Deuteronomy 28

If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and are careful to obey all his commands that I am giving you today, then the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

1And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

NoteThis chapter is the blessings-and-curses section that ancient Near Eastern treaties normally carried at the end: a list of rewards for keeping the terms, followed by a much longer list of penalties for breaking them. "The LORD" printed in capitals stands where the Hebrew has God's personal name, which Jewish tradition did not pronounce aloud.

2All these blessings will come to you and catch up with you, if you listen to the voice of the LORD your God.

2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

Note"Come upon you and overtake you" is hunting language, the blessings run you down and catch you. The same two verbs come back in verse 15, where it is the curses doing the chasing.

3You will be blessed in the city, and you will be blessed out in the country.

3Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

Note"In the city... in the field" is a paired opposite naming the two halves of life, walled town and open farmland, and so means everywhere you are. Verses 4-6 work the same way, each pair covering a whole area of life.

4Your children will be blessed, and so will your crops and the young of your animals, the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5Your basket and your kneading bowl will be blessed.

5Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

NoteThe basket carried the harvest in from the field; the kneading bowl (KJV "store") was the trough where dough was mixed. Together they cover the food supply from field to table.

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

6Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

Note"Coming in and going out" is an everyday idiom for the whole round of a person's activity, the ordinary business of leaving home and returning.

7The LORD will cause the enemies who attack you to be beaten in front of you. They will march out against you by one road, but they will run away from you by seven.

7The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

NoteSeven is the standard round number for completeness. They advance as one body and are scattered in every direction at once.

8The LORD will order a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

8The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

9The LORD will make you his own holy people, just as he promised you, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and live the way he tells you to live.

9The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.

Note"Holy" in Hebrew means set apart for one owner's use rather than morally pure. It describes status (whose you are), not character.

10Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you.

10And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

NoteTo be "called by the name of" someone was a mark of ownership and protection. A name spoken over a person, a city, or a piece of property showed whose it was.

11The LORD will give you plenty of good things: many children, many young animals, and rich crops, in the land the LORD promised your ancestors he would give you.

11And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

12The LORD will open the heavens, his rich storehouse, to send rain on your land at the right time and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations and borrow from none.

12The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

NoteRain was pictured as stored in heavenly storehouses that God opens at the right season. And in an economy with no banks, being the lender rather than the borrower was the plain public mark of a household or nation doing well.

13The LORD will make you the head and not the tail. You will only rise and never sink, if you listen to the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and are careful to obey them.

13And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

Note"Head and tail" is a proverbial pair for the top and bottom of the pecking order. The image returns, reversed, in verse 44.

14Do not turn away from any of the words I command you today, either to the right or to the left, and do not go after other gods to serve them.

14And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

NoteTurning "to the right hand or to the left" is road language for leaving the marked path. The commands are pictured throughout as a route to be kept to.

15But if you will not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and are not careful to obey all his commands and rules that I am giving you today, then all these curses will come to you and catch up with you.

15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

16You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed out in the country.

16Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

17Your basket and your kneading bowl will be cursed.

17Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

18Your children will be cursed, and so will your crops, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

18Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

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

19Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

20The LORD will send curses on you, confusion, and stinging correction in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and quickly wiped out, because of the evil you have done in turning away from me.

20The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

21The LORD will make disease stick to you until he has wiped you off the land you are going in to take as your own.

21The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

22The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever, with swelling, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew on your crops. These will chase you until you die.

22The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

NoteThe list moves from diseases of people to diseases of crops. The KJV's "sword" and the modern "drought" translate the same three Hebrew consonants, which differ only in vowels that were supplied by later tradition; translations divide here, and either reading is defensible. "Blasting" is scorching of grain by hot wind.

23The sky over your head will be bronze, and the ground under your feet will be iron.

23And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

NoteBronze sky and iron ground is drought imagery: a sky that gives nothing back and soil too hard to break with a plow. Nearly identical wording appears in Assyrian treaty curses from the same period.

24The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder. It will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

24The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

NoteIn the dry season a hot wind off the desert carries fine dust that settles like a filthy rain. What falls from the sky is dirt instead of water.

25The LORD will cause you to be beaten by your enemies. You will march out against them by one road, but you will run away from them by seven. You will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

25The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

NoteThe KJV's "removed into all the kingdoms" renders a Hebrew word for something that makes onlookers shudder: your fate becomes the thing other nations flinch at.

26Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds of the sky and the wild animals, and no one will scare them away.

