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Deuteronomy 27-30
New American Standard Bible

The Curses at Mount Ebal

27 Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today. 2 (A)So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime 3 and write on them all the words of this Law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, (B)a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, [a]promised you. 4 So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up these stones (C)on Mount Ebal, [b]as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime. 5 Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you (D)shall not wield an iron tool on them. 6 You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of [c]uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God; 7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and (E)rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 You shall write on the [d]stones all the words of this Law very clearly.”

9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. 10 So you shall [e]obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today.”

11 Moses also commanded the people on that day, saying, 12 “When you cross the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on (F)Mount Gerizim to bless the people: (G)Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 For the curse, these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 The Levites shall then respond and say to all the people of Israel with a loud voice,

15 ‘Cursed is the person who makes (H)a carved image or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And (I)all the people shall reply and say, ‘Amen.’

16 ‘(J)Cursed is one who treats his father or mother contemptuously.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

17 ‘(K)Cursed is one who displaces his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

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

19 ‘(M)Cursed is one who distorts the justice due a stranger, an [f]orphan, or a widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

20 ‘(N)Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, because he has [g]uncovered his father’s garment.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

21 ‘(O)Cursed is one who has sexual intercourse with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

22 ‘(P)Cursed is he who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

23 ‘(Q)Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

24 ‘(R)Cursed is he who attacks his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

25 ‘(S)Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to attack an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

26 ‘(T)Cursed is anyone who does not fulfill the words of this Law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

The Blessings at Mount Gerizim

28 “(U)Now it shall be, if you diligently [h]obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the Lord your God (V)will put you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings will come to you and (W)reach you if you [i]obey the Lord your God:

3 “Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be (X)in the [j]country.

4 “Blessed will be the [k]children of your womb, the [l]produce of your ground, and the [m]offspring of your animals: the newborn of your herd and the young of your flock.

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

6 “Blessed will you be (Y)when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.

7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be [n]defeated by you; they will go out against you one way and will flee at your presence seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing for you in your [o]barns and in (Z)everything that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 (AA)The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 So all the peoples of the earth will see that [p](AB)you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. 11 (AC)And the Lord will give you more than enough prosperity, in the [q]children of your womb, in the [r]offspring of your livestock, and in the [s]produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand; and (AD)you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. 13 (AE)And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will only be above, and not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today, to [t]follow them carefully, 14 and (AF)do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or the left, to pursue other gods to serve them.

Consequences of Disobedience

15 “(AG)But it shall come about, if you do not [u]obey the Lord your God, to be careful to [v]follow all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

16 “(AH)Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the [w]country.

17 “(AI)Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.

18 “(AJ)Cursed will be the [x]children of your womb, the [y]produce of your ground, the newborn of your herd, and the offspring of your flock.

19 “(AK)Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out.

20 “(AL)The Lord will send against you curses, panic, and (AM)rebuke, in [z]everything you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until (AN)you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have abandoned Me. 21 (AO)The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has eliminated you from the land where you are entering to take possession of it. 22 (AP)The Lord will strike you with consumption, inflammation, fever, feverish heat, and with [aa]the sword, (AQ)with blight, and with mildew, and they will pursue you until (AR)you perish. 23 [ab]The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. 24 (AS)The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25 “(AT)The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways from their presence, and you will (AU)be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 (AV)Your dead bodies will [ac]serve as food for all birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

27 “(AW)The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with (AX)tumors, the festering rash, and with scabies, from which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will strike you with insanity, blindness, and with confusion of [ad]mind; 29 and you will be (AY)groping about at noon, just as a person who is blind gropes in the darkness, and you will not be successful in your ways; but you will only be [ae]oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you. 30 (AZ)You will [af]betroth a woman, but another man will [ag]violate her; (BA)you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not make use of its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey will be snatched away from you, and will not [ah]be restored to you; your [ai]sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. 32 (BB)Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them constantly; but there will be nothing [aj]you can do. 33 (BC)A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your ground and every product of your labor, and you will never be anything but oppressed and mistreated continually. 34 You will also be driven insane by the sight of [ak]what you see. 35 (BD)The Lord will strike you on the knees and thighs with severe boils from which you cannot be healed, and strike you from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. 36 (BE)The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, made of (BF)wood and stone. 37 And (BG)you will become an object of horror, a song of mockery, and an object of taunting among all the peoples where the Lord drives you.

