Deuteronomy 11:26

Anticipation of a Blessing and Cursing Ceremony

11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ¹ 

Deuteronomy 30:15

30:15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.

Deuteronomy 31:29

31:29 For I know that after I die you will totally ²  corrupt yourselves and turn away from the path I have commanded you to walk. Disaster will confront you in the days to come because you will act wickedly ³  before the Lord, inciting him to anger because of your actions.” ⁴ 

¹ sn A blessing and a curse. Every extant treaty text of the late Bronze Age attests to a section known as the “blessings and curses,” the former for covenant loyalty and the latter for covenant breach. Blessings were promised rewards for obedience; curses were threatened judgments for disobedience. In the Book of Deuteronomy these are fully developed in 27:1–28:68. Here Moses adumbrates the whole by way of anticipation.

² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “totally.”

³ tn Heb “do the evil.”

⁴ tn Heb “the work of your hands.”