26And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

NoteLeaving a body unburied for scavenging birds and animals was, to the ancient world, the worst thing that could happen to a person, a standard curse in treaties of the period, and reckoned worse than death itself.

27The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors, sores, and itching that cannot be cured.

27The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

Note"The botch of Egypt" points back to the boils of the Egyptian plagues (Exodus 9). "Emerods" is old English for swellings or tumors; the same Hebrew word describes what struck the Philistines in 1 Samuel 5, and it has long been understood as hemorrhoids.

28The LORD will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with a mind that cannot think straight.

28The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:

Note"Astonishment of heart": in Hebrew the heart is where a person thinks and decides, not where they feel. This is bewilderment of mind, an inability to reason, rather than an emotion.

29At noon you will feel your way along like a blind person in the dark. Nothing you do will go well. Day after day you will be crushed and robbed, and no one will save you.

29And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

30You will promise to marry a woman, but another man will take her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not gather its grapes.

30Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.

NoteBetrothal was legally binding (the woman counted as the man's wife in law though they were not yet living together), so this is more than a broken engagement. The Hebrew verb for what the other man does is a blunt, coarse word for intercourse carrying the sense of violation; scribal tradition directed readers to substitute a milder verb aloud. These three losses (bride, new house, young vineyard) are exactly the three situations that exempted a man from military call-up in Deuteronomy 20:5-7.

31Your ox will be killed in front of you, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken from you by force and never given back. Your sheep will be handed to your enemies, and no one will rescue them.

31Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.

NoteThe ox, the donkey and the flock were a farming household's working capital: its plow team, its transport, and its savings on the hoof.

32Your sons and daughters will be handed over to another people. You will watch for them and wear out your eyes looking all day long, and there will be nothing you can do.

32Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand:

33A nation you do not know will eat up the crops of your land and everything you worked for. You will be crushed and mistreated all your days.

33The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

34The things your eyes see will drive you out of your mind.

34So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

35The LORD will strike your knees and legs with painful sores that cannot be healed, and they will spread from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

35The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

Note"From the sole of your foot to the top of your head" is a set phrase meaning the whole body, head to toe; the same wording describes Job's affliction in Job 2:7.

36The LORD will take you, and the king you set over yourself, away to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have known. There you will serve other gods made of wood and stone.

36The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

Note"Wood and stone" names the raw material images were carved from. It is a dismissive way of speaking about the gods of other nations, naming the lumber rather than the deity.

37You will become a horror to people, a saying they repeat, and a joke, among all the nations where the LORD drives you.

37And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.

NoteA "byword" is a name that ends up inside people's sayings, the kind of example invoked when cursing or mocking someone, as in "may you end up like...".

38You will carry plenty of seed out to the field but bring in only a little, because the locusts will eat it.

38Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.

NoteDesert locusts swarm through this region in numbers that can strip a field bare within hours. The point is not ordinary crop pests but total, sudden loss.

39You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

39Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.

40You will have olive trees all through your land, but you will have no oil to rub on your skin, because your olives will drop off the trees.

40Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.

NoteOlive oil was rubbed on the skin as ordinary daily care against sun and dry air, much as lotion is now; going without it was a sign of mourning or of poverty. No religious anointing is meant here.

41You will have sons and daughters, but they will not stay yours, because they will be taken away as prisoners.

41Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

42Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

42All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.

43The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower.

43The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.

NoteThe "stranger" is the resident foreigner, someone living in Israel with no land and no family claim there, normally dependent on the goodwill of the locals. The curse is that the bottom of the social order ends up on top.

44He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

44He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

45All these curses will come on you. They will chase you and catch up with you until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God or keep the commands and rules he gave you.

45Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

46These curses will stay on you as a sign and a warning, and on your descendants forever.

46And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.

Note"A sign and a wonder" here does not mean a miracle. Both Hebrew words can mean an ominous mark: something other people look at and read as a warning.

47Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart back when you had plenty of everything,

47Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;

NoteThe Hebrew ending, "in/for the abundance of all things," can be read either as "back when you had plenty of everything" or as "because of all your plenty." Both readings are current, and the wording does not settle between them.

48you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, without clothes, and short of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

48Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

NoteA yoke is the wooden beam laid across oxen's necks to harness them to a plow. It was the standard ancient image for one nation's control over another; iron makes it unbreakable.