38 “(BH)You will bring out a great amount of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because (BI)the locust will devour it. 39 (BJ)You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor bring in the harvest, because the worm will eat it. 40 (BK)You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will drop off prematurely. 41 (BL)You will father sons and daughters but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. 42 (BM)The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground. 43 (BN)The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. 44 (BO)He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; (BP)he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

45 “So all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you (BQ)until you are destroyed, because you would not [al]obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 And they will become (BR)a sign and a wonder [am]against you and your [an]descendants forever.

47 “(BS)Since you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart, in gratitude for the abundance of all things, 48 you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, (BT)in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and devoid of all things; and He (BU)will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

49 “(BV)The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, (BW)as the eagle swoops down; a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation [ao]with a defiant attitude, who will (BX)have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. 51 Furthermore, it will eat the [ap]offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed; a nation that will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the newborn of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have eliminated you. 52 (BY)And it will besiege you in all your [aq]towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it will besiege you in all your [ar]towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. 53 (BZ)Then you will eat the [as]offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will [at]oppress you. 54 The man who is [au]refined and very delicate among you [av]will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife [aw]he cherishes, and toward the rest of his children who are left, 55 so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will [ax]oppress you in all your [ay]towns. 56 (CA)The [az]refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and tenderness, [ba]will be hostile toward the husband [bb]she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, 57 and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her [bc]legs, and toward her children to whom she gives birth, because (CB)she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the hardship with which your enemy will [bd]oppress you in your [be]towns.

58 “If you are not careful to [bf]follow all the words of this Law that are written in this book, to [bg](CC)fear this honored and awesome (CD)name, [bh]the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and [bi]your descendants, [bj]severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. 60 (CE)And He will bring back on you every disease of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague, which are not written in the book of this Law, the Lord will bring on you (CF)until you are destroyed. 62 Then you will be left few in [bk]number, (CG)whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not [bl]obey the Lord your God. 63 And it will come about that, just as the Lord (CH)rejoiced over you to be good to you, and make you numerous, so will the Lord (CI)rejoice over you to wipe you out and destroy you; and you will be (CJ)torn away from the land which you are entering to possess. 64 Furthermore, the Lord will (CK)scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to [bm]the other; and there you will (CL)serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known. 65 (CM)Among those nations you will find no peace, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there (CN)the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. 66 So your lives will be [bn]hanging in doubt before you; and you will be terrified night and day, and have no assurance of your life. 67 (CO)In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And at evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the terror of your heart which you fear, and the sight of your eyes which you will see. 68 And the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

The Covenant in Moab

29 [bo](CP)These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the (CQ)covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

2 [bp]And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; 3 (CR)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4 Yet to this day (CS)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. 5 And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; (CT)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6 (CU)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. 7 (CV)When you [bq]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we [br]defeated them; 8 and we took their land and (CW)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 (CX)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, (CY)in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.

10 “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from (CZ)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that (DA)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 “Now it is not with you alone that I am (DB)making this covenant and this oath, 15 (DC)but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today 16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17 moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of (DD)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); 18 (DE)so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you (DF)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19 And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order [bs]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and (DG)His wrath will [bt](DH)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will (DI)wipe out his name from under heaven. 21 Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant (DJ)which is written in this Book of the Law.

22 “Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and (DK)the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, 23 ‘All its land is (DL)brimstone and salt, (DM)burned debris, [bu]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of (DN)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ 24 All the nations will say, ‘(DO)Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great [bv]outburst of anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is (DP)because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not [bw]assigned to them. 27 Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, (DQ)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28 and (DR)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’

29 “(DS)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but (DT)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may [bx]follow all the words of this Law.

Restoration Promised

30 “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, (DU)the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you [by]call them to mind (DV)in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, 2 and you (DW)return to the Lord your God and [bz]obey Him (DX)with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, 3 then the Lord your God will (DY)restore [ca]you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and (DZ)will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has (EA)scattered you. 4 If any of your scattered countrymen are at the [cb]ends of the earth, (EB)from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will [cc]bring you back. 5 (EC)The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and (ED)make you more numerous than your fathers.

