^27:1Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Pay attention to all the commandments¹ I am giving² you today. ^27:2When you cross the Jordan River³ to the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must erect great stones and cover⁴ them with plaster. ^27:3Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors,⁵ said to you. ^27:4So when you cross the Jordan you must erect on Mount Ebal⁶ these stones about which I am commanding you today, and you must cover them with plaster. ^27:5Then you must build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones—do not use an iron tool on them. ^27:6You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ^27:7Also you must offer fellowship offerings and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God. ^27:8You must inscribe on the stones all the words of this law, making them clear.”

^27:9Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel: “Be quiet and pay attention, Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. ^27:10You must obey him⁷ and keep his commandments and statutes that I am giving you today.” ^27:11Moreover, Moses commanded the people that day: ^27:12“The following tribes⁸ must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ^27:13And these other tribes must stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

The Covenant Curses

^27:14“The Levites will call out to every Israelite⁹ with a loud voice: ^27:15‘Cursed is the one¹⁰ who makes a carved or metal image—something abhorrent¹¹ to the Lord, the work of the craftsman¹²—and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’¹³^27:16‘Cursed¹⁴ is the one who disrespects¹⁵ his father and mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:17‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:18‘Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:19‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:20‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with¹⁶ his father’s former wife,¹⁷ for he dishonors his father.’¹⁸ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:21‘Cursed is the one who commits bestiality.’¹⁹ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:22‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of either his father or mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:23‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:24‘Cursed is the one who kills²⁰ his neighbor in private.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:25‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ^27:26‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

The Covenant Blessings

^28:1“If you indeed¹ obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving² you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. ^28:2All these blessings will come to you in abundance³ if you obey the Lord your God: ^28:3You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field.⁴^28:4Your children⁵ will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. ^28:5Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. ^28:6You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.⁶^28:7The Lord will cause your enemies who attack⁷ you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction⁸ but flee from you in seven different directions. ^28:8The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do—yes, he will bless you in the land he⁹ is giving you. ^28:9The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments¹⁰ and obey him.¹¹^28:10Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord,¹² and they will respect you. ^28:11The Lord will greatly multiply your children,¹³ the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he¹⁴ promised your ancestors¹⁵ he would give you. ^28:12The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do;¹⁶ you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. ^28:13The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his¹⁷ commandments which I am urging¹⁸ you today to be careful to do. ^28:14But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving¹⁹ you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship²⁰ them.

Curses as Reversal of Blessings

^28:15“But if you ignore²¹ the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force:²²^28:16You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. ^28:17Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. ^28:18Your children²³ will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. ^28:19You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.²⁴

Curses by Disease and Drought

^28:20“The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you²⁵ in everything you undertake²⁶ until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me.²⁷^28:21The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases²⁸ until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. ^28:22He²⁹ will afflict you with weakness,³⁰ fever, inflammation, infection,³¹ sword,³² blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. ^28:23The³³ sky³⁴ above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. ^28:24The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

Curses by Defeat and Deportation

^28:25“The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror³⁵ to all the kingdoms of the earth. ^28:26Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. ^28:27The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. ^28:28The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind.³⁶^28:29You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do;³⁷ you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. ^28:30You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape³⁸ her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. ^28:31Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you. ^28:32Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it.³⁹^28:33As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. ^28:34You will go insane from seeing all this. ^28:35The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils—from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. ^28:36The Lord will force you and your king⁴⁰ whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there. ^28:37You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.

The Curse of Reversed Status

^28:38“You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. ^28:39You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. ^28:40You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe.⁴¹^28:41You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity. ^28:42Whirring locusts⁴² will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil. ^28:43The foreigners⁴³ who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower. ^28:44They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!

