Blessings for Obedience
(Deuteronomy 7.12-24Deuteronomy 28.1-14)1 The Lord said, “Do not make idols or set up statues, stone pillars, or carved stones to worship. I am the Lord your God. 2 Keep the religious festivals and honor the place where I am worshiped. I am the Lord.
3 “If you live according to my laws and obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain at the right time, so that the land will produce crops and the trees will bear fruit. 5 Your crops will be so plentiful that you will still be harvesting grain when it is time to pick grapes, and you will still be picking grapes when it is time to plant grain. You will have all that you want to eat, and you can live in safety in your land.
6 “I will give you peace in your land, and you can sleep without being afraid of anyone. I will get rid of the dangerous animals in the land, and there will be no more war there. 7 You will be victorious over your enemies; 8 five of you will be able to defeat a hundred, and a hundred will be able to defeat ten thousand. 9 I will bless you and give you many children; I will keep my part of the covenant that I made with you. 10 Your harvests will be so plentiful that they will last for a year, and even then you will have to throw away what is left of the old harvest to make room for the new. 11 I will live among you in my sacred Tent, and I will never turn away from you. 12 I will be with you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I, the Lord your God, brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves. I broke the power that held you down and I let you walk with your head held high.”
Punishment for Disobedience
(Deuteronomy 28.15-68)14 The Lord said, “If you will not obey my commands, you will be punished. 15 If you refuse to obey my laws and commands and break the covenant I have made with you, 16 I will punish you. I will bring disaster on you—incurable diseases and fevers that will make you blind and cause your life to waste away. You will plant your crops, but it will do you no good, because your enemies will conquer you and eat what you have grown. 17 I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated, and those who hate you will rule over you; you will be so terrified that you will run when no one is chasing you.
18 “If even after all of this you still do not obey me, I will increase your punishment seven times. 19 I will break your stubborn pride; there will be no rain, and your land will be dry and as hard as iron. 20 All your hard work will do you no good, because your land will not produce crops and the trees will not bear fruit.
21 “If you still continue to resist me and refuse to obey me, I will again increase your punishment seven times. 22 I will send dangerous animals among you, and they will kill your children, destroy your livestock, and leave so few of you that your roads will be deserted.
23 “If after all of this punishment you still do not listen to me, but continue to defy me, 24 then I will turn on you and punish you seven times harder than before. 25 I will bring war on you to punish you for breaking our covenant, and if you gather in your cities for safety, I will send incurable diseases among you, and you will be forced to surrender to your enemies. 26 I will cut off your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake all the bread they have. They will ration it out, and when you have eaten it all, you will still be hungry.
27 “If after all of this you still continue to defy me and refuse to obey me, 28 then in my anger I will turn on you and again make your punishment seven times worse than before. 29 Your hunger will be so great that you will eat your own children. 30 I will destroy your places of worship on the hills, tear down your incense altars, and throw your dead bodies on your fallen idols. In utter disgust 31 I will turn your cities into ruins, destroy your places of worship, and refuse to accept your sacrifices. 32 I will destroy your land so completely that the enemies who occupy it will be shocked at the destruction. 33 I will bring war on you and scatter you in foreign lands. Your land will be deserted, and your cities left in ruins. 34-35 Then the land will enjoy the years of complete rest that you would not give it; it will lie abandoned and get its rest while you are in exile in the land of your enemies.
36 “I will make those of you who are in exile so terrified that the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will make you run. You will run as if you were being pursued in battle, and you will fall when there is no enemy near you. 37 You will stumble over one another when no one is chasing you, and you will be unable to fight against any enemy. 38 You will die in exile, swallowed up by the land of your enemies. 39 The few of you who survive in the land of your enemies will waste away because of your own sin and the sin of your ancestors.
40 “But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me, 41 and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham, and I will renew my promise to give my people the land. 43 First, however, the land must be rid of its people, so that it can enjoy its complete rest, and they must pay the full penalty for having rejected my laws and my commands. 44 But even then, when they are still in the land of their enemies, I will not completely abandon them or destroy them. That would put an end to my covenant with them, and I am the Lord their God. 45 I will renew the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I showed all the nations my power by bringing my people out of Egypt, in order that I, the Lord, might be their God.”
