13 And the Lord will make you jthe head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, 14 kand if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

15 “But lif you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and movertake you. 16 Cursed shall you be nin the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20 “The Lord owill send on you curses, confusion, and pfrustration in all that you undertake to do, quntil you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21 The Lord will make rthe pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 22 sThe Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought1 and with tblight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And uthe heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25 v“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 wshall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And xyour dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and ythere shall be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will strike you zwith the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and ascabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will strike you with bmadness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29 and you shall cgrope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.2 And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. 30 dYou shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. eYou shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. fYou shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. 32 gYour sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, hbut you shall be helpless. 33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, 34 so that you are driven mad iby the sights that your eyes see. 35 The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs jwith grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

36 “The Lord will kbring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you lnor your fathers have known. And mthere you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. 37 And you shall become na horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. 38 oYou shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for pthe locust shall consume it. 39 qYou shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you rshall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for sthey shall go into captivity. 42 pThe cricket3 shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43 tThe sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 uHe shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. tHe shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

45 v“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be wa sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 xBecause you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he ywill put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 zThe Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, aswooping down like the eagle, a nation bwhose language you do not understand, 50 a hard-faced nation cwho shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. 51 It shall deat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

52 “They shall ebesiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. 53 And fyou shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, gin the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. 54 The man who is the most tender and refined among you will hbegrudge food to his brother, to ithe wife he embraces,4 and to the last of the children whom he has left, 55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, jin the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. 56 kThe most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces,5 to her son and to her daughter, 57 her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, jin the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, lthe Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. 60 And he will bring upon you again all mthe diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61 Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. 62 Whereas nyou were as numerous oas the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. 63 And as the Lord ptook delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will qtake delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

64 “And the Lord rwill scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and sthere you shall serve other gods tof wood and stone, uwhich neither you nor your fathers have known.