Deuteronomy28
New American Standard
1“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the Lord your God will put you high above all the nations of the earth.
2And all these blessings will come to you and reach you if you obey the Lord your God:
3“Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the country.
4“Blessed will be the children of your womb, the produce of your ground, and the offspring of your animals: the newborn of your herd and the young of your flock.
5“Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6“Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.
7“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated by you; they will go out against you one way and will flee at your presence seven ways.
8The Lord will command the blessing for you in your barns and in everything that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
9The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.
10So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you.
11And the Lord will give you more than enough prosperity, in the children of your womb, in the offspring of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
12The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.
13And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will only be above, and not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today, to follow them carefully,
14and do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or the left, to pursue other gods to serve them.
15“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to be careful to follow all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16“Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the country.
17“Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18“Cursed will be the children of your womb, the produce of your ground, the newborn of your herd, and the offspring of your flock.
19“Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out.
20“The Lord will send against you curses, panic, and rebuke, in everything you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have abandoned Me.
21The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has eliminated you from the land where you are entering to take possession of it.
22The Lord will strike you with consumption, inflammation, fever, feverish heat, and with the sword, with blight, and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish.
23The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron.
24The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25“The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways from their presence, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26Your dead bodies will serve as food for all birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
27“The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, the festering rash, and with scabies, from which you cannot be healed.
28The Lord will strike you with insanity, blindness, and with confusion of mind;
29and you will be groping about at noon, just as a person who is blind gropes in the darkness, and you will not be successful in your ways; but you will only be oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you.
30You will betroth a woman, but another man will violate her; you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not make use of its fruit.
31Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey will be snatched away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.
32Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them constantly; but there will be nothing you can do.
33A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your ground and every product of your labor, and you will never be anything but oppressed and mistreated continually.
34You will also be driven insane by the sight of what you see.
35The Lord will strike you on the knees and thighs with severe boils from which you cannot be healed, and strike you from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, made of wood and stone.
37And you will become an object of horror, a song of mockery, and an object of taunting among all the peoples where the Lord drives you.
38“You will bring out a great amount of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because the locust will devour it.
39You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor bring in the harvest, because the worm will eat it.
40You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will drop off prematurely.
41You will father sons and daughters but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity.
42The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground.
43The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower.
44He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.
45“So all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.
46And they will become a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever.
47“Since you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart, in gratitude for the abundance of all things,
48you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and devoid of all things; and He will put an iron yoke 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, as the eagle swoops down; a nation whose language you will not understand,
50a nation with a defiant attitude, who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.
51Furthermore, it will eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed; a nation that will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the newborn of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have eliminated you.
52And it will besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it will besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you.
53Then you will eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will oppress you.
54The man who is refined and very delicate among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife he cherishes, and toward the rest of his children who are left,
55so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns.
56The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and tenderness, will be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,
57and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her legs, and toward her children to whom she gives birth, because she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the hardship with which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.
58“If you are not careful to follow all the words of this Law that are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God,
59then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.
60And He will bring back on you every disease of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.
61Also every sickness and every plague, which are not written in the book of this Law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed.
62Then you will be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the Lord your God.
63And it will come about that, just as the Lord rejoiced over you to be good to you, and make you numerous, so will the Lord rejoice over you to wipe you out and destroy you; and you will be torn away from the land which you are entering to possess.
64Furthermore, the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known.
65Among those nations you will find no peace, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.
66So your lives will be hanging in doubt before you; and you will be terrified night and day, and have no assurance of your life.
67In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And at evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the terror of your heart which you fear, and the sight of your eyes which you will see.
68And the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 28.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The blessings for obedience. (1–14). The curses for disobedience. (15–44). Their ruin, if disobedient. (45–68).
vv1-14
This chapter is a very large exposition of two words, the blessing and the curse. They are real things and have real effects. The blessings are here put before the curses. God is slow to anger, but swift to show mercy. It is his delight to bless. It is better that we should be drawn to what is good by a child-like hope of God's favour, than that we be frightened to it by a slavish fear of his wrath. The blessing is promised, upon condition that they diligently hearken to the voice of God. Let them keep up religion, the form and power of it, in their families and nation, then the providence of God would prosper all their outward concerns.
vv15-44
If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful.
