The Blessings and Curse of the Law
Deuteronomy 28
Living Abundantly
According to God's Word Series
The Blessings of Obedience to the Commandments of God
Deuteronomy 28
: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.
The figure of speech Polysyndeton, "many ands" is used in the following verses. It is the listing of items separated by "and" to get the reader to pause and consider each item. The emphasis is on each item in the list.
: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:
to the right hand,
or to the left,
to go after other gods to serve them.
The Curse of the Law
: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 [frighten] 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.