Deuteronomy 27–28

Chapter 27

And Moses with the ancients of Israel commanded the people, saying: Keep every commandment that I command you this day.

²And when you are passed over the Jordan into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, thou shalt set up great stones, and shalt plaster them over with plaster,

³That thou mayst write on them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over the Jordan: that thou mayst enter into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as he swore to thy fathers.

⁴Therefore when you are passed over the Jordan, set up the stones which I command you this day, in mount Hebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster:

⁵And thou shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy God, of stones which iron hath not touched,

⁶And of stones not fashioned nor polished: and thou shalt offer upon it holocausts to the Lord thy God:

⁷And shalt immolate peace victims, and eat there, and feast before the Lord thy God.

⁸And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law plainly and clearly.

⁹And Moses and the priests of the race of Levi said to all Israel: Attend, and hear, O Israel: This day thou art made the people of the Lord thy God:

¹⁰Thou shalt hear his voice, and do the commandments and justices which I command thee.

¹¹And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying:

¹²These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when you are passed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

¹³And over against them shall stand on mount Hebal to curse: Ruben, Gad, and Aser, and Zabulon, Dan, and Nephtali.

¹⁴And the Levites shall pronounce, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice:

¹⁵Cursed be the man that maketh a graven and molten thing, the abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of artificers, and shall put it in a secret place: and all the people shall answer and say: Amen.

¹⁶Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.

¹⁷Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmarks: and all the people shall say: Amen.

¹⁸Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way: and all the people shall say: Amen.

¹⁹Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the fatherless and the widow: and all the people shall say: Amen.

²⁰Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife, and uncovereth his bed: and all the people shall say: Amen.

²¹Cursed be he that lieth with any beast: and all the people shall say: Amen.

²²Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or of his mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.

²³Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law: and all the people shall say: Amen.

²⁴Cursed be he that secretly killeth his neighbour: and all the people shall say: Amen.

²⁵Cursed be he that taketh gifts, to slay an innocent person: and all the people shall say: Amen.

²⁶Cursed be he that abideth not in the words of this law, and fulfilleth them not in work: and all the people shall say: Amen.

Chapter 28

Now if thou wilt hear the voice of all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations that are on the earth.

²And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee: yet so if thou hear his precepts.

³Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed in the field.

⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the folds of thy sheep.

⁵Blessed shall be thy barns and blessed thy stores.

⁶Blessed shalt thou be coming in and going out.

⁷The Lord shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee, and seven ways shall they flee before thee.

⁸The Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou shalt receive.

⁹The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

¹⁰And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee.

¹¹The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee.

¹²The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one.

¹³And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them,

¹⁴And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.

¹⁵But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.

¹⁶Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field.

¹⁷Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores.

¹⁸Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.

¹⁹Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed going out.

²⁰The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken me.

²¹May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

²²May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish.

²³Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou treadest on, of iron.

²⁴The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed.

²⁵The Lord make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth.

²⁶And be thy carcass meat for all the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and be there none to drive them away.

²⁷The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch: so that thou canst not be healed.

²⁸The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind.

²⁹And mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in the dark, and not make straight thy ways. And mayst thou at all times suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no one to deliver thee.

³⁰Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her. Mayst thou build a house, and not dwell therein. Mayest thou plant a vineyard and not gather the vintage thereof.

³¹May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee.

³²May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and may there be no strength in thy hand.

³³May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be crushed at all times.

³⁴And be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes shall see:

³⁵May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.

³⁶The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, wood and stone.

³⁷And thou shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people, among whom the Lord shall bring thee in.

³⁸Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little: because the locusts shall consume all.

³⁹Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with worms.

⁴⁰Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish.

⁴¹Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them: because they shall be led into captivity.

⁴²The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground.

⁴³The stranger that liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up over thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower.

⁴⁴He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

⁴⁵And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue and overtake thee, till thou perish: because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God, and didst not keep his commandments and ceremonies which he commanded thee.

⁴⁶And they shall be as signs and wonders on thee, and on thy seed for ever.

⁴⁷Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things:

⁴⁸Thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till he consume thee.

⁴⁹The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flyeth swiftly, whose tongue thou canst not understand,

⁵⁰A most insolent nation, that will shew no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant,

⁵¹And will devour the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruits of thy…