CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Deuteronomy 28
Chapter 28 of 34
Chapter Overview
What happens in Deuteronomy 28
This pivotal chapter presents the blessings and curses of the covenant. If Israel obeys God, extraordinary blessings will follow. But if they disobey, devastating curses will come -- growing more severe until the nation is scattered among all peoples.
Scripture
Deuteronomy 28
Blessings for Obedience
Study note
Moses describes the wonderful blessings that will come if Israel faithfully obeys God. Every area of life will be blessed -- family, crops, livestock, daily work, and national standing. Israel will be the head among nations, lending to many and borrowing from none.
1 Fully obey the Lord your God. Follow with care every command I give you today. Then the Lord your God will raise you up above every nation on earth. 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 All these blessings will pour over you and follow you everywhere, as long as you obey the Lord your God: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed out in the countryside. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
4 Your children, your crops, and your animals will all be blessed -- every calf and every lamb. 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 Your food basket and your bread bowl will be blessed. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
6 You will be blessed wherever you go and whatever you do. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
7 The Lord will send your enemies running from you in defeat. They will attack from one direction but scatter in seven different directions. 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 will fill your barns with blessings and prosper everything you touch. He will bless you in the land he is giving you. 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 will make you his own holy people, just as he promised, as long as you keep his commands and live the way he wants. 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 Every nation on earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they will treat you with respect. 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 The Lord will give you more than enough. He will give you lots of children. He will give you plenty of livestock and big harvests. He will do this in the land he promised your fathers. 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 will open up his rich storehouse in the sky, sending rain at just the right time and blessing all your hard work. You will lend to many nations but never need to borrow from any. 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 The Lord will put you at the top, not the bottom. You will always lead, never follow -- as long as you listen to the Lord your God's commands I am giving you today and carefully live by them. 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 Never turn away from any command I give you today. Do not turn to the right or to the left. Do not chase after other gods or worship them. 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.
Curses for Disobedience
Study note
In sharp contrast, Moses lists the curses that will come if Israel disobeys. The same areas of life that would have been blessed will instead be cursed. Disease, defeat, and despair will follow them, and their bodies will lie unburied.
15 But you might refuse to obey the Lord your God. You might not follow all his commands and rules I give you today. Then all these curses will land on you and stick. 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 You will be cursed in the city and cursed out in the countryside. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
17 Your food basket and your bread bowl will be cursed. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
18 Your children, your crops, your calves, and your lambs will all be cursed. 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 You will be cursed wherever you go and whatever you do. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
20 The Lord will send confusion and failure into all you attempt. You will be ruined and destroyed quickly. Why? Because you left him and turned to evil. 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 will send terrible diseases on you that will not let go. They will keep at you until he has wiped you from the land you are entering. 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 will strike you with wasting illness, burning fever, swelling, scorching heat, drought, plant disease, and mold. These disasters will hound you until you are gone. 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 The sky overhead will turn hard as bronze, giving no rain, and the ground under your feet will be hard as iron. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
24 Instead of rain, the Lord will send dust and sand falling from the sky until you are destroyed. 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 will let your enemies crush you in battle. You will march out against them in one formation but flee from them in total chaos. Every kingdom on earth will be horrified at what happens to you. 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 Your dead bodies will be food for birds and wild animals, with no one to shoo them away. 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.
Worsening Disasters
Study note
The curses intensify with incurable diseases, madness, blindness, and total loss of property, family, and freedom. Everything Israel works for will be taken by others. They will become an object of horror and mockery among the nations.
27 The Lord will hit you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with festering sores, and with an itch nothing can cure. 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 will strike you with insanity, blindness, and mental confusion. The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
29 Even at noon you will stumble around like a blind person in the dark. Nothing you try will work. You will be constantly cheated and robbed, with nobody to rescue you. 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 You will get engaged to a woman, but another man will be with her. You will build a house, but you will never get to live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never taste its fruit. 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 Your ox will be butchered before you, and you will not get a single bite. Your donkey will be taken and never given back. Your sheep will be handed over to your enemies, and no one will come to your aid. 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 Your sons and daughters will be given away to a foreign nation. You will watch for them day after day until your eyes give out, but you will be powerless to do anything. 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 A nation you have never even heard of will eat your crops and everything you worked for. You will be crushed and oppressed every day. 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 What you see happening around you will drive you out of your mind. So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
35 The Lord will cover you with painful sores that cannot be healed, from the bottoms of your feet to the top of your head. 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 will send you and the king you put over yourselves to a country that neither you nor your ancestors ever knew. There you will end up worshipping idols made of wood and stone. 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 You will become a thing people dread. You will be a warning and a joke among every nation where the Lord sends you. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
Agricultural Failure and Reversal
Study note
Despite hard work, crops will fail to locusts and disease. Foreigners will rise above Israel while they sink lower. All of this comes because they refused to serve the Lord with joy when they had plenty.
