Moses shifts from his typical law-giving role to promise that obedience will make Israel "high above all nations," using the rare Hebrew verb *rum* that elsewhere describes God's own exaltation.
Deuteronomy 28
Blessings for Obedience
1It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to the LORD your God’s voice.
3You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field.
4You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.
5Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed.
6You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out.
7The LORD will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways.
8The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
9The LORD will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways.
10All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the LORD’s name, and they will be afraid of you.
11The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
12The LORD will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow.
13The LORD will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today, to observe and to do,
14and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Curses for Disobedience
15But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come on you and overtake you.
16You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field.
17Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
18The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed.
19You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out.
20The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me.
21The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land where you go in to possess it.
22The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish.
23Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron.
24The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed.
25The LORD will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
26Your dead bodies will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away.
27The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed.
28The LORD will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart.
29You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you.
30You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit.
31Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.
32Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand.
33A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always,
34so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad.
35The LORD will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
36The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.
37You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.
38You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it.
39You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them.
40You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.
41You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity.
42Locusts will consume all of your trees and the fruit of your ground.
43The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower.
44He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.
45All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.
46They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever.
47Because you didn’t serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;
48therefore you will serve your enemies whom the LORD sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
49The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose language you will not understand,
50a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young.
51They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
52They will besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you.
53You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you.
54The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining,
55so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates.
56The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter,
57toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates.
58If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD your God,
59then the LORD will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring fearful, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration.
60He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you.
61Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring them on you until you are destroyed.
62You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice.
63It will happen that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess.
64The LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.
65Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul.
66Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life.
67In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see.
68The LORD will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.
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Theme
Deuteronomy 28 presents Moses' final covenant stipulations through a dramatic contrast of blessings and curses. The chapter promises comprehensive prosperity, fertility, and national prominence for obedience to God's commandments, while threatening equally comprehensive devastation, defeat, and exile for disobedience. This covenant framework establishes the theological foundation for understanding Israel's future history as directly connected to their faithfulness to the law.
Context
This chapter concludes Moses' covenant renewal ceremony that began in chapter 27, serving as the theological capstone before his final speeches and death.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-2 Conditional Promise of Blessing Moses introduces the principle that diligent obedience to God's commandments will result in divine blessing and national exaltation.
- 3-14 Comprehensive Blessings for Obedience Detailed promises of fertility, prosperity, military victory, and covenant status contingent upon faithful adherence to God's law.
- 15 Conditional Warning of Cursing Moses introduces the alternative consequence that disobedience to God's commandments will bring comprehensive curses.
- 16-68 Comprehensive Curses for Disobedience Extensive catalog of judgments including agricultural failure, disease, military defeat, and ultimately exile from the promised land.
Blessings for Obedience
28:1–28:14 law instruction hopeful
Moses promises abundant blessings for obedience to God's commandments, including prosperity, protection from enemies, and elevation above all nations. These blessings encompass every aspect of life from agriculture to warfare to international relations.
person_contrast
Moses shifts from his typical law-giving role to promise that obedience will make Israel "high above all nations," using the rare Hebrew verb *rum* that elsewhere describes God's own exaltation.
Curses for Disobedience
28:15–28:68 law instruction warning
Moses warns of severe curses that will befall Israel for disobedience, including disease, famine, military defeat, and eventual exile. The curses mirror and reverse the promised blessings, affecting every area of life with devastating consequences.
person_contrast
Moses, typically associated with divine law and covenant blessings, here delivers Israel's most comprehensive catalog of curses, reversing every promised blessing with surgical precision.
Insights
Moses, typically associated with divine law and covenant blessings, here delivers Israel's most comprehensive catalog of curses, reversing every promised blessing with surgical precision.
Cross-References
Connected passages across Scripture
Deuteronomy 28:4 3 references
Lexicals 3
Deuteronomy 7:13 Lexical
He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, y…
Deuteronomy 30:9 Lexical
The LORD your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your…
Jeremiah 7:20 Lexical
Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the…
Deuteronomy 28:7 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:11 4 references
Lexicals 4
Deuteronomy 30:9 Lexical
The LORD your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your…
Deuteronomy 7:13 Lexical
He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, y…
Psalms 132:11 Lexical
The LORD has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: “I will set the fruit of your body on your throne.
Jeremiah 7:20 Lexical
Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the…
Deuteronomy 28:12 3 references
Lexicals 3
Jeremiah 10:13 Lexical
When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.…
Jeremiah 51:16 Lexical
When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of…
Malachi 3:10 Lexical
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says the LORD o…
Deuteronomy 28:13 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:14 5 references
Lexicals 5
1 Samuel 6:12 Lexical
The cows took the straight way by the way to Beth Shemesh. They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and didn’t…
Deuteronomy 2:27 Lexical
“Let me pass through your land. I will go along by the highway. I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left.
