Deuteronomy 28

Deuteronomy 28 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible, as it outlines the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience to God's law. The first 14 verses promise abundant blessings if the Israelites obey God's commandments. From verse 15 onwards, the chapter describes severe consequences if they turn away from God. This chapter vividly illustrates the covenant relationship between Israel and God, showing the importance of faithfulness to Him.

Deuteronomy 28:1-3 (NKJV)
1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

These verses establish the condition for receiving God’s blessings: obedience to His commandments. The rewards for this obedience include being elevated as a nation above all others. The blessings would extend to all aspects of life, whether one is in the city or the countryside. It demonstrates that when God's people are faithful, they experience His favor in all areas of their lives, wherever they are located.

Deuteronomy 28:4 (NKJV)
4 “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.

This verse promises fertility and abundance. The "fruit of your body" refers to children, while the "produce of your ground" and "increase of your herds" highlight blessings of agriculture and livestock. Obedience to God would ensure prosperity and growth in all areas of life, both personal and economic.

Deuteronomy 28:5 (NKJV)
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

The blessings here relate to daily provisions. The basket, which holds food, and the kneading bowl, used for bread-making, represent sustenance and provision for everyday needs. God’s favor would ensure that His people never lacked food.

Deuteronomy 28:6 (NKJV)
6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

This verse emphasizes the comprehensive nature of God’s blessings. Whether one is entering or leaving, the promise is that God's favor will accompany them wherever they go. It signifies continual protection and well-being in all of life’s activities.

Deuteronomy 28:7 (NKJV)
7 “The Lord 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.

Here, God promises victory over enemies. Any opposition would be scattered in confusion, indicating total dominance in battle. This reflects the protective power of God when His people remain faithful to Him, ensuring their security against any threats.

Deuteronomy 28:8 (NKJV)
8 “The Lord 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 the Lord your God is giving you.

This verse points to material prosperity. The "storehouses" refer to reserves of goods, symbolizing abundance. God will bless all the work of their hands, ensuring productivity and success in the land He has provided for them, reinforcing His covenantal promise.

Deuteronomy 28:9-10 (NKJV)
9 “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.
10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.

God promises to set Israel apart as His holy people, showing the world His favor upon them. This unique relationship would make other nations recognize God’s power and instill fear in them. The key condition, however, is obedience to His commandments and following His ways.

Deuteronomy 28:11 (NKJV)
11 “And the Lord 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 the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.

This verse reiterates the blessings of fertility and prosperity, reminding Israel that God's promise to bless them includes not only personal abundance but also agricultural success. These blessings are tied to the covenant made with their ancestors.

Deuteronomy 28:12 (NKJV)
12 “The Lord 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.

God’s provision would extend to controlling the weather, providing rain in its due season for abundant harvests. Israel’s prosperity would be so great that they would become lenders to other nations rather than borrowers, a sign of their elevated status through divine favor.

Deuteronomy 28:13 (NKJV)
13 “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.

This verse highlights Israel’s potential leadership among nations. By obeying God’s commandments, they would hold positions of prominence and authority. The metaphor of being “the head and not the tail” illustrates their superiority and divine favor in all matters.

Deuteronomy 28:14 (NKJV)
14 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.

Here, God emphasizes the importance of staying true to His commandments. Any deviation, symbolized by turning to the right or left, would result in losing the blessings. Worshipping other gods would lead them away from the covenant relationship with the true God.

Deuteronomy 28:15-16 (NKJV)
15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, 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:
16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.

The focus shifts from blessings to curses. If the people disobey God’s commandments, they will experience the opposite of the blessings previously outlined. The curses would impact every part of life, both in the city and the countryside, showing that disobedience brings widespread calamity.

