Deuteronomy 28:15-25

15 "{And then} if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God {by diligently observing} all of his commandments and his statutes that I [am] commanding you {today}, then all of these curses shall come upon you, and they shall overtake you:

16 "You [shall] be cursed in the city, and [you shall] be cursed in the field.

17 "Your basket [shall] be cursed and your kneading trough.

18 "The fruit of your womb [shall] be cursed and the fruit of you ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.

19 "You shall be cursed {when you come in}, and you [shall] be cursed {when you go out}.

20 "Yahweh will send upon you the curse, the panic, and the threat {in everything that you undertake}, {until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly} {because of} the evil of your deeds in that you have forsaken me.

21 Yahweh will cause the plague to cling to you {until it consumes you} from the land that you [are] going to, to take possession of it.

22 Yahweh will afflict you with the wasting diseases and with the fever and with the inflammation and with the scorching heat and with the sword and with the blight and with the mildew, and they shall pursue you {until you perish}.

23 And your heavens that [are] over your heads shall be [like] bronze, and the earth that [is] under you [shall be like] iron.

24 Yahweh will change the rain of your land [to] fine dust and [to] sand; from the heaven it shall come down upon you {until you are destroyed}.

25 "Yahweh shall cause you to be defeated {before} your enemies; on one road you shall go {against} them, but you will flee on seven roads {before} them, and you shall become a thing of horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth.

Deuteronomy 28:15-25 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "and it will happen"
• [b]. Literally "to observe and to do"
• [c]. Literally "the day"
• [d]. All of these curses have a future orientation that points to Israel in the land of Canaan
• [e]. Literally "at/in your coming"
• [f]. Literally "at/in your going out"
• [g]. Others translate as a wish: "may Yahweh send upon you ..."
• [h]. These words are translated variously, e.g., "starvation," "thirst," "rebuke/dysentery" (NEB) or "curses," "confusion," "frustration" (NLT)
• [i]. Or "confusion"
• [j]. Or "rebuke"
• [k]. Literally "in all the sending out of your hand that you do"
• [l]. Literally "until your to be destroyed and until your to perish quickly"
• [m]. Literally "from the face of the evil of your deeds"
• [n]. Literally "which"
• [o]. Literally "it to consume to"
• [p]. Hebrew "to there"
• [q]. Others translate "drought" (NLT, NEB)
• [r]. Literally "until your/you to perish"
• [s]. Literally "until your being destroyed"
• [t]. Literally "to the face of"
• [u]. Literally "to/toward"
• [v]. Hebrew "him"
• [w]. Literally "to the face of"
• [x]. Hebrew "him"