Deuteronomy 28
28
The Covenant Blessings
1 “If you indeed#tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.” obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving#tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15). you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. 2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance#tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.” if you obey the Lord your God: 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field.#tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15. 4 Your children#tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.#sn Come in…go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities. 7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack#tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV). you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction#tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25). but flee from you in seven different directions. 8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he#tn Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation. is giving you. 9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments#tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse. and obey him.#tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). 10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord,#tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). and they will respect you. 11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children,#tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.” the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he#tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8. promised your ancestors#tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64). he would give you. 12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do;#tn Heb “all the work of your hands.” you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his#tn Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8. commandments which I am urging#tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.” you today to be careful to do. 14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving#tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.” you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship#tn Heb “in order to serve.” them.
Curses as Reversal of Blessings
15 “But if you ignore#tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.” the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force:#tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.” 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 18 Your children#tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, 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.#sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.
Curses by Disease and Drought
20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you#tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.” in everything you undertake#tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.” until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me.#tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.tn Heb “the evil of your doings wherein you have forsaken me”; CEV “all because you rejected the Lord.” 21 The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases#tn Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.” until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. 22 He#tn Heb “The Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8. will afflict you with weakness,#tn Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”). fever, inflammation, infection,#tn Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.” sword,#tn Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT). blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 23 The#tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.” sky#tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context. above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.
Curses by Defeat and Deportation
25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror#tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”). to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind.#tn Heb “heart” (so KJV, NASB). 29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do;#tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.” you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. 30 You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape#tc For MT reading שָׁגַל (shagal, “ravish; violate”), the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate presume the less violent שָׁכַב (shakhav, “lie with”). The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of the MT. her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it.#tn Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; NCV “there will be nothing you can do.” 33 As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. 34 You will go insane from seeing all this. 35 The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils – from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 36 The Lord will force you and your king#tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.” whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there. 37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.
The Curse of Reversed Status
38 “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe.#tn Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen. 41 You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity. 42 Whirring locusts#tn The Hebrew term denotes some sort of buzzing or whirring insect; some have understood this to be a type of locust (KJV, NIV, CEV), but other insects have also been suggested: “buzzing insects” (NAB); “the cricket” (NASB); “the cicada” (NRSV). will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil. 43 The foreigners#tn Heb “the foreigner.” This is a collective singular and has therefore been translated as plural; this includes the pronouns in the following verse, which are also singular in the Hebrew text. who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!
45 All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given#tn Heb “commanded”; NAB, NIV, TEV “he gave you.” you. 46 These curses#tn Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity. will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants.#tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).
The Curse of Military Siege
47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty#tn Heb “lack of everything.” you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They#tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV). will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you. 49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth#tn Heb “from the end of the earth.” as the eagle flies,#tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies. a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young. 51 They#tn Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52). will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds,#tn Heb “increase of herds.” or lambs of your flocks#tn Heb “growth of flocks.” until they have destroyed you. 52 They will besiege all of your villages#tn Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57. until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you. 53 You will then eat your own offspring,#tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NRSV); NASB “the offspring of your own body.” the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege#tn Heb “siege and stress.” by which your enemies will constrict you. 54 The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children. 55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict#tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.” you in your villages. 56 Likewise, the most#tc The LXX adds σφόδρα (sfodra, “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54. tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness,#tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.” will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth#tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.” and her newborn children#tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.” (since she has nothing else),#tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.” because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.
