Deuteronomy 27:11-30:20

Other Translations of Deuteronomy 27:11-30:20

King James Version

The Curses at Mount Ebal

¹¹ And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, ¹² These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: ¹³ And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; to curse: Heb. for a cursing Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, ¹⁵ Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. ¹⁶ Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. ¹⁷ Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. ¹⁸ Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. ¹⁹ Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²⁰ Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²¹ Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²² Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²³ Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²⁴ Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²⁵ Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. ²⁶ Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.

The Blessings of Obedience

28¹ And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: ² And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. ³ Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. ⁵ Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. store: or, dough, or, kneadingtroughs ⁶ Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. ⁷ The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. ⁸ The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, storehouses: or, barns and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. ⁹ The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. ¹¹ And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in goods: or, for good in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. ¹² The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: ¹⁴ And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The Consequences of Disobedience

¹⁵ But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: ¹⁶ Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. ¹⁹ Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. ²⁰ The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. ²² The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, sword: or, drought and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. ²³ And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. ²⁵ The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed removed: Heb. for a removing into all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. ²⁷ The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. ²⁸ The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: ²⁹ And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. ³⁰ Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. ³¹ Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. ³² Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand. ³³ The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: ³⁴ So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. ³⁵ The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. ³⁶ The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. ³⁷ And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee. ³⁸ Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. ⁴⁰ Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. ⁴¹ Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. consume: or, possess ⁴³ The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

⁴⁵ Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: ⁴⁶ And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. ⁴⁷ Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; ⁴⁸ Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. ⁴⁹ The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; understand: Heb. hear ⁵⁰ A nation of fierce of fierce...: Heb. strong of face countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: ⁵¹ And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. ⁵² And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. ⁵³ And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, body: Heb. belly the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: ⁵⁴ So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: ⁵⁵ So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, ⁵⁷ And toward her young one young one: Heb. afterbirth that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. ⁵⁸ If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE Lord THY GOD; ⁵⁹ Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. ⁶⁰ Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. ⁶¹ Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring bring: Heb. cause to ascend upon thee, until thou be destroyed. ⁶² And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God. ⁶³ And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. ⁶⁴ And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: ⁶⁶ And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: ⁶⁷ In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. ⁶⁸ And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

The LORD's Covenant with Israel in Moab

29¹ These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. ² And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; ³ The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: ⁴ Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. ⁵ And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. ⁶ Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷ And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them: ⁸ And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

¹⁰ Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, ¹¹ Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: ¹² That thou shouldest enter enter: Heb. pass into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day: ¹³ That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴ Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; ¹⁵ But with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day: ¹⁶ (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; ¹⁷ And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, idols: Heb. dungy gods wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:) ¹⁸ Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall gall: or, a poisonous herb and wormwood; ¹⁹ And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination imagination: or, stubbornness of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: ²⁰ The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: ²² So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it; ²³ And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: ²⁴ Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? ²⁵ Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: ²⁶ For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: ²⁷ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: ²⁸ And the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. ²⁹ The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

The Conditions for Restoration and Blessing

30¹ And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, ² And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; ³ That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. ⁴ If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: ⁵ And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. ⁶ And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. ⁷ And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. ⁸ And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. ⁹ And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: ¹⁰ If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

¹¹ For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. ¹² It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? ¹⁴ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

¹⁵ See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; ¹⁶ In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. ¹⁷ But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; ¹⁸ I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: ²⁰ That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

English Standard Version

The Curses at Mount Ebal

¹¹ That day Moses charged the people, saying, ¹² "When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice: ¹⁵ "'Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen.' ¹⁶ "'Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ¹⁷ "'Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ¹⁸ "'Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ¹⁹ "'Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²⁰ "'Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's nakedness.'Hebrew uncovered his father's skirt And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²¹ "'Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²² "'Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²³ "'Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²⁴ "'Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²⁵ "'Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²⁶ "'Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

The Blessings of Obedience

28¹ "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. ⁷ "The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ⁹ The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹ And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ¹⁴ and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The Consequences of Disobedience