6 “Moreover, (EE)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your [cd]descendants, (EF)to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. 7 (EG)And the Lord your God will [ce]inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will again [cf]obey the Lord, and [cg]follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today. 9 (EH)Then the Lord your God will prosper you [ch]abundantly in every work of your hand, in the [ci]children of your womb, the [cj]offspring of your cattle, and in the [ck]produce of your ground, for (EI)the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; 10 [cl]if you [cm]obey the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which (EJ)are written in this Book of the Law, [cn]if you turn to the Lord your God (EK)with all your heart and soul.

11 “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. 12 It is not in heaven, [co]that you could say, ‘(EL)Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may [cp]follow it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, [cq]that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may [cr]follow it?’ 14 On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may [cs]follow it.

Choose Life

15 “See, (EM)I have placed before you today life and [ct]happiness, and death and [cu]adversity, 16 in that I am commanding you today (EN)to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you (EO)may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that (EP)you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter [cv]and take possession of it. 19 (EQ)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, (ER)the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your [cw]descendants, 20 (ES)by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and (ET)by holding close to Him; (EU)for [cx]this is your life and the length of your days, [cy]so that you may live in (EV)the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 27:3 Lit spoke to
  2. Deuteronomy 27:4 Lit which
  3. Deuteronomy 27:6 Lit intact
  4. Deuteronomy 27:8 I.e., stones coated with lime, cf. v 4
  5. Deuteronomy 27:10 Lit listen to the voice of
  6. Deuteronomy 27:19 Or fatherless
  7. Deuteronomy 27:20 Idiom for violated his father’s marriage
  8. Deuteronomy 28:1 Lit listen to the voice of
  9. Deuteronomy 28:2 Lit listen to the voice of
  10. Deuteronomy 28:3 Lit field
  11. Deuteronomy 28:4 Lit fruit
  12. Deuteronomy 28:4 Lit fruit
  13. Deuteronomy 28:4 Lit fruit
  14. Deuteronomy 28:7 Lit struck
  15. Deuteronomy 28:8 Or storehouses
  16. Deuteronomy 28:10 Lit the name of the Lord is called upon you
  17. Deuteronomy 28:11 Lit fruit
  18. Deuteronomy 28:11 Lit fruit
  19. Deuteronomy 28:11 Lit fruit
  20. Deuteronomy 28:13 Lit be careful and to perform
  21. Deuteronomy 28:15 Lit listen to the voice of
  22. Deuteronomy 28:15 Lit perform
  23. Deuteronomy 28:16 Lit field
  24. Deuteronomy 28:18 Lit fruit
  25. Deuteronomy 28:18 Lit fruit
  26. Deuteronomy 28:20 Lit every putting forth of your hand which you do
  27. Deuteronomy 28:22 Another reading is drought
  28. Deuteronomy 28:23 Lit Your
  29. Deuteronomy 28:26 Lit be for
  30. Deuteronomy 28:28 Lit heart
  31. Deuteronomy 28:29 Or exploited
  32. Deuteronomy 28:30 A betrothed couple was considered legally married, but did not yet live together
  33. Deuteronomy 28:30 Or be intimate with
  34. Deuteronomy 28:31 Lit return to
  35. Deuteronomy 28:31 Or flock
  36. Deuteronomy 28:32 Lit to the power of your hand
  37. Deuteronomy 28:34 Lit your eyes which you
