Deuteronomy 28:13

13 The Lord God shall set thee into the head, and not into the tail, and ever[more] thou shalt be above, and not beneath (The Lord God shall make thee the head, and not the tail, and thou shalt always be above, and never beneath); if nevertheless thou hearest the commandments of thy Lord God, which I command to thee today, and keepest, and doest them,

Deuteronomy 28:13 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:13

And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail
Give them dominion over others, and not make them subject to them; the head signifies rulers and governors, and the tail the common people that are subjects; or the one such that are honourable and in high esteem, and the other such that are mean and base; see ( Isaiah 9:14 Isaiah 9:15 ) ; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``the Word of the Lord shall make thee''

and thou shalt be above only, and thou shall not be beneath;
which explains what is meant by head and tail, being uppermost and lowermost, as the head is the upper part, and the tail the lower part of a creature; the one is more honourable, the other vile: the sense is, that they should be superior to other people in honour and dignity, and not below them, or vassals to them: if that thou hearken to the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I
command thee this day to observe and to do [them];
which is the condition on which all this happiness depended.

Deuteronomy 28:13 In-Context

11 The Lord shall make thee to be plenteous in all goods (The Lord shall make thee to be plenteous in all good things), (yea,) in the fruit of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy beasts, (and) in the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that he would give to thee.

12 The Lord shall open his best treasure, heaven, that he give rain to thy land in his time; and he shall bless all the works of thine hands; and thou shalt lend to many folks, and of no man thou shalt take borrowing. (The Lord shall open his treasure house, the heavens, and give rain to thy land at the proper time; and he shall bless all the works of thy hands; and thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow from anyone.)

13 The Lord God shall set thee into the head, and not into the tail, and ever[more] thou shalt be above, and not beneath (The Lord God shall make thee the head, and not the tail, and thou shalt always be above, and never beneath); if nevertheless thou hearest the commandments of thy Lord God, which I command to thee today, and keepest, and doest them,

14 and bowest not away from them, neither to the right side, neither to the left side, neither followest alien gods (nor followest foreign, or other, gods), nor worshippest them.

15 That if thou wilt not hear the voice of thy Lord God, that thou keep and do all his behests, and ceremonies, which I command to thee today, all these cursings shall come upon thee, and shall take thee. (But if thou wilt not listen to the voice of the Lord thy God, and obey all his commandments, and statutes, which I command to thee today, all these curses shall come to thee, and shall overtake thee.)