¹⁵ "But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. ²⁰ "The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ²² The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with droughtOr sword and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed. ²⁵ "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.Or shall not succeed in finding your ways And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. ³⁰ You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. ³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, ³⁴ so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. ³⁶ "The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. ³⁸ You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² The cricketIdentity uncertain shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³ The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

⁴⁵ "All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. ⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰ a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. ⁵¹ It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. ⁵² "They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces,Hebrew the wife of his bosom and to the last of the children whom he has left, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. ⁵⁶ The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces,Hebrew the husband of her bosom to her son and to her daughter, ⁵⁷ her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns. ⁵⁸ "If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. ⁶⁰ And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. ⁶² Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. ⁶³ And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶⁴ "And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul. ⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, 'If only it were evening!' and at evening you shall say, 'If only it were morning!' because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see. ⁶⁸ And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."

The LORD's Covenant with Israel in Moab

29¹ Ch 28:69 in Hebrew These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb. ² Ch 29:1 in Hebrew And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ³ the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴ But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. ⁵ I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. ⁶ You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷ And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. ⁸ We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ⁹ Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosperOr deal wisely in all that you do.

¹⁰ "You are standing today all of you before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew your heads, your tribes your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, ¹² so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴ It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, ¹⁵ but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today. ¹⁶ "You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. ¹⁷ And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. ¹⁸ Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, ¹⁹ one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, 'I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.' This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. ²⁰ The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. ²² And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick-- ²³ the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath-- ²⁴ all the nations will say, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?' ²⁵ Then people will say, 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, ²⁶ and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. ²⁷ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, ²⁸ and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as they are this day.' ²⁹ "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

The Conditions for Restoration and Blessing

30¹ "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, ² and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, ³ then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. ⁴ If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. ⁵ And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. ⁶ And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. ⁷ And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. ⁸ And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. ⁹ The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, ¹⁰ when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹¹ "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' ¹⁴ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

¹⁵ "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶ If you obey the commandments of the Lord your GodSeptuagint; Hebrew lacks If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,Or his just decrees then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

The Message

The Curses at Mount Ebal

¹¹ That day Moses commanded: ¹² After you've crossed the Jordan, these tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ And these will stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ The Levites, acting as spokesmen and speaking loudly, will address Israel: ¹⁵ God's curse on anyone who carves or casts a god-image - an abomination to God made by a craftsman - and sets it up in secret. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ¹⁶ God's curse on anyone who demeans a parent. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ¹⁷ God's curse on anyone who moves his neighbor's boundary marker. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ¹⁸ God's curse on anyone who misdirects a blind man on the road. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ¹⁹ God's curse on anyone who interferes with justice due the foreigner, orphan, or widow. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ²⁰ God's curse on anyone who has sex with his father's wife; he has violated the woman who belongs to his father. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ²¹ God's curse on anyone who has sex with an animal. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ²² God's curse on anyone who has sex with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ²³ God's curse on anyone who has sex with his mother-in-law. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ²⁴ God's curse on anyone who kills his neighbor in secret. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ²⁵ God's curse on anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person. All respond: Yes. Absolutely. ²⁶ God's curse on whoever does not give substance to the words of this Revelation by living them. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.

The Blessings of Obedience

28¹ If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. ² All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God: ³ God's blessing inside the city, God's blessing in the country; ⁴ God's blessing on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks. ⁵ God's blessing on your basket and bread bowl; ⁶ God's blessing in your coming in, God's blessing in your going out. ⁷ God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They'll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads. ⁸ God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he'll bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you. ⁹ God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God, your God, and live the way he has shown you. ¹⁰ All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of God and hold you in respectful awe. ¹¹ God will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you. ¹² God will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won't have to take out a loan. ¹³ God will make you the head, not the tail; you'll always be the top dog, never the bottom dog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you today. ¹⁴ Don't swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods.