38 You will plant plenty of seed but harvest almost nothing, because locusts will devour it. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
39 You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you will never drink the wine or pick the grapes, because worms will destroy them. 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 You will have olive trees all through your land. But you will never use any of the oil, because the olives will drop off before they are ripe. 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 You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, because they will be taken away as captives. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
42 Swarms of locusts will consume every tree and crop in your land. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.
43 The foreigners living among you will keep rising higher and higher above you. And you will keep sinking lower and lower. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
44 They will be the ones lending to you instead of you lending to them. They will be on top, and you will be on the bottom. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
45 Every one of these curses will hunt you down. They will catch you until you are wiped out. This will happen because you refused to obey the Lord your God. You did not follow his commands and rules. 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 These curses will be a permanent sign and warning for you and your descendants. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.
47 All of this will happen because you would not serve the Lord your God with joy and thankfulness. You had everything you could ever want, but you still refused. Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 Instead, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you -- hungry, thirsty, barely clothed, and desperately poor. He will put an iron collar around your neck until he has finished you off. 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.
A Fierce Nation Will Come
Study note
God will bring a distant, fierce nation that speaks an unknown language. They will devour everything and besiege Israel's cities. The siege will be so terrible that even the gentlest people will be driven to unimaginable desperation and horror.
49 The Lord will bring a nation from the far end of the earth to attack you. They will swoop in like an eagle -- a nation that speaks a language you cannot understand, 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 cruel nation that has no respect for the old and no compassion for the young. A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
51 They will consume your livestock and your crops until you have nothing left. They will take your grain, wine, oil, calves, and lambs until you are completely ruined. 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 They will surround every one of your cities. They will pound at them until the tall, strong walls fall. This will happen all across the land the Lord your God gave you. 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 The siege will be so terrible. The hunger will be so bad. You will eat your own sons and daughters. The Lord your God gave you these children. 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 Even the kindest, most gentle man among you will turn selfish. He will turn against his own brother. He will turn against the wife he adores. He will turn against his living children. 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 He will refuse to share the horrible food he is eating with any of them. He will be eating the flesh of his own children. He has nothing else left during the enemy's terrible siege of your cities. 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 Even the most gentle, sheltered woman among you will turn selfish. She is so delicate she would never set her bare foot on the ground. Yet she will turn against the husband she loves and her own children. 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 She will eat her own newborn baby in secret. She will do this because she has nothing else to eat. The siege and suffering your enemy brings will be that bad. 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.
Final Warning of Total Destruction
Study note
If Israel refuses to honor God's glorious name, every plague and disease will come upon them. They will be reduced from being as many as the stars to only a few. God will scatter them among the nations, where they will find no rest, only fear and sorrow. Finally, they will be sent back to Egypt in ships, completing a terrible reversal of their deliverance.
58 You must live by every word of this law in this book. Stand in awe of the Lord your God's great and mighty name. 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 If you do not, the Lord will send awful plagues on you and your children. These diseases will last a long time. These painful sicknesses will not go away. 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 He will bring back on you all the Egyptian diseases you were so afraid of, and they will never let go. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
61 The Lord will also bring every kind of sickness and disease not even written in this law book. They will keep coming until you are wiped out. 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 You once had as many people as the stars in the sky. But only a few of you will be left, because you refused to obey the Lord your God. 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 Just as the Lord took pleasure in helping you thrive and grow, he will take pleasure in tearing you apart and wiping you out. You will be ripped from the land you are about to enter. 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 The Lord will scatter you among every nation, from one end of the earth to the other. In those places you will worship gods made of wood and stone that neither you nor your ancestors ever knew. 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 In those foreign nations you will find no peace and no place to call home. The Lord will fill you with constant worry, tired eyes, and a heart that has lost all hope. 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 Your life will always hang by a thread. Fear will grip you day and night, and you will never feel sure you will make it through. 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 Every morning you will wish it were evening. Every evening you will wish it were morning. Terror will fill your heart. You will see horrible things. 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 The Lord will ship you back to Egypt on boats, using a route I told you that you would never travel again. There you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but nobody will even want to buy you. 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.
Key Themes
Themes in Deuteronomy 28
The consequences of choicesBlessings that overflow from obedienceCurses that escalate from disobedienceGod's covenant is serious
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
Deuteronomy 28:49-50 Luke 19:43-44
The prophecy of a fierce nation swooping down like an eagle to besiege Israel's cities was fulfilled in the Babylonian exile and again in 70 AD when Rome destroyed Jerusalem, as Jesus himself foretold.
Apply This Today
Living Deuteronomy 28
This chapter is perhaps the most sobering in the Old Testament. The blessings for obedience are abundant and comprehensive, but the curses for disobedience are devastating and detailed, ultimately fulfilled in Israel's exile. The imbalance (14 verses of blessing versus 54 verses of curse) is not because God prefers judgment, but because He knows the human heart's tendency to drift. This chapter makes clear that covenant relationship with God is not casual.
Go Deeper
Study Deuteronomy in Covenant Path
Read every chapter with study aids, bookmarks, and daily reading plans — free in the app.