Deuteronomy28
New International Version
1If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
2All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
3You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him.
10Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you.
11The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.
12The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.
13The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
14Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
15However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:
16You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
17Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
18The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
19You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
20The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.
21The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.
22The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.
23The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.
24The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
25The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.
26Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
27The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.
28The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.
29At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.
30You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.
31Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them.
32Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand.
33A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days.
34The sights you see will drive you mad.
35The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
36The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.
37You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.
38You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.
39You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
40You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.
41You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.
42Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
43The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.
44They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.
45All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.
46They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.
47Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,
48therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
49The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,
50a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young.
51They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.
52They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.
53Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.
54Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children,
55and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.
56The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter
57the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.
58If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God—
59the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.
60He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.
61The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.
62You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God.
63Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
64Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.
65Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.
66You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.
67In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.
68The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.
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