Deuteronomy 28:14-68

14 and 1do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Consequences of Disobedience

15 "2But it shall come about, if you do not obey * the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 "3Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
17 "4Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 "5Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
19 "6Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 "7The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and 8rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until 9you perish quickly, on account * of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.
21 "10The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where * you are entering to possess it.
22 "11The LORD will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and 12with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until 13you perish.
23 "The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron.
24 "14The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25 "15The LORD shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will 16be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 "17Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
27 "18The LORD will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with 19tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot * be healed.
28 "The LORD will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart;
29 and you will 20grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually *, with none to save you.
30 "21You shall betroth a wife, but another man will violate her; 22you shall build a house, but you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit.
31 "Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you.
32 "23Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually *; but there will be nothing you can do.
33 "24A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually *.
34 "You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see.
35 "25The LORD will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils, from which you cannot * be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
36 "26The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, 27wood and stone.
37 "28You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where * the LORD drives you.
38 "29You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little, for 30the locust will consume it.
39 "31You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them.
40 "32You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.
41 "33You shall have sons and daughters but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity.
42 "34The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground.
43 "35The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower.
44 "36He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; 37he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.
45 "So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you 38until you are destroyed, because you would not obey * the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.
46 "They shall become 39a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever *.
47 "40Because * you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, 41in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He 42will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
49 "43The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, 44as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
50 a nation of fierce countenance who will 45have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.
51 "Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.
52 "46It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the LORD your God has given you.
53 "47Then you shall 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 distress by which your enemy will oppress you.
54 "The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,
55 so 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 distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns.
56 "48The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,
57 and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for 49she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.
58 "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to 50fear this honored and awesome 51name, the LORD your God,
59 then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.
60 "52He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.
61 "Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring on you 53until you are destroyed.
62 "Then you shall be left few in number, 54whereas * you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey * the LORD your God.
63 "It shall come about that as the LORD 55delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will 56delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be 57torn from the land where * you are entering to possess it.
64 "Moreover, the LORD will 58scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall 59serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.
65 "60Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there 61the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.
66 "So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.
67 "62In the morning you shall say, 'Would * that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Would * that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.
68 "The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke 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."

Deuteronomy 28:14-68 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 62

  • 1. Deuteronomy 5:32; Joshua 1:7
  • 2. Leviticus 26:14-43; Joshua 23:15; Daniel 9:11
  • 3. Deuteronomy 28:3
  • 4. Deuteronomy 28:5
  • 5. Deuteronomy 28:4
  • 6. Deuteronomy 28:6
  • 7. Deuteronomy 28:8; Malachi 2:2
  • 8. Psalms 80:16; Isaiah 51:20; Isaiah 66:15
  • 9. Deuteronomy 4:26
  • 10. Leviticus 26:25; Numbers 14:12; Jeremiah 24:10; Amos 4:10
  • 11. Leviticus 26:16
  • 12. Amos 4:9
  • 13. Deuteronomy 4:26
  • 14. Deuteronomy 11:17; Deuteronomy 28:12
  • 15. Deuteronomy 28:7; Isaiah 30:17
  • 16. 2 Chronicles 29:8; Jeremiah 15:4; Jeremiah 24:9; Ezekiel 23:46
  • 17. Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7; Jeremiah 34:20
  • 18. Exodus 9:9; Deuteronomy 7:15; Deuteronomy 28:60, 61
  • 19. 1 Samuel 5:6
  • 20. Exodus 10:21
  • 21. Job 31:10; Jeremiah 8:10
  • 22. Amos 5:11
  • 23. Deuteronomy 28:41
  • 24. Jeremiah 5:15, 17
  • 25. Deuteronomy 28:27
  • 26. 2 Kings 17:4, 6; 2 Kings 24:12, 14; 2 Kings 25:7, 11; 2 Chronicles 36:1-21; Jeremiah 39:1-9
  • 27. Deuteronomy 4:28; Jeremiah 16:13
  • 28. 1 Kings 9:7, 8; Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 24:9; Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 29:18
  • 29. Isaiah 5:10; Micah 6:15; Haggai 1:6
  • 30. Exodus 10:4; Joel 1:4
  • 31. Isaiah 5:10; Isaiah 17:10, 11
  • 32. Jeremiah 11:16; Micah 6:15
  • 33. Deuteronomy 28:32
  • 34. Deuteronomy 28:38
  • 35. Deuteronomy 28:13
  • 36. Deuteronomy 28:12
  • 37. Deuteronomy 28:13
  • 38. Deuteronomy 4:25, 26
  • 39. Numbers 26:10; Isaiah 8:18; Ezekiel 5:15; Ezekiel 14:8
  • 40. Deuteronomy 12:7; Nehemiah 9:35-37
  • 41. Lamentations 4:4-6
  • 42. Jeremiah 28:13, 14
  • 43. Isaiah 5:26-30; Isaiah 7:18-20; Jeremiah 5:15; Jeremiah 6:22, 23
  • 44. Jeremiah 48:40; Jeremiah 49:22; Lamentations 4:19; Hosea 8:1
  • 45. Isaiah 47:6
  • 46. Jeremiah 10:17, 18; Zephaniah 1:15, 16
  • 47. Leviticus 26:29; 2 Kings 6:28, 29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 4:10
  • 48. Lamentations 4:10
  • 49. 2 Kings 6:28, 29; Lamentations 4:10
  • 50. Psalms 99:3; Malachi 1:14
  • 51. Isaiah 42:8
  • 52. Deuteronomy 28:27
  • 53. Deuteronomy 4:25, 26
  • 54. Deuteronomy 1:10; Nehemiah 9:23
  • 55. Jeremiah 32:41
  • 56. Proverbs 1:26
  • 57. Jeremiah 12:14; Jeremiah 45:4
  • 58. Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:27; Nehemiah 1:8
  • 59. Deuteronomy 4:28; Deuteronomy 29:26; Deuteronomy 32:17
  • 60. Lamentations 1:3
  • 61. Leviticus 26:36
  • 62. Job 7:4

Footnotes 39

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