Deuteronomy 28

New International Version

Blessings for Obedience

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

³You will be blessed^(E) in the city and blessed in the country.^(F)

⁴The 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.^(G)

⁵Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

⁶You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.^(H)

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

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

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

¹²The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse^(Q) of his bounty,^(R) to send rain^(S) on your land in season and to bless^(T) all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.^(U) ¹³The 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^(V) them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.^(W) ¹⁴Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left,^(X) following other gods and serving them.

Curses for Disobedience

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

¹⁶You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.^(AB)

¹⁷Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.^(AC)

¹⁸The 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.^(AD)

¹⁹You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.^(AE)

²⁰The Lord will send on you curses,^(AF) confusion and rebuke^(AG) in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin^(AH) because of the evil^(AI) you have done in forsaking him.^[a] ²¹The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.^(AJ) ²²The Lord will strike you with wasting disease,^(AK) with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought,^(AL) with blight^(AM) and mildew, which will plague^(AN) you until you perish.^(AO) ²³The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.^(AP) ²⁴The Lord will turn the rain^(AQ) of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

²⁵The Lord will cause you to be defeated^(AR) before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven,^(AS) and you will become a thing of horror^(AT) to all the kingdoms on earth.^(AU) ²⁶Your carcasses will be food for all the birds^(AV) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.^(AW) ²⁷The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt^(AX) and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. ²⁹At midday you will grope^(AY) about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue^(AZ) you.

³⁰You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.^(BA) You will build a house, but you will not live in it.^(BB) You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.^(BC) ³¹Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. ³²Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation,^(BD) and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. ³³A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression^(BE) all your days.^(BF) ³⁴The sights you see will drive you mad.^(BG) ³⁵The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils^(BH) that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.^(BI)

³⁶The Lord will drive you and the king^(BJ) you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors.^(BK) There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.^(BL) ³⁷You will become a thing of horror,^(BM) a byword^(BN) and an object of ridicule^(BO) among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.^(BP)

³⁸You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little,^(BQ) because locusts^(BR) will devour^(BS) it. ³⁹You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine^(BT) or gather the grapes, because worms will eat^(BU) them.^(BV) ⁴⁰You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.^(BW) ⁴¹You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.^(BX) ⁴²Swarms of locusts^(BY) will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

⁴³The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.^(BZ) ⁴⁴They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them.^(CA) They will be the head, but you will be the tail.^(CB)

⁴⁵All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you^(CC) until you are destroyed,^(CD) because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. ⁴⁶They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.^(CE) ⁴⁷Because you did not serve^(CF) the Lord your God joyfully and gladly^(CG) in the time of prosperity, ⁴⁸therefore in hunger and thirst,^(CH) in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke^(CI) on your neck^(CJ) until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹The Lord will bring a nation against you^(CK) from far away, from the ends of the earth,^(CL) like an eagle^(CM) swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,^(CN) ⁵⁰a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old^(CO) or pity for the young. ⁵¹They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine^(CP) or olive oil,^(CQ) nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.^(CR) ⁵²They will lay siege^(CS) to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.^(CT)

⁵³Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.^(CU) ⁵⁴Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, ⁵⁵and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.^(CV) ⁵⁶The most gentle and sensitive^(CW) woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter^(CX) ⁵⁷the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them^(CY) secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.

⁵⁸If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law,^(CZ) which are written in this book, and do not revere^(DA) this glorious and awesome name^(DB)—the Lord your God— ⁵⁹the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. ⁶⁰He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt^(DC) that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law,^(DD) until you are destroyed.^(DE) ⁶²You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky^(DF) will be left but few^(DG) in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³Just as it pleased^(DH) the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please^(DI) him to ruin and destroy you.^(DJ) You will be uprooted^(DK) from the land you are entering to possess.