^28:45All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given⁴⁴ you. ^28:46These curses⁴⁵ will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants.⁴⁶

The Curse of Military Siege

^28:47“Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, ^28:48instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty⁴⁷ you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They⁴⁸ will…

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Footnotes

1 Heb “the whole commandment.” See note at .
2 Heb “commanding”; “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 10).
3 The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
4 Heb “plaster” (so , ; likewise in v. 4). In the translation “cover” has been used for stylistic reasons.
5 Heb “fathers.”
6 reads “Mount Gerizim” for the reading “Mount Ebal” to justify the location of the Samaritan temple there in the postexilic period. This reading is patently self-serving and does not reflect the original. In the NT when the Samaritan woman of Sychar referred to “this mountain” as the place of worship for her community she obviously had Gerizim in mind (cf. John 4:20).
7 Heb “listen to the voice of the Lord your God.” Here “listen” ( “hearken”) means “obey” (cf. , , ). The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
8 The word “tribes” has been supplied here and in the following verse in the translation for clarity.
9 Heb “Israelite man.”
10 Heb “man,” but in a generic sense here.
11 The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in .
12 Heb “craftsman’s hands.”
13 Or “So be it!” The term is an affirmation expressing agreement with the words of the Levites.
14 The Levites speak again at this point; throughout this pericope the Levites pronounce the curse and the people respond with “Amen.”
15 The Hebrew term קָלָה (qalah) means to treat with disdain or lack of due respect (cf. , , “dishonors”; “despises”). It is the opposite of כָּבֵד (kaved, “to be heavy,” that is, to treat with reverence and proper deference). To treat a parent lightly is to dishonor him or her and thus violate the fifth commandment (Deut 5:16; cf. Exod 21:17).
16 Heb “who lies with” (so , ); also in vv. 22, 23. This is a Hebrew idiom for having sexual relations (cf. “who sleeps with”; “who has sexual intercourse with”).
17 See note at .
18 Heb “he uncovers his father’s skirt” ( similar). See note at .
19 Heb “lies with any animal” (so , ). “To lie with” is a Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations with someone (or in this case, some animal).
20 Or “strikes down” (so ).
1 The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”
2 Heb “commanding”; “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).
3 Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so , ); “come upon you and accompany you.”
4 Or “in the country” (so , , ). This expression also occurs in v. 15.
5 Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so , , ).
6 Come in … go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.
7 Heb “who rise up against” (so ).
8 Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).
9 Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless … the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.
10 Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.
11 Heb “and walk in his ways” (so , , , , ).
12 Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as 896 קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).
13 Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so , , ); “will give you a lot of children.”
14 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
15 Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).
16 Heb “all the work of your hands.”
17 Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in .
18 Heb “commanding” (so ); “which I charge you today.”
19 Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”
20 Heb “in order to serve.”
21 Heb “do not hear the voice of.”
22 Heb “and overtake you” (so , ); , “and overwhelm you.”
23 Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so , , ).
24 See note on the similar expression in v. .
25 Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” ( and similar); “disaster, panic, and frustration.”
26 Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”
27 For the first person common singular suffix (“me”), the reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The ’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text. Heb “the evil of your doings wherein you have forsaken me”; “all because you rejected the Lord.”
28 Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”
29 Heb “The Lord.” See note on “he” in .
30 Or perhaps “consumption” (so , , ). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. “wasting”; , “wasting disease”).
31 Heb “hot fever”; “scorching heat.”
32 Or “drought” (so , , ).
33 The reads “Your.” The reads “Heaven will be to you.”
34 Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
35 The meaningless reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zéva’ah, “terror”).
36 Heb “heart” (so , ).
37 Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”
38 For reading שָׁגַל (shagal, “ravish; violate”), the , , and presume the less violent שָׁכַב (shakhav, “lie with”). The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of the .
39 Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; “there will be nothing you can do.”
40 The reads the plural “kings.”
41 Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.
42 The Hebrew term denotes some sort of buzzing or whirring insect; some have understood this to be a type of locust (, , ), but other insects have also been suggested: “buzzing insects” (); “the cricket” (); “the cicada” ().
43 Heb “the foreigner.” This is a collective singular and has therefore been translated as plural; this includes the pronouns in the following verse, which are also singular in the Hebrew text.
44 Heb “commanded”; , , “he gave you.”
45 Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
46 Heb “seed” (so , ).
47 Heb “lack of everything.”
48 Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. , ). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. , , , , , ).