only it were morning! ” – because of the dread you will have in your heart and because of what you will see. 68 The Lord will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again.(AX) There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.’
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2024 by Holman Bible Publishers.