  38. Deuteronomy 28:45 Lit listen to the voice of
  39. Deuteronomy 28:46 Or on
  40. Deuteronomy 28:46 Lit seed
  41. Deuteronomy 28:50 Lit defiant-faced
  42. Deuteronomy 28:51 Lit fruit
  43. Deuteronomy 28:52 Lit gates
  44. Deuteronomy 28:52 Lit gates
  45. Deuteronomy 28:53 Lit fruit of your womb
  46. Deuteronomy 28:53 Or torment
  47. Deuteronomy 28:54 Or spoiled and pampered
  48. Deuteronomy 28:54 Lit his eye will be evil toward
  49. Deuteronomy 28:54 Lit of his breast
  50. Deuteronomy 28:55 Or torment
  51. Deuteronomy 28:55 Lit gates
  52. Deuteronomy 28:56 Or spoiled and pampered
  53. Deuteronomy 28:56 Lit her eye shall be evil toward
  54. Deuteronomy 28:56 Lit of her breast
  55. Deuteronomy 28:57 Lit feet
  56. Deuteronomy 28:57 Or torment
  57. Deuteronomy 28:57 Lit gates
  58. Deuteronomy 28:58 Lit perform
  59. Deuteronomy 28:58 Or revere
  60. Deuteronomy 28:58 Heb YHWH
  61. Deuteronomy 28:59 Lit plagues on your seed
  62. Deuteronomy 28:59 Lit great
  63. Deuteronomy 28:62 Lit people
  64. Deuteronomy 28:62 Lit listen to the voice of
  65. Deuteronomy 28:64 Lit the end of the earth
  66. Deuteronomy 28:66 Lit be hung for you in front
  67. Deuteronomy 29:1 Ch 28:69 in Heb
  68. Deuteronomy 29:2 Ch 29:1 in Heb
  69. Deuteronomy 29:7 Lit came to
  70. Deuteronomy 29:7 Lit struck
  71. Deuteronomy 29:19 I.e., to destroy everything
  72. Deuteronomy 29:20 Lit smoke
  73. Deuteronomy 29:23 Lit it is not sown and does not make plants sprout
  74. Deuteronomy 29:24 Lit heat
  75. Deuteronomy 29:26 Lit apportioned
  76. Deuteronomy 29:29 Lit perform
  77. Deuteronomy 30:1 Lit return them to your heart
  78. Deuteronomy 30:2 Lit listen to His voice
  79. Deuteronomy 30:3 Lit your captivity
  80. Deuteronomy 30:4 Lit end of the sky
  81. Deuteronomy 30:4 Lit take you
  82. Deuteronomy 30:6 Lit seed
  83. Deuteronomy 30:7 Lit give
  84. Deuteronomy 30:8 Lit listen to the voice of
  85. Deuteronomy 30:8 Lit perform
  86. Deuteronomy 30:9 Lit for good
  87. Deuteronomy 30:9 Lit fruit
  88. Deuteronomy 30:9 Lit fruit
  89. Deuteronomy 30:9 Lit fruit
  90. Deuteronomy 30:10 Or for you will
  91. Deuteronomy 30:10 Lit listen to the voice of
  92. Deuteronomy 30:10 Or for you will
  93. Deuteronomy 30:12 Lit to say
  94. Deuteronomy 30:12 Lit perform
  95. Deuteronomy 30:13 Lit to say
  96. Deuteronomy 30:13 Lit perform
  97. Deuteronomy 30:14 Lit perform
  98. Deuteronomy 30:15 Lit good
  99. Deuteronomy 30:15 Lit evil
  100. Deuteronomy 30:18 Lit to
  101. Deuteronomy 30:19 Lit seed
  102. Deuteronomy 30:20 Lit that
  103. Deuteronomy 30:20 Lit to dwell
Close TLB

Deuteronomy 27-30
Living Bible

27 Then Moses and the elders of Israel gave the people these further instructions to obey:[a]

2-4 “When you cross the Jordan River and go into the Promised Land—a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’—take out boulders from the river bottom and immediately pile them into a monument on the other side, at Mount Ebal. Face the stones with a coating of lime[b] and then write the laws of God in the lime. 5-6 And build an altar there to the Lord your God. Use uncut boulders, and on the altar offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God. 7 Sacrifice peace offerings upon it also, and feast there with great joy before the Lord your God. 8 Write all of these laws plainly upon the monument.[c]”

9 Then Moses and the Levite-priests addressed all Israel as follows: “O Israel, listen! Today you have become the people of the Lord your God, 10 so today you must begin to obey all of these commandments I have given you.”

