Deuteronomy 27–28

The Law Written on Stones

27Then Moses, along with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commands I have given you today. ²Soon you will cross the Jordan River to go into the land the Lord your God is giving you. On that day set up some large stones and cover them with plaster. ³When you cross over, write all the words of these teachings on them. Then you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a fertile land, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised. ⁴After you have crossed the Jordan River, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and cover them with plaster. ⁵Build an altar of stones there to the Lord your God, but don’t use any iron tool to cut the stones; ⁶build the altar of the Lord your God with stones from the field. Offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, ⁷and offer fellowship offerings there, and eat them and rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸Then write clearly all the words of these teachings on the stones.”

Curses of the Law

⁹Then Moses and the Levites who were priests spoke to all Israel and said, “Be quiet, Israel. Listen! Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰Obey the Lord your God, and keep his commands and laws that I give you today.”

¹¹That day Moses also gave the people this command:

¹²When you cross the Jordan River, these tribes must stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. ¹³And these tribes must stand on Mount Ebal to announce the curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

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

¹⁵“Anyone will be cursed who makes an idol or statue and secretly sets it up, because the Lord hates the idols people make.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

¹⁶“Anyone will be cursed who dishonors his father or mother.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

¹⁷“Anyone will be cursed who moves the stone that marks a neighbor’s border.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

¹⁸“Anyone will be cursed who sends a blind person down the wrong road.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

¹⁹“Anyone will be cursed who is unfair to foreigners, orphans, or widows.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

²⁰“A man will be cursed who has sexual relations with his father’s wife, because it is a dishonor to his father.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

²¹“Anyone will be cursed who has sexual relations with an animal.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

²²“A man will be cursed who has sexual relations with his sister, whether she is his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

²³“A man will be cursed who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

²⁴“Anyone will be cursed who kills a neighbor secretly.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

²⁵“Anyone will be cursed who takes money to murder an innocent person.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

²⁶“Anyone will be cursed who does not agree with the words of these teachings and does not obey them.”

Then all the people will say, “Amen!”

Blessings for Obeying

28You must completely obey the Lord your God, and you must carefully follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the Lord your God will make you greater than any other nation on earth. ²Obey the Lord your God so that all these blessings will come and stay with you:

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

⁴Your children will be blessed, as well as your crops; your herds will be blessed with calves and your flocks with lambs.

⁵Your basket and your kitchen will be blessed.

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

⁷The Lord will help you defeat the enemies that come to fight you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will run from you in seven directions.

⁸The Lord your God will bless you with full barns, and he will bless everything you do. He will bless the land he is giving you.

⁹The Lord will make you his holy people, as he promised. But you must obey his commands and do what he wants you to do. ¹⁰Then everyone on earth will see that you are the Lord’s people, and they will be afraid of you. ¹¹The Lord will make you rich: You will have many children, your animals will have many young, and your land will give good crops. It is the land that the Lord promised your ancestors he would give to you.

¹²The Lord will open up his heavenly storehouse so that the skies send rain on your land at the right time, and he will bless everything you do. You will lend to other nations, but you will not need to borrow from them. ¹³The Lord will make you like the head and not like the tail; you will be on top and not on bottom. But you must obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, being careful to keep them. ¹⁴Do not disobey anything I command you today. Do exactly as I command, and do not follow other gods or serve them.

Curses for Disobeying

¹⁵But if you do not obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands and laws I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and stay:

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

¹⁷Your basket and your kitchen will be cursed.

¹⁸Your children will be cursed, as well as your crops; the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks will be cursed.

¹⁹You will be cursed when you go in and when you go out.

²⁰The Lord will send you curses, confusion, and punishment in everything you do. You will be destroyed and suddenly ruined because you did wrong when you left him. ²¹The Lord will give you terrible diseases and destroy you from the land you are going to take. ²²The Lord will punish you with disease, fever, swelling, heat, lack of rain, plant diseases, and mildew until you die. ²³The sky above will be like bronze, and the ground below will be like iron. ^{n 24}The Lord will turn the rain into dust and sand, which will fall from the skies until you are destroyed.

²⁵The Lord will help your enemies defeat you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run from them in seven directions. And you will become a thing of horror among all the kingdoms on earth. ²⁶Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds and wild animals, and there will be no one to scare them away. ²⁷The Lord will punish you with boils like those the Egyptians had. You will have bad growths, sores, and itches that can’t be cured. ²⁸The Lord will give you madness, blindness, and a confused mind. ²⁹You will have to feel around in the daylight like a blind person. You will fail in everything you do. People will hurt you and steal from you every day, and no one will save you.

³⁰You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will force her to have sexual relations with him. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not get its grapes. ³¹Your ox will be killed before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you, and it will not be brought back. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you. ³²Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will grow tired looking for them every day, but there will be nothing you can do. ³³People you don’t know will eat the crops your land and hard work have produced. You will be mistreated and abused all your life. ³⁴The things you see will cause you to go mad. ³⁵The Lord will give you sore boils on your knees and legs that cannot be cured, and they will go from the soles of your feet to the tops of your heads.

³⁶The Lord will send you and your king away to a nation neither you nor your ancestors know, where you will serve other gods made of wood and stone. ³⁷You will become a hated thing to the nations where the Lord sends you; they will laugh at you and make fun of you.

³⁸You will plant much seed in your field, but your harvest will be small, because locusts will eat the crop. ³⁹You will plant vineyards and work hard in them, but you will not pick the grapes or drink the wine, because the worms will eat them. ⁴⁰You will have olive trees in all your land, but you will not get any olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees. ⁴¹You will have sons and daughters, but you will not be able to keep them, because they will be taken captive. ⁴²Locusts will destroy all your trees and crops.

⁴³The foreigners who live among you will get stronger and stronger, and you will get weaker and weaker. ⁴⁴Foreigners will lend money to you, but you will not be able to lend to them. They will be like the head, and you will be like the tail.

⁴⁵All these curses will come upon you. They will chase you and catch you and destroy you, because you did not obey the Lord your God and keep the commands and laws he gave you. ⁴⁶The curses will be signs and miracles to you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷You had plenty of everything, but you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a pure heart, ⁴⁸so you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, naked, and poor, and the Lord will put a load on you until he has destroyed you.

The Curse of an Enemy Nation

⁴⁹The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the world, and it will swoop down like an eagle. You won’t understand their language, ⁵⁰and they will look mean. They will not respect old people or feel sorry for the young. ⁵¹They will eat the calves from your herds and the harvest of your field, and you will be destroyed. They will not leave you any grain, new wine or oil, or any calves from your herds or lambs from your flocks. You will be ruined. ⁵²That nation will surround and attack all your cities. You trust in your high, strong walls, but they will fall down. That nation will surround all your cities everywhere in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

⁵³Your enemy will surround you. Those people will make you starve…