BLESSINGS AND CURSES
Deuteronomy 28 (KJV)
1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake
thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou
be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of
thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the
flocks of thy sheep.
5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed
shalt thou be when thou goest out.
7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up
against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall
come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
8 The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in
thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall
bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
9 The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto
himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of
the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.
10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called
by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.
11 And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods,
in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of
thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give
thee.
12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure,
the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the
work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not
borrow.
13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not
the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that
thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I
command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto
the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments
and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall
come upon thee, and overtake thee:
16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be
in the field.
17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of
thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt
thou be when thou goest out.
20 The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation,
and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be
destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings,
whereby thou hast forsaken me.
21 The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto
thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to
possess it.
22 The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption,
and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and
with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee
until thou perish.
23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and
the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
24 The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder
and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
25 The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before
thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways
before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air,
and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
27 The Lord will smite thee with the botch of
Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou
canst not be healed.
28 The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and
blindness, and astonishment of heart:
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in
darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only
oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with
her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt
plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt
not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face,
and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies,
and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another
people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day
long; and there shall be no might in thine hand.
33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation
which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed
alway:
34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes
which thou shalt see.
35 The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in
the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot
unto the top of thy head.
36 The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which
thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have
known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a
byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.
38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt
gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt
neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but
thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his
fruit.
41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not
enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust
consume.
43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee
very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he
shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall
pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou
hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his
commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder,
and upon thy seed for ever.
47 Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with
joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which
the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in
nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy
neck, until he have destroyed thee.
49 The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from
far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose
tongue thou shalt not understand;
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the
person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of
thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn,
wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he
have destroyed thee.
52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high
and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land:
and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which
the Lord thy God hath given thee.
53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh
of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given
thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall
distress thee:
54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very
delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his
bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:
55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of
his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege,
and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy
gates.
56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not
adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and
tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward
her son, and toward her daughter,
57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her
feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for
want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy
shall distress thee in thy gates.
58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law
that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful
name, The Lord Thy God;
59 Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful,
and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and
sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of
Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not
written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee,
until thou be destroyed.
62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the
stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of
the Lord thy God.
63 And it shall come to pass, that as
the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so
the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to
nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess
it.
64 And the Lord shall scatter thee among all
people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt
serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and
stone.
65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither
shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee
there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou
shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and
at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart
wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt
see.
68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again
with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more
again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen,
and no man shall buy you.
Israelite Gifts 