Psalm 68^[a]

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. A song.

The altar on Mount Ebal

27 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: ‘Keep all these commands that I give you today. ² When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. ³ Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴ And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. ⁵ Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. ⁶ Build the altar of the Lord your God with stones from the field and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ⁷ Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. ⁸ And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.’

Curses from Mount Ebal

⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, ‘Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.’

¹¹ On the same day Moses commanded the people:

¹² When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. ¹³ And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.

¹⁴ The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

¹⁵ ‘Cursed is anyone who makes an idol – a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands – and sets it up in secret.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁶ ‘Cursed is anyone who dishonours their father or mother.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁷ ‘Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbour’s boundary stone.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁸ ‘Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁹ ‘Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

²⁰ ‘Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonours his father’s bed.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

²¹ ‘Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

²² ‘Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

²³ ‘Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

²⁴ ‘Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbour secretly.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

²⁵ ‘Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

²⁶ ‘Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.’

Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

Blessings for obedience

28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands that I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. ² All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

³ You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

⁷ The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

⁸ The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity – in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground – in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. ¹³ The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. ¹⁴ Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

Curses for disobedience

¹⁵ However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:

¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

¹⁷ Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

¹⁸ The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

Ingrafted branches

¹¹ Again I ask: did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry ¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: you do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

²² Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. ²³ And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!