27Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying,^a “Keep all of the commandment that I am commanding you today.^b ²And then on the day that you cross the Jordan to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, then you shall set up for yourselves^c large stones, and you shall paint^d them with lime, ³and you shall write on them all the words of this law at your crossing, so that you may come into the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^e promised^f to you. ⁴And when you cross the Jordan,^g you shall set up these stones that I am commanding you about today^h on Mount Ebal, and you shall paintⁱ them with lime. ⁵And you shall build an altar there for Yahweh your God, an altar of stone, but^j you shall not use an iron tool to shape the stones.^k ⁶You must build the altar of your God with unhewn stones, and you shall sacrifice on it burnt offerings to Yahweh your God. ⁷And you shall sacrifice fellowship offerings, and you shall eat them there, and you shall rejoice before^l Yahweh your God. ⁸You shall write on the stone all of the words of this law very clearly.”

⁹Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying,^m “Be silent and hear, Israel, for this day you have become a peopleⁿ for Yahweh your God. ¹⁰And listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and observe his commandments and his rules that I am commanding you today.”^o

Blessings and Curses

¹¹And Moses charged the people on that day, saying,^p ¹²“These tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you cross^q the Jordan: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin. ¹³And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for delivering the curse: Reuben, Gad and Asher and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. ¹⁴And the Levites shall declare,^r and they shall say to each man of Israel with a loud voice, ¹⁵‘Cursed be the man that makes a divine image or a cast image, which is a detestable thing for Yahweh, the work of the hand of a skilled craftsman, and then sets it in a hiding place.’^s And all the people shall respond,^t ‘Amen.’

¹⁶‘Cursed be the one who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all of the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁷‘Cursed be the one who moves the boundary marker of his neighbor.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁸‘Cursed be the one who misleads a blind person on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁹‘Cursed be the one who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁰‘Cursed be the one who lies with the wife of his father, because he has dishonored his father’s bed.’^u And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²¹‘Cursed be the one who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²²‘Cursed be the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²³‘Cursed be the one who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁴‘Cursed be the one who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁵‘Cursed be the one who takes a bribe to murder an innocent person.’^v And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁶‘Cursed be the one who does not keep^w the words of this law, to observe them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ”

28“And it will happen that if you indeed listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to diligently observe^a all his commandments that I am commanding you today,^b then Yahweh your God will set you above all the nations of the earth. ²And all of these blessings shall come upon you, and they shall have an effect on you^c if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God:

³“You will be blessed in the city, and you will be blessed in the field.

⁴“Blessed will be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your livestock, the calf of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.^d

⁵“Blessed will be your basket and your kneading trough.

⁶“Blessed will you be when you come in and blessed will you be when you go out.^e

⁷“Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you;^f on one road^g they shall come out against you, but on seven roads^h they shall flee before you.ⁱ ⁸Yahweh will command concerning you^j the blessing to be in your barns and in all your endeavors;^k and he will bless you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you. ⁹Yahweh will establish you for himself^l as a holy people as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yahweh your God and you walk in his ways. ¹⁰And all of the peoples of the earth shall see that by the name of Yahweh you are called,^m and they shall fear you.ⁿ ¹¹And Yahweh will make you successful and prosperous,^o in the fruit of your womb and on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors^p to give to you. ¹²Yahweh shall open for you his rich^q storehouse, even the heavens, to give the rain for^r your land in its time and to bless all of the work of your hand, and you will lend to many nations; you will not borrow from them. ¹³And Yahweh shall make you^s as head and not the tail, and you shall be only at the top of the nations, and you shall not be at the bottom, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today^t and diligently observe them.^u ¹⁴And you shall not turn aside from any of^v the words that I am commanding you today^w to the right or left by going after other gods to serve them.

¹⁵“And then^x if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God by diligently observing^y all of his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today,^z then all of these curses shall come upon you, and they shall overtake you:

¹⁶“You shall^a 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 your ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.

¹⁹“You shall be cursed when you come in,^b and you shall be cursed when you go out.^c

²⁰“Yahweh will send upon you^d the curse,^e the panic,^f and the threat^g in everything that you undertake,^h until you are destroyed and until you perish quicklyⁱ because of^j the evil of your deeds in that^k you have forsaken me. ²¹Yahweh will cause the plague to cling to you until it consumes you^l from the land that you are going to,^m to take possession of it. ²²Yahweh will afflict you with the wasting diseases and with the fever and with the inflammation and with the scorching heat and with the swordⁿ and with the blight and with the mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish.^o ²³And your heavens that are over your heads shall be like bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be like iron. ²⁴Yahweh 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.^p