⁶⁴Then the Lord will scatter^(DL) you among all nations,^(DM) from one end of the earth to the other.^(DN) There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.^(DO) ⁶⁵Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place^(DP) for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes^(DQ) weary with longing, and a despairing heart.^(DR) ⁶⁶You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.^(DS) ⁶⁸The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again.^(DT) There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 28:20 Hebrew me

Jeremiah 20

New International Version

Jeremiah and Pashhur

20 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer,^(A) the official^(B) in charge of the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, ²he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten^(C) and put in the stocks^(D) at the Upper Gate of Benjamin^(E) at the Lord’s temple. ³The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord’s name^(F) for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.^(G) ⁴For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes^(H) you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give^(I) all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry^(J) them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. ⁵I will deliver all the wealth^(K) of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away^(L) as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. ⁶And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied^(M) lies.’”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

⁷You deceived^[a]^(N) me, Lord, and I was deceived^[b];
    you overpowered^(O) me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed^(P) all day long;
    everyone mocks^(Q) me.
⁸Whenever I speak, I cry out
    proclaiming violence and destruction.^(R)
So the word of the Lord has brought me
    insult and reproach^(S) all day long.
⁹But if I say, “I will not mention his word
    or speak anymore in his name,”^(T)
his word is in my heart like a fire,^(U)
    a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;^(V)
    indeed, I cannot.
¹⁰I hear many whispering,
    “Terror^(W) on every side!
    Denounce^(X) him! Let’s denounce him!”
All my friends^(Y)
    are waiting for me to slip,^(Z) saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
    then we will prevail^(AA) over him
    and take our revenge^(AB) on him.”

¹¹But the Lord^(AC) is with me like a mighty warrior;
    so my persecutors^(AD) will stumble and not prevail.^(AE)
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;^(AF)
    their dishonor will never be forgotten.
¹²Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
    and probe the heart and mind,^(AG)
let me see your vengeance^(AH) on them,
    for to you I have committed^(AI) my cause.

¹³Sing^(AJ) to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues^(AK) the life of the needy
from the hands of the wicked.^(AL)

¹⁴Cursed be the day I was born!^(AM)
    May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
    who made him very glad, saying,
    “A child is born to you—a son!”
¹⁶May that man be like the towns^(AN)
    the Lord overthrew without pity.
May he hear wailing^(AO) in the morning,
    a battle cry at noon.
¹⁷For he did not kill me in the womb,^(AP)
    with my mother as my grave,
    her womb enlarged forever.
¹⁸Why did I ever come out of the womb^(AQ)
    to see trouble^(AR) and sorrow
    and to end my days in shame?^(AS)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded

Psalm 75-77

New International Version

Psalm 75^[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph. A song.

¹We praise you, God,
we praise you, for your Name is near;^(A)
people tell of your wonderful deeds.^(B)

²You say, “I choose the appointed time;^(C)
    it is I who judge with equity.^(D)
³When the earth and all its people quake,^(E)
    it is I who hold its pillars^(F) firm.^[b]
⁴To the arrogant^(G) I say, ‘Boast no more,’^(H)
    and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.^[c]^(I)
⁵Do not lift your horns against heaven;
    do not speak so defiantly.^(J)’”

⁶No one from the east or the west
    or from the desert can exalt themselves.
⁷It is God who judges:^(K)
    He brings one down, he exalts another.^(L)
⁸In the hand of the Lord is a cup
    full of foaming wine mixed^(M) with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
    drink it down to its very dregs.^(N)

⁹As for me, I will declare^(O) this forever;
I will sing^(P) praise to the God of Jacob,^(Q)
¹⁰who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”^(R)

Psalm 76^[d]

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

¹God is renowned in Judah;
    in Israel his name is great.^(S)
²His tent is in Salem,^(T)
    his dwelling place in Zion.^(U)
³There he broke the flashing arrows,^(V)
    the shields and the swords, the weapons of war.^[e]^(W)

⁴You are radiant with light,^(X)
    more majestic than mountains rich with game.
⁵The valiant^(Y) lie plundered,
    they sleep their last sleep;^(Z)
not one of the warriors
    can lift his hands.
⁶At your rebuke,^(AA) God of Jacob,
    both horse and chariot^(AB) lie still.