The Consequences of Disobedience

¹⁵ Here's what will happen if you don't obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep all the commandments and guidelines that I'm commanding you today. All these curses will come down hard on you: ¹⁶ God's curse in the city, God's curse in the country; ¹⁷ God's curse on your basket and bread bowl; ¹⁸ God's curse on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks. ¹⁹ God's curse in your coming in, God's curse in your going out. ²⁰ God will send The Curse, The Confusion, The Contrariness down on everything you try to do until you've been destroyed and there's nothing left of you - all because of your evil pursuits that led you to abandon me. ²¹ God will infect you with The Disease, wiping you right off the land that you're going in to possess. ²² God will set consumption and fever and rash and seizures and dehydration and blight and jaundice on you. They'll hunt you down until they kill you. ²³ The sky over your head will become an iron roof, the ground under your feet, a slab of concrete. ²⁴ From out of the skies God will rain ash and dust down on you until you suffocate. ²⁵ God will defeat you by enemy attack. You'll come at your enemies on one road and run away on seven roads. All the kingdoms of Earth will see you as a horror. ²⁶ Carrion birds and animals will boldly feast on your dead body with no one to chase them away. ²⁷ God will hit you hard with the boils of Egypt, hemorrhoids, scabs, and an incurable itch. ²⁸ He'll make you go crazy and blind and senile. ²⁹ You'll grope around in the middle of the day like a blind person feeling his way through a lifetime of darkness; you'll never get to where you're going. Not a day will go by that you're not abused and robbed. And no one is going to help you. ³⁰ You'll get engaged to a woman and another man will take her for his mistress; you'll build a house and never live in it; you'll plant a garden and never eat so much as a carrot; ³¹ you'll watch your ox get butchered and not get a single steak from it; your donkey will be stolen from in front of you and you'll never see it again; your sheep will be sent off to your enemies and no one will lift a hand to help you. ³² Your sons and daughters will be shipped off to foreigners; you'll wear your eyes out looking vainly for them, helpless to do a thing. ³³ Your crops and everything you work for will be eaten and used by foreigners; you'll spend the rest of your lives abused and knocked around. ³⁴ What you see will drive you crazy. ³⁵ God will hit you with painful boils on your knees and legs and no healing or relief from head to foot. ³⁶ God will lead you and the king you set over you to a country neither you nor your ancestors have heard of; there you'll worship other gods, no-gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ Among all the peoples where God will take you, you'll be treated as a lesson or a proverb - a horror! ³⁸ You'll plant sacks and sacks of seed in the field but get almost nothing - the grasshoppers will devour it. ³⁹ You'll plant and hoe and prune vineyards but won't drink or put up any wine - the worms will devour them. ⁴⁰ You'll have groves of olive trees everywhere, but you'll have no oil to rub on your face or hands - the olives will have fallen off. ⁴¹ You'll have sons and daughters but they won't be yours for long - they'll go off to captivity. ⁴² Locusts will take over all your trees and crops. ⁴³ The foreigner who lives among you will climb the ladder, higher and higher, while you go deeper and deeper into the hole. ⁴⁴ He'll lend to you; you won't lend to him. He'll be the head; you'll be the tail.

