Deuteronomy 28

¹ 'But if you faithful y obey the voice of Yahweh your God, by keeping and observing al hiscommandments, which I am laying down for you today, Yahweh your God wil raise you higher than every othernation in the world,

² and al these blessings wil befal and overtake you, for having obeyed the voice of Yahweh your God.

³ 'You wil be blessed in the town and blessed in the countryside;

⁴ blessed, the offspring of your body, the yield of your soil, the yield of your livestock, the young of yourcattle and the increase of your flocks;

⁵ blessed, your basket and your kneading trough.

⁶ You wil be blessed in coming home, and blessed in going out.

⁷ The enemies who attack you, Yahweh wil defeat before your eyes; they wil advance on you from onedirection and flee from you in seven.

⁸ Yahweh wil command blessedness to be with you, on your barns and on al your undertakings, andhe wil bless you in the country given you by Yahweh your God.

⁹ 'From you Yahweh wil make a people consecrated to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep thecommandments of Yahweh your God and fol ow his ways.

¹⁰ The peoples of the world, seeing that you bear Yahweh's name, wil al be afraid of you.

¹¹ Yahweh wil make you abound in possessions: in the offspring of your body, in the yield of your cattleand in the yield of your soil, in the country which he swore to your ancestors that he would give you.

¹² For you Yahweh wil open his treasury of rain, the heavens, to give your country its rain at the righttime, and to bless al your labours. You wil make many nations your subjects, yet you wil be subject to none.

¹³ Yahweh wil put you at the head, not at the tail; you wil always be on top and never underneath, ifyou listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I am laying down for you today, and then keepthem and put them into practice,

¹⁴ not deviating to right or to left from any of the words which I am laying down for you today, byfol owing other gods and serving them.

¹⁵ 'But if you do not obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and do not keep and observe all hiscommandments and laws which I am laying down for you today then all these curses wil befall and overtakeyou.

¹⁶ 'You wil be accursed in the town and accursed in the countryside;

¹⁷ accursed, your basket and your kneading trough;

¹⁸ accursed, the offspring of your body, the yield of your soil, the young of your cattle and the increaseof your flock.

¹⁹ You wil be accursed in coming home, and accursed in going out.

²⁰ 'Yahweh wil send a curse on you, a spel , an imprecation on al your labours until you have beendestroyed and quickly perish, because of your perverse behaviour, for having deserted me.

²¹ Yahweh wil fasten the plague on you, until it has exterminated you from the country which you areabout to enter and make your own.

²² Yahweh wil strike you down with consumption, fever, inflammation, burning fever, drought, wind-blast, mildew, and these wil pursue you to your ruin.

²³ The heavens above you wil be brass, the earth beneath you iron.

²⁴ Your country's rain Yahweh wil turn into dust and sand; it will fal on you from the heavens until youperish.

²⁵ Yahweh wil have you defeated by your enemies; you will advance on them from one direction andflee from them in seven; and you wil be a terrifying object-lesson to al the kingdoms of the world.

²⁶ Your carcase will be carrion for al wild birds and al wild animals, with no one to scare them away.

²⁷ 'Yahweh wil strike you down with Egyptian ulcers, with swel ings in the groin, with scurvy and theitch, for which you wil find no cure.

²⁸ Yahweh wil strike you down with madness, blindness, distraction of mind,

²⁹ until you grope your way at noon like a blind man groping in the dark, and your steps will lead younowhere. 'You will never be anything but exploited and plundered, with no one to save you.

³⁰ Get engaged to a woman, another man will have her; build a house, you wil not live in it; plant avineyard, you wil not gather its first-fruits.

³¹ Your ox wil be slaughtered before your eyes and you will eat none of it; your donkey wil be carriedoff in front of you and not be returned to you; your sheep wil be given to your enemies, and no one will come toyour help.

³² Your sons and daughters wil be handed over to another people, and every day you will wear youreyes out watching for them, while your hands are powerless.

³³ A nation hitherto unknown to you wil eat the yield of your soil and of all your hard work. You wilnever be anything but exploited and crushed.

³⁴ You wil be driven mad by the sights you wil see.

³⁵ Yahweh wil strike you down with foul ulcers on knee and leg, for which you wil find no cure -- fromthe sole of your foot to the top of your head.

³⁶ 'Yahweh wil send away both you and the king whom you have appointed to rule you to a nationunknown either to you or to your ancestors, and there you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone.

³⁷ And you wil be the astonishment, the byword, the laughing-stock of al the peoples where Yahweh istaking you.

