Deuteronomy 28

2If thou wilt hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God,

3Blessed shalt thou be in the city; and blessed shalt thou be in the field,

4blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the products of thy land, and thy herds, and thy flocks.

5Blessed shall be thy granaries, and thy stores.

7May the Lord thy God deliver up thine enemies, who rise up against thee, to be smitten before thee. They shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

10then shall all the nations of the earth see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of thee;

11and the Lord thy God will multiply thee, for good, in the offspring of thy body, and in the increase of thy cattle, and in the products of thy ground, in the land which He solemnly promised thy fathers to give thee.

13May the Lord establish thee for a head and not for a tail, so that thou mayst be above, and not beneath. If thou wilt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all that I this day enjoin thee, thou wilt not turn aside from all the commandments which I this day command thee,

14either to the right, or to the left, to go after other gods, to serve them.

16Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed thou in the field.

17Cursed shall be thy granaries, and thy stores.

18Cursed shall be the offspring of thy body, and the products of thy land, thy herds and thy flocks.

19Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed thou when thou goest out.

20The Lord send upon thee want, and famine, and destruction on all the labour of thy hands, until he utterly root thee out, and until he destroy thee quickly, on the account of thy wicked devices. Seeing thou hast forsaken me,

21may the Lord make the pestilence cleave to thee, until it utterly consume thee from the land to which thou art going, to take possession of it.

22The Lord smite thee with anxiety, and fever, and chill, and restlessness, and blasting, and mildew, that they may pursue thee until they utterly destroy thee.

23And when the heaven over thy head shall be brass, and the earth under thy feet iron, may the

24Lord thy God make the rain of thy land dust, so that dust from heaven may descend until it waste thee, and until it destroy thee speedily.

26and your dead carcasses be food for the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the earth, and there be none to fray them away.

27The Lord smite thee with the Egyptian boil in thy seat, and with wild fire, and with itching, so that thou canst not be cured.

28The Lord smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart,

29so that thou mayst grope about at noon day, as a blind man gropeth in darkness; and let him not prosper thy ways, so thou shalt then be iniured, and spoiled continually, and there will be none to help thee.

31Thy ox will be slaughtered before thy face, and thou shalt not eat thereof. Thy ass will be taken from thee, and shall not be restored; thy flocks will be given to thine enemies, and there shall be none to help thee;

32thy sons, and thy daughters, will be given to another nation, and thine eyes will melt in looking at them; there will be no strength in thy hand.

33A nation, which thou knowest not will eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours; and thou shalt be injured, and oppressed continually,

34and driven to madness at the sight of thine eyes, which thou shalt see.

36The Lord carry away thee, and thy rulers, whom thou mayst set over thee, to a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers knew, that thou mayst there serve other gods—stocks and stones;

37and be there for a by word, and a proverb, and a public example to all the nations to which the Lord shall bring thee.

39thou shalt plant a vineyard and dress it; but shalt not press out wine, nor regale thyself from it; for worms shall eat it up.

40Thou shalt have plantations of olive trees, in all thy borders, but shalt not be anointed with oil, for thine olive tree shall cast its fruit:

41thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but shalt not have them with thee; for they shall go into captivity.

43The stranger who is with thee shall rise higher and higher; but thou shalt fall lower and lower.

44He shall lend to thee; and thou shalt not lend to him: He shall be head; and thou shalt be tail.

45All these curses shall actually come upon thee, and pursue thee, and overtake thee, until he root thee out, and utterly destroy thee because thou didst not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments, and His rules of rectitude, which He commanded thee,

46And they shall be signs for thee, and wonders for thine offspring forever.

48therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies, whom the Lord will send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and thou shalt wear a yoke of iron on thy neck, until it utterly destroy thee.

49The Lord will bring against thee a nation from afar—from the extremity of the earth, with the impetuosity of an eagle—

50a nation whose voice thou shalt not understand—a nation of an unblushing countenance, which will not respect the person of an elder, nor compassionate a youth.

53thou shalt eat the offspring of thy body—the flesh of thy sons, and thy daughters, whom he gave thee.

55so as not to give one of them any of the flesh of his sons, which he may be eating, because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in that affliction of thine with which thine enemies will afflict thee, in all thy cities.

56And the tender, and very delicate woman among you, whose foot never ventured to tread the ground because of her delicateness, and effeminacy will look with an evil eye on her husband in her bosom, and on her son, and her daughter,

57even the female infant she bore, or the male child which she may have brought forth; for on the account of the want of all things, she will eat these secretly in thy siege, and in that affliction of thine with which thine enemy will afflict thee in thy cities.

59the Lord will make thy plagues, and the plagues of thy seed, wonderful beyond conception—He will make them great, and marvellous, and thy diseases sore, and lasting,

60and will bring upon thee all the affliction of Egypt—that grievous affliction which thou didst dread on their account, and they shall cleave to thee.

61The Lord will also bring upon thee every sickness, and every plague, which is not written, and every one which is written in this book of the law, until he root thee out.

62And you shall be left few in number, instead of being, as you were, like the stars of heaven for multitude. Because thou didst not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,

63therefore it shall come to pass, that as the Lord delighted in you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you, in rooting you out; and you shall be removed speedily from the land to which thou art going to take possession of it.

64And the Lord thy God will scatter thee among all the nations, from one extremity of the earth to the other; and thou shalt there serve other gods—stocks and stones, which neither thou, nor thy fathers have known.

65But even among these nations He will not give thee rest, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. Indeed the Lord will give thee there a strange trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a desponding soul,

66and thy life shall hang in suspense before thine eyes, and thou shalt be in terror, day and night, and have no assurance of thy life.

67In the morning thou wilt say; How will it be with me in the evening! And in the evening thou wilt say, How may it be with me in the morning! on account of the terror of thy heart with which thou shalt be affrighted, and on account of the sights of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

68And the Lord will send thee back into Egypt, in ships (by the route of which I said: Thou shalt see it no more), and thou shalt there be exposed to sale to your enemies, for bondsmen and bondswomen, and there will be no purchaser.