Deuteronomy 28:1-22

English Standard Version

Blessings for Obedience

28 “And ^(A)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^(B)high above all the nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(C)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^(D)blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be ^(E)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵Blessed shall be your basket and your ^(F)kneading bowl. ⁶Blessed shall you be ^(G)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷“The Lord ^(H)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸The Lord ^(I)will command the blessing on you in your barns and ^(J)in all that you undertake. ^(K)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ⁹^(L)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰And ^(M)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(N)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(O)afraid of you. ¹¹And ^(P)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^(Q)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹²The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^(R)to give the rain to your land in its season and ^(S)to bless all the work of your hands. And ^(T)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³And the Lord will make you ^(U)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ¹⁴^(V)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵“But ^(W)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(X)overtake you. ¹⁶Cursed shall you be ^(Y)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰“The Lord ^(Z)will send on you curses, confusion, and ^(AA)frustration in all that you undertake to do, ^(AB)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹The Lord will make ^(AC)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ²²^(AD)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought^[a] and with ^(AE)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.