Deuteronomy28
New King James Version
1“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.
2And 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.
10Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.
11And 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.
12The 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.
13And 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.
14So 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.
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.
21The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.
22The 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.
23And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.
24The 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.
26Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
27The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
28The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart.
29And 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.
31Your 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.
32Your 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.
33A 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.
34So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see.
35The 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.
37And 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.
39You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.
41You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.
42Locusts 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.
44He 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.
46And 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,
48therefore 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.
49The 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,
50a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young.
51And 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.
53You 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.
54The 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,
55so 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.
56The 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,
57her 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,
59then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
60Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
61Also 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.
62You 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.
63And 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.
65And 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.
66Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.
67In 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.”
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