Deuteronomy 28:58-68

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, 1the 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 2the 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 3you were as numerous 4as 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 5took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will 6take 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 7 will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and 8there you shall serve other gods 9of wood and stone, 10which neither you nor your fathers have known.
65 And 11among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but 12the LORD will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and 13a 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 14In 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 15the sights that your eyes shall see.
68 And the LORD 16 will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that 17you 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."

Deuteronomy 28:58-68 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 28

In this chapter Moses enlarges on the blessings and the curses which belong, the one to the doers, the other to the transgressors of the law; the blessings, De 28:1-14; the curses, some of which concern individual persons, others the whole nation and body of people, and that both under the former and present dispensations, and which had their fulfilment in their former captivities, and more especially in their present dispersion, De 28:15-68.

Cross References 17

  • 1. Exodus 6:3
  • 2. See Deuteronomy 7:15
  • 3. Deuteronomy 4:27; [2 Kings 24:14; Nehemiah 7:4; Jeremiah 42:2]
  • 4. See Deuteronomy 10:22
  • 5. Deuteronomy 30:9; Jeremiah 32:41; Zephaniah 3:17
  • 6. [Proverbs 1:26; Isaiah 1:24; Ezekiel 5:13]
  • 7. See Leviticus 26:33
  • 8. ver. 36
  • 9. Deuteronomy 4:28
  • 10. Deuteronomy 13:6; Jeremiah 19:4; Jeremiah 44:3
  • 11. [Amos 9:4]
  • 12. [Leviticus 26:36]
  • 13. Leviticus 26:16
  • 14. Job 7:3, 4
  • 15. ver. 34
  • 16. Hosea 8:13; Hosea 9:3; [Jeremiah 43:7]
  • 17. See Deuteronomy 17:16
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.