⁴⁵ All these curses are going to come on you. They're going to hunt you down and get you until there's nothing left of you because you didn't obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep his commandments and guidelines that I commanded you. ⁴⁶ The curses will serve as signposts, warnings to your children ever after. ⁴⁷ Because you didn't serve God, your God, out of the joy and goodness of your heart in the great abundance, ⁴⁸ you'll have to serve your enemies whom God will send against you. Life will be famine and drought, rags and wretchedness; then he'll put an iron yoke on your neck until he's destroyed you. ⁴⁹ Yes, God will raise up a faraway nation against you, swooping down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you can't understand, ⁵⁰ a mean-faced people, cruel to grandmothers and babies alike. ⁵¹ They'll ravage the young of your animals and the crops from your fields until you're destroyed. They'll leave nothing behind: no grain, no wine, no oil, no calves, no lambs - and finally, no you. ⁵² They'll lay siege to you while you're huddled behind your town gates. They'll knock those high, proud walls flat, those walls behind which you felt so safe. They'll lay siege to your fortified cities all over the country, this country that God, your God, has given you. ⁵³ And you'll end up cannibalizing your own sons and daughters that God, your God, has given you. When the suffering from the siege gets extreme, you're going to eat your own babies. ⁵⁴ The most gentle and caring man among you will turn hard, his eye evil, against his own brother, his cherished wife, and even the rest of his children who are still alive, ⁵⁵ refusing to share with them a scrap of meat from the cannibal child-stew he is eating. He's lost everything, even his humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns. ⁵⁶ And the most gentle and caring woman among you, a woman who wouldn't step on a wildflower, will turn hard, her eye evil, against her cherished husband, against her son, against her daughter, ⁵⁷ against even the afterbirth of her newborn infants; she plans to eat them in secret - she does eat them! - because she has lost everything, even her humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns. ⁵⁸ If you don't diligently keep all the words of this Revelation written in this book, living in holy awe before This Name glorious and terrible, God, your God, ⁵⁹ then God will pound you with catastrophes, you and your children, huge interminable catastrophes, hideous interminable illnesses. ⁶⁰ He'll bring back and stick you with every old Egyptian malady that once terrorized you. ⁶¹ And yes, every disease and catastrophe imaginable - things not even written in the Book of this Revelation - God will bring on you until you're destroyed. ⁶² Because you didn't listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, you'll be left with a few pitiful stragglers in place of the dazzling stars-in-the-heavens multitude you had become. ⁶³ And this is how things will end up: Just as God once enjoyed you, took pleasure in making life good for you, giving you many children, so God will enjoy getting rid of you, clearing you off the Earth. He'll weed you out of the very soil that you are entering in to possess. ⁶⁴ He'll scatter you to the four winds, from one end of the Earth to the other. You'll worship all kinds of other gods, gods neither you nor your parents ever heard of, wood and stone no-gods. ⁶⁵ But you won't find a home there, you'll not be able to settle down. God will give you a restless heart, longing eyes, a homesick soul. ⁶⁶ You will live in constant jeopardy, terrified of every shadow, never knowing what you'll meet around the next corner. ⁶⁷ In the morning you'll say, "I wish it were evening." In the evening you'll say, "I wish it were morning." Afraid, terrorized at what's coming next, afraid of the unknown, because of the sights you've witnessed. ⁶⁸ God will ship you back to Egypt by a road I promised you'd never see again. There you'll offer yourselves for sale, both men and women, as slaves to your enemies. And not a buyer to be found.

The LORD's Covenant with Israel in Moab

29¹ These are the terms of the Covenant that God commanded Moses to make with the People of Israel in the land of Moab, renewing the Covenant he made with them at Horeb. ² Moses called all Israel together and said, You've seen with your own eyes everything that God did in Egypt to Pharaoh and his servants, and to the land itself - ³ the massive trials to which you were eyewitnesses, the great signs and miracle-wonders. ⁴ But God didn't give you an understanding heart or perceptive eyes or attentive ears until right now, this very day. ⁵ I took you through the wilderness for forty years and through all that time the clothes on your backs didn't wear out, the sandals on your feet didn't wear out, ⁶ and you lived well without bread and wine and beer, proving to you that I am in fact God, your God. ⁷ When you arrived here in this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan met us primed for war but we beat them. ⁸ We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.