11 That same day Moses gave this charge to the people:

12 “When you cross into the Promised Land, the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to proclaim a blessing, 13 and the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali shall stand upon Mount Ebal to proclaim a curse. 14 Then the Levites standing between[d] them shall shout to all Israel,

15 “‘The curse of God be upon anyone who makes and worships an idol, even in secret, whether carved of wood or made from molten metal—for these handmade gods are hated by the Lord.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

16 “‘Cursed is anyone who despises his father or mother.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

17 “‘Cursed is he who moves the boundary marker between his land and his neighbor’s.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

18 “‘Cursed is he who takes advantage of a blind man.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

19 “‘Cursed is he who is unjust to the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

20 “‘Cursed is he who commits adultery with one of his father’s wives, for she belongs to his father.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

21 “‘Cursed is he who has sexual intercourse with an animal.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

22 “‘Cursed is he who has sexual intercourse with his sister, whether she be a full sister or a half sister.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

23 “‘Cursed is he who has sexual intercourse with his widowed[e] mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

24 “‘Cursed is he who secretly slays another.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

25 “‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

26 “‘Cursed is anyone who does not obey these laws.’ And all the people shall reply, ‘Amen.’

28 “If you fully obey all of these commandments of the Lord your God, the laws I am declaring to you today, God will transform you into the greatest nation in the world. 2-6 These are the blessings that will come upon you:

Blessings in the city,

Blessings in the field;

Many children,

Ample crops,

Large flocks and herds;

Blessings of fruit and bread;

Blessings when you come in,

Blessings when you go out.

7 “The Lord will defeat your enemies before you; they will march out together against you but scatter before you in seven directions! 8 The Lord will bless you with good crops and healthy cattle, and prosper everything you do when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 9 He will change you into a holy people dedicated to himself; this he has promised to do if you will only obey him and walk in his ways. 10 All the nations in the world shall see that you belong to the Lord, and they will stand in awe.

11 “The Lord will give you an abundance of good things in the land, just as he promised: many children, many cattle, and abundant crops. 12 He will open to you his wonderful treasury of rain in the heavens, to give you fine crops every season. He will bless everything you do; and you shall lend to many nations, but shall not borrow from them. 13 If you will only listen and obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, he will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall always have the upper hand. 14 But each of these blessings depends on your not turning aside in any way from the laws I have given you; and you must never worship other gods.

15-19 “If you won’t listen to the Lord your God and won’t obey these laws I am giving you today, then all of these curses shall come upon you:

Curses in the city,

Curses in the fields,

Curses on your fruit and bread,

The curse of barren wombs,

Curses upon your crops,

Curses upon the fertility of your cattle and flocks,

Curses when you come in,

Curses when you go out.

20 “For the Lord himself will send his personal curse upon you. You will be confused and a failure in everything you do, until at last you are destroyed because of the sin of forsaking him. 21 He will send disease among you until you are destroyed from the face of the land you are about to enter and possess. 22 He will send tuberculosis, fever, infections, plague, and war. He will blight your crops, covering them with mildew. All these devastations shall pursue you until you perish.

23 “The heavens above you will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as iron. 24 The land will become as dry as dust for lack of rain, and dust storms shall destroy you.

25 “The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will march out to battle gloriously, but flee before your enemies in utter confusion; and you will be tossed to and fro among all the nations of the earth. 26 Your dead bodies will be food to the birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away.

27 “He will send upon you Egyptian boils, tumors, scurvy, and itch, for none of which will there be a remedy. 28 He will send madness, blindness, fear, and panic upon you. 29 You shall grope in the bright sunlight just as the blind man gropes in darkness. You shall not prosper in anything you do; you will be oppressed and robbed continually, and nothing will save you.

30 “Someone else will marry your fiancée; someone else will live in the house you build; someone else will eat the fruit of the vineyard you plant. 31 Your oxen shall be butchered before your eyes, but you won’t get a single bite of the meat. Your donkeys will be driven away as you watch and will never return to you again. Your sheep will be given to your enemies. And there will be no one to protect you. 32 You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break with longing for them, but you will not be able to help them. 33 A foreign nation you have not even heard of will eat the crops you will have worked so hard to grow. You will always be oppressed and crushed. 34 You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you. 35 The Lord will cover you with boils from head to foot.

