Deuteronomy 28:8-28

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.

10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.

11 And 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.

12 The 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.

13 And 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.

14 So 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.

21 The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.

22 The 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.

23 And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.

24 The 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.

26 Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.

27 The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.

28 The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart.

Deuteronomy 28:8-28 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.