¹⁰ You are all standing here today in the Presence of God, your God - the heads of your tribes, your leaders, your officials, all Israel: ¹¹ your babies, your wives, the resident foreigners in your camps who fetch your firewood and water ¹² - ready to cross over into the solemnly sworn Covenant that God, your God, is making with you today, ¹³ the Covenant that this day confirms that you are his people and he is God, your God, just as he promised you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ¹⁴ I'm not making this Covenant and its oath with you alone. ¹⁵ I am making it with you who are standing here today in the Presence of God, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today. ¹⁶ You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels. ¹⁷ You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods. ¹⁸ Don't let down your guard lest even now, today, someone - man or woman, clan or tribe - gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you, ¹⁹ a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, "I'll live just the way I please, thank you," and ends up ruining life for everybody. ²⁰ God won't let him off the hook. God's anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him. God will delete his name from the records. ²¹ God will separate him out from all the tribes of Israel for special punishment, according to all the curses of the Covenant written in this Book of Revelation. ²² The next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a far country, will be appalled when they see the widespread devastation, how God made the whole land sick. ²³ They'll see a fire-blackened wasteland of brimstone and salt flats, nothing planted, nothing growing, not so much as a blade of grass anywhere - like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God overthrew in fiery rage. ²⁴ All the nations will ask, "Why did God do this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?" ²⁵ Your children will answer, "Because they abandoned the Covenant of the God of their ancestors that he made with them after he got them out of Egypt; ²⁶ they went off and worshiped other gods, submitted to gods they'd never heard of before, gods they had no business dealing with. ²⁷ So God's anger erupted against that land and all the curses written in this book came down on it. ²⁸ God, furiously angry, pulled them, roots and all, out of their land and dumped them in another country, as you can see." ²⁹ God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It's up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.

The Conditions for Restoration and Blessing

30¹ Here's what will happen. While you're out among the nations where God has dispersed you and the blessings and curses come in just the way I have set them before you, and you and your children take them seriously ² and come back to God, your God, and obey him with your whole heart and soul according to everything that I command you today, ³ God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he'll have compassion on you; he'll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered. ⁴ No matter how far away you end up, God, your God, will get you out of there ⁵ and bring you back to the land your ancestors once possessed. It will be yours again. He will give you a good life and make you more numerous than your ancestors. ⁶ God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children's hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live. ⁷ God, your God, will put all these curses on your enemies who hated you and were out to get you. ⁸ And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God, keeping all his commandments that I'm commanding you today. ⁹ God, your God, will outdo himself in making things go well for you: you'll have babies, get calves, grow crops, and enjoy an all-around good life. Yes, God will start enjoying you again, making things go well for you just as he enjoyed doing it for your ancestors. ¹⁰ But only if you listen obediently to God, your God, and keep the commandments and regulations written in this Book of Revelation. Nothing halfhearted here; you must return to God, your God, totally, heart and soul, holding nothing back.

¹¹ This commandment that I'm commanding you today isn't too much for you, it's not out of your reach. ¹² It's not on a high mountain - you don't have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. ¹³ And it's not across the ocean - you don't have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. ¹⁴ No. The word is right here and now - as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!

¹⁵ Look at what I've done for you today: I've placed in front of you Life and Good Death and Evil. ¹⁶ And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess. ¹⁷ But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, ¹⁸ you will most certainly die. You won't last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. ²⁰ And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

New King James Version

The Curses at Mount Ebal

¹¹ And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, ¹² "These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; ¹³ and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ "And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel: ¹⁵ 'Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.'And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen!' ¹⁶ 'Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ¹⁷ 'Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's landmark.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ¹⁸ 'Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ¹⁹ 'Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ²⁰ 'Cursed is the one who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's bed.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ²¹ 'Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ²² 'Cursed is the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ²³ 'Cursed is the one who lies with his mother-in-law.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ²⁴ 'Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ²⁵ 'Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' ²⁶ 'Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.'And all the people shall say, 'Amen!'

