Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But ^(A)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(B)overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be ^(C)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord ^(D)will send on you curses, confusion, and ^(E)frustration in all that you undertake to do, ^(F)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord will make ^(G)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^22 (H)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought^[a] and with ^(I)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And ^(J)the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

^25 (K)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you ^(L)shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And ^(M)your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and ^(N)there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you ^(O)with the boils of Egypt, and with tumours and ^(P)scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with ^(Q)madness and blindness and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and you shall ^(R)grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.^[b] And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. ^30 (S)You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. ^(T)You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. ^(U)You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. ^32 (V)Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, ^(W)but you shall be helpless. ³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labours, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, ³⁴ so that you are driven mad ^(X)by the sights that your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs ^(Y)with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

³⁶ “The Lord will ^(Z)bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you ^(AA)nor your fathers have known. And ^(AB)there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become ^(AC)a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. ^38 (AD)You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for ^(AE)the locust shall consume it. ^39 (AF)You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you ^(AG)shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for ^(AH)they shall go into captivity. ^42 (AI)The cricket^[c] shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ^43 (AJ)The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ^44 (AK)He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. ^(AL)He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

^45 (AM)“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.