44
He'll lend to you; you won't lend to him. He'll be the head; you'll be the tail.
45
All these curses are going to come on you. They're going to hunt you down and get you until there's nothing left of you because you didn't obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep his commandments and guidelines that I commanded you.
46
The curses will serve as signposts, warnings to your children ever after.
47
Because you didn't serve God, your God, out of the joy and goodness of your heart in the great abundance,
48
you'll have to serve your enemies whom God will send against you. Life will be famine and drought, rags and wretchedness; then he'll put an iron yoke on your neck until he's destroyed you.
49
Yes, God will raise up a faraway nation against you, swooping down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you can't understand,
50
a mean-faced people, cruel to grandmothers and babies alike.
51
They'll ravage the young of your animals and the crops from your fields until you're destroyed. They'll leave nothing behind: no grain, no wine, no oil, no calves, no lambs - and finally, no you.
52
They'll lay siege to you while you're huddled behind your town gates. They'll knock those high, proud walls flat, those walls behind which you felt so safe. They'll lay siege to your fortified cities all over the country, this country that God, your God, has given you.
53
And you'll end up cannibalizing your own sons and daughters that God, your God, has given you. When the suffering from the siege gets extreme, you're going to eat your own babies.
54
The most gentle and caring man among you will turn hard, his eye evil, against his own brother, his cherished wife, and even the rest of his children who are still alive,