2 Kings 22:2 Lexical
He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn away to…
Deuteronomy 17:11 Lexical
According to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell yo…
2 Chronicles 34:2 Lexical
He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, and walked in the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn away to the…
Deuteronomy 28:15 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 11:28 Lexical
and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn away out of the way which I comma…
Deuteronomy 8:11 Lexical
Beware lest you forget the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I com…
Deuteronomy 10:13 Lexical
to keep the LORD’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good?
Deuteronomy 30:16 Lexical
For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and h…
Deuteronomy 6:2 Lexical
that you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son,…
Deuteronomy 28:18 2 references
Lexicals 2
Deuteronomy 28:20 2 references
Lexicals 2
Deuteronomy 28:22 5 references
Lexicals 5
Leviticus 26:16 Lexical
I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and…
Amos 4:9 Lexical
“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards, and the swarming locusts have devour…
Haggai 2:17 Lexical
I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says the LORD.
2 Chronicles 6:28 Lexical
“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their e…
1 Kings 8:37 Lexical
“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their ene…
Deuteronomy 28:25 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:26 5 references
Lexicals 5
Jeremiah 7:33 Lexical
The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frig…
Jeremiah 34:20 Lexical
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies w…
Jeremiah 19:7 Lexical
“‘“I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before thei…
Jeremiah 16:4 Lexical
“They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surf…
Psalms 79:2 Lexical
They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the an…
Deuteronomy 28:28 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:29 2 references
Deuteronomy 28:30 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 20:6 Lexical
What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he di…
Jeremiah 31:5 Lexical
Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.
Genesis 9:20 Lexical
Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard.
Joshua 24:13 Lexical
I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vine…
Amos 9:14 Lexical
I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they w…
Deuteronomy 28:31 2 references
Deuteronomy 28:35 2 references
Deuteronomy 28:37 3 references
Lexicals 3
2 Chronicles 7:20 Lexical
then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy fo…
1 Kings 9:7 Lexical
then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy f…
Jeremiah 24:9 Lexical
I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and…
Deuteronomy 28:39 3 references
Lexicals 3
Amos 9:14 Lexical
I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they w…
Amos 5:11 Lexical
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you…
Zephaniah 1:13 Lexical
Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them.…
Deuteronomy 28:40 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:42 2 references
Deuteronomy 28:43 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:45 2 references
Deuteronomy 28:48 5 references
Lexicals 5
Jeremiah 28:14 Lexical
For the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says, “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they m…
Jeremiah 27:8 Lexical
“‘“‘It will happen that I will punish the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Ba…
Jeremiah 27:11 Lexical
But the nation that brings their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, that nation I will let remai…
Genesis 27:40 Lexical
You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you will s…
Jeremiah 30:8 Lexical
It will come to pass in that day, says the LORD of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst…
Deuteronomy 28:49 2 references
Deuteronomy 28:51 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 7:13 Lexical
He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, y…
Haggai 1:11 Lexical
I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the groun…
2 Chronicles 32:28 Lexical
also storehouses for the increase of grain, new wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of animals, and flocks in folds.
Joel 1:10 Lexical
The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.
Deuteronomy 18:4 Lexical
You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of you…
Deuteronomy 28:52 4 references
Lexicals 4
Deuteronomy 3:5 Lexical
All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls.
Isaiah 2:15 Lexical
for every lofty tower, for every fortified wall,
Jeremiah 51:58 Lexical
The LORD of Armies says: “The wide walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown. Her high gates will be burned with fire.…
2 Chronicles 33:14 Lexical
Now after this, he built an outer wall to David’s city on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at…
Deuteronomy 28:53 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:54 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:55 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:56 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:57 1 reference
Deuteronomy 28:58 5 references
Lexicals 5
Joshua 8:31 Lexical
as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an…
2 Kings 14:6 Lexical
but the children of the murderers he didn’t put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of M…
Joshua 1:8 Lexical
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe…
2 Chronicles 25:4 Lexical
But he didn’t put their children to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, a…
Joshua 24:26 Lexical
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak tha…
Deuteronomy 28:61 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 30:10 Lexical
if you will obey the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of…
Deuteronomy 31:24 Lexical
When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
Joshua 23:6 Lexical
“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn a…
2 Kings 23:24 Lexical
Moreover, Josiah removed those who had familiar spirits, the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abomi…
Deuteronomy 17:18 Lexical
It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of…
Deuteronomy 28:62 3 references
Lexicals 3
Deuteronomy 10:22 Lexical
Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of the sky f…
Deuteronomy 1:10 Lexical
The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude.
Isaiah 47:13 Lexical
You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticat…
Deuteronomy 28:63 5 references
Lexicals 5
Deuteronomy 9:3 Lexical
Know therefore today that the LORD your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them and…
Numbers 33:52 Lexical
then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all the…
Deuteronomy 4:26 Lexical
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land which you go o…
2 Samuel 14:7 Lexical
Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may…
Deuteronomy 30:5 Lexical
The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you goo…
Deuteronomy 28:65 2 references
Deuteronomy 28:67 2 references
Deuteronomy 28:68 1 reference
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