Blessings for Obedience

1 “And ^qif 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 ^rhigh above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^sovertake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^tblessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be ^uthe 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. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your ^vkneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be ^wwhen you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 “The Lord ^xwill 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. 8 The Lord ^ywill command the blessing on you in your barns and ^zin all that you undertake. ^aAnd he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 ^bThe 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. 10 And ^call the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^dcalled by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^eafraid of you. 11 And ^fthe Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^uthe 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. 12 The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^gto give the rain to your land in its season and ^hto bless all the work of your hands. And ⁱyou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you ^jthe 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 ^kand 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 ^lif 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 ^movertake you. 16 Cursed shall you be ⁿin the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20 “The Lord ^owill send on you curses, confusion, and ^pfrustration in all that you undertake to do, ^quntil you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21 The Lord will make ^rthe pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 22 ^sThe Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought¹ and with ^tblight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And ^uthe heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25 ^v“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you ^wshall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

64 “And the Lord ^rwill scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and ^sthere you shall serve other gods ^tof wood and stone, ^uwhich neither you nor your fathers have known. 65 And ^vamong these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but ^wthe Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and ^xa languishing soul. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. 67 ^yIn the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and ^zthe sights that your eyes shall see. 68 And the Lord ^awill bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that ^byou should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”