Chapter 28

Blessings for Obedience. ¹ Now,^(A)(B) if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord, your God, carefully observing all his commandments which I give you today, the Lord, your God, will set you high above all the nations of the earth.^{(C) 2} All these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you when you obey the voice of the Lord, your God:

Victory and Prosperity. ⁷ The Lord will beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; they will come out against you from one direction, and flee before you in seven.^{[b](G) 8} The Lord will affirm the blessing upon you, on your barns and on all your undertakings; he will bless you in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you. ⁹ The Lord will establish you as a holy people, as he swore to you,^(H) if you keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ All the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is proclaimed over you,^[c] and they will be afraid of you.^{(I) 11} The Lord will generously increase the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, upon the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors he would give you.^{(J) 12} The Lord will open up for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give your land rain in due season and to bless all the works of your hands. You will lend to many nations but borrow from none.^{(K) 13} The Lord will make you the head not the tail, the top not the bottom, if you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I am giving you today, observing them carefully, ¹⁴ not turning aside, either to the right or to the left, from any of the words which I am giving you today, following other gods and serving them.^(L)

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

^16 (N)May you be cursed in the city, and cursed in the country! ¹⁷ Cursed be your grain basket and your kneading bowl! ¹⁸ Cursed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks! ¹⁹ May you be cursed in your coming in, and cursed in your going out!

Sickness and Defeat. ²⁰ The Lord will send on you a curse, panic, and frustration in everything you set your hand to, until you are speedily destroyed and perish for the evil you have done in forsaking me. ^21 (O)The Lord will make disease cling to you until he has made an end of you from the land you are entering to possess. ²² The Lord will strike you with consumption, fever, and inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, with blight and mildew, that will pursue you until you perish. ²³ The heavens over your heads will be like bronze and the earth under your feet like iron.^{(P) 24} For rain the Lord will give your land powdery dust, which will come down upon you from the heavens until you are destroyed. ²⁵ The Lord will let you be beaten down before your enemies; though you advance against them from one direction, you will flee before them in seven,^[d] so that you will become an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.^{(Q) 26} Your corpses will become food for all the birds of the air and for the beasts of the field, with no one to frighten them off.^{(R) 27} The Lord will strike you with Egyptian boils^(S) and with tumors, skin diseases and the itch, from none of which you can be cured. ^28 (T)And the Lord will strike you with madness, blindness and panic, ²⁹ so that even at midday you will grope in the dark as though blind, unable to find your way.

Despoilment. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, with no one to come to your aid. ³⁰ Though you betroth a wife, another will have her. Though you build a house, you will not live in it. Though you plant a vineyard, you will not pluck its fruits.^{(U) 31 (V)}Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat its flesh. Your donkey will be stolen in your presence, but you will never get it back. Your flocks will be given to your enemies, with no one to come to your aid. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you strain your eyes looking for them every day, having no power to do anything. ³³ A people you do not know will consume the fruit of your soil and of all your labor, and you will be thoroughly oppressed and continually crushed, ³⁴ until you are driven mad by what your eyes must look upon. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you with malignant boils of which you cannot be cured, on your knees and legs, and from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head.

Exile. ^36 (W)The Lord will bring you, and your king whom you have set over you, to a nation which you and your ancestors have not known, and there you will serve other gods, of wood and stone, ³⁷ and you will be a horror, a byword, a taunt among all the peoples to which the Lord will drive you.

Fruitless Labors. ^38 (X)Though you take out seed to your field, you will harvest but little, for the locusts will devour it. ³⁹ Though you plant and cultivate vineyards, you will not drink or store up the wine, for the worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ Though you have olive trees throughout your country, you will have no oil for ointment, for your olives will drop off. ⁴¹ Though you beget sons and daughters, they will not remain with you, for they will go into captivity. ⁴² Buzzing insects will take possession of all your trees and the crops of your soil. ^43 (Y)The resident aliens among you will rise above you higher and higher, while you sink lower and lower. ⁴⁴ They will lend to you, not you to them. They will become the head, you the tail.

