Deuteronomy 27-31
The Curses of Mount Ebal
Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying, “Keep all the commandments which I command you today. 2 aSo it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime 3 and write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, aa land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. 4 So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up aon Mount Ebal, these stones, as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime. 5 Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you ashall not wield an iron tool on them. 6 You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God; 7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and arejoice before the Lord your God. 8 You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very distinctly.”
9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”
11 Moses also charged the people on that day, saying, 12 “When you cross the Jordan, these shall stand on aMount Gerizim to bless the people: bSimeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 For the curse, these shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 The Levites shall then answer and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes aan idol or a molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And ball the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
16 ‘aCursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
17 ‘aCursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary mark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
18 ‘aCursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
19 ‘aCursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
20 ‘aCursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
21 ‘aCursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
22 ‘aCursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
23 ‘aCursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
24 ‘aCursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
25 ‘aCursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
26 ‘aCursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Blessings at Gerizim
“aNow it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God bwill set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and aovertake you if you obey the Lord your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be ain the country.
4 “Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 “Blessed shall you be awhen you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in aall that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 9 aThe Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 So all the peoples of the earth will see that ayou are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. 11 aThe Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and ayou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 aThe Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, 14 and ado not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Consequences of Disobedience
15 “aBut it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 “aCursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
17 “aCursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 “aCursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
19 “aCursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 “aThe Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and brebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until cyou perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me. 21 aThe Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. 22 aThe Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and bwith blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until cyou perish. 23 The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. 24 aThe Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25 “aThe Lord shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will bbe an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 aYour carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
27 “aThe Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with btumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart; 29 and you will agrope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you. 30 aYou shall betroth a wife, but another man will violate her; byou shall build a house, but you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you. 32 aYour sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do. 33 aA people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually. 34 You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see. 35 aThe Lord will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. 36 aThe Lord will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, bwood and stone. 37 aYou shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the Lord drives you.
38 “aYou shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little, for bthe locust will consume it. 39 aYou shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them. 40 aYou shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off. 41 aYou shall have sons and daughters but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. 42 aThe cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground. 43 aThe alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower. 44 aHe shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; bhe shall be the head, and you will be the tail.
45 “So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you auntil you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 They shall become aa sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever.
47 “aBecause you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, ain hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He bwill put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
49 “aThe Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, bas the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance who will ahave no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. 51 Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish. 52 aIt shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. 53 aThen you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you. 54 The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, 55 so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns. 56 aThe refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, 57 and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for ashe will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.
58 “If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to afear this honored and awesome bname, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. 60 aHe will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring on you auntil you are destroyed. 62 Then you shall be left few in number, awhereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 It shall come about that as the Lord adelighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will bdelight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be ctorn from the land where you are entering to possess it. 64 Moreover, the Lord will ascatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall bserve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. 65 aAmong those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there bthe Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. 66 So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. 67 aIn the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see. 68 The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”
The Covenant in Moab
aThese are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the bcovenant which He had made with them at Horeb.
2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; 3 athe great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4 Yet to this day athe Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness; ayour clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6 aYou have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. 7 aWhen you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we defeated them; 8 and we took their land and agave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 aSo keep the words of this covenant to do them, bthat you may prosper in all that you do.
10 “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from athe one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that aHe may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 “Now not with you alone am I amaking this covenant and this oath, 15 abut both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today 16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17 moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of awood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them); 18 aso that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you ba root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19 It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’ 20 The Lord shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and aHis jealousy will bburn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the Lord will cblot out his name from under heaven. 21 Then the Lord will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant awhich are written in this book of the law.
22 “Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and athe foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, 23 ‘All its land is abrimstone and salt, ba burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of cSodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ 24 All the nations will say, ‘aWhy has the Lord done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ 25 Then men will say, ‘aBecause they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. 27 Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ato bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28 and athe Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’
29 “aThe secret things belong to the Lord our God, but bthe things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.
Restoration Promised
“So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, athe blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind bin all nations where the Lord your God has banished you, 2 and you areturn to the Lord your God and obey Him bwith all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, 3 then the Lord your God will arestore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and bwill gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has cscattered you. 4 If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, afrom there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. 5 aThe Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and bmultiply you more than your fathers.
6 “Moreover athe Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, bto love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. 7 aThe Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the Lord, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. 9 aThen the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for bthe Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; 10 if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which aare written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God bwith all your heart and soul.
11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘aWho will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
Choose Life
15 “See, aI have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; 16 in that I command you today ato love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you bmay live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. 17 But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that ayou shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. 19 aI call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, bthe blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 aby loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and bby holding fast to Him; cfor this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in dthe land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Moses’ Last Counsel
So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am aa hundred and twenty years old today; bI am no longer able to come and go, and the Lord has said to me, ‘cYou shall not cross this Jordan.’ 3 aIt is the Lord your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. bJoshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken. 4 The Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. 5 aThe Lord will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you. 6 aBe strong and courageous, bdo not be afraid or tremble at them, for cthe Lord your God is the one who goes with you. dHe will not fail you or forsake you.”
7 Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “aBe strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. 8 aThe Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. bHe will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
9 So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi awho carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of athe year of remission of debts, at the bFeast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes ato appear before the Lord your God at bthe place which He will choose, cyou shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and alearn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. 13 Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”
Israel Will Fall Away
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, athe time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” bSo Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. 15 aThe Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent. 16 The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ayou are about to lie down with your fathers; and bthis people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and cwill forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 aThen My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and bI will forsake them and chide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘dIs it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?’ 18 But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.
19 “Now therefore, awrite this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. 20 aFor when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and bbecome prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. 21 Then it shall come about, awhen many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for bI know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.” 22 aSo Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.
Joshua Is Commissioned
23 aThen He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “bBe strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and cI will be with you.”
24 It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites awho carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, 26 “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you. 27 For I know ayour rebellion and byour stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death? 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and acall the heavens and the earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will aact corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”
30 Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete:
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