Deuteronomy 28:15-41

Consequences of Disobedience

15 "¹But 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 "²Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.

17 "³Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

18 "⁴Cursed 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 "⁵Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20 "⁶The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and ⁷rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until ⁸you perish quickly, on account * of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.

21 "⁹The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where * you are entering to possess it.

22 "¹⁰The LORD will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and ¹¹with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until ¹²you perish.

23 "The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron.

24 "¹³The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25 "¹⁴The 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 ¹⁵be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

26 "¹⁶Your 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 "¹⁷The LORD will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with ¹⁸tumors 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 ¹⁹grope 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 "²⁰You shall betroth a wife, but another man will violate her; ²¹you 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 "²²Your 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 "²³A 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 "²⁴The 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 "²⁵The 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, ²⁶wood and stone.

37 "²⁷You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where * the LORD drives you.

38 "²⁸You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little, for ²⁹the locust will consume it.

39 "³⁰You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them.

40 "³¹You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.

41 "³²You shall have sons and daughters but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity.

Deuteronomy 28:15-41 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

• 1. Leviticus 26:14-43; Joshua 23:15; Daniel 9:11
• 2. Deuteronomy 28:3
• 3. Deuteronomy 28:5
• 4. Deuteronomy 28:4
• 5. Deuteronomy 28:6
• 6. Deuteronomy 28:8; Malachi 2:2
• 7. Psalms 80:16; Isaiah 51:20; Isaiah 66:15
• 8. Deuteronomy 4:26
• 9. Leviticus 26:25; Numbers 14:12; Jeremiah 24:10; Amos 4:10
• 10. Leviticus 26:16
• 11. Amos 4:9
• 12. Deuteronomy 4:26
• 13. Deuteronomy 11:17; Deuteronomy 28:12
• 14. Deuteronomy 28:7; Isaiah 30:17
• 15. 2 Chronicles 29:8; Jeremiah 15:4; Jeremiah 24:9; Ezekiel 23:46
• 16. Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7; Jeremiah 34:20
• 17. Exodus 9:9; Deuteronomy 7:15; Deuteronomy 28:60, 61
• 18. 1 Samuel 5:6
• 19. Exodus 10:21
• 20. Job 31:10; Jeremiah 8:10
• 21. Amos 5:11
• 22. Deuteronomy 28:41
• 23. Jeremiah 5:15, 17
• 24. Deuteronomy 28:27
• 25. 2 Kings 17:4, 6; 2 Kings 24:12, 14; 2 Kings 25:7, 11; 2 Chronicles 36:1-21; Jeremiah 39:1-9
• 26. Deuteronomy 4:28; Jeremiah 16:13
• 27. 1 Kings 9:7, 8; Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 24:9; Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 29:18
• 28. Isaiah 5:10; Micah 6:15; Haggai 1:6
• 29. Exodus 10:4; Joel 1:4
• 30. Isaiah 5:10; Isaiah 17:10, 11
• 31. Jeremiah 11:16; Micah 6:15
• 32. Deuteronomy 28:32

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "listen to the voice of"
• [b]. Or "field"
• [c]. Lit "fruit"
• [d]. Or "womb"
• [e]. Lit "fruit"
• [f]. Lit "the putting forth of your hand which you do"
• [g]. Another reading is "drought"
• [h]. Lit "Your"
• [i]. Lit "smitten"
• [j]. Lit "be groping"
• [k]. Lit "begin it"
• [l]. Lit "in the power of your hand"
• [m]. Lit "your eyes which you"
• [n]. Lit "beget"