36 “He will exile you and the king you will choose to a nation to which neither you nor your ancestors gave a second thought; and while in exile you shall worship gods of wood and stone! 37 You will become an object of horror, a proverb and a byword among all the nations, for the Lord will thrust you away.

38 “You will sow much but reap little, for the locusts will eat your crops. 39 You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you won’t eat the grapes or drink the wine, for worms will destroy the vines. 40 Olive trees will be growing everywhere, but there won’t be enough olive oil to anoint yourselves! For the trees will drop their fruit before it is matured. 41 Your sons and daughters will be snatched away from you as slaves. 42 The locusts shall destroy your trees and vines. 43 Foreigners living among you shall become richer and richer while you become poorer and poorer. 44 They shall lend to you, not you to them! They shall be the head and you shall be the tail!

45 “All these curses shall pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed—all because you refuse to listen to the Lord your God. 46 These horrors shall befall you and your descendants as a warning: 47-48 You will become slaves to your enemies because of your failure to praise God for all that he has given you. The Lord will send your enemies against you, and you will be hungry, thirsty, naked, and in want of everything. A yoke of iron shall be placed around your neck until you are destroyed!

49 “The Lord will bring a distant nation against you, swooping down upon you like an eagle; a nation whose language you don’t understand— 50 a nation of fierce and angry men who will have no mercy upon young or old. 51 They will eat you out of house and home until your cattle and crops are gone. Your grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, and lambs will all disappear. 52 That nation will lay siege to your cities and knock down your highest walls—the walls you will trust to protect you. 53 You will even eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters in the terrible days of siege that lie ahead. 54 The most tenderhearted man among you will be utterly callous toward his own brother and his beloved wife and his children who are still alive. 55 He will refuse to give them a share of the flesh he is devouring—the flesh of his own children—because he is starving in the midst of the siege of your cities. 56-57 The most tender and delicate woman among you—the one who would not so much as touch her feet to the ground—will refuse to share with her beloved husband, son, and daughter. She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can eat them: so terrible will be the hunger during the siege and the awful distress caused by your enemies at your gates.

58-59 “If you refuse to obey all the laws written in this book, thus refusing reverence to the glorious and fearful name of Jehovah your God, then Jehovah will send perpetual plagues upon you and upon your children. 60 He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and they shall plague the land. 61 And that is not all! The Lord will bring upon you every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this book, until you are destroyed. 62 There will be few of you left, though before you were as numerous as stars. All this if you do not listen to the Lord your God.

63 “Just as the Lord has rejoiced over you and has done such wonderful things for you and has multiplied you, so the Lord at that time will rejoice in destroying you; and you shall disappear from the land. 64 For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship heathen gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! 65 There among those nations you shall find no rest, but the Lord will give you trembling hearts, darkness, and bodies wasted from sorrow and fear. 66 Your lives will hang in doubt. You will live night and day in fear, and will have no reason to believe that you will see the morning light. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘Oh, that night were here!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘Oh, that morning were here!’ You will say this because of the awesome horrors surrounding you. 68 Then the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, a journey I promised you would never need to make again; and there you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves—but no one will even want to buy you.”

29 It was on the plains of Moab that Moses restated the covenant that the Lord had made with the people of Israel at Mount Horeb. 2-3 He summoned all Israel before him and told them, “You have seen with your own eyes the great plagues and mighty miracles that the Lord brought upon Pharaoh and his people in the land of Egypt. 4 But even yet the Lord hasn’t given you hearts that understand or eyes that see or ears that hear! 5 For forty years God has led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes haven’t become old, and your shoes haven’t worn out! 6 The reason he hasn’t let you settle down to grow grain for bread or grapes for wine and strong drink is so that you would realize that it is the Lord your God who has been caring for you.

7 “When we came here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we destroyed them, 8 and took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh as their inheritance. 9 Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do. 10 All of you—your leaders, the people, your judges, and your administrative officers—are standing today before the Lord your God, 11 along with your little ones and your wives and the foreigners that are among you—those who chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are standing here to enter into a contract with Jehovah your God, a contract he is making with you today. 13 He wants to confirm you today as his people, and to confirm that he is your God, just as he promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14-15 This contract is not with you alone as you stand before him today, but with all future generations of Israel as well.

