you must select without fail<n id="1" /> a king whom the <sc>Lordsc> your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens<n id="2" /> you must appoint a king &#8211; you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites.<n id="3" />

All these blessings will come to you in abundance<n id="1" /> if you obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God:

Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the <sc>Lord,sc><n id="1" /> and they will respect you.

The foreigners<n id="1" /> who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower.

He,<n id="1" /> the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you.

You must not shed innocent blood<n id="1" /> in your land that the <sc>Lordsc> your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty.<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> will cause your enemies who attack<n id="1" /> you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction<n id="2" /> but flee from you in seven different directions.

The <sc>Lordsc> will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.p>

The <sc>Lordsc> will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth<n id="1" /> as the eagle flies,<n id="2" /> a nation whose language you will not understand,

Moreover, the <sc>Lordsc> will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments,<n id="1" /> until you have perished.

Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude<n id="1" /> be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite<n id="2" /> and you do not lend<n id="3" /> him anything; he will cry out to the <sc>Lordsc> against you and you will be regarded as having sinned.<n id="4" />

for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired<n id="1" /> Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you.

You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the <sc>Lordsc> against you, and you will be guilty of sin.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;But if you ignore<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> 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:<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> will force you and your king<n id="1" /> whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

<p class="bodytext">All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given<n id="1" /> you.

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses<n id="1" /> I have set before you, you will reflect upon them<n id="2" /> in all the nations where the <sc>Lordsc> your God has banished you.

The <sc>Lordsc> your God will make the labor of your hands<n id="1" /> abundantly successful and multiply your children,<n id="2" /> the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the <sc>Lordsc> your God will once more<n id="3" /> rejoice over you to make you prosperous<n id="4" /> just as he rejoiced over your ancestors,