Blessings and Cursings

1 And Mosheh, with the elders of Yisra’el, commanded the people, saying, “Guard all the commands which I am commanding you today. 2 “And it shall be, on the day when you pass over the Yarden to the land which YAHUAH your Elohim is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and plaster them with plaster, 3 and write on them all the Words of this Torah, when you have passed over, so that you go into the land which YAHUAH your Elohim is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as YAHUAH Elohim of your fathers has spoken to you. 4 “And it shall be, when you have passed over the Yarden, that on Mount Eybal you set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall plaster them with plaster, 5 and build an altar to YAHUAH your Elohim there, an altar of stones – do not use an iron tool on them. 6 “Build the altar of YAHUAH your Elohim with complete stones, and you shall offer burnt offerings on it to YAHUAH your Elohim, 7 and shall offer peace offerings, and eat there, and rejoice before YAHUAH your Elohim. 8“ And you shall write all the Words of this Torah on the stones – plainly and well.” 9 And Mosheh and the priests, the Lewites, spoke to all Yisra’el, saying, “Be silent and hear, O Yisra’el: This day you have become the people of YAHUAH your Elohim, 10 and you shall obey the voice of YAHUAH your Elohim, and do His commands and His laws which I command you today.” 11 And Mosheh commanded the people on that day, saying, 12 “These are to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have passed over the Yarden: Shim'on, and Lewi, and Yehudah, and Yissaschar, and Yoseph, and Binyamin. 13 “And these are to stand on Mount Eybal to curse: Re’uben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 “And the Lewites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Yisra’el: 15 ‘ Cursed is the man who makes a carved or moulded image, an abomination to YAHUAH, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’ 16 ‘ Cursed is he who makes light of his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 17 ‘ Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 18 ‘ Cursed is he who misleads the blind in the way.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 19 ‘ Cursed is he who twists the right-ruling of the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 20 ‘ Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s bed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 21 ‘ Cursed is he who lies with any beast.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 22 ‘ Cursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 23 ‘ Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in- law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 24 ‘ Cursed is he who smites his neighbor secretly.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 25 ‘ Cursed is he who takes a bribe to slay an innocent being.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 26 ‘ Cursed is he who does not establish the Words of this Torah.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ 28 “And it shall be, if you diligently obey the voice of YAHUAH your Elohim, to guard to do all His commands which I command you today, that YAHUAH your Elohim shall set you high above all nations of the earth.