16 “Surely you remember how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how as we left, we came safely through the territory of enemy nations. 17 And you have seen their heathen idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18 The day that any of you—man or woman, family or tribe of Israel—begins to turn away from the Lord our God and desires to worship these gods of other nations, that day a root will be planted that will grow bitter and poisonous fruit.

19 “Let no one blithely think, when he hears the warnings of this curse, ‘I shall prosper even though I walk in my own stubborn way!’ 20 For the Lord will not pardon! His anger and jealousy will be hot against that man. And all the curses written in this book shall lie heavily upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 The Lord will separate that man from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out upon him all the curses (which are recorded in this book) that befall those who break this contract. 22 Then your children and the generations to come and the foreigners that pass by from distant lands shall see the devastation of the land and the diseases the Lord will have sent upon it. 23 They will see that the whole land is alkali and salt, a burned over wasteland, unsown, without crops, without a shred of vegetation—just like Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, destroyed by the Lord in his anger.

24 “‘Why has the Lord done this to his land?’ the nations will ask. ‘Why was he so angry?’

25 “And they will be told, ‘Because the people of the land broke the contract made with them by Jehovah, the God of their ancestors, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 For they worshiped other gods, violating his express command. 27 That is why the anger of the Lord was hot against this land, so that all his curses (which are recorded in this book) broke forth upon them. 28 In great anger the Lord rooted them out of their land and threw them away into another land, where they still live today!’

29 “There are secrets the Lord your God has not revealed to us, but these words that he has revealed are for us and our children to obey forever.

30 “When all these things have happened to you—the blessings and the curses I have listed—you will meditate upon them as you are living among the nations where the Lord your God will have driven you. 2 If at that time you want to return to the Lord your God, and you and your children have begun wholeheartedly to obey all of the commandments I have given you today, 3 then the Lord your God will rescue you from your captivity! He will have mercy upon you and come and gather you out of all the nations where he will have scattered you. 4 Though you are at the ends of the earth, he will go and find you and bring you back again 5 to the land of your ancestors. You shall possess the land again, and he will do you good and bless you even more than he did your ancestors! 6 He will cleanse your hearts and the hearts of your children and of your children’s children so that you will love the Lord your God with all your hearts and souls, and Israel shall come alive again!

7-8 “If you return to the Lord and obey all the commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will take his curses and turn them against your enemies—against those who hate you and persecute you. 9 The Lord your God will prosper everything you do and give you many children and much cattle and wonderful crops; for the Lord will again rejoice over you as he did over your fathers. 10 He will rejoice if you but obey the commandments written in this book of the law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your hearts and souls.

11 “Obeying these commandments is not something beyond your strength and reach; 12 for these laws are not in the far heavens, so distant that you can’t hear and obey them, and with no one to bring them down to you; 13 nor are they beyond the ocean, so far that no one can bring you their message; 14 but they are very close at hand—in your hearts and on your lips—so obey them.

15 “Look, today I have set before you life and death, depending on whether you obey or disobey. 16 I have commanded you today to love the Lord your God and to follow his paths and to keep his laws, so that you will live and become a great nation, and so that the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to possess. 17 But if your hearts turn away and you won’t listen—if you are drawn away to worship other gods— 18 then I declare to you this day that you shall surely perish; you will not have a long, good life in the land you are going in to possess.

19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you that today I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Oh, that you would choose life; that you and your children might live! 20 Choose to love the Lord your God and to obey him and to cling to him, for he is your life and the length of your days. You will then be able to live safely in the land the Lord promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 27:1 gave the people these further instructions to obey, literally, “Keep all the commandments I enjoin on you today.”
  2. Deuteronomy 27:2 with a coating of lime, literally, “plaster them with plaster.”
  3. Deuteronomy 27:8 upon the monument, implied; see vv. 1-4.
  4. Deuteronomy 27:14 Then the Levites standing between, implied.
  5. Deuteronomy 27:23 widowed, implied. If she were still married, no special law would be needed to prohibit adultery.
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Deuteronomy 26
Deuteronomy 31
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