9Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Silence! Hear, O Israel! Today you have become the people of the LORD your God: 10Heed the LORD your God and observe His commandments and His laws, which I enjoin upon you this day.
11Thereupon Moses charged the people, saying: 12cAfter you have crossed the Jordan, the following shall stand on Mount Gerizim when the blessing for the people is spoken: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13And for the curse, the following shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphthali. 14The Levites shall then proclaim in a loud voice to all the people of Israel:
15Cursed be anyone who makes a sculptured or molten image, abhorred by the LORD, a craftsman’s handiwork, and sets it up in secret.— And all the people shall respond, Amen.
16Cursed be he who insults his father or mother.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
17Cursed be he who moves his fellow countryman’s landmark.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
18Cursed be he who misdirects a blind person on his way.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
19Cursed be he who subverts the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
20Cursed be he who lies with his father’s wife, for he has removed his father’s garment.d—And all the people shall say, Amen.
21Cursed be he who lies with any beast.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
22Cursed be he who lies with his sister, whether daughter of his father or of his mother.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
23Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
24Cursed be he who strikes down his fellow countryman in secret.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
25Cursed be he who accepts a bribe e-in the case of the murder of-e an innocent person.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
26Cursed be he who will not uphold the terms of this Teaching and observe them.— And all the people shall say, Amen.
28 Now, if you obey the LORD your God, to observe faithfully all His commandments which I enjoin upon you this day, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2All these blessings shall come upon you and take effect, if you will but heed the word of the LORD your God:
3Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country.
4Blessed shall be the issue of your womb, the produce of your soil, and the offspring of your cattle, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock.
5Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6Blessed shall you be in your comings and blessed shall you be in your goings.
7The LORD will put to rout before you the enemies who attack you; they will march out against you by a single road, but flee from you by manya roads. 8The LORD will ordain blessings for you upon your barns and upon all your undertakings: He will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 9The LORD will establish you as His holy people, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. 10And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the LORD’s name is proclaimed over you,b and they shall stand in fear of you. 11The LORD will give you abounding prosperity in the issue of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to assign to you. 12The LORD will open for you His bounteous store, the heavens, to provide rain for your land in season and to bless all your undertakings. You will be creditor to many nations, but debtor to none.
13The LORD will make you the head, not the tail; you will always be at the top and never at the bottom—if only you obey and faithfully observe the commandments of the LORD your God that I enjoin upon you this day, 14and do not deviate to the right or to the left from any of the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day and turn to the worship of other gods.
15But if you do not obey the LORD your God to observe faithfully all His commandments and laws which I enjoin upon you this day, all these curses shall come upon you and take effect:
16Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the country.
17Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18Cursed shall be the issue of your womb and the produce of your soil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock.
19Cursed shall you be in your comings and cursed shall you be in your goings.
20The LORD will let loose against you calamity, panic, and frustration in all the enterprises you undertake, so that you shall soon be utterly wiped out because of your evildoing in forsaking Me. 21The LORD will make pestilence cling to you, until He has put an end to you in the land that you are entering to possess. 22The LORD will strike you with cconsumption, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew; they shall hound you until you perish. 23The skies above your head shall be copper and the earth under you iron. 24The LORD will make the rain of your land dust, and sand shall drop on you from the sky, until you are wiped out.
25The LORD will put you to rout before your enemies; you shall march out against them by a single road, but flee from them by manya roads; and you shall become a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26Your carcasses shall become food for all the birds of the sky and all the beasts of the earth, with none to frighten them off.
27The LORD will strike you with the Egyptian inflammation,d with hemorrhoids, boil-scars, and itch, from which you shall never recover.
28The LORD will strike you with madness, blindness, and dismay.e 29You shall grope at noon as a blind man gropes in the dark; you shall not prosper in your ventures, but shall be constantly abused and robbed, with none to give help.
30If you pay the bride-price for a wife, another man shall enjoy her. If you build a house, you shall not live in it. If you plant a vineyard, you shall not harvest it.f 31Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your ass shall be seized in front of you, and it shall not be returned to you; your flock shall be delivered to your enemies, with none to help you. 32Your sons and daughters shall be delivered to another people, while you look on; and your eyes shall strain for them constantly, but you shall be helpless. 33A people you do not know shall eat up the produce of your soil and all your gains; you shall be abused and downtrodden continually, 34until you are driven mad by what your eyes behold. 35The LORD will afflict you at the knees and thighs with a severe inflammation, from which you shall never recover—from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
36The LORD will drive you, and the king you have set over you, to a nation unknown to you or your fathers, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone. 37You shall be a consternation, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples to which the LORD will drive you.
38Though you take much seed out to the field, you shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. 39Though you plant vineyards and till them, you shall have no wine to drink or store, for the worm shall devour them. 40Though you have olive trees throughout your territory, you shall have no oil for anointment, for your olives shall drop off. 41Though you beget sons and daughters, they shall not remain with you, for they shall go into captivity. 42The cricket shall take over all the trees and produce of your land.
43The stranger in your midst shall rise above you higher and higher, while you sink lower and lower: 44he shall be your creditor, but you shall not be his; he shall be the head and you the tail.
45All these curses shall befall you; they shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are wiped out, because you did not heed the LORD your God and keep the commandments and laws that He enjoined upon you. 46They shall serve as signs and proofs against you and your offspring for all time. 47Because you would not serve the LORD your God in joy and gladness over the abundance of everything, 48you shall have to serve—in hunger and thirst, naked and lacking everything—the enemies whom the LORD will let loose against you. He will put an iron yoke upon your neck until He has wiped you out.
49The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, which will swoop down like
