Deuteronomy, Chapter 28:

Verses from Deuteronomy, Chapter 19 of the Book of Deuteronomy of the Bible.

Blessing for obedience

• 1. “If you faithfully follow the directions of the Lord your God and obey all the commandments I am giving you today, then the Lord will place you in a position of prominence above all the nations of the earth.
• 2. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
• 3. You will be blessed in your cities and you will be blessed in your lands.
• 4. The fertility of their wombs will be blessed, as well as the crops of the land and the young of their flocks.
• 5. Your baskets and kneading bowls will be blessed.
• 6. You will be blessed in everything you do.
• 7. “The Lord will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will come against you one way, but they will flee from you seven ways.
• 8. The Lord will send blessings on your barns and on everything you do. He will bless you in the land He is giving you.
• 9. The Lord will establish you as a holy people, as he promised you, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
• 10. Then 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.
• 11. The Lord will give them abundant prosperity, in the children of their womb, in the young of their animals and in the crops of their land, in the land that the Lord swore to give to their ancestors.
• 12. The Lord will open to you the heavens, the treasure of his good treasure, to send rain on your land in due season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow from them.
• 13. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. You will always be on top and never on the bottom if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today and depart from them in no way.
• 14. Do not turn to the right or to the left from any of the commandments I am giving you today, nor follow other gods to serve and worship them.

Consequences of disobedience

• 15. “However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commandments and laws that I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
• 16. You will be cursed in your cities and you will be cursed in your lands.
• 17. Your baskets and kneading troughs will be cursed.
• 18. The barrenness of their wombs will be cursed, as well as the crops of their land and the young of their flocks.
• 19. You will be cursed in everything you do.
• 20. The Lord will send curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you undertake, until you are destroyed and suffer swift ruin because of the evil you did by turning away from him.
• 21. The Lord will send terrible plagues, diseases and epidemics upon you, which will spread until you are destroyed.
• 22. He will send severe and persistent diseases, scorching heat and drought, blight and mold, which will devour your crops and livestock until you perish.
• 23. The heavens above your heads will be like bronze, and the earth beneath you will be like iron.
• 24. The Lord will turn the rain of your land into dust and ashes, which will fall on you until you are destroyed.
• 25. The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will go to them one way, but you will flee from them seven ways. You will become a source of horror in all the kingdoms of the earth.
• 26. Their carcasses will be food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them.
• 27. The Lord will afflict you with the sores of Egypt, with boils, ulcers and scabs, from which you will not be able to recover.
• 28. He will afflict them with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.
• 29. At noon you will grope blindly, as if in darkness. You will not be successful in anything you do; day after day they will be oppressed and robbed, without anyone saving them.
• 30. “You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will possess her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not enjoy its fruits.
• 31. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat its meat. Your donkey will be taken before you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will come to your aid.
• 32. Your sons and daughters will be handed over to another nation, and you will look upon them with sadness, longing for them day after day, but unable to do anything.
• 33. An unknown people will consume the fruit of your labor and efforts, and you will be continually oppressed and wronged.
• 34. You will go crazy with what your eyes see.
• 35. The Lord will afflict you with evil sores on your legs and feet, from which you will not be able to heal. They will spread from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.
• 36. “The Lord will take you, and the king you place over you, to a nation that you and your ancestors never knew. There you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone.
• 37. You will become an object of astonishment, derision and mockery among all the nations wherever the Lord takes you.
• 38. You will sow much seed on the ground, but you will harvest little, because the locusts will devour everything.
• 39. You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, for the worms will devour them.
• 40. You will have olive trees throughout your territory, but you will not use the oil, for the olives will fall.
• 41. You will have sons and daughters, but you will not have them by your side, for they will be taken into captivity.
• 42. Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the crops of your land.
• 43. “The foreigners living among you will rise higher and higher, while you will lower and lower yourself.
• 44. They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail.
• 45. “All these curses will come upon you, follow you, and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you have not obeyed the Lord your God or kept his commandments and laws that he gave you.
• 46. These curses will be a sign and a testimony against you and your descendants forever.
• 47. Since you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a grateful heart for the abundant good he bestowed on you,
• 48. you will serve the enemies that the Lord will send against you, with hunger, thirst, nakedness and lack of everything. They will place an iron yoke on your neck until you are destroyed.
• 49. “The Lord will bring against you a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth, that will fly like an eagle, a nation whose language you will not understand,
• 50. a fierce-looking nation, with no respect for the elderly or mercy for the young.
• 51. They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will not leave you grain, wine, oil, calves, or lambs until you are destroyed.
• 52. They will besiege you in all your cities until the fortified walls in which you trust are broken down. They will surround you in all your cities, in all the land that the Lord your God has given you.
• 53. “Within your besieged walls, you will suffer great anguish, caused by the attacks of your enemies. You will eat the fruit of your own womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters that the Lord your God has given you.
• 54. Even the gentlest and most refined man among you will not have compassion on his brother, the woman he loves, or his remaining children,
• 55. so that you will not share the food with them. He will eat the flesh of his sons and daughters that the Lord his God gave him during the siege and for the suffering that the enemy will inflict on him in his cities.
• 56. The most delicate and refined woman among you, who would not dare to put the sole of her foot on the ground, will be cruel to the husband she loves and to her son and daughter,
• 57. refusing to share with them the placenta from her own womb and the flesh of her remaining children. She will eat them secretly during the siege and for the suffering the enemy will inflict on her in her cities.
• 58. “If you do not obey all the words of this law, written in this book, fearing this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,
• 59. he will bring upon you and your descendants terrible plagues and serious and persistent illnesses.
• 60. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt, which you feared, and they will cling to you.
• 61. The Lord will also bring upon you every other disease and plague not mentioned in this book of the law, until you are destroyed.
• 62. You will be reduced to a small number, even though you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, because you did not obey the Lord your God.
• 63. Just as the Lord delighted in prospering and multiplying you, so he will delight in destroying and exterminating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are going to possess.
• 64. “The Lord will scatter them among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods, gods made of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors knew.
• 65. You will not find rest in any of those nations where the Lord will scatter you. There you will not have a resting place for the soles of your feet. The Lord will make you anxious, desperate, and distressed.
• 66. During the day you will live in anguish, in constant fear, without certainty about your life.
• 67. In the midst of darkness you will say: 'How I wish it were night!' And at night you will say: 'How I wish it were day!' because of the terror that will fill your heart and what your eyes will behold.
• 68. The Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, even though I told you that you would never see this way again. There you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you.”

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