1‘Now, if you listen to the voice of your God Jehovah and follow and obey all these Commandments that I’m giving you today, Jehovah your God will lift you higher than all the other nations of the earth, 2and these blessings will search for you and find you. For if you listen to the voice of your God Jehovah: · 3Your fields and your cities will be blest. · 4The offspring that comes from your body, the fruit of your land, your herds of oxen, and your flocks of sheep will be blest. · 5Your barns and your storage bins will be blest. · 6You will be blest when you leave and blest when you return. · 7Jehovah will give your enemies [into your hands], and those who oppose you will fall before you. And if they come against you from one direction, they’ll run from you in seven directions. · 8Jehovah will put His blessings on your barns and on everything that you do in the land that He’s giving you. · 9Jehovah will raise you as a holy people to Himself, just as He promised your ancestors that He would do if you would listen to His voice and walk in all of His ways. 10Then all the nations of the earth will see that you are called by the Name Jehovah, and they will stand in awe of you. · 11Jehovah your God will bring [many children] from your bodies, many young from your cattle, and much fruit from your land… the land that Jehovah swore to your ancestors that He would give to you. · 12Jehovah will open His treasures in the skies and bring rain to your land in [the proper] seasons, and He’ll bless everything that you do. · You will lend to many nations and not borrow, and you’ll rule over many nations and not be ruled. 13For Jehovah your God will make you the head not the tail, and He’ll put you on top. You’ll never be on the bottom if you listen to the voice of your God Jehovah, and if you obey all the things that I’m telling you today. · 14You must not swerve to the right or to the left from any of the Commandments that I’m giving you today, or follow and serve other gods. 15‘However, if you don’t listen to the voice of your God Jehovah and obey all His Commandments that I’m giving you today, these curses will come and catch up with you: · 16You will be cursed in your cities and in your fields. · 17Your barns and your storage sheds will be cursed. · 18[The children] who come from your bodies, the fruit from your land, your herds of oxen, and your flocks of sheep will be cursed. · 19You will be cursed when you leave and when you return. · 20Jehovah will send shortages and famines [among you], and everything you do will be consumed until He has totally destroyed you. If you leave Him and start doing evil things, you will be quickly exterminated. · 21Jehovah will bring plagues among you until you’ve all been wiped from the land that you’re going to inherit. · 22Jehovah will strike you with dysentery, fever, chills, inflammations, sores, and paleness… they will chase you down and destroy you. · 23He will turn the sky above you into brass and the ground beneath you into iron. · 24Jehovah your God will turn the rain that falls from the skies into dust, until it destroys you and quickly consumes you. · 25Jehovah will hand you over to your enemies and they will slaughter you. You will attack them from one direction, but you’ll run from them in seven other directions; then you’ll be scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth. · 26Your dead will become food for the flying creatures in the sky and the animals on the ground, and nothing will scare them away. · 27Jehovah will strike your bottoms with the sores of Egypt, and the scabs will itch and never heal. · 28Jehovah will strike you with mental illnesses, blindness, and anxiety, 29so you’ll grope around in the daytime like the blind grope around in their darkness. · Nothing you do will prosper; you’ll be treated unfairly and you’ll be looted continuously, then no one will come to your aid. · 30You’ll take wives for yourselves, but other men will have them. · You’ll build houses and not live in them. · You’ll plant vineyards and not gather their grapes. · 31Your calves will be butchered before you, but you won’t eat any of the [meat]. · Your burros will be taken from you and never be returned. · Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will get them back for you. · 32Your sons and daughters will be given to other nations; then you’ll search for them as your eyes are wasting away and your hands are growing feeble. · 33A nation that you’re unfamiliar with will eat the produce of your land, and all your hard work will be crushed and done away with… 34you will be amazed by the things that you’ll see! · 35Jehovah will strike you with bad sores on you knees and legs that won’t heal… from the soles of your feet to the tops of your heads. · 36Jehovah will drive you and the leaders who you’ll set over yourselves away, and you’ll be sent to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. And there you’ll serve gods made of wood and stone; 37and there [the all things that happened to you] will be used as amazing examples and illustrations among all the nations where Jehovah your God will send you. · 38You’ll plant many seeds in your fields but harvest little, because the locust will eat it. · 39You’ll plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you won’t drink the wine or enjoy any of it for yourselves, because worms will eat them. · 40You’ll plant olive trees all around your land, but you won’t have any oil to anoint yourselves, because your trees will drop their fruit. · 41Sons and daughters will be born to you but they’ll never be yours, because they’ll be carried away as captives. · 42All the trees and produce of your land will be consumed by blight. · 43The strangers who live among you will be lifted high, while you will be dragged down; 44then they will lend to you and you won’t be able to lend to them, for they’ll be the heads and you’ll be the tails. 