²⁵“Yahweh shall cause you to be defeated before^q your enemies; on one road you shall go against^r them,^s but you will flee on seven roads before^t them,^u and you shall become a thing of horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶And your dead bodies shall be as food for all of the birds of the heaven and to the animals of the earth, and there shall not be anyone to frighten them away.^v

²⁷“Yahweh shall afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scurvy and with the skin rash that cannot be healed.^w ²⁸Yahweh shall afflict you with madness and with blindness and with confusion of heart. ²⁹And you shall be groping at noon just as the blind person gropes in the dark, and you shall not succeed in finding your way, and you shall only be abused and robbed all the time,^x and there will not be anyone who will rescue you. ^y ³⁰You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep^z with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it. ³¹Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey shall be stolen right before you,^a and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats shall be given to your enemies, and there shall not be anyone who rescues you.^b ³²Your sons and your daughters shall be given to other people, and you will be looking on^c longingly^d for^e them all day, but you will be powerless to do anything.^f ³³A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives.^g ³⁴You shall become mad because of what your eyes shall see.^h ³⁵Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs from which you will not be able to be healed,ⁱ from the sole of your foot and up to your crown. ³⁶Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors^j have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷And you will become a horror and a proverb and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you there.

³⁸“You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little produce, for the locust shall devour it. ³⁹You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress^k them, but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it.^l ⁴⁰There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives^m shall drop off. ⁴¹You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours,ⁿ for they shall go into captivity. ⁴²The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail.

⁴⁵“And all of these curses shall come over you, and they…

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Footnotes

aLiterally “to say”
bLiterally “the day”
cLiterally “for you”
dOr “coat/cover them”
eOr “fathers”
fLiterally “spoke”
gLiterally “at/in your crossing the Jordan”
hLiterally “the day”
iOr “coat/cover”
jOr “and”
kLiterally “and you shall not wave to and fro over them an iron tool”
lLiterally “to the face of”
mLiterally “to say”
nLiterally “for a people”
oLiterally “the day”
pLiterally “to say”
qLiterally “at/in crossing your”
rLiterally “they shall answer the Levites”
sOr “a secret place”
tLiterally “and they shall answer all of the people”
uLiterally “because he uncovered the hem of his father”
vLiterally “to strike down an individual person in blood”
wLiterally “who not keeps”
aLiterally “to observe to do”
bLiterally “the day”
cLiterally “they shall overtake you”
dLiterally “what is dropped of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks”
eLiterally “in/at your coming and you will be blessed in/at your going out”
fLiterally “the ones rising against you being defeated to the face of you”
gOr “way”
hOr “ways”
iLiterally “to the face of you”
jLiterally “with you”
kLiterally “in all of the sending forth of your hand”
lLiterally “to/for him”
mLiterally “that the name of Yahweh is called/assigned upon you”
nLiterally “they shall be afraid/fearful from you”
oLiterally “Yahweh will cause for you goodness”
pOr “fathers”
qLiterally “good”
rHebrew “of”
sLiterally “place/set you up”
tLiterally “the day”
uLiterally “to observe them and to do them”
vLiterally “all of”
wLiterally “the day”
xLiterally “and it will happen”
yLiterally “to observe and to do”
zLiterally “the day”
aAll of these curses have a future orientation that points to Israel in the land of Canaan
bLiterally “at/in your coming”
cLiterally “at/in your going out”
dOthers translate as a wish: “may Yahweh send upon you …”
eThese words are translated variously, e.g., “starvation,” “thirst,” “rebuke/dysentery” (NEB) or “curses,” “confusion,” “frustration” (NLT)
fOr “confusion”
gOr “rebuke”
hLiterally “in all the sending out of your hand that you do”
iLiterally “until your to be destroyed and until your to perish quickly”
jLiterally “from the face of the evil of your deeds”
kLiterally “which”
lLiterally “it to consume to”
mHebrew “to there”
nOthers translate “drought” (NLT, NEB)
oLiterally “until your/you to perish”
pLiterally “until your being destroyed”
qLiterally “to the face of”
rLiterally “to/toward”
sHebrew “him”
tLiterally “to the face of”
uHebrew “him”
vLiterally “one causing fright to them”
wLiterally “the skin rash that not it is able it to be healed”
xLiterally “all the days”
yLiterally “one who delivers/rescues you”
zOr “ravish/violate”
aLiterally “to the face of you”
bLiterally “there shall not be for you one who rescues”
cLiterally “your eyes will see/look”
dLiterally “wearing out”
eHebrew “to”
fLiterally “but there will not be for power of your hand”
gLiterally “all of the days”
hLiterally “from/by the sight of your eyes”
iLiterally “which not you are able to heal”
jOr “fathers”
kOr “cultivate”
lThat is, the produce
mHebrew “olive”
nLiterally “for you”