The Blessings of Obedience

28¹ "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. ⁴ Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. ⁷ "The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ⁹ The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹ And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. ¹⁴ So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The Consequences of Disobedience

¹⁵ "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. ²⁰ "The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. ²¹ The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. ²² The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed. ²⁵ The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you. ³⁰ You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand. ³³ A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. ³⁴ So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. ³⁶ The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods--wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you. ³⁸ You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land. ⁴³ The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

⁴⁵ Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. ⁵² They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, ⁵⁷ her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. ⁵⁸ "If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE Lord YOUR GOD, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues--great and prolonged plagues--and serious and prolonged sicknesses. ⁶⁰ Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. ⁶³ And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. ⁶⁴ "Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known--wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. ⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see. ⁶⁸ And the Lord will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, 'You shall never see it again.' And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

The LORD's Covenant with Israel in Moab

29¹ These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. ² Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land-- ³ the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴ Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. ⁵ And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. ⁶ You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷ And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. ⁸ We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

¹⁰ "All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones and your wives--also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water-- ¹² that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, ¹³ that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ¹⁴ "I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, ¹⁵ but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today ¹⁶ (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, ¹⁷ and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them--wood and stone and silver and gold); ¹⁸ so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; ¹⁹ and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, 'I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart'--as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. ²⁰ The Lord would not spare him; for then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law, ²² so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it: ²³ 'The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.' ²⁴ All nations would say, 'Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?' ²⁵ Then people would say: 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; ²⁶ for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. ²⁷ Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. ²⁸ And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.' ²⁹ The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

The Conditions for Restoration and Blessing

30¹ "Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, ² and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, ³ that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. ⁴ If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. ⁵ Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. ⁶ And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. ⁷ Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸ And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today. ⁹ The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, ¹⁰ if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹¹ "For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' ¹⁴ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

¹⁵ "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; ²⁰ that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."

New Living Translation

The Curses at Mount Ebal

¹¹ That same day Moses also gave this charge to the people: ¹² "When you cross the Jordan River, the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin must stand on Mount Gerizim to proclaim a blessing over the people. ¹³ And the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali must stand on Mount Ebal to proclaim a curse. ¹⁴ "Then the Levites will shout to all the people of Israel: ¹⁵ 'Cursed is anyone who carves or casts an idol and secretly sets it up. These idols, the work of craftsmen, are detestable to the Lord .' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ¹⁶ 'Cursed is anyone who dishonors father or mother.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ¹⁷ 'Cursed is anyone who steals property from a neighbor by moving a boundary marker.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ¹⁸ 'Cursed is anyone who leads a blind person astray on the road.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ¹⁹ 'Cursed is anyone who denies justice to foreigners, orphans, or widows.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ²⁰ 'Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with one of his father's wives, for he has violated his father.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ²¹ 'Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with an animal.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ²² 'Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his sister, whether she is the daughter of his father or his mother.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ²³ 'Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his mother-in-law.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ²⁴ 'Cursed is anyone who attacks a neighbor in secret.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ²⁵ 'Cursed is anyone who accepts payment to kill an innocent person.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.' ²⁶ 'Cursed is anyone who does not affirm and obey the terms of these instructions.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen.'

The Blessings of Obedience

28¹ "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. ² You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God: ³ Your towns and your fields will be blessed. ⁴ Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed. ⁵ Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed. ⁶ Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed. ⁷ "The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven! ⁸ "The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. ⁹ "If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. ¹⁰ Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you. ¹¹ "The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. ¹² The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. ¹³ If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. ¹⁴ You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.

The Consequences of Disobedience

¹⁵ "But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you: ¹⁶ Your towns and your fields will be cursed. ¹⁷ Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be cursed. ¹⁸ Your children and your crops will be cursed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be cursed. ¹⁹ Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be cursed. ²⁰ "The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me. ²¹ The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy. ²² The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die. ²³ The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. ²⁴ The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed. ²⁵ "The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away. ²⁷ "The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. ²⁹ You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you. ³⁰ "You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you. ³² You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won't be able to help them. ³³ A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment. ³⁴ You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you. ³⁵ The Lord will cover your knees and legs with incurable boils. In fact, you will be covered from head to foot. ³⁶ "The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! ³⁷ You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you. ³⁸ "You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines. ⁴⁰ You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens. ⁴¹ You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity. ⁴² Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops. ⁴³ "The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker. ⁴⁴ They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!

