²“The day you cross the Jordan River and enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and cover them with plaster. ³The Lord God of your ancestors is giving you a land flowing with milk and honey, as he promised you. After you’re in that land, write all the words of these teachings on the stones. ⁴After you cross the Jordan River, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, and cover them with plaster, following the command I’m giving you today. ⁵Build an altar of stones there dedicated to the Lord your God. Don’t use an iron chisel on the stones. ⁶You must use uncut stones to build the altar of the Lord your God. Sacrifice burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ⁷Sacrifice fellowship offerings, eat them there, and enjoy yourselves in the presence of the Lord your God. ⁸Write clearly and carefully all the words of these teachings on the stones you set up.”

⁹Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be quiet and listen, Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and laws which I’m giving you today.”

Curses Which Are to Be Recited

¹¹That same day Moses gave the people this command: ¹²After you cross the Jordan River, these are the tribes that will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³These are the tribes that will stand on Mount Ebal to announce the curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

¹⁴The Levites will declare to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

¹⁵“Whoever has a carved or metal statue, anything disgusting to the Lord that was made by a craftsman, and sets it up in secret will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

¹⁶“Whoever curses his father or mother will himself be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

¹⁷“Whoever moves his neighbor’s boundary marker will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

¹⁸“Whoever leads blind people in the wrong direction will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

¹⁹“Whoever deprives foreigners, orphans, or widows of justice will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²⁰“Whoever has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife will be cursed. He has disgraced his father.” Then all the people will say amen.

²¹“Whoever has sexual intercourse with any animal will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²²“Whoever has sexual intercourse with his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²³“Whoever has sexual intercourse with his mother-in-law will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²⁴“Whoever kills another person secretly will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²⁵“Whoever accepts money to kill an innocent person will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²⁶“Whoever doesn’t obey every word of these teachings will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

28TH CHAPTER

Blessings from the Lord

¹Carefully obey the Lord your God, and faithfully follow all his commands that I’m giving you today. If you do, the Lord your God will place you high above all the other nations in the world. ²These are all the blessings that will come to you and stay close to you because you obey the Lord your God:

³You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

⁴You will be blessed. You will have children. Your land will have crops. Your animals will have offspring. Your cattle will have calves, and your flocks will have lambs and kids.

⁵The grain you harvest and the bread you bake will be blessed.

⁶You will be blessed when you come and blessed when you go.

⁷The Lord will defeat your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction but run away from you in seven directions.

⁸The Lord will bless your barns and everything you do. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you.

⁹You will be the Lord’s holy people, as he promised you with an oath. He will do this if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and follow his directions. ¹⁰Then all the people in the world will see that you are the Lord’s people, and they will be afraid of you. ¹¹The Lord will give you plenty of blessings: You will have many children. Your animals will have many offspring. Your soil will produce many crops in the land the Lord will give you, as he swore to your ancestors.

¹²The Lord will open the heavens, his rich storehouse, for you. He will send rain on your land at the right time and bless everything you do. You will be able to make loans to many nations but won’t need to borrow from any. ¹³The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. You will always be at the top, never at the bottom, if you faithfully obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. ¹⁴Do everything I’m commanding you today. Never worship other gods or serve them.

Curses from the Lord

¹⁵Obey the Lord your God, and faithfully follow all his commands and laws that I am giving you today. If you don’t, all these curses will come to you and stay close to you:

¹⁶You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

¹⁷The grain you harvest and the bread you bake will be cursed.

¹⁸You will be cursed. You will have few children. Your land will have few crops. Your cattle will be cursed with few calves, and your flocks will have few lambs and kids.

¹⁹You will be cursed when you come and cursed when you go.

²⁰The Lord will send you curses, panic, and frustration in everything you do until you’re destroyed and quickly disappear for the evil you will do by abandoning the Lord. ²¹The Lord will send one plague after another on you until he wipes you out of the land you’re about to enter and take possession of. ²²The Lord will strike you with disease, fever, and inflammation; heat waves,^adrought,^bscorching winds,^cand ruined crops. They will pursue you until you die. ²³The sky above will look like bronze, and the ground below will be as hard as iron. ²⁴The Lord will send dust storms and sandstorms on you from the sky until you’re destroyed.

²⁵The Lord will let your enemies defeat you. You will attack them from one direction but run away from them in seven directions. You will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms in the world. ²⁶Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds and wild animals. There will be no one to scare them away. ²⁷The Lord will strike you with the same boils that plagued the Egyptians. He will strike you with hemorrhoids,^dsores,^eand itchingthat won’t go away. ²⁸The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. ²⁹You will grope in broad daylight as blind people grope in their blindness. You won’t be successful in anything you do.^gAs long as you live, you will be oppressed and robbed with no one to rescue you.

³⁰You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will have sex with her. You will build a house, but you won’t live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you won’t enjoy the grapes. ³¹Your ox will be butchered as you watch, but you won’t eat any of its meat. You will watch as your donkey is stolen from you, but you’ll never get it back. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue it. ³²You will watch with your own eyes as your sons and daughters are given to another nation. You will strain your eyes looking for them all day long, but there will be nothing you can do. ³³People you never knew will eat what your land and your hard work have produced. As long as you live, you will know nothing but oppression and abuse. ³⁴The things you see will drive you mad. ³⁵The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with severe boils that can’t be cured. The boils will cover your whole body from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

³⁶The Lord will lead you and the king you choose to a nation that you and your ancestors never knew. There you will worship gods made of wood and stone. ³⁷You will become a thing of horror. All the nations where the Lord will send you will make an example of you and ridicule you.

³⁸You will plant many crops in your fields, but harvest little because locusts will destroy your crops. ³⁹You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you won’t drink any wine or gather any grapes, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰You will have olive trees everywhere in your country but no olive oil to rub on your skin, because the olives will fall off the trees. ⁴¹You will have sons and daughters, but you won’t be able to keep them because they will be taken as prisoners of war. ⁴²Crickets will swarm all over your trees and the crops in your fields.

⁴³The ⸤standard of living for the⸥ foreigners who live among you will rise higher and higher, while your ⸤standard of living⸥ will sink lower and lower. ⁴⁴They will be able to make loans to you, but you won’t be able to make loans to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail.

⁴⁵All these curses will come to you. They will pursue you and stay close to you until you’re destroyed, because you didn’t obey the Lord your God or follow his commands and laws, which I’m giving you. ⁴⁶These curses will be a sign and an amazing thing to warn you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷You didn’t serve the Lord your God with a joyful and happy heart when you had so much. ⁴⁸So you will serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you. You will serve them even though you are already hungry, thirsty, naked, and in need of everything. The Lord will put a heavy burden of hard work on you until he destroys you.

⁴⁹The Lord will bring against you a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth. The nation will swoop down on you like an eagle. It will be a nation whose language you won’t understand. ⁵⁰Its people will be fierce-looking. They will show no respect for…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Deuteronomy 27–30 in Logos

Footnotes

a 28:22 Or “uncontrolled fever.”
b 28:22 Latin; Masoretic Text “warfare.”
c 28:22 Or “blight.”
d 28:27 Or “boils.”
e 28:27 Or “scurvy.”
g 28:29 Or “darkness, but you won’t be able to find your way.”