taken them to be pronouncements of curses or threats, while others treat them as if they were prophecies of judgment or cries of anguish. In order to understand both the makarisms and woes, however, one must examine them in terms of their relationship to blessings and curses. This is necessary to establish their force as well as distinctiveness. Yet neither makarisms nor reproaches can be properly understood apart from their place in an honor/shame value system, the pivotal values of the Mediterranean.