Many blessings are promised to observers of God’s commandments: and curses threatened to transgressors.

¹ “So then, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all of his commandments, which I instruct to you this day, the Lord your God will cause you to be more exalted than all the nations which exist upon the earth.

² And all these blessings shall come to you and take hold of you, but only if you listen to his precepts.¹

1. 28:2All these blessings, etc: In the Old Testament, God promised temporal blessings to the keepers of his law, heaven not being opened as yet; and that gross and sensual people being more moved with present and sensible things. But in the New Testament the goods that are promised us are spiritual and eternal; and temporal evils are turned into blessings.(Challoner)

³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed in the field.

⁴ Blessed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, and the fruit of your cattle, the droves of your herds, and the folds of your sheep.¹

1. 28:4The word ‘ventris’ refers more generally to the generative capability of the human person; by comparison, ‘utero’ has more of the meaning of womb.(Conte)

⁵ Blessed shall be your barns, and blessed your storehouses.

⁶ Blessed shall you be entering and departing.

⁷ The Lord will grant that your enemies, who rise up against you, will fall down in your sight. They will come against you by one way, and they will flee from your face by seven ways.

⁸ The Lord will send forth a blessing upon your cellars, and upon all the works of your hands. And he will bless you in the land that you shall receive.

⁹ The Lord will raise you up as a holy people for himself, just as he swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways.

¹⁰ And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord has been invoked over you, and they shall fear you.

¹¹ The Lord will cause you to be abundant in every good thing: in the fruit of your womb, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your land, which the Lord swore to your fathers that he would give to you.

¹² The Lord will open his excellent treasury, the heavens, so that it may distribute rain in due time. And he will bless all the works of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you yourself will borrow nothing from anyone.

¹³ And the Lord will appoint you as the head, and not as the tail. And you shall be always above, and not beneath. But only if you will listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I entrust to you this day, and will keep and do them,

¹⁴ and will not turn aside from them, neither to the right, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.

¹⁵ But if you are not willing to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I instruct to you this day, all these curses shall come to you, and take hold of you.¹

1. 28:15All these curses, etc: Thus God dealt with the transgressors of his law in the Old Testament: but now he often suffers sinners to prosper in this world, rewarding them for some little good they have done, and reserving their punishment for the other world.(Challoner)

¹⁶ Cursed shall you be in the city, cursed in the field.

¹⁷ Cursed shall be your barn, and cursed your storehouses.

¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.

¹⁹ Cursed shall you be entering, and cursed departing.

²⁰ The Lord will send famine and hunger upon you, and a rebuke upon all the works that you do, until he quickly crushes and perishes you, because of your very wicked innovations, by which you have forsaken me.

²¹ May the Lord join a pestilence to you, until he consumes you from the land, which you shall enter so as to possess.

²² May the Lord strike you with destitution, with fever and cold, with burning and heat, and with polluted air and rot, and may he pursue you until you perish.

²³ May the heavens which are above you be of brass, and may the ground upon which you tread be of iron.

²⁴ May the Lord give you dust instead of rain upon your land, and may ashes descend from heaven over you, until you have been wiped away.

²⁵ May the Lord hand you over to fall before your enemies. May you go forth against them by one way, and flee by seven ways, and may you be scattered across all the kingdoms of the earth.

²⁶ And may your carcass be food for all the flying things of the air and the wild beasts of the land, and may there be no one to drive them away.

²⁷ May the Lord strike you with the ulcer of Egypt, and may he strike the part of your body, through which the dung goes out, with disease as well as itch, so much so that you are unable to be cured.

²⁸ May the Lord strike you with frenzy and blindness and a madness of the mind.

²⁹ And may you grope at midday, just as a blind man is accustomed to grope in darkness, and may your paths not be straight. And at all times may you suffer slander and be oppressed with violence, and may you have no one who may free you.

³⁰ May you take a wife, though another sleeps with her. May you build a house, but not live within it. May you plant a vineyard, and not gather its vintage.

³¹ May your ox be immolated before you, though you do not eat from it. May your donkey be seized in your sight, and not restored to you. May your sheep be given to your enemies, and may there be no one who may help you.

³² May your sons and your daughters be handed over to another people, as your eyes watch and languish at the sight of them throughout the day, and may there be no strength in your hand.

³³ May a people you do not know eat the fruits of your land and of all your labors. And may you continually suffer from slander and oppression every day.

³⁴ And may you be stupefied at the terror of the things your eyes will see.

³⁵ May the Lord strike you with a very grievous ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and may you be unable to attain health, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.

³⁶ May the Lord lead you and your king, whom you will have appointed over yourself, into a nation which you and your fathers have not known. And there you will serve foreign gods, of wood and of stone.

³⁷ And you will become nothing but a proverb and a fable to all the peoples to whom the Lord will lead you.

³⁸ You will sow much seed upon the ground, but you will harvest little. For the locusts will devour everything.

³⁹ You will dig and plant a vineyard, but you will not drink the wine, nor gather anything at all from it. For it will be devastated by worms.

⁴⁰ You will have olive trees in all your borders, but you will not be anointed with the oil. For the olives will fall off and perish.

⁴¹ You will conceive sons and daughters, and you will not enjoy them. For they will be led into captivity.

⁴² Rot will consume all the trees, as well as the fruits of your land.

⁴³ The new arrival who lives with you in the land will ascend over you, and be higher. But you will descend, and be lower.

⁴⁴ He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him. He will be as the head, and you will be as the tail.

⁴⁵ And all these curses shall come to you, and shall pursue you, and shall take hold of you, until you pass away, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and you would not serve his commandments and ceremonies, which he has instructed to you.

⁴⁶ And there will be the signs and portents with you, and with your offspring, forever.

⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the Lord your God, with gladness and a joyful heart, over the abundance of all things.