Curses for Disobedience. ¹⁵ But if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, your God,^(A) carefully observing all his commandments and statutes which I give you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you:

¹⁶ to us, our kings, rulers, priests, and prophets, and our ancestors. ¹⁷ We have sinned in the Lord’s sight ¹⁸ and disobeyed him. We have not listened to the voice of the Lord, our God, so as to follow the precepts the Lord set before us. ¹⁹ From the day the Lord led our ancestors out of the land of Egypt until the present day, we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God, and neglected to listen to his voice. ²⁰ Even today evils cling to us, the curse the Lord pronounced to Moses, his servant, at the time he led our ancestors out of the land of Egypt to give us a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(A) 21} For we did not listen to the voice of the Lord, our God, in all the words of the prophets he sent us, ²² but each of us has followed the inclinations of our wicked hearts, served other gods, and done evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.

⁴ He has made us subject to all the kingdoms around us, an object of reproach and horror among all the peoples around us, where the Lord has scattered us.^{(A) 5} We are brought low, not raised high,^(B) because we sinned against the Lord, our God, not listening to his voice.

⁸ See, today we are in exile, where you have scattered us, an object of reproach and cursing and punishment for all the wicked deeds of our ancestors, who withdrew from the Lord, our God.”

⁵ We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and turned from your commandments and your laws. ⁶ We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, and all the people of the land.