DEUTERONOMY - Chapter 27

Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: "Keep all the commandments which I command you today. And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you, 'a land flowing with milk and honey,' just as YAHWEH Elohim of your fathers promised you. Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime.

And there you shall build an altar to YAHWEH your Elohim, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of YAHWEH your Elohim, and offer burnt offerings on it to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before YAHWEH your Elohim. And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law."

Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, "Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of YAHWEH your Elohim. Therefore you shall obey the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today."

And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, "These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

"And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel:

'Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to YAHWEH, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' "And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's landmark.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's bed.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who lies with his mother-in-law.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'

'Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.' "And all the people shall say, 'Amein!'"

Chapter 28

"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that YAHWEH your Elohim will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim:

"Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

"Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

"Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

"Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

"YAHWEH will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

"YAHWEH will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you."YAHWEH will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of YAHWEH your Elohim and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of YAHWEH, and they shall be afraid of you.

"And YAHWEH will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which YAHWEH swore to your fathers to give you. YAHWEH will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

"And YAHWEH will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of YAHWEH your Elohim, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

"But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

"Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.

"Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

"Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

"Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

"YAHWEH will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.

"YAHWEH will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.

"YAHWEH will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.

"And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.

"YAHWEH will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

"YAHWEH 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 shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.

"YAHWEH will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. YAHWEH will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.

"You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes.

"Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them.

"Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand.

"A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see.

"YAHWEH will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

"YAHWEH will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where YAHWEH will drive you.

"The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

"Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.

"Because you did not serve YAHWEH your Elohim with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom YAHWEH will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.

"YAHWEH will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.

"They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which YAHWEH your Elohim has given you. You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom YAHWEH your Elohim has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you.

"The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.

"If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, YAHWEH your Elohim, then YAHWEH will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.

"Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will YAHWEH bring upon you until you are destroyed.

"You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim. And it shall be, that just as YAHWEH rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so YAHWEH will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.

"Then YAHWEH will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there YAHWEH will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.

"And YAHWEH will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, 'You shall never see it again.' And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

HalleluYah!