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28
1 And it shall come to pass, if thou wilt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee highest above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee; because thou wilt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy cattle, and the young of thy flocks. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-through. 6 Blessed shalt thou be at thy coming in, and blessed shalt thou be at thy going out. 7 The Lord will cause thy enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: on one way shall they come out against thee, and on seven ways shall they flee before thee. 8 The Lord will command upon thee the blessing in thy storehouse, and in all the acquisitions of thy hand; and he trill bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 9 The Lord will raise thee up unto himself as a holy people, as he hath sworn unto thee; if thou wilt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all the nations of the earth shall see, that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And the Lord will make thee pre-eminent for good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers to give unto thee. 12 The Lord will open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow. 13 And the Lord will constitute thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt only be uppermost, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou wilt hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day to observe and to do; 14 And thou wilt not go aside from all the words which I command thee this day, to the right, or to the left, to go after strange gods, to serve them. 15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day: that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. 16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy cattle, and the young of the flocks. 19 Cursed shalt thou be at thy coming in, and cursed shalt thou be at thy going out. 20 The Lord will send out against thee misfortune, confusion, and failure, in all the occupation of thy hand which thou mayest engage in; until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, that thou hast forsaken me. 21 The Lord will cause the pestilence to cleave unto thee, until it have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. 22 The Lord will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with extreme burning, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou be lost. 23 And thy heavens that are over thy head shall be copper, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. 24 The Lord will give as the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 25 The Lord will cause thee to be smitten before thy enemies: on one way shalt thou go out against them, and on seven ways shalt thou flee before them; and thou shalt become a horror unto all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And thy carcass shall become food unto all the fowls of the heavens, and unto the beasts of the earth, but with no one to scare them away. 27 The Lord will smite thee with the inflammatory disease of Egypt, and with the hemorrhoids, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou shalt not be able to be healed. 28 The Lord will sinite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with confusion of heart; 29 And thou shalt grope about at noonday, as the blind gropeth about in the darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways; and thou shalt be only oppressed and robbed all the days, but with no one to help. 30 A wife wilt thou betroth, and another man shall lie with her; a house wilt thou build, and thou shalt not dwell therein; a vineyard wilt thou plant, and thou shalt not redeem it. 31 Thy ox shall be slain before thy eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof; thy ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be brought back to thee; thy sheep shall be given unto thy enemies, without any one to help thee. 32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thy eyes shall look on, and fail with longing for them all the day long; but without any power in thy hand. 33 The fruit of thy soil, and all thy exertion, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt only be oppressed and crushed all the days. 34 And thou shalt become mad from the sight of thy eyes which thou wilt see. 35 The Lord will smite thee with a sore inflammation upon the knees, and upon the legs, of which thou shalt not be able to be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. 36 The Lord will drive thee, and thy king whom thou wilt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and thou wilt serve there strange gods, of wood and stone. 37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, among all the nations whither the Lord will lead thee. 38 Much seed wilt thou carry out into the field, yet but little shalt thou gather in; for the locust shall consume it. 39 Vineyards wilt thou plant and dress; but wine shalt thou not drink nor lay up; for the worms shall eat them. 40 Olive-trees wilt thou have throughout all thy borders; but with the oil shalt thou not anoint thyself; for thy olive shall cast the fruit. 41 Sons and daughters wilt thou beget; but they shall not remain thine: for they shall go into captivity. 42 All thy trees and the fruit of thy land shall the cricket strip bare. 43 The stranger that is in the midst of thee shall get up above thee higher and higher; but thou shalt come down lower and lower; 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall become the head, and thou shalt become the tail. 45 And there shall come upon thee all these curses, and they shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he hath commanded thee; 46 And they shall remain on thee for a sign and for a token, and on thy seed, for ever. 47 For the reason that thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, while there was an abundance of all things; 48 Therefore shalt thou serve thy enemies whom the Lord will send out against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of every thing; and they will put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until they have destroyed thee. 49 The Lord will bring up against thee a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle rusheth down; a nation whose tongue thou wilt not understand; 50 A nation of a fierce countenance, that will not have respect for the old, nor show favor to the young; 51 And it will eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy soil, until thou be destroyed; so that it will not leave unto thee corn, wine, or oil, the increase of thy cattle, or the young of thy flocks, until it have ruined thee. 52 And it will besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and strong walls come down, wherein thou trustest, throughout all thy land; and it will besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. 53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, whom the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thy enemy will distress thee. 54 The man that is the most tender among thee, and who is very delicate,—his eye shall look enviously toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he may spare; 55 So as not to give to any of them of the flesh of his children which he may eat; because there is nothing left unto him, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thy enemy will distress thee in all thy gates. 56 The woman, the most tender among thee, and the most delicate, who hath never adventured to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness,—her eye shall look enviously toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, 57 And toward her young one that is come from between her feet, and toward her children which she hath born; for she shall eat them for want of every thing secretly, in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thy enemy will distress thee in thy gates. 58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law which are written in this book; to fear this glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God: 59 Then will the Lord render peculiar thy plagues, and the plagues of thy seed, plagues great, and of long continuance, and sicknesses sore, and of long continuance. 60 And he will bring back upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, of which thou wast afraid; and they shall cleave unto thee. 61 Also every sickness, and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 62 And ye shall be left but few in number, instead of that ye once were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. 63 And it shall come to pass, that, as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so will the Lord rejoice over you to bring you to nought, and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 64 And the Lord will scatter thee among all the nations, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and there wilt thou serve strange gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, and there shall not be any rest for the sole of thy foot: and the Lord will give thee there a trembling heart, and a failing of eyes, and a faintness of soul. 66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt be in dread day and night, and thou shalt have no confidence of thy life; 67 In the morning thou wilt say, Who would but grant that it were only evening! and at evening thou wilt say, Who would but grant that it were only morning! from the dread of thy heart which thou wilt experience, and from the sight of thy eyes which thou wilt see. 68 And the Lord will bring thee back to Egypt in ships, by the way whereof I have spoken unto thee, Thou shalt no more see it again: and there will ye offer yourselves for sale unto your enemies for bond-men and bond-women, without any one to buy you.

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