15 Cursed is the man who makes any image of wood or stone or metal, disgusting to the Lord, the work of man's hands, and puts it up in secret. And let all the people say, So be it. 16 Cursed is he who does not give honour to his father or mother. And let all the people say, So be it. 17 Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's landmark from its place. And let all the people say, So be it. 18 Cursed is he by whom the blind are turned out of the way. And let all the people say, So be it. 19 Cursed is he who gives a wrong decision in the cause of a man from a strange land, or of one without a father, or of a widow. And let all the people say, So be it. 20 Cursed is he who has sex relations with his father's wife, for he has put shame on his father. And let all the people say, So be it. 21 Cursed is he who has sex relations with any sort of beast. And let all the people say, So be it. 22 Cursed is he who has sex relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother. And let all the people say, So be it. 23 Cursed is he who has sex relations with his mother-in-law. And let all the people say, So be it. 24 Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's life secretly. And let all the people say, So be it. 25 Cursed is he who for a reward puts to death one who has done no wrong. And let all the people say, So be it. 26 Cursed is he who does not take this law to heart to do it. And let all the people say, So be it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 27:15-26
Commentary on Deuteronomy 27:11-26
(Read Deuteronomy 27:11-26)
The six tribes appointed for blessing, were all children of the free women, for to such the promise belongs, Galatians 4:31. Levi is here among the rest. Ministers should apply to themselves the blessing and curse they preach to others, and by faith set their own Amen to it. And they must not only allure people to their duty with the promises of a blessing, but awe them with the threatenings of a curse, by declaring that a curse would be upon those who do such things. To each of the curses the people were to say, Amen. It professed their faith, that these, and the like curses, were real declarations of the wrath of God against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, not one jot of which shall fall to the ground. It was acknowledging the equity of these curses. Those who do such things deserve to fall, and lie under the curse. Lest those who were guilty of other sins, not here mentioned, should think themselves safe from the curse, the last reaches all. Not only those who do the evil which the law forbids, but those also who omit the good which the law requires. Without the atoning blood of Christ, sinners can neither have communion with a holy God, nor do any thing acceptable to him; his righteous law condemns every one who, at any time, or in any thing, transgresses it. Under its awful curse we remain as transgressors, until the redemption of Christ is applied to our hearts. Wherever the grace of God brings salvation, it teaches the believer to deny ungodliness and wordly lusts, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, consenting to, and delighting in the words of God's law, after the inward man. In this holy walk, true peace and solid joy are to be found.