⁷It is you alone who are to be feared.^(AC)
    Who can stand^(AD) before you when you are angry?^(AE)
⁸From heaven you pronounced judgment,
    and the land feared^(AF) and was quiet—
⁹when you, God, rose up to judge,^(AG)
    to save all the afflicted^(AH) of the land.
¹⁰Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise,^(AI)
    and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.^[f]

¹¹Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them;^(AJ)
    let all the neighboring lands
    bring gifts^(AK) to the One to be feared.
¹²He breaks the spirit of rulers;
    he is feared by the kings of the earth.

Psalm 77^[g]

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

¹I cried out to God^(AL) for help;
    I cried out to God to hear me.
²When I was in distress,^(AM) I sought the Lord;
    at night^(AN) I stretched out untiring hands,^(AO)
    and I would not be comforted.^(AP)

³I remembered^(AQ) you, God, and I groaned;^(AR)
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.^[h]^(AS)
⁴You kept my eyes from closing;
    I was too troubled to speak.^(AT)
⁵I thought about the former days,^(AU)
    the years of long ago;
⁶I remembered my songs in the night.
    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

⁷“Will the Lord reject forever?^(AV)
    Will he never show his favor^(AW) again?
⁸Has his unfailing love^(AX) vanished forever?
    Has his promise^(AY) failed for all time?
⁹Has God forgotten to be merciful?^(AZ)
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?^(BA)”

¹⁰Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.^(BB)
¹¹I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles^(BC) of long ago.
¹²I will consider^(BD) all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”^(BE)

¹³Your ways, God, are holy.
    What god is as great as our God?^(BF)
¹⁴You are the God who performs miracles;^(BG)
    you display your power among the peoples.
¹⁵With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,^(BH)
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

¹⁶The waters^(BI) saw you, God,
    the waters saw you and writhed;^(BJ)
    the very depths were convulsed.
¹⁷The clouds poured down water,^(BK)
    the heavens resounded with thunder;^(BL)
    your arrows^(BM) flashed back and forth.
¹⁸Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,^(BN)
    your lightning^(BO) lit up the world;
    the earth trembled and quaked.^(BP)
¹⁹Your path^(BQ) led through the sea,^(BR)
    your way through the mighty waters,
    though your footprints were not seen.

²⁰You led your people^(BS) like a flock^(BT)
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.^(BU)

Footnotes

Psalm 75:1 In Hebrew texts 75:1-10 is numbered 75:2-11.
Psalm 75:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Psalm 75:4 Horns here symbolize strength; also in verses 5 and 10.
Psalm 76:1 In Hebrew texts 76:1-12 is numbered 76:2-13.
Psalm 76:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 9.
Psalm 76:10 Or Surely the wrath of mankind brings you praise, / and with the remainder of wrath you arm yourself
Psalm 77:1 In Hebrew texts 77:1-20 is numbered 77:2-21.
Psalm 77:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 9 and 15.

New International Version (NIV)

Deuteronomy 28

New International Version

Blessings for Obedience

Curses for Disobedience

Footnotes

Cross references

Jeremiah 20

New International Version

Jeremiah and Pashhur

Jeremiah’s Complaint

Footnotes

Cross references

Psalm 75-77

New International Version

Psalm 75^[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph. A song.

Psalm 76^[d]

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

Psalm 77^[g]

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

Footnotes

Cross references

More on the NIV

Bible Gateway Recommends

Deuteronomy 28 New International Version

Blessings for Obedience

Curses for Disobedience

Footnotes

Cross references

Jeremiah 20 New International Version

Jeremiah and Pashhur

Jeremiah’s Complaint

Footnotes

Cross references

Psalm 75-77 New International Version

Psalm 75[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph. A song.

Psalm 76[d]

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

Psalm 77[g]

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

Footnotes

Cross references

More on the NIV

Bible Gateway Recommends

Deuteronomy 28

New International Version

Jeremiah 20

New International Version

Psalm 75-77

New International Version

Psalm 75^[a]

Psalm 76^[d]

Psalm 77^[g]