⁴⁵ All these curses will come upon you, pursuing you and overwhelming you, until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, by keeping his commandments and statutes which he gave you.^{(Z) 46} They will be a sign and a wonder^[e] for you and your descendants for all time. ⁴⁷ Since you would not serve the Lord, your God, with heartfelt joy for abundance of every kind, ⁴⁸ in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and utter want, you will serve the enemies whom the Lord will send against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck, until he destroys you.^(AA)

Invasion and Siege. ^49 (AB)The Lord will raise up against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, that swoops down like an eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce appearance, that shows neither respect for the aged nor mercy for the young. ⁵¹ They will consume the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil, until you are destroyed; they will leave you no grain or wine or oil, no issue of herd, no young of flock, until they have brought about your ruin. ⁵² They will besiege you in each of your communities, until the great, fortified walls, in which you trust, come tumbling down all over your land. They will besiege you in every community throughout the land which the Lord, your God, has given you, ^53 (AC)and because of the siege and the distress to which your enemy subjects you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the Lord, your God, has given you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and fastidious man among you will begrudge his brother and his beloved wife and his surviving children, ⁵⁵ any share in the flesh of his children that he himself is using for food because nothing else is left him—such the siege and distress to which your enemy will subject you in all your communities. ⁵⁶ The most fastidious woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, so refined and fastidious is she, will begrudge her beloved husband and her son and daughter ⁵⁷ the afterbirth that issues from her womb and the infants she brings forth because she secretly eats them for want of anything else—such the siege and distress to which your enemy will subject you in your communities.

Plagues. ⁵⁸ If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which is written in this book, and to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord, your God,^{(AD) 59 (AE)}the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants wondrous calamities, severe and constant calamities, and malignant and constant sicknesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt^[f] which you dread, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ Even any sickness or calamity not written in this book of the law, that too the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² You who were numerous as the stars of the heavens^(AF) will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord, your God.

Exile. ^63 (AG)Just as the Lord once took delight in making you prosper and grow, so will the Lord now take delight in ruining and destroying you, and you will be plucked out of the land you are now entering to possess. ⁶⁴ The Lord will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods, of wood and stone, which you and your ancestors have not known. ⁶⁵ Among these nations you will find no rest, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot, for there the Lord will give you an anguished heart and wearied eyes^[g] and a trembling spirit. ⁶⁶ Your life will hang in suspense and you will stand in dread both day and night, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, “Would that it were evening!” and in the evening you will say, “Would that it were morning!” because of the dread that your heart must feel and the sight that your eyes must see. ⁶⁸ The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt, by a route which I told you that you would never see again;^(AH) and there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.

⁶⁹ These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he made with them at Horeb.

III. Third Address

Chapter 29

Past Favors Recalled. ¹ Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and to all his land, ² the great testings your own eyes have seen, and those great signs and wonders.^{(AI) 3} But the Lord has not given you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear until this day.^{(AJ) 4 (AK)}I led you for forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes did not fall from you in tatters nor your sandals from your feet; ⁵ it was not bread that you ate, nor wine or beer that you drank—so that you might know that I, the Lord, am your God. ^6 (AL)When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to engage us in battle, but we defeated them ⁷ and took their land, and gave it as a heritage to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.^{(AM) 8} Observe carefully the words of this covenant, therefore, in order that you may succeed in whatever you do.^(AN)

All Israel Bound by Covenant. ⁹ You are standing today, all of you, in the presence of the Lord, your God—your tribal heads, elders, and officials, all of the men of Israel, ¹⁰ your children, your wives, and the resident alien who lives in your camp, from those who cut wood to those who draw water for you— ¹¹ to enter into the covenant of the Lord, your God, which the Lord, your God, is making with you today, with its curse, ¹² so that he may establish you today as his people and he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ^13 (AO)But it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant, with its curse, ¹⁴ but with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord, our God, and with those who are not here with us^[h] today.

