The Blessings of Obedience

(Leviticus 25:18-22; Deuteronomy 4:1-14; Deuteronomy 11:1-7)

1And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently to the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day; that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God.

3Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy cattle, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

6Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

7The LORD shall cause thy enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy store-houses, and in all that thou settest thy hand to: and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9The LORD shall establish thee a holy people to himself, as he hath sworn to thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11And the LORD shall make thee to abound in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD swore to thy fathers to give thee. 12The LORD shall open to thee his good treasure, the heaven to give rain to thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand: and thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou shalt hearken to the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: 14And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The Curses of Disobedience

(Leviticus 20:1-9; Leviticus 26:14-39; 1 Samuel 15:1-9; 1 Kings 13:11-34)

15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

16Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

17Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

18Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

19Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

20The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou undertakest to perform, until thou shalt be destroyed, and until thou shalt perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings by which thou hast forsaken me. 21The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave to thee, until he shall have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. 22The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew: and they shall pursue thee until thou dost perish. 23And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. 24The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou art destroyed.

25The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thy enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 26And thy carcass shall be food to all fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth, and no man shall drive them away.

27The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, of which thou canst not be healed. 28The LORD shall smite thee with the madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: 29And thou shalt grope at noon-day, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. 30Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell in it: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes of it. 31Thy ox shall be slain before thy eyes, and thou shalt not eat of it: thy ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given to thy enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. 32Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given to another people, and thy eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thy hand. 33The fruit of thy land, and all thy labors, shall be eaten by a nation which thou knowest not: and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed always: 34So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thy eyes which thou shalt see. 35The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot to the top of thy head. 36The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, to a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. 37And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.

38Thou shalt carry much seed into the field, and shalt gather but little: for the locust shall consume it. 39Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes: for the worm shall eat them. 40Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil: for thy olive shall cast its fruit. 41Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them: for they shall go into captivity. 42All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. 43The stranger that is within thee shall rise above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. 44He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

45Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou art destroyed: because thou hearkenedst not to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: 46And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.

47Because thou didst not serve the LORD thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: 48Therefore shalt thou serve thy enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he hath destroyed thee.

49The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth, a nation whose language thou shalt not understand: 50A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young: 51And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou art destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy cattle, or flocks of thy sheep, until he hath destroyed thee. 52And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down, in which thou didst trust, throughout all thy land; and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 53And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the straitness with which thy enemies shall distress thee: 54So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil towards his brother, and towards the wife of his bosom, and towards the remnant of his children whom he shall leave: 55So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege and in the straitness with which thy enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. 56The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil towards the husband of her bosom, and towards her son, and towards her daughter, 57And towards her young one, her own offspring, and towards her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness with which thy enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

58If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; 59Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and severe sicknesses, and of long continuance. 60Moreover, he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, of which thou wast afraid; and they shall cleave to thee. 61Also every sickness, and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou art destroyed. 62And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldst not obey the voice of the LORD thy God. 63And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to naught; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 64And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people from the one end of the earth even to the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. 65And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: 66And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have no assurance of thy life: 67In the morning thou shalt say, O that it were evening, and at evening thou shalt say, O that it were morning! for the fear of thy heart with which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thy eyes which thou shalt see. 68And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I have said to thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold to your enemies for bond-men and bond-women, and no man shall buy you.