Basic Commands
Study note
Before listing blessings and curses, God restated two fundamental commands: make no idols and keep the Sabbath. These represented the core of Israel's relationship with God. Idols violated the first commandment, and the Sabbath was the sign of the covenant between God and Israel.
1 "Do not make idols for yourselves. Do not set up carved images, sacred pillars, or engraved stones in your land to bow down to. I am the Lord your God." Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
2 "Observe my Sabbath days of rest and treat my sacred place with reverence. I am the Lord." Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
Blessings for Obedience
Study note
God promised extraordinary blessings if Israel obeyed: rain in its season, abundant harvests that lasted from one season to the next, peace in the land, victory over enemies, and a growing population. Most importantly, God promised to live among them. He would walk among them and be their God, and they would be his people. God described himself as the one who broke the bars of their yoke in Egypt and made them walk with their heads held high as free people.
3 "If you follow my rules and carefully keep my commands," If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
4 "I will send rain at just the right time. The soil will grow abundant crops, and the fruit trees will be loaded with fruit." Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 "You will have so much grain to thresh that it will last until grape-picking season, and the grape harvest will keep you busy until planting time. You will have all the food you could want and live in safety in your land." And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6 "I will bring peace to your land. You will sleep soundly with nothing to fear. I will clear out dangerous wild animals, and no foreign army will march across your territory." And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
7 "You will pursue your enemies, and they will collapse before your swords." And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 "Just five of you will chase off a hundred enemies, and a hundred of you will chase off ten thousand. Your enemies will collapse before your swords." And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 "I will look on you with favor and make you productive. Your population will grow, and I will keep my covenant with you." For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
10 "You will still be eating last year's stored grain when you have to clear it out to make room for the fresh new harvest." And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new.
11 "I will make my home there among you, and I will never turn my back on you." And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 "I will live among you and be your God, and you will be my people." And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
13 "I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I smashed the chains of your slavery and let you walk with your heads held high." I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
First Wave of Punishment
Study note
If Israel disobeyed, God would bring sudden terror, wasting diseases, and fever. Their crops would be eaten by enemies. God would turn against them, and they would be defeated in battle and ruled by those who hate them. They would flee even when no one was chasing them. Each wave of punishment was designed to bring the people back to God before things got worse.
14 "But if you refuse to listen to me and do not follow through on all these commands," But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
15 "You might turn away from my rules. You might hate my laws. You might refuse to follow my commands. You might break my covenant." And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
16 "then here is what I will do to you: I will send sudden terror your way -- wasting diseases and burning fevers that will dim your eyesight and drain the life from you. You will plant your crops for nothing, because your enemies will eat the harvest." I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 "I will turn against you, and your enemies will crush you in battle. People who hate you will have power over you. You will run away even when nobody is coming after you." And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
Escalating Punishments
Study note
If Israel still did not listen after the first warnings, God would increase the punishment seven times over. The sky would become like iron and the ground like bronze, meaning no rain and no crops. Wild animals would kill their children and livestock. Disease would spread. Food would become so scarce that ten women would bake bread in one oven and people would eat but never feel full. Each level of punishment was preceded by 'if you still refuse to listen,' showing God's patience and his desire for repentance.
18 "If you still refuse to listen after all that, I will make your punishment seven times worse for your sins." And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 "I will shatter your arrogant pride. I will make the sky overhead as hard as iron so no rain falls, and the ground beneath you as hard as bronze so nothing grows." And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
20 "All your hard work will be wasted. Your land will refuse to produce crops, and your trees will refuse to bear fruit." And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
21 "If you keep resisting me and refuse to listen, I will pile on seven times more trouble, matching your sins." And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
22 "I will send wild animals against you. They will snatch your children, kill your livestock, and make your numbers so small that your roads will be empty." I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
23 "If even after all this you still refuse to learn your lesson and keep resisting me," And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
24 "then I will personally resist you and strike you with punishment seven times over for your sins." Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
25 "I will bring war against you as punishment for breaking the covenant. When you crowd into your cities for safety, I will send a plague among you, and you will be handed over to your enemies." And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 "I will cut off your food supply so completely that ten women will be able to bake all your bread in a single oven. They will ration it out by weight, and you will eat but never feel full." And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
The Worst Consequences
Study note
The final level of punishment was devastation: destruction of their high places of idol worship, ruin of their cities, scattering among the nations, and the land becoming desolate. In their despair, some would even eat their own children. The land would finally enjoy the Sabbath rests it was denied while the people were living on it. Those who survived would live in fear in foreign lands, wasting away because of their guilt. These prophecies were tragically fulfilled during the Babylonian exile.
27 "If despite all of this you still refuse to listen and keep resisting me," And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
28 "then I will resist you with burning anger, and I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins." Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 "Things will get so desperate that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters." And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
30 "I will demolish your hilltop worship sites, smash your incense altars, and heap your corpses on top of the lifeless remains of your idols. I will be utterly disgusted with you." And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
31 "I will reduce your cities to rubble and demolish your sacred sites. I will refuse to accept the aroma of your offerings." And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
32 "I will wreck the land so badly that even your enemies who move in will be shocked at how ruined it is." And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
33 "I will scatter you among foreign nations and pursue you with drawn sword. Your land will lie in ruins and your cities will be rubble." And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
34 "During the entire time the land sits empty while you are exiled in enemy territory, it will finally enjoy its Sabbath rests. The land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths at last." Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
35 "The whole time the land lies empty, it will get the rest it never had during the Sabbath years when you lived on it." As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
36 "As for those of you who survive, I will fill your hearts with such dread in enemy lands that the rustle of a windblown leaf will send you running. You will flee as if a sword were chasing you and collapse even though nobody is pursuing you." And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
37 "You will stumble over one another as though fleeing from battle, even when no one is chasing you. You will be powerless to stand up against your enemies." And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 "You will die in foreign lands, swallowed up by enemy nations." And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 "Those who are left will slowly waste away in enemy lands. Their own sins and the sins of their ancestors will wear them down." And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
Hope for Restoration
Study note
Even after describing the worst judgments, God offered hope. If the people confessed their sins and humbled their hearts, God would remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He would remember the land. Though the people might be in the land of their enemies, God would not completely reject or destroy them. He would not break his covenant. This promise of restoration became a beacon of hope throughout Israel's history, assuring them that God's love was stronger than their failures.
40 "But there is hope. If they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors -- their unfaithfulness toward me and their stubborn resistance --" If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
41 "I opposed them and sent them to enemy lands because they resisted me. But their stubborn hearts might finally become humble. They might accept the punishment for their sin." And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
42 "then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham. And I will remember the land." Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
43 "Meanwhile, the land will lie empty and enjoy its Sabbaths without them. They will accept the punishment for their sins, because they rejected my regulations and despised my rules." The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
44 "Yet even while they are exiled in enemy territory, I will not completely reject them or despise them enough to wipe them out entirely and break my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God." And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
45 "For their sake, I will remember the covenant I made with their ancestors -- the ones I brought out of Egypt while all the nations watched -- so that I could be their God. I am the Lord." But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
46 These are all the rules and orders the Lord set up. They are between him and the people of Israel. He gave them through Moses on Mount Sinai. These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.