³⁸ 'You wil cast seed in plenty on the fields but harvest little, since the locust wil devour it.

³⁹ You wil plant and till your vineyards but not drink the wine or gather the grapes, since the grub willeat them up.

⁴⁰ You wil grow olive trees throughout your territory but not anoint yourself with the oil, since your olivetrees wil be cut down.

⁴¹ You wil father sons and daughters but they will not belong to you, since they wil go into captivity.

⁴² Al your trees and the whole yield of your soil will be the prey of insects.

⁴³ 'The foreigners living with you wil rise higher and higher at your expense, while you yourself sinklower and lower.

⁴⁴ You wil be subject to them, not they to you; they wil be the ones at the head, and you the one at thetail.

⁴⁵ 'Al these curses wil befal you, pursue you and overtake you until you have been destroyed, for nothaving obeyed the voice of Yahweh your God by keeping his commandments and laws which he has laid downfor you.

⁴⁶ They wil be a sign and a wonder over you and your descendants for ever.

⁴⁷ 'For not having joyful y and with happy heart served Yahweh your God, despite the abundance ofeverything,

⁴⁸ you will have to serve the enemy whom Yahweh wil send against you, in hunger, thirst, lack ofclothing and total privation. He will put an iron yoke on your neck, until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ 'Against you Yahweh wil raise a distant nation from the ends of the earth like an eagle taking wing: anation whose language you do not understand,

⁵⁰ a nation grim of face, with neither respect for the old, nor pity for the young.

⁵¹ He wil eat the yield of your cattle and the yield of your soil until you have been destroyed; he willleave you neither wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor the young of your cattle, nor increase of your flock, until he hasmade an end of you.

⁵² He wil besiege you inside al your towns until your loftiest and most strongly fortified walls collapse,on which, throughout your country, you have relied. He wil besiege you inside al the towns throughout yourcountry, given you by Yahweh your God.

⁵³ During the siege and in the distress to which your enemy wil reduce you, you wil eat the offspring ofyour own body, the flesh of the sons and daughters given you by Yahweh your God.

⁵⁴ The gentlest and tenderest of your men wil scowl at his brother, and at the wife whom he embraces,and at his remaining children,

⁵⁵ not wil ing to give any of them any of his own children's flesh, which he is eating; because of thesiege and the distress to which your enemy wil reduce you in all your towns, he wil have nothing left.

⁵⁶ The most refined and fastidious of your women, so refined, so fastidious that she has never venturedto set the sole of her foot to the ground, wil scowl at the husband whom she embraces, and at her son anddaughter, and at the after-birth when it leaves her womb, and at the child to which she has given birth-

⁵⁷ she will hide away and eat them, so complete wil be the starvation resulting from the siege and thedistress to which your enemy wil reduce you in all your towns.

⁵⁸ 'If you do not keep and observe al the words of this Law, which are written in this book, in the fear ofthis glorious and awe-inspiring name: Yahweh your God,

⁵⁹ Yahweh wil strike you down with monstrous plagues, you and your descendants: with plaguesgrievous and lasting, diseases pernicious and enduring.

⁶⁰ He wil afflict you with al the maladies of Egypt which you used to dread, and they wil fasten on you.

⁶¹ What is more, Yahweh wil afflict you with all the plagues and all the diseases not mentioned in thebook of this Law, until you have been destroyed.

⁶² There will only be a smal group of you left, you who were once as numerous as the stars of heaven.'For not having obeyed the voice of Yahweh your God,

⁶³ just as Yahweh used to delight in making you happy and in making your numbers grow, so wil hetake delight in ruining you and destroying you. You wil be torn from the country which you are about to enter andmake your own.

⁶⁴ Yahweh wil scatter you throughout every people, from one end of the earth to the other; there youwil serve other gods made of wood and stone, hitherto unknown either to you or to your ancestors.

⁶⁵ Among these nations there wil be no repose for you, no rest for the sole of your foot; there Yahwehwil give you a quaking heart, weary eyes, halting breath.

⁶⁶ Your life ahead of you wil hang in doubt; you wil be afraid day and night, uncertain of your life.

⁶⁷ In the morning you wil say, "How I wish it were evening!", and in the evening you will say, "How I wish it were morning!", such terror will grip your heart and such sights you wil see!

⁶⁸ Yahweh wil send you back to Egypt, either by ship or by a road which I promised you would neversee again. And there you wil want to offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as serving men and women, butno one wil buy you.'

⁶⁹ These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh ordered Moses to make with the Israelites inMoab, in addition to the covenant which he had made with them at Horeb.