The Curse of Covenant Termination
58 “If you refuse to obey#tn Heb “If you are not careful to do.” all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses. 60 He will infect you with all the diseases of Egypt#sn These are the plagues the Lord inflicted on the Egyptians prior to the exodus which, though they did not fall upon the Israelites, must have caused great terror (cf. Exod 15:26). that you dreaded, and they will persistently afflict you.#tn Heb “will cling to you” (so NIV); NLT “will claim you.” 61 Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments,#tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) can refer either (1) to the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, (2) to the book of Deuteronomy or even (3) only to this curse section of the covenant text. “Scroll” better reflects the actual document, since “book” conveys the notion of a bound book with pages to the modern English reader. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the book of this law”; NIV, NLT “this Book of the Law”; TEV “this book of God’s laws and teachings.” until you have perished. 62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky,#tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context. because you will have disobeyed#tn Heb “have not listened to the voice of.” the Lord your God. 63 This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he#tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8. will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess. 64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone. 65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair. 66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next.#tn Heb “you will not be confident in your life.” The phrase “from one day to the next” is implied by the following verse. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ because of the things you will fear and the things you will see. 68 Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
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Deuteronomy 28: NET
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1996 - 2007 by Biblical Studies Press, LLC
Deuteronomy 28
28
1If thou shalt obey diligently the voyce of the Lord thy God, and obserue and do all his commandements, which I commande thee this day, then the Lord thy God wil set thee on high aboue all the nations of the earth. 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and ouertake thee, if thou shalt obey the voyce of the Lord thy God. 3Blessed shalt thou be in the citie, and blessed also in the fielde. 4Blessed shalbe the fruite of thy body, and ye fruite of thy ground, and the fruite of thy cattel, the increase of thy kine, and ye flocks of thy sheepe. 5Blessed shalbe thy basket and thy dough. 6Blessed shalt thou be, whe thou commest in, and blessed also when thou goest out. 7The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise against thee, to fall before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and shall flee before thee leuen wayes. 8The Lord shall command the blessing to be with thee in thy store houses, and in all that thou settest thine hande to, and wil blesse thee in the land which the Lord thy God giueth thee. 9The Lord shall make thee an holy people vnto himself, as he hath sworne vnto thee, if thou shalt keepe the commandements of the Lord thy God, and walke in his wayes. 10Then all people of the earth shall see that the Name of the Lord is called vpon ouer thee, and they shalbe afrayde of thee. 11And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruite of thy body, and in the fruite of thy cattell, and in the fruite of thy grounde, in the land which the Lord sware vnto thy fathers, to giue thee. 12The Lord shall open vnto thee his good treasure, euen the heauen to giue rayne vnto thy kind in due season, and to blesse all the worke of thine handes: and thou shalt lende vnto many nations, but shalt not borow thy selfe. 13And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tayle, and thou shalt be aboue onely, and shalt not bee beneath, if thou obey the commandements of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to keepe and to do them. 14But thou shalt not decline from any of the wordes, which I command you this day, either to the right hand or to the left, to goe after other gods to serue them. 15But if thou wilt not obey the voyce of the Lord thy God, to keepe and to do all his commandementes and his ordinances, which I command thee this day, then al these curses shall come vpon thee, and ouertake thee. 16Cursed shalt thou bee in the towne, and cursed also in the fielde. 17Cursed shall thy basket be, and thy dough. 18Cursed shall be the fruite of thy body, and the fruite of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flockes of thy sheepe. 19Cursed shalt thou be when thou commest in, and cursed also when thou goest out. 20The Lord shall sende vpon thee cursing, trouble, and shame, in all that which thou settest thine hand to do, vntil thou be destroyed, and perish quickely, because of the wickednesse of thy workes whereby thou hast forsaken me. 21The Lord shall make the pestilence cleaue vnto thee, vntill he hath consumed thee from the land, whither thou goest to possesse it. 22The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with the feuer, and with a burning ague, and with feruent heate, and with the sworde, and with blasting, and with the mildew, and they shall pursue thee vntill thou perish. 23And thine heauen that is ouer thine head, shall be brasse, and the earth that is vnder thee, yron. 24The Lord shall giue thee for the rayne of thy land, dust and ashes: euen from heauen shall it come downe vpon thee, vntil thou be destroyed. 25And the Lord shall cause thee to fall before thine enemies: thou shalt come out one way against them, and shalt flee seuen wayes before them, and shalt be scattered through all the kingdomes of the earth. 26And thy carkeis shall be meate vnto all foules of the ayre, and vnto the beasts of the earth, and none shall fray them away. 27The Lord wil smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emeroids, and with the skab, and with the itche, that thou canst not be healed. 28And ye Lord shall smite thee with madnes, and with blindnes, and with astonying of heart. 29Thou shalt also grope at noone daies, as the blinde gropeth in darknes, and shalt not prosper in thy wayes: thou shalt neuer but bee oppressed with wrong and be powled euermore, and no man shall succour thee. 30Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lye with her: thou shalt builde an house, and shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not eate the fruite. 