1And it being if hearing thou shalt hear to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to watch and to do all his commands that I command thee this day, and Jehovah thy God gave thee high above all the nations of the earth. 2And all these blessings came upon thee and overtook thee, when thou shalt hear to the voice of Jehovah thy God. 3Blessed thou in the city, blessed thou in the field. 4Blessed the fruit of thy belly, and the fruit of thy land, and the fruit of thy cattle, the offspring of thine oxen and the flocks of thy sheep. 5Blessed thy basket and thy remainders. 6Blessed thou in thy coming in, and blessed thou in thy going out 7Jehovah will give thine enemies rising up against thee smitten before thy face; in one way shall they come forth against thee, and in seven ways shall they flee before thy face. 8Jehovah will command with thee the blessing in thy store-houses, and in all the sending forth of thy hand; and he blessed thee in the land which Jehovah thy God gave to thee. 9Jehovah will raise thee up to him for a holy people, as he sware to thee, when thou shalt watch the commands of Jehovah thy God and go in his ways. 10And all the peoples of the earth saw that the name of Jehovah was called upon thee; and they were afraid of thee. 11And Jehovah made thee to abound for good in the fruit of thy belly, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, upon the land which Jehovah sware to thy fathers to give to thee. 12Jehovah will open to thee his good store, the heavens to give the rain of thy land in its time, and to bless all the doing of thy hand: and thou didst lend to many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13And Jehovah gave thee for head, and not for tail: and thou wert only for ascending, and thou shalt not be for beneath; when thou shalt hear to the commands of Jehovah thy God that I command thee this day, to watch and to do. 14And thou shalt not turn aside from all the words which I command you this day, to the right and to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. 15And it being, if thou shalt not hear to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to watch to do all his commands and his laws which I command thee this day; and all these curses came upon thee, and overtook thee: 16Cursed thou in the city, and cursed thou in the field. 17Cursed thy basket and thy remainders. 18Cursed the fruit of thy belly, and the fruit of thy land, the offspring of thine oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep. 19Cursed thou in thy coming in, and cursed thou in thy going out 20Jehovah will send upon thee the curse and the consternation, and the rebuke, upon all the sending forth of thy hand which thou shalt do, till he destroyed thee, and till he caused thee to perish quickly: on account of the evil of thy works by which thou forsookest me. 21Jehovah shall cleave upon thee death, till his consuming thee from the land which thou wentest there to possess it 22Jehovah shall strike thee with consumption, and with burning fever, and with inflammation, and with sword and with burning, and with blasting, and with yellowness: and they shall pursue thee till he have destroyed thee. 23And the heavens which over thy head were brass, and the earth which is under thee, iron. 24Jehovah will give the rain of thy land dust and clay: from the heavens shall it come down upon thee, till he destroyed thee. 25And Jehovah will give thee smitten before thine enemies: in one way thou shalt go forth against him, and in seven ways shalt thou flee before his face; and thou wert for a shaking to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26And thy carcass was for food to all the birds of the heavens and to the cattle of the earth, and none terrifying. 27Jehovah shall strike thee with the burning sore of Egypt, and with tumors, and with scratching, and with the itch of which thou shalt not be able to be healed. 28Jehovah will strike thee with madness and with blindness and with astonishment of heart; 29And thou wert groping at noon as the blind shall grope in darkness, and thou shalt not succeed with thy ways: and thou wert only oppressed and stripped all the days, and none saving. 30Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build a house and shall not dwell in it; thou shalt plant a vineyard and thou shalt not lay it open. 31Thine ox slaughtered before thine eyes and thou shalt not eat from it: thine ass stripped from before thee and shall not turn back to thee; thy sheep, given to thine enemies, and none to thee saving. 32Thy sons and thy daughters given to another people, and thine eyes seeing and failing for them all the day: and nothing for the strength of thy hand. 33The fruit of thy land and all thy labors, a people which thou knewest not shall eat: and thou wert only oppressed and broken all the days. 34And thou wert mad from the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 35Jehovah shall strike thee with an evil burning sore upon thy knees and upon thy legs, which thou shalt not be able to heal from the sole of thy foot to thy crown. 36Jehovah shall lead thee, and thy king which thou shalt set up over thee, to a nation which thou knewest not thou and thy fathers; and thou servedst there other gods, wood and stone. 