46 All these are the laws and commands that the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.
1 Ye shall make you none idoles nor grauen image, neither reare you vp any pillar, neither shall ye set any image of stone in your land to bow downe to it: for I am the Lord your God. 2 Ye shall keepe my Sabbaths, and reuerence my Sanctuarie: I am the Lord. 3 If ye walke in mine ordinances, and keepe my commandements, and doe them, 4 I will then sende you raine in due season, and the land shall yelde her increase, and the trees of the fielde shall giue her fruite. 5 And your threshing shall reache vnto the vintage, and the vintage shall reache vnto sowing time, and you shall eate your bread in plenteousnesse, and dwell in your land safely. 6 And I will sende peace in the land, and ye shall sleepe and none shall make you afraid: also I will rid euill beastes out of the lande, and the sworde shall not go through your lande. 7 Also ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you vpon the sworde. 8 And fiue of you shall chase an hundreth, and an hundreth of you shall put ten thousande to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you vpon the sworde. 9 For I will haue respect vnto you, and make you encrease, and multiplie you, and establish my couenant with you. 10 Ye shall eate also olde store, and cary out olde because of the newe. 11 And I will set my Tabernacle among you, and my soule shall not lothe you. 12 Also I will walke among you, and I wil be your God, and ye shalbe my people. 13 I am the Lord your God which haue brought you out of the lande of Egypt, that yee should not be their bondmen, and I haue broken ye bonds of your yoke, and made you goe vpright. 14 But if ye will not obey me, nor do all these commandements, 15 And if ye shall despise mine ordinances, either if your soule abhorre my lawes, so that yee will not do all my commandements, but breake my couenant, 16 Then wil I also do this vnto you, I wil appoint ouer you fearefulnes, a consumption, and the burning ague to consume the eyes, and make the heart heauie, and you shall sowe your seede in vaine: for your enemies shall eate it: 17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall fal before your enemies, and they that hate you, shall raigne ouer you, and yee shall flee when none pursueth you. 18 And if ye wil not for these things obey me, then wil I punish you seuen times more, according to your sinnes, 19 And I wil breake the pride of your power, and I will make your heauen as yron, and your earth as brasse: 20 And your strength shalbe spent in vaine: neither shall your lande giue her increase, neither shall the trees of the land giue their fruite. 21 And if ye walke stubburnly against me, and will not obey mee, I will then bring seuen times more plagues vpon you, according to your sinnes. 22 I will also sende wilde beastes vpon you, which shall spoyle you, and destroy your cattell, and make you fewe in number: so your hye waies shalbe desolate. 23 Yet if by these ye will not be reformed by me, but walke stubburnly against me, 24 Then wil I also walke stubburnly against you, and I will smite you yet seuen times for your sinnes: 25 And I wil send a sword vpon you, that shall auenge the quarel of my couenant: and when ye are gathered in your cities, I wil send the pestilence among you, and ye shall be deliuered into the hand of the enemie. 26 When I shall breake the staffe of your bread, then ten women shall bake your breade in one ouen, and they shall deliuer your bread againe by weight, and ye shall eate, but not be satisfied. 27 Yet if ye will not for this obey mee, but walke against me stubburnly, 28 Then will I walke stubburnly in mine anger against you, and I will also chastice you seuen times more according to your sinnes. 29 And ye shall eate ye flesh of your sonnes, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye deuoure. 30 I will also destroy your hye places, and cut away your images, and cast your carkeises vpon the bodies of your idoles, and my soule shall abhorre you. 31 And I will make your cities desolate, and bring your Sanctuarie vnto nought, and will not smelll the sauour of your sweete odours. 32 I will also bring the land vnto a wildernes, and your enemies, which dwell therein, shalbe astonished thereat. 33 Also I wil scatter you among the heathen, and will drawe out a sworde after you, and your land shalbe waste, and your cities shalbe desolate. 34 Then shall the land inioy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth voide, and yee shalbe in your enemies land: then shall the land rest, and enioy her Sabbaths. 35 All the dayes that it lieth voide, it shall rest, because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt vpon it. 36 And vpon them that are left of you, I will send euen a faintnes into their hearts in ye land of their enemies, and the sounde of a leafeshaken shall chase them, and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall, no man pursuing them. 37 They shall fall also one vpon another, as before a sword, though none pursue them, and ye shall not be able to stand before your enemies: 38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eate you vp. 39 And they that are left of you, shall pine away for their iniquitie, in your enemies landes, and for the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them also. 40 Then they shall confesse their iniquitie, and the wickednes of their fathers for their trespasse, which they haue trespassed against mee, and also because they haue walked stubburnly against me. 41 Therefore I wil walke stubburnly against them, and bring them into the land of their enemies: so then their vncircumcised hearts shalbe humbled, and then they shalt willingly beare the punishment of their iniquitie. 42 Then I will remember my couenant with Iaakob, and my couenant also with Izhak, and also my couenant with Abraham will I remember, and will remember the land. 43 The land also in the meane season shalbe left of them, and shall enioye her Sabbaths while she lieth waste without them, but they shall willingly suffer the punishment of their iniquitie, because they despised my lawes, and because their soule abhorred mine ordinances. 44 Yet notwithstanding this, when they shalbe in the lande of their enemies, I wil not cast them away, neither will I abhorre them, to destroy them vtterly, nor to breake my couenant with them: for I am the Lord their God: 45 But I will remember for them the couenant of olde when I brought them out of ye land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen that I might be their God: I am the Lord. 46 These are the ordinances, and the iudgements, and the lawes, which the Lord made betweene him, and the children of Israel in mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses.