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Deuteronomy 28
New Century Version
Deuteronomy 28
New Century Version
Blessings for Obeying
28 You must completely obey the Lord your God, and you must carefully follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the Lord your God will make you greater than any other nation on earth. 2 Obey the Lord your God so that all these blessings will come and stay with you:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 Your children will be blessed, as well as your crops; your herds will be blessed with calves and your flocks with lambs.
5 Your basket and your kitchen will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and when you go out.
7 The Lord will help you defeat the enemies that come to fight you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will run from you in seven directions.
8 The Lord your God will bless you with full barns, and he will bless everything you do. He will bless the land he is giving you.
9 The Lord will make you his holy people, as he promised. But you must obey his commands and do what he wants you to do. 10 Then everyone on earth will see that you are the Lord’s people, and they will be afraid of you. 11 The Lord will make you rich: You will have many children, your animals will have many young, and your land will give good crops. It is the land that the Lord promised your ancestors he would give to you.
12 The Lord will open up his heavenly storehouse so that the skies send rain on your land at the right time, and he will bless everything you do. You will lend to other nations, but you will not need to borrow from them. 13 The Lord will make you like the head and not like the tail; you will be on top and not on bottom. But you must obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, being careful to keep them. 14 Do not disobey anything I command you today. Do exactly as I command, and do not follow other gods or serve them.
Curses for Disobeying
15 But if you do not obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands and laws I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and stay:
16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
17 Your basket and your kitchen will be cursed.
18 Your children will be cursed, as well as your crops; the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks will be cursed.
19 You will be cursed when you go in and when you go out.
20 The Lord will send you curses, confusion, and punishment in everything you do. You will be destroyed and suddenly ruined because you did wrong when you left him. 21 The Lord will give you terrible diseases and destroy you from the land you are going to take. 22 The Lord will punish you with disease, fever, swelling, heat, lack of rain, plant diseases, and mildew until you die. 23 The sky above will be like bronze, and the ground below will be like iron.[a] 24 The Lord will turn the rain into dust and sand, which will fall from the skies until you are destroyed.
25 The Lord will help your enemies defeat you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run from them in seven directions. And you will become a thing of horror among all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds and wild animals, and there will be no one to scare them away. 27 The Lord will punish you with boils like those the Egyptians had. You will have bad growths, sores, and itches that can’t be cured. 28 The Lord will give you madness, blindness, and a confused mind. 29 You will have to feel around in the daylight like a blind person. You will fail in everything you do. People will hurt you and steal from you every day, and no one will save you.
30 You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will force her to have sexual relations with him. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not get its grapes. 31 Your ox will be killed before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you, and it will not be brought back. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will grow tired looking for them every day, but there will be nothing you can do. 33 People you don’t know will eat the crops your land and hard work have produced. You will be mistreated and abused all your life. 34 The things you see will cause you to go mad. 35 The Lord will give you sore boils on your knees and legs that cannot be cured, and they will go from the soles of your feet to the tops of your heads.
36 The Lord will send you and your king away to a nation neither you nor your ancestors know, where you will serve other gods made of wood and stone. 37 You will become a hated thing to the nations where the Lord sends you; they will laugh at you and make fun of you.
38 You will plant much seed in your field, but your harvest will be small, because locusts will eat the crop. 39 You will plant vineyards and work hard in them, but you will not pick the grapes or drink the wine, because the worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees in all your land, but you will not get any olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees. 41 You will have sons and daughters, but you will not be able to keep them, because they will be taken captive. 42 Locusts will destroy all your trees and crops.
43 The foreigners who live among you will get stronger and stronger, and you will get weaker and weaker. 44 Foreigners will lend money to you, but you will not be able to lend to them. They will be like the head, and you will be like the tail.
45 All these curses will come upon you. They will chase you and catch you and destroy you, because you did not obey the Lord your God and keep the commands and laws he gave you. 46 The curses will be signs and miracles to you and your descendants forever. 47 You had plenty of everything, but you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a pure heart, 48 so you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, naked, and poor, and the Lord will put a load on you until he has destroyed you.