37And thou wert for an astonishment, for a parable, for a sharp saying in all the peoples where Jehovah shall lead thee there. 38Thou shalt bring out much seed to thy field, and shalt gather little, for the locust shall devour it 39Thou shalt plant vineyards and thou shalt work; and thou shalt not drink the wine, and thou shalt not gather, for the worm shall eat it 40Olive trees shall be to thee in all thy boundaries, and thou shalt not be anointed with oil, for thine olive shall slip away. 41And thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and they shall not be to thee, for they shall go into captivity. 42All thy wood and the fruit of thy land shall the grasshopper seize. 43The stranger which is in the midst of thee shall go up above thee, going up, going up; and thou shalt go down beneath, beneath. 44He shall lend to thee and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be for head, and thou shalt be for tail. 45And all these curses came upon thee and pursued thee and overtook thee, till he destroyed thee; for thou heardst not to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to watch his commands and his laws which he commanded thee. 46And they were upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed even to forever. 47Because that thou servedst not Jehovah thy God injoy and in a good heart for the multitude of all things. 48And thou servedst thine enemies which Jehovah shall send forth against thee in hunger and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things and he gave a yoke of iron upon thy neck till his destroying thee. 49Jehovah shall raise up against thee a nation from far off, from the extremity of the earth, as the eagle shall fly, whose tongue thou shalt not hear; 50A nation strong of face who shall not lift up the face to the old man, and shall not compassionate the young. 51And it shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land till he destroyed thee: which shall not leave to thee grain, new wine or new oil, the offspring of thine oxen and the flocks of thy sheep, till his destroying thee. 52And he passed upon thee in all thy gates until the coming down of thy high and inaccessible fortresses which thou trustest in them in all thy land: and he passed upon thee in all thy gates in all thy land which Jehovah thy God gave to thee. 53And thou atest the fruit of thy belly, the flesh of thy sons and thy daughters, which Jehovah thy God gave to thee, in the distress and in the straitness which thine enemy shall press upon thee: 54The man tender in thee, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil upon his brother, and upon the wife of his bosom, and upon the remainder of his sons which he shall leave: 55The gift to one of them of the flesh of his sons which he shall eat from: nothing remaining to him of all things in the distress and in the straitness which his enemy shall press upon thee in all thy gates. 56She tender and delicate in thee, who tried not to set the sole of her foot upon the earth from delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil upon the husband of her bosom, and upon her son, and upon her daughter, 57And upon her afterbirth coming forth from between her feet, and upon her sons which she shall bear: for she will eat them in want of all things, in secret, in the distress and in the straitness which thine enemy shall press upon thee in thy gates. 58If thou shalt not watch to do all the words of this law being written in this book, to fear this honored and fearful name JEHOVAH THY GOD; 59And Jehovah made thy smiting wonderful, and the smitings of thy seed, great and lasting blows, and evil and lasting diseases. 60And he turned back upon thee all the sicknesses of Egypt, of which thou west afraid from their face, and they did cleave to thee. 61Also every disease and every blow which is not written in the book of this law, Jehovah will bring them up upon thee, till he destroyed thee. 62And ye were left few in extension, instead of which ye were as the stars of the heavens for multitude, because thou heardst not to the voice of Jehovah thy God. 63And it being as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so Jehovah shall rejoice over you to destroy you and to cut you off; and ye were torn away from the land which thou wentest in there to possess it. 64And Jehovah scattered thee among all peoples from the end of the earth even to the end of the earth; and thou servedst there other gods which thou knewest not, thou and thy fathers, wood and stone. 65And among these nations thou shalt not rest, and there shall not be rest to the sole of thy foot: and Jehovah gave to thee there a trembling heart and a wasting away of the eyes, and a faintnesss of soul. 66And thy lives were hung before thee; and thou wert afraid night and day, and thou shalt not trust to thy life 67In the morning thou shalt say, Who shall give evening? and in the evening thou shalt say, Who shall give morning? from the feat of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and from the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 68And Jehovah turned thee back to Egypt in ships, in the way; which I said to thee, Thou shalt not add more to see it: and ye were sold there to thine enemies for servants , and for maids, and none buying
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].
