Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 28:1-23
Context28:1 “If you indeed 1 obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving 2 you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. 28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance 3 if you obey the Lord your God: 28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. 4 28:4 Your children 5 will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 28:6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 6 28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack 7 you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction 8 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 9 is giving you. 28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments 10 and obey him. 11 28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, 12 and they will respect you. 28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, 13 the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he 14 promised your ancestors 15 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; 16 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 17 commandments which I am urging 18 you today to be careful to do. 28:14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving 19 you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship 20 them.
28:15 “But if you ignore 21 the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: 22 28:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 28:17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 28:18 Your children 23 will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 24
28:20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you 25 in everything you undertake 26 until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. 27 28:21 The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases 28 until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. 28:22 He 29 will afflict you with weakness, 30 fever, inflammation, infection, 31 sword, 32 blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 28:23 The 33 sky 34 above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron.
[28:1] 1 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”
[28:1] 2 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).
[28:2] 3 tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”
[28:3] 4 tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.
[28:4] 5 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[28:6] 6 sn Come in…go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.
[28:7] 7 tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).
[28:7] 8 tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).
[28:8] 9 tn Heb “the
[28:9] 10 tn Heb “the commandments of the
[28:9] 11 tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[28:10] 12 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).
[28:11] 13 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”
[28:11] 14 tn Heb “the
[28:11] 15 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).
[28:12] 16 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
[28:13] 17 tn Heb “the
[28:13] 18 tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”
[28:14] 19 tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”
[28:14] 20 tn Heb “in order to serve.”
[28:15] 21 tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”
[28:15] 22 tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”
[28:18] 23 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[28:19] 24 sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.
[28:20] 25 tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”
[28:20] 26 tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”
[28:20] 27 tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.
[28:21] 28 tn Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”
[28:22] 29 tn Heb “The
[28:22] 30 tn Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”).
[28:22] 31 tn Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.”
[28:22] 32 tn Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[28:23] 33 tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”
[28:23] 34 tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