⁴⁵ "If you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and to obey the commands and decrees he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. ⁴⁶ These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, ⁴⁸ you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ "The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰ a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young. ⁵¹ Its armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will be destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs, and you will starve to death. ⁵² They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land-the walls you trusted to protect you-are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ "The siege and terrible distress of the enemy's attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you. ⁵⁴ The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children. ⁵⁵ He will refuse to share with them the flesh he is devouring-the flesh of one of his own children-because he has nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. ⁵⁶ The most tender and delicate woman among you-so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot-will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter. ⁵⁷ She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. ⁵⁸ "If you refuse to obey all the words of instruction that are written in this book, and if you do not fear the glorious and awesome name of the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you miserable and unbearably sick. ⁶⁰ He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief. ⁶¹ The Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this Book of Instruction, until you are destroyed. ⁶² Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the Lord your God. ⁶³ "Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy. ⁶⁴ For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! ⁶⁵ There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. ⁶⁶ Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, 'If only it were night!' And in the evening you will say, 'If only it were morning!' For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you. ⁶⁸ Then the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, to a destination I promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy you."

The LORD's Covenant with Israel in Moab

29¹ These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites while they were in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Mount Sinai. ² Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them, "You have seen with your own eyes everything the Lord did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to his whole country- ³ all the great tests of strength, the miraculous signs, and the amazing wonders. ⁴ But to this day the Lord has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear! ⁵ For forty years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out. ⁶ You ate no bread and drank no wine or other alcoholic drink, but he provided for you so you would know that he is the Lord your God. ⁷ "When we came here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them. ⁸ We took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh as their grant of land. ⁹ "Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do.

¹⁰ All of you-tribal leaders, elders, officers, all the men of Israel-are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God. ¹¹ Your little ones and your wives are with you, as well as the foreigners living among you who chop your wood and carry your water. ¹² You are standing here today to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God. The Lord is making this covenant, including the curses. ¹³ By entering into the covenant today, he will establish you as his people and confirm that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ¹⁴ "But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses. ¹⁵ I am making this covenant both with you who stand here today in the presence of the Lord our God, and also with the future generations who are not standing here today. ¹⁶ "You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left. ¹⁷ You have seen their detestable practices and their idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. ¹⁸ I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you-no man, woman, clan, or tribe-will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit. ¹⁹ "Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, 'I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.' This would lead to utter ruin! ²⁰ The Lord will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven. ²¹ The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this Book of Instruction. ²² "Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the Lord inflicts on it. ²³ They will exclaim, 'The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.' ²⁴ "And all the surrounding nations will ask, 'Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why was he so angry?' ²⁵ "And the answer will be, 'This happened because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the Lord . ²⁷ That is why the Lord 's anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it every curse recorded in this book. ²⁸ In great anger and fury the Lord uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!' ²⁹ "The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.

The Conditions for Restoration and Blessing

30¹ "In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the Lord your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions. ² If at that time you and your children return to the Lord your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today, ³ then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. ⁴ Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. ⁵ The Lord your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors! ⁶ "The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live! ⁷ The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate and persecute you. ⁸ Then you will again obey the Lord and keep all his commands that I am giving you today. ⁹ "The Lord your God will then make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he will cause your fields to produce abundant harvests, for the Lord will again delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors. ¹⁰ The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

¹¹ "This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. ¹² It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, 'Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?' ¹³ It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, 'Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?' ¹⁴ No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

¹⁵ "Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. ¹⁶ For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. ¹⁷ "But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, ¹⁸ then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. ¹⁹ "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! ²⁰ You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."