Debarim 28

“And it shall be, if you diligently obey the voice of YAHUAH your Elohim, to guard to do all His commands which I command you today, that your Elohim shall set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of YAHUAH your Elohim: 3“ Blessed are you in the city, and blessed are you in the field. 4“ Blessed is the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your livestock – the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 5 “ Blessed is your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 “ Blessed are you when you come in, and blessed are you when you go out. 7 “YAHUAH causes your enemies who rise against you to be smitten before your face – they come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 “YAHUAH commands the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and shall bless you in the land which YAHUAH your Elohim is giving you. 9 “YAHUAH does establish you as a set-apart people to Himself, as He has sworn to you, if you guard the commands of YAHUAH your Elohim and walk in His ways. 10 “And all peoples of the earth shall see that the Name of YAHUAH is called upon you, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 “And YAHUAH shall make you to have plenty of what is tov, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land of which YAHUAH swore to your fathers to give you. 12 “YAHUAH opens to you His tov treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. And you shall lend to many nations, but you do not borrow. 13 “And YAHUAH shall make you the head and not the tail. And you shall be only on top, and not be beneath, if you obey the commands of YAHUAH your Elohim, which I command you today, to guard and do. 14 “And do not turn aside from any of the Words which I am commanding you today, right or left, to go after other mighty ones to serve them. 15 “And it shall be, if you do not obey the voice of YAHUAH your Elohim, to guard to do all His commands and His laws which I command you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you: 16 “ Cursed are you in the city, and cursed are you in the field. 17 “ Cursed is your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 “ Cursed is the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 19 “ Cursed are you when you come in, and cursed are you when you go out. 20 “YAHUAH sends on you the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke in all that you set 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. 21 “YAHUAH makes the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. 22 “YAHUAH smites you with wasting disease, and with inflammation, and with burning, and with extreme heat, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew. And they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 “And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you iron. 24 “YAHUAH makes the rain of your land powder and dust; from the heavens it comes down on you until you are destroyed. 25 “YAHUAH causes you to be defeated before your enemies – you go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall become a horror to all the reigns of the earth. 26 “And your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth, with no one to frighten them away. 27 “YAHUAH shall smite you with the boils of Mitsrayim, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you are unable to be healed. 28 “YAHUAH shall smite you with madness and blindness and bewilderment of heart. 29 “And you shall be groping at noon, as a blind man gropes in darkness, and not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and plundered all the days, with no one to save you. 30 “You become engaged to a wife, but another man does lie with her. You build a house, but do not dwell in it. You plant a vineyard, but do not use its fruit. 31 “Your ox is slaughtered before your eyes, but you do not eat of it. Your donkey is violently taken from before you, and it is not given back to you. Your sheep are given to your enemies, with no one to save them. 32 “Your sons and your daughters are given to another people, and your eyes look and fail for them all day long, and your hand powerless. 33 “A people whom you have not known eat the fruit of your land and all your labors. And you shall be only oppressed and crushed all the days. 34 “And you shall be maddened because of the sight which your eyes see. 35 “YAHUAH smites you in the knees and on the legs with evil boils of which you are unable to be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. 36 “YAHUAH brings you and the sovereign whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other mighty ones, wood and stone. 37 “Thus you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a mockery among all the peoples to which YAHUAH drives you. 38 “You take much seed out into the field but gather little in, for the locust consumes it. 39 “You plant vineyards, and shall labor, but you neither drink of the wine nor gather, for the worm eats it. 40 “You have olive trees in all your border, but do not anoint with oil, for your olives drop off. 41 “You bring forth sons and daughters, but they are not with you, for they go into captivity. 42 “Locusts possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43 “The sojourner who is among you rises higher and higher above you, but you come down lower and lower. 44 “He lends to you, but you do not lend to him. He is the head, and you are the tail. 45 “And all these curses shall come upon you, and they shall pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of YAHUAH your Elohim, to guard His commands and His laws which He commanded you. 46 “And they shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed, forever. 47 “Because you did not serve YAHUAH your Elohim with joy and gladness of heart for all the plenty, 48 you shall serve your enemies whom YAHUAH sends against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in need of all. And he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 “YAHUAH brings a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand, 50 a fierce-looking nation, which shows no regard for the elderly nor show compassion to the young, 51 and they shall eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. They leave you no grain, nor new wine, nor oil, nor the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. 52 “And they shall besiege you at all your gates till your high and fenced walls, in which you are trusting, come down in all your land. And they shall besiege you at all your gates in all your land which YAHUAH your Elohim has given you. 53 “And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom YAHUAH your Elohim has given you, in the siege and distress in which your enemies distress you. 54 “The man among you who is tender, and who is very delicate, his eye is evil against his brother, against the wife of his bosom, and against the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, 55 against giving any of them the flesh of his children that he eats, because it is all that has been left to him in the siege and distress with which your enemy distresses you in all your gates. 56 “The tender and the delicate woman among you, who have not tried to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and tenderness, her eye is evil against the husband of her bosom, and against her son, and against her daughter, 57 and against her seed which comes out from between her feet, and her children whom she bears, for she eats them in secret for lack of all, in the siege and distress with which your enemy distresses you in all your gates. 58 “If you do not guard to do all the Words of this Torah that are written in this book, to fear this esteemed and awesome Name, YAHUAH your Elohim, 59 then YAHUAH shall bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues, great and lasting plagues, and grievous and lasting sicknesses. 60 “And He shall bring back on you all the diseases of Mitsrayim, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you, 61 also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this Torah, YAHUAH does bring upon you until you are destroyed. 62 “And you shall be left with few men, although you had become as numerous as the stars of the heavens, because you did not obey the voice of YAHUAH your Elohim. 63 “And it shall be, that as YAHUAH rejoiced over you to do you tov and increase you, so YAHUAH does rejoice over you to destroy you and lay you waste. And you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. 64 “And YAHUAH shall scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other mighty ones, which neither you nor your fathers have known, wood and stone. 65 “And among those nations you are to find no rest, nor have a resting place for the sole of your foot. But there YAHUAH shall give you a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and sorrow of being. 66 “And your life shall be hanging in suspense before you, and you shall fear day and night, and not be certain of your life. 67 “In the morning you say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear of your heart, with which you fear, and because of the sight which your eyes see. 68 “And YAHUAH shall bring you back to Mitsrayim in ships, by a way of which I said to you, ‘You are never to see it again.’ And there you shall be sold to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one to buy.”