49The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, swooping down as fast as an eagle flies. It will be a nation whose language you do not understand,

49The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

NoteThe Hebrew bird here covers both the eagle and the griffon vulture. The comparison is to speed, a large bird dropping on its prey, not to nobility.

50a nation with a hard face, that shows no respect to the old and no kindness to the young.

50A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:

51They will eat the young of your animals and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, no new wine, no oil, no calves from your herds and no lambs from your flocks, until they have finished you off.

51And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

Note"Corn" in the King James Version means grain of any kind, not maize. Grain, new wine and olive oil are the three staple products of the land, and naming them together stands for the entire food supply.

52They will lay siege to every town in your land until the high, strong walls you trusted in have fallen. They will lay siege to every town everywhere in the land the LORD your God has given you.

52And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

Note"Gates" stands for the fortified towns themselves. The gate was the single break in a town's wall and the place where its public business was conducted, so it came to represent the town as a whole.

53Then you will eat your own children, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God gave you, because of the siege and the desperate need your enemies force on you.

53And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

NoteCannibalism among the starving inside a besieged city is described elsewhere in the Bible (2 Kings 6:28-29) and appears in ancient siege accounts and treaty curses. It was the recognized picture of a siege pushed to its limit.

54Even the gentlest and most refined man among you will look with a hard eye at his own brother, at the wife he holds close, and at the children he still has left.

54So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:

Note"His eye shall be evil toward" is a Hebrew idiom for begrudging, looking at someone with an unwilling, grasping eye and refusing to share. It is not a reference to the superstition of the evil eye.

55He will refuse to share with any of them the flesh of his children that he is eating, because he has nothing left, in the siege and the desperate need your enemies force on you inside your towns.

55So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.

56The gentlest and most refined woman among you, so delicate that she would never try to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will look with a hard eye at the husband she holds close, and at her son, and at her daughter,

56The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

NoteThe picture is of a woman wealthy enough never to have set a bare foot on bare ground, carried, or walking on matting. The horror of the verse depends on how far such a person is being brought down.

57and at the afterbirth that comes out from between her legs, and at the children she gives birth to. She will secretly eat them, because she has nothing else, in the siege and the desperate need your enemy forces on you inside your towns.

57And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

NoteThe Hebrew literally reads "that which comes out from between her feet," and it is ambiguous: it may mean the afterbirth, or the newborn child itself. Translators divide, and the phrase may be meant to cover both.

58If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law written in this book, so that you fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD,

58If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;

Note"Fear" here means awed dread rather than fright. "This name," printed in the King James Version as THE LORD THY GOD, is the personal name of Israel's God, which in ancient usage stood for the God himself.

59then the LORD will make the blows that fall on you and on your descendants extraordinary: severe plagues that go on a long time, and painful sicknesses that go on a long time.

59Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

NoteIn 1611 English "wonderful" meant astonishing or hard to credit, with no suggestion of anything pleasant. The word is describing the sheer scale of the disasters.

60He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt that you were afraid of, and they will stick to you.

60Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.

NoteEgypt had a reputation in the ancient world both for its physicians and for its distinctive diseases. The reference is to illnesses the Israelites had seen there, including the plagues of Exodus.

61The LORD will also bring on you every sickness and every plague that is not written in this book of the law, until you are destroyed.

61Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

62You will be left few in number, though you were once as many as the stars in the sky, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

62And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.

Note"As many as the stars in the sky" quotes the promise made to Abraham (Genesis 15:5; 22:17). The curse is that promise running backwards.

63Just as the LORD was glad to do you good and to make you many, so the LORD will be glad to destroy you and wipe you out. You will be pulled up out of the land you are going in to take as your own.

63And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.

NoteThe Hebrew verb translated "rejoice" means to take pleasure in a thing, or simply to be willing to do it. The sentence deliberately uses the same word for God's giving and for his taking away.

64The LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve other gods made of wood and stone, gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known.

64And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

65Among those nations you will find no rest, not even a place for the sole of your foot to settle. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyesight, and a mind full of grief.

65And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:

66Your life will hang in doubt in front of you. You will be afraid night and day, never sure you will stay alive.

66And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:

67In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening you will say, "If only it were morning!" This will be because of the terror in your heart and the things your eyes will see.

67In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

68The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the road I told you that you would never see again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

68And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

NoteGoing back to Egypt "in ships" reverses the exodus, which came out of Egypt overland; ships point to the sea route to the Egyptian slave markets. The final turn is the worst: so many captives are on offer that nobody will take them even as a purchase.