Deuteronomy 28:17-19 (NKJV)
17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 “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.
19 “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

These verses reverse the earlier blessings. Instead of abundance, there will be scarcity in basic provisions like food ("basket" and "kneading bowl"). Fertility and productivity, whether in terms of children or agriculture and livestock, will also be affected. Additionally, just as they were promised blessings in their coming and going, disobedience will result in curses following them in every aspect of life.

Deuteronomy 28:20-22 (NKJV)
20 “The Lord 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.
21 The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.
22 The Lord 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.

God warns of confusion and failure in all endeavors due to disobedience. The “cursing, confusion, and rebuke” illustrate the chaos that will permeate every aspect of life. Plagues and diseases will cling to them, bringing suffering and reducing them in number. The physical afflictions—fever, inflammation, and diseases—will follow them until they are destroyed, signaling the complete collapse of health and well-being.

Deuteronomy 28:23-24 (NKJV)
23 And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.
24 The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

These verses describe agricultural disasters. The image of the heavens being "bronze" and the earth "iron" portrays a drought, where the sky is unyielding and refuses to release rain, and the earth becomes unproductive. Instead of life-giving rain, there will be dust and powder, leading to crop failure and further suffering for the people, highlighting how disconnected they will become from God’s provision.

Deuteronomy 28:25-26 (NKJV)
25 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 shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 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.

Here, God declares that Israel will suffer military defeat. Unlike the earlier promise of victory over enemies, disobedience will result in panic and retreat, scattering them in all directions. Their defeat will be so thorough that their dead bodies will be left for scavengers, a sign of utter disgrace and helplessness. This underscores how complete their downfall will be if they forsake God.

Deuteronomy 28:27-29 (NKJV)
27 The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
28 The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart.
29 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.

These verses describe the physical and mental suffering that will come upon the people. The mention of boils, tumors, and skin diseases recalls the plagues of Egypt. Madness, blindness, and confusion reflect the total disorientation and despair that will afflict them. They will stumble through life, unable to find success or relief, continually oppressed and exploited, with no one to rescue them from their plight.

Deuteronomy 28:30-32 (NKJV)
30 “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.
31 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.
32 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.

These verses speak to the deep personal and familial losses that disobedience will bring. Marriages will be broken, homes built but not enjoyed, and crops planted but not harvested. Their possessions, such as livestock, will be stolen, and they will be powerless to reclaim them. Worst of all, their children will be taken away, perhaps as slaves or captives, and the parents will be left in grief, powerless to stop the suffering.

Deuteronomy 28:33-35 (NKJV)
33 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.
34 So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see.
35 The Lord 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.

Foreign nations will take over the land and enjoy the fruits of Israel’s labor, leaving the Israelites oppressed and helpless. The misery of watching their land and wealth consumed by outsiders will drive them to madness. Additionally, physical suffering will increase with incurable boils from head to toe, symbolizing complete and unrelenting affliction that invades every part of life.

Deuteronomy 28:36-37 (NKJV)
36 “The Lord 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.
37 And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.

God warns of exile, not only for the people but for their king as well. They will be taken to a foreign land and forced to serve false gods, turning them away from the true God. In exile, they will be humiliated and become a cautionary tale among the nations, reduced to an object of scorn, showing how far they will fall if they abandon God’s covenant.

Deuteronomy 28:38-40 (NKJV)
38 “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.
39 You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.

These verses describe agricultural curses, where despite their hard work, nature will rebel against them. Locusts will devour their crops, worms will consume their vineyards, and their olive trees will produce little. Their efforts will yield nothing, a direct reversal of the blessings promised for obedience, leaving them constantly struggling but unable to prosper.

Deuteronomy 28:41-44 (NKJV)
41 “You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.
42 Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
43 The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

The loss of children to captivity will be a deep emotional blow. Even nature will continue to turn against them as locusts consume everything. Foreigners living among them will rise to power while the Israelites decline in status. They will become financially dependent on these outsiders, reversing their earlier status as the head and leaving them as the tail, symbolizing their subjugation.

