Deuteronomy 28:20-68

Thomson^{(i) 20} The Lord send upon thee want, and famine, and destruction on all the labour of thy hands, until he utterly root thee out, and until he destroy thee quickly, on the account of thy wicked devices. Seeing thou hast forsaken me, ²¹ may the Lord make the pestilence cleave to thee, until it utterly consume thee from the land to which thou art going, to take possession of it. ²² The Lord smite thee with anxiety, and fever, and chilness, and restlessness, and blasting, and mildew, that they may pursue thee until they utterly destroy thee. ²³ And when the heaven over thy head shall be brass, and the earth under thy feet iron, ²⁴ may the Lord thy God make the rain of thy land dust, so that dust from heaven may descend until it waste thee, and until it destroy thee speedily. ²⁵ May the Lord deliver thee up to slaughter before thine enemies, so that thou mayst go out one way to meet them, and flee seven ways from before them; and be a dispersion among all the kingdoms of the earth; ²⁶ and your dead carcasses be food for the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the earth, and there be none to fray them away. ²⁷ The Lord smite thee with the Egyptian boil in thy seat, and with wild fire, and with itching, so that thou canst not be cured. ²⁸ The Lord smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart, ²⁹ so that thou mayst grope about at noon day, as a blind man gropeth in darkness; and let him not prosper thy ways, so thou shalt then be injured, and spoiled continually, and there will be none to help thee. ³⁰ Thou wilt take a wife, and another man shall have her. Thou wilt build a house, but shall not dwell therein. Thou wilt plant a vineyard, but shalt not gather the grapes thereof. ³¹ Thy ox will be slaughtered before thy face, and thou shalt not eat thereof. Thy ass will be taken from thee, and shall not be restored; thy flocks will be given to thine enemies, and there shall be none to help thee; ³² thy sons, and thy daughters, will be given to another nation, and thine eyes will melt in looking at them; there will be no strength in thy hand. ³³ A nation, which thou knowest not will eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours; and thou shalt be injured, and oppressed continually ³⁴ , and driven to madness at the sight of thine eyes, which thou shalt see. ³⁵ The Lord smite thee with a grievous boil on thy knees, and on thy legs, so that thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy feet to the crown of thy head. ³⁶ The Lord carry away thee, and thy rulers, whom thou mayst set over thee, to a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers knew, that thou mayst there serve other gods; stocks and stones; ³⁷ and be there for a bye word, and a proverb, and a public example to all the nations to which the Lord shall bring thee. ³⁸ There thou shalt carry out much seed into the field, and shalt bring little home, for the locust shall devour it; ³⁹ thou shalt plant a vineyard and dress it; but shalt not press out wine, nor regale thyself from it; for worms shall eat it up. ⁴⁰ Thou shalt have plantations of olive trees, in all thy borders, but shalt not be anointed with oil, for thine olive tree shall cast its fruit: ⁴¹ thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but shalt not have them with thee; for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² All thy trees and the products of thy land, shall be consumed with blasting. ⁴³ The stranger who is with thee shall rise higher and higher; but thou shalt fall lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to thee; and thou shalt not lend to him: He shall be head; and thou shalt be tail. ⁴⁵ All these curses shall actually come upon thee, and pursue thee, and overtake thee, until he root thee out, and utterly destroy thee because thou didst not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments, and his rules of rectitude, which he commanded thee, ⁴⁶ And they shall be signs for thee, and wonders for thine offspring forever. ⁴⁷ Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with gladness, and with a good understanding, for the abundance of all things; ⁴⁸ therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies, whom the Lord will send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and thou shalt wear a yoke of iron on thy neck, until it utterly destroy thee. ⁴⁹ The Lord will bring against thee a nation from afar; from the extremity of the earth, with the impetuosity of an eagle; A nation whose voice thou shalt not understand; ⁵⁰ a nation of an unblushing countenance, which will not respect the person of an elder, nor compassionate a youth. ⁵¹ And it shall devour the increase of thy cattle, and the products of thy land, so as not to leave thee corn, wine, oil, herds or flocks, until it hath destroyed thee, ⁵² and wasted thee in thy cities; until they have demolished thy high, and strong walls, in which thou hast placed thy confidence, throughout thy whole land. And when he shall afflict thee in thy cities which he hath given thee; ⁵³ in thy siege, and in the affliction, with which thine enemy shall afflict thee, thou shalt eat the offspring of thy body; the flesh of thy sons, and thy daughters, whom he gave thee. ⁵⁴ The tender, and very delicate man who is with thee, will look with an evil eye on his brother, and on the wife in his bosom, and the remaining children which may be left him, ⁵⁵ so as not to give one of them any of the flesh of his sons, which he may be eating, because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in that affliction of thine with which thine enemies will afflict thee, in all thy cities. ⁵⁶ And the tender, and very delicate woman among you, whose foot never ventured to tread the ground because of her delicateness, and effeminacy will look with an evil eye on her husband in her bosom, and on her son, and her daughter, ⁵⁷ even the female infant she bore, or the male child which she may have brought forth; for on the account of the want of all things, she will eat these secretly in thy siege, and in that affliction of thine with which thine enemy will afflict thee in thy cities. ⁵⁸ If thou wilt not hearken to do all the words of this law, which are written in this book, to fear this glorious, this wonderful name, The Lord Thy God, ⁵⁹ the Lord will make thy plagues, and the plagues of thy seed, wonderful beyond conception; he will make them great, and marvellous, and thy diseases sore, and lasting, ⁶⁰ and will bring upon thee all the affliction of Egypt; that grievous affliction which thou didst dread on their account, and they shall cleave to thee. ⁶¹ The Lord will also bring upon thee every sickness, and every plague, which is not written, and every one which is written in this book of the law, until he root thee out. ⁶² And you shall be left few in number, instead of being, as you were, like the stars of heaven for multitude. Because thou didst not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, ⁶³ therefore it shall come to pass, that as the Lord delighted in you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you, in rooting you out; and you shall be removed speedily from the land to which thou art going to take possession of it. ⁶⁴ And the Lord thy God will scatter thee among all the nations, from one extremity of the earth to the other; and thou shalt there serve other gods; stocks and stones, which neither thou, nor thy fathers have known. ⁶⁵ But even among these nations he will not give thee rest, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. Indeed the Lord will give thee there a strange trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a desponding soul, ⁶⁶ and thy life shall hang in suspence before thine eyes, and thou shalt be in terror, day and night, and have no assurance of thy life. ⁶⁷ In the morning thou wilt say; How will it be with me in the evening! And in the evening thou wilt say, How may it be with me in the morning! on account of the terror of thy heart with which thou shalt be affrighted, and on account of the sights of thine eyes which thou shalt see. ⁶⁸ And the Lord will send thee back into Egypt, in ships, [by the way which I ordered thou shalt see it no more:] and thou shalt there be exposed to sale to your enemies, for bond men and bond women, and there will be no purchaser.