31Thine oxe shalbe slayne before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eate thereof: thine asse shall be violently taken away before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheepe shalbe giuen vnto thine enemies, and no man shall rescue them for thee. 32Thy sonnes and thy daughters shalbe giuen vnto another people, and thine eyes shall still looke for them, euen till they fall out, and there shalbe no power in thine hand. 33The fruite of thy land and all thy labours shall a people, which thou knowest not, eate, and thou shalt neuer but suffer wrong, and violence alway: 34So that thou shalt be madde for the sight which thine eyes shall see. 35The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the thighes, with a sore botche, that thou canst not be healed: euen from the sole of thy foote vnto the top of thine head. 36The Lord shall bring thee and thy King (which thou shalt set ouer thee) vnto a nation, which neither thou nor thy fathers haue knowen, and there thou shalt serue other gods: euen wood and stone, 37And thou shalt be a wonder, a prouerbe and a common talke among all people, whither the Lord shall carie thee. 38Thou shalt carie out much seede into the fielde, and shalt gather but litle in: for the grashoppers shall destroy it. 39Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dresse it, but shalt neither drinke of the wine, nor gather the grapes: for the wormes shall eate it. 40Thou shalt haue Oliue trees in all thy coastes, but shalt not anoynt thy selfe with the oyle: for thine oliues shall fall. 41Thou shalt beget sonnes, and daughters, but shalt not haue them: for they shall goe into captiuitie. 42All thy trees and fruite of thy land shall the grashopper consume. 43The straunger that is among you, shall clime aboue thee vp on hie, and thou shalt come downe beneath alow. 44He shall lend thee, and thou shalt not lend him: he shalbe the head, and thou shalt be ye tayle. 45Moreouer, all these curses shall come vpon thee, and shall pursue thee and ouertake thee, till thou be destroyed, because thou obeyedst not the voyce of the Lord thy God, to keepe his commandements, and his ordinances, which he commanded thee: 46And they shalbe vpon thee for signes and wonders, and vpon thy seede for euer, 47Because thou seruedst not the Lord thy God with ioyfulnesse and with a good heart for the abundance of all things. 48Therefore thou shalt serue thine enemies which the Lord shall send vpon thee, in hunger and in thirst, and in nakednesse, and in neede of all things? and he shall put a yoke of yron vpon thy necke vntill he haue destroyed thee. 49The Lord shall bring a nation vpon thee from farre, euen from the ende of the world, flying swift as an Egle: a nation whose tongue thou shalt not vnderstand: 50A nation of a fierce countenance, which will not regarde the person of the olde, nor haue compassion of the yong. 51The same shall eate the fruit of thy cattell, and the fruite of thy land vntill thou be destroyed, and he shall leaue thee neyther wheate, wine, nor oyle, neither the increase of thy kyne, nor the flockes of thy sheepe, vntill he haue brought thee to nought. 52And he shall besiege thee in all thy cities, vntill thine hie and strong walles fall downe, wherein thou trustedst in all the lande: and hee shall besiege thee in all thy cities throughout all thy lande, which the Lord thy God hath giuen thee. 53And thou shalt eate the fruite of thy bodie: euen the flesh of thy sonnes and thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath giuen thee, during the siege and straitnesse wherein thine enemie shall inclose thee: 54So that the man (that is tender and exceeding deintie among you) shalbe grieued at his brother, and at his wife, that lieth in his bosome, and at the remnant of his children, which hee hath yet left, 55For feare of giuing vnto any of them of the flesh of his children, whom he shall eate, because he hath nothing left him in that siege, and straitnesse, wherewith thine enemie shall besiege thee in all thy cities. 56The tender and deintie woman among you, which neuer woulde venture to set the sole of her foote vpon the grounde (for her softnesse and tendernesse) shalbe grieued at her husband that lieth in her bosome, and at her sonne, and at her daughter, 57And at her afterbirth (that shall come out from betweene her feete) and at her childre, which she shall beare: for when all things lacke, she shall eate them secretly, during the siege and straitnesse, wherewith thine enemie shall besiege thee in thy cities. 58If thou wilt not keepe and doe all the wordes of the Lawe (that are written in this booke) and feare this glorious and feareful name The Lord Thy God, 59The the Lord wil make thy plagues wonderfull, and the plagues of thy seede, euen great plagues and of long continuance, and sore diseases, and of long durance. 60Moreouer, he will bring vpon thee all the diseases of Egypt, whereof thou wast afraide, and they shall cleaue vnto thee. 61And euery sickenesse, and euery plague, which is not written in the booke of this Lawe, will the Lord heape vpon thee, vntill thou be destroyed. 62And ye shall be left few in nomber, where ye were as the starres of heauen in multitude, because thou wouldest not obey the voyce of the Lord thy God. 63And as the Lord hath reioyced ouer you, to doe you good, and to multiply you, so he will reioyce ouer you, to destroy you, and bring you to nought, and ye shalbe rooted out of the land, whither thou goest to possesse it. 64And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one ende of the worlde vnto the other, and there thou shalt serue other gods, which thou hast not knowen nor thy fathers, euen wood and stone. 65Also among these nations thou shalt finde no rest, neither shall the sole of thy foote haue rest: for the Lord shall giue thee there a trembling heart, and looking to returne till thine eyes fall out, and a sorowfull minde. 66And thy life shall hang before thee, and thou shalt feare both night and day, and shalt haue none assurance of thy life. 67In the morning thou shalt say, Woulde God it were euening, and at the euening thou shalt say, Would God it were morning, for ye feare of thine heart, which thou shalt feare, and for the sight of thine eyes, which thou shalt see. 68And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt againe with shippes by the way, whereof I saide vnto thee, Thou shalt see it no more againe: and there yee shall sell your selues vnto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and there shalbe no byer.
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