Deuteronomy 28:45-48 (NKJV)
45 “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 the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.
46 And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
47 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything,
48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord 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.

These verses summarize the reason for the curses: disobedience to God's commandments. The curses will not only affect the current generation but will be a sign for future generations. The failure to serve God joyfully will lead to serving enemies instead, with severe hardships such as hunger, thirst, and lack of basic necessities. The image of the “yoke of iron” on their necks signifies harsh subjugation until complete destruction.

Deuteronomy 28:49-50 (NKJV)
49 “The Lord 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,
50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young.

These verses warn of a foreign invasion from a distant, powerful nation that will strike suddenly, like an eagle swooping down. The foreign invaders will speak a language the Israelites do not understand, symbolizing their alienation. This nation will show no mercy to the old or the young, emphasizing the brutal and unrelenting nature of the conquest.

Deuteronomy 28:51-52 (NKJV)
51 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.
52 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 the Lord your God has given you.

The invaders will consume all of Israel's resources, leaving nothing behind—no grain, wine, or livestock—until they are completely destroyed. The description of a siege paints a grim picture, where even their fortified cities, which they trust for protection, will fall. The Israelites will be surrounded by enemies at every gate, showing that there will be no refuge or escape from the calamities.

Deuteronomy 28:53-55 (NKJV)
53 You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you.
54 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,
55 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.

These horrifying verses depict the extreme desperation that will result from the siege, leading to cannibalism as people will be forced to eat their own children. Even those who were once kind and refined will turn against their loved ones, driven by starvation and survival instincts. The level of distress will strip away human decency, and the horror of the situation emphasizes the depths of the curse for disobedience.

Deuteronomy 28:56-57 (NKJV)
56 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,
57 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.

Even the most delicate and gentle women will be driven to unspeakable acts in the dire conditions of the siege. The unimaginable suffering will lead them to hide and consume their own children, including newborns, out of sheer desperation. These verses graphically illustrate the extreme consequences of rejecting God's commandments, as normal human behavior breaks down in the face of overwhelming distress.

Deuteronomy 28:58-60 (NKJV)
58 “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, THE LORD YOUR GOD,
59 then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
60 Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.

If the Israelites fail to observe God's law and show proper reverence for His name, they will experience severe and prolonged plagues. The diseases that once afflicted Egypt will return, and the people will be powerless to escape from them. This highlights the importance of fearing and honoring God’s name, as turning away from Him brings overwhelming suffering.

Deuteronomy 28:61-62 (NKJV)
61 Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.
62 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 the Lord your God.

Not only the known plagues but every possible illness will strike them until they are nearly wiped out. The once-great nation that was promised to be as numerous as the stars will be reduced to a small remnant. This shows the direct relationship between disobedience and the decimation of the people, emphasizing the devastating consequences of abandoning God.

Deuteronomy 28:63-64 (NKJV)
63 And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord 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.
64 Then the Lord 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.

The same God who once delighted in blessing and multiplying Israel will now take action to destroy and disperse them. Their rejection of Him leads to their removal from the land and scattering across the earth, where they will serve false gods. This scattering reflects the loss of their identity and their relationship with God, as they will be exiled far from their homeland.

Deuteronomy 28:65-67 (NKJV)
65 And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.
66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.
67 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.

Even in exile, the people will find no peace. They will live in constant fear and anxiety, unsure of their survival. Their lives will be filled with dread, and they will long for relief from the torment, wishing the day to pass quickly, yet finding no rest when it does. This reflects the complete despair and lack of hope that results from turning away from God.

Deuteronomy 28:68 (NKJV)
68 “And the Lord 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.”

The chapter concludes with a reversal of Israel's history of deliverance. Instead of freedom, they will be sent back to Egypt—the place of their former bondage—and offered as slaves. However, their situation will be so dire that no one will even want to buy them. This final curse highlights the total collapse of their status and freedom due to disobedience, ending with the image of them returning to the land of captivity from which God had once freed them.