The Curse of an Enemy Nation
49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the world, and it will swoop down like an eagle. You won’t understand their language, 50 and they will look mean. They will not respect old people or feel sorry for the young. 51 They will eat the calves from your herds and the harvest of your field, and you will be destroyed. They will not leave you any grain, new wine or oil, or any calves from your herds or lambs from your flocks. You will be ruined. 52 That nation will surround and attack all your cities. You trust in your high, strong walls, but they will fall down. That nation will surround all your cities everywhere in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
53 Your enemy will surround you. Those people will make you starve so that you will eat your own babies, the bodies of the sons and daughters the Lord your God gave you. 54 Even the most gentle and kind man among you will become cruel to his brother, his wife whom he loves, and his children who are still alive. 55 He will not even give them any of the flesh of his children he is eating, because it will be all he has left. Your enemy will surround you and make you starve in all your cities. 56 The most gentle and kind woman among you, so gentle and kind she would hardly even walk on the ground, will be cruel to her husband whom she loves and to her son and daughter. 57 She will give birth to a baby, but she will plan to eat the baby and what comes after the birth itself. She will eat them secretly while the enemy surrounds the city. Those people will make you starve in all your cities.
58 Be careful to obey everything in these teachings that are written in this book. You must respect the glorious and wonderful name of the Lord your God, 59 or the Lord will give terrible diseases to you and your descendants. You will have long and serious diseases, and long and miserable sicknesses. 60 He will give you all the diseases of Egypt that you dread, and the diseases will stay with you. 61 The Lord will also give you every disease and sickness not written in this Book of the Teachings, until you are destroyed. 62 You people may have outnumbered the stars, but only a few of you will be left, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 Just as the Lord was once happy with you and gave you good things and made you grow in number, so then the Lord will be happy to ruin and destroy you, and you will be removed from the land you are entering to take as your own.
64 Then the Lord will scatter you among the nations—from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone, gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65 You will have no rest among those nations and no place that is yours. The Lord will make your mind worried, your sight weak, and your soul sad. 66 You will live with danger and be afraid night and day. You will not be sure that you will live. 67 In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening,” and in the evening you will say, “I wish it were morning.” Terror will be in your heart, and the things you have seen will scare you. 68 The Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, even though I, Moses, said you would never go back to Egypt. And there you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you.
Footnotes
- 28:23 sky . . . iron This means the sky will give no rain and the earth will produce no crops.
Deuteronomy 28
New International Version
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) 2 All these blessings will come on you(D) and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
3 You will be blessed(E) in the city and blessed in the country.(F)
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.(G)
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.(H)
7 The 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)
8 The 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.
9 The 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. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name(N) 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(O) and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.(P)
12 The 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) 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(V) them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.(W) 14 Do 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
15 However, 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)
16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.(AB)
17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.(AC)
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.(AD)
19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.(AE)
20 The 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] 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.(AJ) 22 The 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) 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.(AP) 24 The Lord will turn the rain(AQ) of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
25 The 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) 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds(AV) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.(AW) 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt(AX) and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At 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.
30 You 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) 31 Your 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. 32 Your 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. 33 A 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) 34 The sights you see will drive you mad.(BG) 35 The 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)
36 The 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) 37 You 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)
38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little,(BQ) because locusts(BR) will devour(BS) it. 39 You 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) 40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.(BW) 41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.(BX) 42 Swarms of locusts(BY) will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.(BZ) 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them.(CA) They will be the head, but you will be the tail.(CB)
45 All 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. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.(CE) 47 Because you did not serve(CF) the Lord your God joyfully and gladly(CG) in the time of prosperity, 48 therefore 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.
49 The 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) 50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old(CO) or pity for the young. 51 They 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) 52 They 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)
53 Because 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) 54 Even 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, 55 and 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) 56 The 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) 57 the 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.
58 If 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— 59 the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt(DC) that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The 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) 62 You 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. 63 Just 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.
64 Then 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) 65 Among 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) 66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. 67 In 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) 68 The 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
New Century Version (NCV) 
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
New International Version (NIV) 
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