vv45-68
If God inflicts vengeance, what miseries his curse can bring upon mankind, even in this present world! Yet these are but the beginning of sorrows to those under the curse of God. What then will be the misery of that world where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched! Observe what is here said of the wrath of God, which should come and remain upon the Israelites for their sins. It is amazing to think that a people so long the favourites of Heaven, should be so cast off; and yet that a people so scattered in all nations should be kept distinct, and not mixed with others. If they would not serve God with cheerfulness, they should be compelled to serve their enemies. We may justly expect from God, that if we do not fear his fearful name, we shall feel his fearful plagues; for one way or other God will be feared. The destruction threatened is described. They have, indeed, been plucked from off the land, verse 63. Not only by the Babylonish captivity, and when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans; but afterwards, when they were forbidden to set foot in Jerusalem. They should have no rest; no rest of body, verse 65, but be continually on the remove, either in hope of gain, or fear of persecution. No rest of the mind, which is much worse. They have been banished from city to city, from country to country; recalled, and banished again. These events, compared with the favour shown to Israel in ancient times, and with the prophecies about them, should not only excite astonishment, but turn unto us for a testimony, assuring us of the truth of Scripture. And when the other prophecies of their conversion to Christ shall come to pass, the whole will be a sign and a wonder to all the nations of the earth, and the forerunner of a general spread of true christianity. The fulfilling of these prophecies upon the Jewish nation, delivered more than three thousand years ago, shows that Moses spake by the Spirit of God; who not only foresees the ruin of sinners, but warns of it, that they may prevent it by a true and timely repentance, or else be left without excuse. And let us be thankful that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for us, and bearing in his own person all that punishment which our sins merit, and which we must otherwise have endured for ever. To this Refuge and salvation let sinners flee; therein let believers rejoice, and serve their reconciled God with gladness of heart, for the abundance of his spiritual blessings.
Key Words
אִם: used very widely as demonstrative, lo!; interrogative, whether?; or conditional, if, although; also Oh that!, when; hence, as a negative, not
שָׁמַע: to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.)
קוֹל: a voice or sound
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
שָׁמַר: properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.
עָשָׂה: to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
מִצְוָה: a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
צָוָה: (intensively) to constitute, enjoin
Cross References
Deuteronomy 28The primary Levitical counterpart detailing covenant blessings for obedience.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The primary Levitical counterpart outlining the covenant curses for national disobedience.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Tragic historical fulfillment of mothers eating their own children during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Literal fulfillment of the siege-cannibalism curse during the Syrian siege of Samaria.
Contrast with God's law that the king shall not cause the people to return to Egypt.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Establishes the foundation of the covenant relationship: obeying God's voice makes Israel a peculiar treasure.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Repeats the promise that God will set Israel high above all nations in praise and honor.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel covenant threat of wasting disease and burning ague/fevers.
Supported by JFB
Direct parallel covenant warning of heavens made like brass and earth like iron.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jeremiah uses the literal 'yoke of iron' metaphor to describe subjugation under Nebuchadnezzar.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Jeremiah echoes Moses by predicting a distant nation of ancient origin and incomprehensible language.
The Levitical covenant parallel threatening scattering among the nations and a drawn-out sword.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Prophetic fulfillment of the threat of returning to Egypt as a judgment for sin.
Supported by JFB
Illustrates the Hebrew idiom 'going out and coming in' as representing all life's activities and undertakings.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The formal covenant declaration that Israel is established as God's peculiar and holy people.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Prophetic use of the 'head and tail' idiom for political and moral leadership or degradation.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Covenant curse of being smitten and fleeing before enemies.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Historical fulfillment of the plague of emerods smiting the Philistines.
Supported by JFB
The 'botch of Egypt' refers back to the plague of boils in Exodus.
Supported by JFB
Fulfillment when the king and people of Israel were carried away to Assyria.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Prophetic fulfillment of becoming a reproach, a proverb, and a byword.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Directly contrasts the blessing of being a lender with the curse of becoming the borrower.
The parallel covenant warning in Leviticus that predicts cannibalism under extreme siege conditions.
Contrasts the curse of returning Egyptian diseases with God's original promise of immunity for obedience.
Earlier Mosaic warning that Israel would be left few in number after being scattered.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Contrasts their reduction to 'few' with their increase as the stars of heaven.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Internal reference within the curse sequence regarding serving other gods of wood and stone.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Levitical parallel describing the faintness and fear of heart in the land of exile.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Historical fulfillment where Jews were sold as slaves to the Grecians.
Supported by JFB
Exact structural counterpart where curses overtake the disobedient just as blessings overtake the obedient.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Poetic description of the heavens as God's storehouse or treasury of natural forces.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Direct contrast within the same chapter: under the curse, the stranger lends and Israel borrows.
Supported by JFB
Paul cites the curse of the law, pointing to Christ who redeemed believers from it.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Historical fulfillment of agricultural devastation by blasting, mildew, and locusts.
Supported by JFB
Job smitten with sore boils from sole of foot to crown of head.
Supported by JFB
Internal Deuteronomy parallel regarding exile and serving other gods of wood and stone.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB