Deuteronomy 28:7-14

28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack 1  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction 2  but flee from you in seven different directions. 28:8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he 3  is giving you. 28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments 4  and obey him. 5  28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, 6  and they will respect you. 28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, 7  the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he 8  promised your ancestors 9  he would give you. 28:12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; 10  you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 28:13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his 11  commandments which I am urging 12  you today to be careful to do. 28:14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving 13  you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship 14  them.

1 tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).

2 tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).

3 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.

4 tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

5 tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

6 tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).

7 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”

8 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

9 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).

10 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

11 tn Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

12 tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”

13 tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”

14 tn Heb “in order to serve.”