“ In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the Lord your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions.

“我所陈明在你面前的这一切咒诅都临到你身上；你在耶和华你神追赶你到的万国中必心里追念祝福的话；

“当这一切的事，就是我摆在你面前的祝福和诅咒临到你的时候，你在耶和华—你上帝赶逐你去的万国中，心里回想这些事，

“当这一切的事，就是我摆在你面前的祝福和诅咒临到你的时候，你在耶和华—你神赶逐你去的万国中，心里回想这些事，

“当我向你们陈明的这些祝福和咒诅都应验在你们身上时，如果你们在你们的上帝耶和华驱逐你们去的各国中回想这些话，

“当这一切事，就是我摆在你面前的祝福和咒诅，都临到你身上的时候，你在耶和华你的神赶逐你去的万国中，你心里必回想这些话，

「我所陳明在你面前的這一切咒詛都臨到你身上；你在耶和華－你神追趕你到的萬國中必心裏追念祝福的話；

「當這一切的事，就是我擺在你面前的祝福和詛咒臨到你的時候，你在耶和華－你上帝趕逐你去的萬國中，心裏回想這些事，

「當這一切的事，就是我擺在你面前的祝福和詛咒臨到你的時候，你在耶和華－你神趕逐你去的萬國中，心裏回想這些事，

「當我向你們陳明的這些祝福和咒詛都應驗在你們身上時，如果你們在你們的上帝耶和華驅逐你們去的各國中回想這些話，

“當這一切事，就是我擺在你面前的祝福和咒詛，都臨到你身上的時候，你在耶和華你的神趕逐你去的萬國中，你心裡必回想這些話，

『將來這些事、我所擺在你面前的祝福與咒詛、臨到你身上以後，你在永恆主你的上帝所放逐你到的列國中、你心裏若回想起這些事，

我所陳於爾前之祝與詛、既已臨爾、於爾上帝耶和華逐爾而至之邦、追憶此事、

我所言之純嘏咒詛、既降臨於爾、爾之上帝耶和華驅逐爾眾、散於四方、而爾追憶是事、與子孫一心一意、歸爾上帝耶和華、遵從其言、

我所陳於爾前之福與禍、既降於爾、主爾之天主驅逐爾散於列邦、爾在彼中心追維此事、

When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations,

I have told you about all these blessings and curses. The Lord your God will bring them on you. Then you will think carefully about the blessings and curses. You will think about them everywhere the Lord your God scatters you among the nations.

“ And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you,

“ When all these things happen to you— the blessings and curses I have set before you— and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,

“ So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you,

“ Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you,

And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither Jehovah thy God hath driven thee,

“ When all these things happen to you— the blessings and curses I have set before you— and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you,

And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call[ them] to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,

“ When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the LORD your God has banished you.

It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where Yahweh your God has driven you,

“ Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.

“ Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray,‘ We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors— toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name—

But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.“ In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you.

“ Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.

For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone!

I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you— no man, woman, clan, or tribe— will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.“ Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking,‘ I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.’ This would lead to utter ruin!The Lord will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven.The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this Book of Instruction.“ Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the Lord inflicts on it.They will exclaim,‘ The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.’

In great anger and fury the Lord uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!’

They will live because they thought it over and decided to turn from their sins. Such people will not die.

And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!

“ Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the Lord your God.You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.“ If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.“ I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords.Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.“ I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you.You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!I will live among you, and I will not despise you.I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.“ However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands,and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands,I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you— wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them.I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you!“ And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze.All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit.“ If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster on you seven times over for your sins.I will send wild animals that will rob you of your children and destroy your livestock. Your numbers will dwindle, and your roads will be deserted.“ And if you fail to learn the lesson and continue your hostility toward me,then I myself will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamity seven times over for your sins.I will send armies against you to carry out the curse of the covenant you have broken. When you run to your towns for safety, I will send a plague to destroy you there, and you will be handed over to your enemies.I will destroy your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied.“ If in spite of all this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me,then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins.Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols, and I will despise you.I will make your cities desolate and destroy your places of pagan worship. I will take no pleasure in your offerings that should be a pleasing aroma to me.Yes, I myself will devastate your land, and your enemies who come to occupy it will be appalled at what they see.I will scatter you among the nations and bring out my sword against you. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will lie in ruins.Then at last the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while you are in exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sabbaths it missed.As long as the land lies in ruins, it will enjoy the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it.“ And for those of you who survive, I will demoralize you in the land of your enemies. You will live in such fear that the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will send you fleeing. You will run as though fleeing from a sword, and you will fall even when no one pursues you.Though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other as though fleeing from a sword. You will have no power to stand up against your enemies.You will die among the foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies.Those of you who survive will waste away in your enemies’ lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.“ But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me.When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins.Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.For the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the people will pay for their sins, for they have continually rejected my regulations and despised my decrees.“ But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the Lord their God.For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.”These are the decrees, regulations, and instructions that the Lord gave through Moses on Mount Sinai as evidence of the relationship between himself and the Israelites.

“ Do not forget this! Keep it in mind! Remember this, you guilty ones.

You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

Then Moses and the leaders of Israel gave this charge to the people:“ Obey all these commands that I am giving you today.When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster.Write this whole body of instruction on them when you cross the river to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you— a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.When you cross the Jordan, set up these stones at Mount Ebal and coat them with plaster, as I am commanding you today.“ Then build an altar there to the Lord your God, using natural, uncut stones. You must not shape the stones with an iron tool.Build the altar of uncut stones, and use it to offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God.Also sacrifice peace offerings on it, and celebrate by feasting there before the Lord your God.You must clearly write all these instructions on the stones coated with plaster.”Then Moses and the Levitical priests addressed all Israel as follows:“ O Israel, be quiet and listen! Today you have become the people of the Lord your God.So you must obey the Lord your God by keeping all these commands and decrees that I am giving you today.”That same day Moses also gave this charge to the people:“ When you cross the Jordan River, the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin must stand on Mount Gerizim to proclaim a blessing over the people.And the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali must stand on Mount Ebal to proclaim a curse.“ Then the Levites will shout to all the people of Israel:‘ Cursed is anyone who carves or casts an idol and secretly sets it up. These idols, the work of craftsmen, are detestable to the Lord.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who dishonors father or mother.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who steals property from a neighbor by moving a boundary marker.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who leads a blind person astray on the road.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who denies justice to foreigners, orphans, or widows.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with one of his father’s wives, for he has violated his father.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with an animal.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his sister, whether she is the daughter of his father or his mother.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his mother in law.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who attacks a neighbor in secret.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who accepts payment to kill an innocent person.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’‘ Cursed is anyone who does not affirm and obey the terms of these instructions.’ And all the people will reply,‘ Amen.’

“ When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself,‘ At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!