Deuteronomy 28:15–45

Warnings against Disobedience

¹⁵“But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees that I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:^*

¹⁶“Cursed shall you be in 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, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.

¹⁹“Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰“The Lord will send upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds with which you have forsaken me.^{* 21}The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you off the land that you are entering to possess.^{* 22}The Lord will afflict you with consumption, fever, inflammation, with fiery heat and drought,^g and with blight and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.^{* 23}The sky over your head shall be bronze and the earth under you iron.^{* 24}The Lord will change the rain of your land into powder, and only dust shall come down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed.

²⁵“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way and flee before them seven ways. You shall become an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.^{* 26}Your corpses shall be food for every bird of the air and animal of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.^{* 27}The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, scurvy, and itch, of which you cannot be healed.^{* 28}The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind; ²⁹you shall grope about at noon as blind people grope in darkness, but you shall be unable to find your way, and you shall be continually abused and robbed, without anyone to help.^{* 30}You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house but not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.^{* 31}Your ox shall be butchered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall be stolen in front of you and shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies without anyone to help you. ³²Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people while you look on; you will strain your eyes looking for them all day but be powerless to do anything.^{* 33}A people whom you do not know shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors; you shall be continually abused and crushed^{* 34}and driven mad by the sight that your eyes shall see. ³⁵The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.^{* 36}The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have known, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone.^{* 37}You shall become an object of horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you.^*

³⁸“You shall carry much seed into the field but shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.^{* 39}You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. ⁴⁰You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹You shall have sons and daughters, but they shall not remain yours, for they shall go into captivity.^{* 42}All your trees and the fruit of your ground the cicada shall take over.^{* 43}Aliens residing among you shall ascend above you higher and higher, while you shall descend lower and lower.^{* 44}They shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to them; they shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.^*

⁴⁵“All these curses shall come upon you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God by observing the commandments and the decrees that he commanded you.^*