Warning Against Idolatry. ¹⁵ You know that we lived in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the nations, that you too passed through ¹⁶ and saw the loathsome things and idols of wood and stone, of gold and silver, that they possess. ¹⁷ There may be among you a man or woman, or a clan or tribe, whose heart is now turning away from the Lord, our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; there may be among you a root bearing poison and wormwood; ¹⁸ if any such persons, after hearing the words of this curse, should congratulate themselves, saying in their hearts, “I am safe, even though I walk in stubbornness of heart,” thereby sweeping away moist and dry alike,^{[i](AP) 19} the Lord will never consent to pardon them. Instead, the Lord’s burning wrath will flare up against them; every curse written in this book will pounce on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under the heavens.^{(AQ) 20} The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for doom, in keeping with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.

Punishment for Idolatry. ^21 (AR)Future generations, your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigners who will come here from distant lands, when they see the calamities of this land and the ills the Lord has inflicted upon it— ²² all its soil burned out by sulphur and salt, unsown and unfruitful, without a blade of grass, like the catastrophe of Sodom and Gomorrah,^(AS) Admah and Zeboiim,^[j] which the Lord overthrew in his furious wrath— ^23 (AT)they and all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord dealt thus with this land? Why this great outburst of wrath?” ²⁴ And they will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he had made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, ²⁵ and they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know and whom he had not apportioned to them.^{(AU) 26 (AV)}So the anger of the Lord flared up against this land and brought on it every curse written in this book. ²⁷ The Lord uprooted them from their soil in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them out into another land, as they are today.” ²⁸ The hidden things^[k] belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things are for us and for our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.

Chapter 30

Compassion for the Repentant. ^1 [l](AW)When all these things, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, come upon you,^(AX) and you take them to heart in any of the nations where the Lord, your God, has dispersed you, ^2 (AY)and return to the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, according to all that I am commanding you today, you and your children, with your whole heart and your whole being, ³ the Lord, your God, will restore your fortunes and will have compassion on you; he will again gather you from all the peoples where the Lord, your God, has scattered you. ⁴ Though you may have been dispersed to the farthest corner of the heavens, even from there will the Lord, your God, gather you; even from there will he bring you back.^{(AZ) 5} The Lord, your God, will then bring you into the land your ancestors once possessed, that you may possess it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.^{(BA) 6} The Lord, your God, will circumcise your hearts^[m] and the hearts of your descendants,^(BB) so that you will love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being, in order that you may live. ⁷ The Lord, your God, will put all those curses on your enemies and the foes who pursued you.^{(BC) 8} You, however, shall again obey the voice of the Lord and observe all his commandments which I am giving you today. ⁹ Then the Lord, your God, will generously increase your undertakings, the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil;^(BD) for the Lord, your God, will again take delight in your prosperity, just as he took delight in your ancestors’, ¹⁰ because you will obey the voice of the Lord, your God, keeping the commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law, when you return to the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being.

^11 (BE)For this command which I am giving you today is not too wondrous or remote for you. ¹² It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who will go up to the heavens to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” ¹³ Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” ¹⁴ No, it is something very near to you, in your mouth^[n] and in your heart, to do it.

The Choice Before Israel. ¹⁵ See, I have today set before you life and good, death and evil.^{(BF) 16} If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I am giving you today, loving the Lord, your God, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and ordinances, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.^{(BG) 17 (BH)}If, however, your heart turns away and you do not obey, but are led astray and bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I tell you today that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:^(BI) I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰ by loving the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.^(BJ)

^11 (A)the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the Baals,^{[a] 12} and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the one who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods, the gods of the peoples around them, and bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord.

¹³ Because they had abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Astartes,^{[b] 14} the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel, and he delivered them into the power of plunderers who despoiled them. He sold them into the power of the enemies around them, and they were no longer able to withstand their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord turned against them, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them;^(B) and they were in great distress.