Blessings for Obedience

28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow^(A) all his commands^(B) I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.^{(C) 2} All these blessings will come on you^(D) and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

⁷ The Lord will grant that the enemies^(I) who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.^(J)

⁸ The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless^(K) you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his holy people,^(L) as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands^(M) of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name^(N) of the Lord, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock^(O) and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.^(P)

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse^(Q) of his bounty,^(R) to send rain^(S) on your land in season and to bless^(T) all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.^{(U) 13} The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow^(V) them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.^{(W) 14} Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left,^(X) following other gods and serving them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ However, if you do not obey^(Y) the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today,^(Z) all these curses will come on you and overtake you:^(AA)

²⁰ The Lord will send on you curses,^(AF) confusion and rebuke^(AG) in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin^(AH) because of the evil^(AI) you have done in forsaking him.^{[a] 21} The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.^{(AJ) 22} The Lord will strike you with wasting disease,^(AK) with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought,^(AL) with blight^(AM) and mildew, which will plague^(AN) you until you perish.^{(AO) 23} The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.^{(AP) 24} The Lord will turn the rain^(AQ) of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

²⁵ The Lord will cause you to be defeated^(AR) before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven,^(AS) and you will become a thing of horror^(AT) to all the kingdoms on earth.^{(AU) 26} Your carcasses will be food for all the birds^(AV) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.^{(AW) 27} The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt^(AX) and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. ²⁹ At midday you will grope^(AY) about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue^(AZ) you.

³⁰ You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.^(BA) You will build a house, but you will not live in it.^(BB) You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.^{(BC) 31} Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation,^(BD) and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. ³³ A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression^(BE) all your days.^{(BF) 34} The sights you see will drive you mad.^{(BG) 35} The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils^(BH) that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.^(BI)

³⁶ The Lord will drive you and the king^(BJ) you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors.^(BK) There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.^{(BL) 37} You will become a thing of horror,^(BM) a byword^(BN) and an object of ridicule^(BO) among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.^(BP)

³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little,^(BQ) because locusts^(BR) will devour^(BS) it. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine^(BT) or gather the grapes, because worms will eat^(BU) them.^{(BV) 40} You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.^{(BW) 41} You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.^{(BX) 42} Swarms of locusts^(BY) will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

⁴³ The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.^{(BZ) 44} They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them.^(CA) They will be the head, but you will be the tail.^(CB)

⁴⁵ All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you^(CC) until you are destroyed,^(CD) because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. ⁴⁶ They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.^{(CE) 47} Because you did not serve^(CF) the Lord your God joyfully and gladly^(CG) in the time of prosperity, ⁴⁸ therefore in hunger and thirst,^(CH) in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke^(CI) on your neck^(CJ) until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you^(CK) from far away, from the ends of the earth,^(CL) like an eagle^(CM) swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,^{(CN) 50} a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old^(CO) or pity for the young. ⁵¹ They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine^(CP) or olive oil,^(CQ) nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.^{(CR) 52} They will lay siege^(CS) to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.^(CT)

⁵³ Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.^{(CU) 54} Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, ⁵⁵ and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.^{(CV) 56} The most gentle and sensitive^(CW) woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter^{(CX) 57} the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them^(CY) secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.

⁵⁸ If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law,^(CZ) which are written in this book, and do not revere^(DA) this glorious and awesome name^(DB)—the Lord your God— ⁵⁹ the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt^(DC) that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law,^(DD) until you are destroyed.^{(DE) 62} You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky^(DF) will be left but few^(DG) in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ Just as it pleased^(DH) the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please^(DI) him to ruin and destroy you.^(DJ) You will be uprooted^(DK) from the land you are entering to possess.

⁶⁴ Then the Lord will scatter^(DL) you among all nations,^(DM) from one end of the earth to the other.^(DN) There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.^{(DO) 65} Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place^(DP) for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes^(DQ) weary with longing, and a despairing heart.^{(DR) 66} You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.^{(DS) 68} The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again.^(DT) There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Psalm 83^[a]

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

Warning Against the Adulterous Woman

1 Paul, an apostle^(A)—sent not from men nor by a man,^(B) but by Jesus Christ^(C) and God the Father,^(D) who raised him from the dead^(E)— ² and all the brothers and sisters^[a] with me,^(F)

To the churches in Galatia:^(G)

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,^{(H) 4} who gave himself for our sins^(I) to rescue us from the present evil age,^(J) according to the will of our God and Father,^{(K) 5} to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.^(L)

No Other Gospel

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called^(M) you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel^(N)— ⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion^(O) and are trying to pervert^(P) the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you,^(Q) let them be under God’s curse!^{(R) 9} As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted,^(S) let them be under God’s curse!

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people?^(T) If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul Called by God

¹¹ I want you to know, brothers and sisters,^(U) that the gospel I preached^(V) is not of human origin. ¹² I did not receive it from any man,^(W) nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation^(X) from Jesus Christ.^(Y)

¹³ For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism,^(Z) how intensely I persecuted the church of God^(AA) and tried to destroy it.^{(AB) 14} I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous^(AC) for the traditions of my fathers.^{(AD) 15} But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb^(AE) and called me^(AF) by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles,^(AG) my immediate response was not to consult any human being.^{(AH) 17} I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.^(AI)

¹⁸ Then after three years,^(AJ) I went up to Jerusalem^(AK) to get acquainted with Cephas^[b] and stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ I saw none of the other apostles—only James,^(AL) the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ I assure you before God^(AM) that what I am writing you is no lie.^(AN)

²¹ Then I went to Syria^(AO) and Cilicia.^{(AP) 22} I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea^(AQ) that are in Christ.^{(AR) 23} They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith^(AS) he once tried to destroy.”^{(AT) 24} And they praised God^(AU) because of me.

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem,^(A) this time with Barnabas.^(B) I took Titus^(C) along also. ² I went in response to a revelation^(D) and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles.^(E) I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race^(F) in vain. ³ Yet not even Titus,^(G) who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.^{(H) 4} This matter arose because some false believers^(I) had infiltrated our ranks to spy on^(J) the freedom^(K) we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. ⁵ We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel^(L) might be preserved for you.

⁶ As for those who were held in high esteem^(M)—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism^(N)—they added nothing to my message.^{(O) 7} On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task^(P) of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,^[a](Q) just as Peter^(R) had been to the circumcised.^{[b] 8} For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle^(S) to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle^(T) to the Gentiles. ⁹ James,^(U) Cephas^[c](V) and John, those esteemed as pillars,^(W) gave me and Barnabas^(X) the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me.^(Y) They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles,^(Z) and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor,^(AA) the very thing I had been eager to do all along.

Paul Opposes Cephas

¹¹ When Cephas^(AB) came to Antioch,^(AC) I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James,^(AD) he used to eat with the Gentiles.^(AE) But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.^{(AF) 13} The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas^(AG) was led astray.

¹⁴ When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel,^(AH) I said to Cephas^(AI) in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.^(AJ) How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?^(AK)

¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth^(AL) and not sinful Gentiles^{(AM) 16} know that a person is not justified by the works of the law,^(AN) but by faith in Jesus Christ.^(AO) So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in^[d] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.^(AP)

¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners,^(AQ) doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!^{(AR) 18} If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law^(AS) so that I might live for God.^{(AT) 20} I have been crucified with Christ^(AU) and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.^(AV) The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,^(AW) who loved me^(AX) and gave himself for me.^{(AY) 21} I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,^(AZ) Christ died for nothing!”^[e]