45‘All of these curses will come upon you and chase you down until they’ve consumed and destroyed you if you don’t listen to the voice of your God Jehovah and keep the Commandments and rules that He has given you. 46They will serve as signs and wonders among you and among your seed through the ages, 47if you fail to serve Jehovah your God happily and with a [cheerful] heart, because of all the many [good] things that you will have received. 48‘Then you must serve the enemies that Jehovah will send against you. You’ll be hungry, thirsty, naked, in need of everything, and you’ll have to wear an iron yoke on your necks until they’ve destroyed you. 49‘Jehovah will bring a nation against you from the ends of the earth; they will come like a fast-flying eagle, and you won’t understand their language. 50They’ll be a fearsome people who won’t respect old people or pity the young. 51They’ll eat the young of your cattle and the fruit of your land, and they won’t leave any grain, wine, oil, herds of oxen, or flocks of sheep for you, until they’ve destroyed you 52and totally crushed your cities. For, even your highest and strongest walls will be destroyed, and all your land and all the cities that He has given to you [will be theirs]. 53‘Then you will eat the fruit of your bodies… the flesh of all the sons and daughters that He has given you. For your enemy will bring a great time of stress and difficulty upon you. 54Then, even those who are kind and gentle among you will look at their brothers, their loved wives, and any children that may be left, in an evil way, 55and they won’t offer them any of the flesh of their children to eat, for they would have nothing left for themselves. That’s how your enemies will pressure you and make life difficult for you in all of your cities. 56‘And even the tender, gentle women among you – those who have never searched the ground for delicacies – will look at their loved husbands, sons, and daughters in an evil way. 57For, they will eat the newborn that come from between their legs secretly because of their [hunger]. That’s how your enemies will make life difficult for you in your cities. 58‘So, if you won’t listen to and obey all the words of the Law that have been written in this scroll and fear the glorious and wonderful Name of your God Jehovah, 59He will bring these horrible plagues and unending illnesses upon you and your seed. 60He will bring all the pain of Egypt that you were so afraid of, and make it stick to you. 61And Jehovah will even bring sicknesses and plagues that haven’t been written about in the scroll of this Law, until He has destroyed you. 62Then, although you were once as many as the stars of the sky, there won’t be many left, because you didn’t listen to the voice of your God Jehovah. 63‘And as Jehovah once rejoiced over you, did good things for you, and made you grow, He will then rejoice over destroying you and in quickly removing you from the land you’re going to inherit. 64Then Jehovah your God will scatter you among all the nations – from one end of the earth to the other – and you must serve other gods there, which are made of wood and stone, and that neither you nor your ancestors have ever heard of. 65‘In addition, [in the places where you will be] among those nations, He won’t give you a quiet [place to live], nor will the soles of your feet have any rest. For there Jehovah will give you weak hearts, failing eyes, and wasted lives. 66You won’t know [what each day will bring], and you’ll be afraid both night and day, for nothing in your lives will be sure. 67In the morning you’ll say, I wish it were evening! And in the evening you’ll say, I wish it were morning! Because, you’ll have fear in your hearts and you’ll be afraid of the things you can see. 68Then Jehovah will take you back to Egypt in ships – back to the place that He said you should never see again – where you’ll be offered for sale to your enemies as slaves… but nobody will [want to] buy you!’
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE BLESSINGS FOR OBEDIENCE. (Deu. 28:1-68)
if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God--In this chapter the blessings and curses are enumerated at length, and in various minute details, so that on the first entrance of the Israelites into the land of promise, their whole destiny was laid before them, as it was to result from their obedience or the contrary.
2 all these blessings shall come on thee--Their national obedience was to be rewarded by extraordinary and universal prosperity.
7 flee before thee seven ways--that is, in various directions, as always happens in a rout.
10 called by the name of the Lord--That they are really and actually His people (
Deut 14:1;
Deut 26:18).
11 the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods--Beside the natural capabilities of Canaan, its extraordinary fruitfulness was traceable to the special blessing of Heaven.
12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure--The seasonable supply of the early and latter rain was one of the principal means by which their land was so uncommonly fruitful.
thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow--that is, thou shalt be in such affluent circumstances, as to be capable, out of thy superfluous wealth, to give aid to thy poorer neighbors.
13 the head, and not the tail--an Oriental form of expression, indicating the possession of independent power and great dignity and acknowledged excellence (
Isa 9:14;
Isa 19:15).
15 But . . . if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord--Curses that were to follow them in the event of disobedience are now enumerated, and they are almost exact counterparts of the blessings which were described in the preceding context as the reward of a faithful adherence to the covenant.
21 pestilence--some fatal epidemic. There is no reason, however, to think that the plague, which is the great modern scourge of the East, is referred to.
22 a consumption--a wasting disorder; but the modern tuberculosis is almost unknown in Asia.
fever . . . inflammation . . . extreme burning--Fever is rendered "burning ague" (
Lev 26:16), and the others mentioned along with it evidently point to those febrile affections which are of malignant character and great frequency in the East.
the sword--rather, "dryness"--the effect on the human body of such violent disorders.
blasting, and with mildew--two atmospheric influences fatal to grain.
23 heaven . . . brass . . . earth . . . iron--strong Oriental figures used to describe the effects of long-continued drought. This want of regular and seasonable rain is allowed by the most intelligent observers to be one great cause of the present sterility of Palestine.
24 the rain of thy land powder and dust--an allusion probably to the dreadful effects of tornadoes in the East, which, raising the sands in immense twisted pillars, drive them along with the fury of a tempest. These shifting sands are most destructive to cultivated lands; and in consequence of their encroachments, many once fertile regions of the East are now barren deserts.
27 the botch of Egypt--a troublesome eruption, marked by red pimples, to which, at the rising of the Nile, the Egyptians are subject.
emerods--fistulć or piles.
scab--scurvy.
itch--the disease commonly known by that name; but it is far more malignant in the East than is ever witnessed in our part of the world.
28 madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart--They would be bewildered and paralyzed with terror at the extent of their calamities.
29 thou shalt grope at noonday--a general description of the painful uncertainty in which they would live. During the Middle Ages the Jews were driven from society into hiding-places which they were afraid to leave, not knowing from what quarter they might be assailed and their children dragged into captivity, from which no friend could rescue, and no money ransom them.
35 the Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs--This is an exact description of elephantiasis, a horrible disease, something like leprosy, which attacks particularly the lower extremities.
36 The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, &c.--This shows how widespread would be the national calamity; and at the same time how hopeless, when he who should have been their defender shared the captive fate of his subjects.
there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone--The Hebrew exiles, with some honorable exceptions, were seduced or compelled into idolatry in the Assyrian and Babylonish captivities (
Jer 44:17-
Jer 44:19). Thus, the sin to which they had too often betrayed a perverse fondness, a deep-rooted propensity, became their punishment and their misery.
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee, &c.--The annals of almost every nation, for eighteen hundred years, afford abundant proofs that this has been, as it still is, the case--the very name of Jew being a universally recognized term for extreme degradation and wretchedness.
49 The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far--the invasion of the Romans--"they came from far." The soldiers of the invading army were taken from France, Spain, and Britain--then considered "the end of the earth." Julius Severus, the commander, afterwards Vespasian and Hadrian, left Britain for the scene of contest. Moreover, the ensign on the standards of the Roman army was "an eagle"; and the dialects spoken by the soldiers of the different nations that composed that army were altogether unintelligible to the Jews.
50 A nation of fierce countenance--a just description of the Romans, who were not only bold and unyielding, but ruthless and implacable.
51 he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, &c.--According to the Jewish historian, every district of the country through which they passed was strewn with the wrecks of their devastation.
52 he shall besiege thee . . . until thy high and fenced walls come down--All the fortified places to which the people betook themselves for safety were burnt or demolished, and the walls of Jerusalem itself razed to the ground.
53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body--(See
2Kgs 6:29;
Lam 4:10). Such were the dreadful extremities to which the inhabitants during the siege were reduced that many women sustained a wretched existence by eating the flesh of their own children. Parental affection was extinguished, and the nearest relatives were jealously, avoided, lest they should discover and demand a share of the revolting viands.
62 ye shall be left few in number--There has been, ever since the destruction of Jerusalem, only an inconsiderable remnant of Jews existing in that land--aliens in the land of their fathers; and of all classes of the inhabitants they are the most degraded and miserable beings, dependent for their support on contributions from other lands.
63 ye shall be plucked from off the land--Hadrian issued a proclamation, forbidding any Jews to reside in Judea, or even to approach its confines.
64 the Lord shall scatter thee among all people--There is, perhaps, not a country in the world where Jews are not to be found. Who that looks on this condition of the Hebrews is not filled with awe, when he considers the fulfilment of this prophecy?
68 The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships--The accomplishment of this prediction took place under Titus, when, according to JOSEPHUS, multitudes of Jews were transported in ships to the land of the Nile, and sold as slaves. "Here, then, are instances of prophecies delivered above three thousand years ago; and yet, as we see, being fulfilled in the world at this very time; and what stronger proofs can we desire of the divine legation of Moses? How these instances may affect others I know not; but for myself, I must acknowledge, they not only convince but amaze and astonish me beyond expression; they are truly, as Moses foretold (
Deut 28:45-
Deut 28:46) they would be, 'a sign and a wonder for ever'" [BISHOP NEWTON].