Christians know that not following God’s Word can only lead us astray, but is there a chapter that talks about the consequences of doing right or wrong? That’s right, Deuteronomy 28 is one of the examples and today you are going to discover them.
Deuteronomy 28 kjv
Right and wrong are recurring themes throughout the Bible and the consequences of acting rightly or wrongly are known to everyone, believers and non-believers alike.
Even so, it is rarely spoken of in the Bible in terms of obedience and disobedience so that Deuteronomy 28 can be a very interesting chapter for everyone.
If you are curious to know what is contained in the chapter of Deuteronomy 28 and spend a nice moment of contact with the Lord we recommend you to read this article of Your Bible Online in which we will take you on a journey through everything you need to know about it.
To begin with, you are going to have a first contact with the text in different ways, and you are going to soak up all its context in order to then understand it all perfectly with our biblical commentary.
Deuteronomy 28 in English and large print
As we have told you now, you can read Deuteronomy 28 of the King James Bible in its full version. Take the opportunity to look at those parts that were not clear to you and to save the verses that you like the most and send them to your loved ones!
Blessings of obedience
(Lev. 26.3-13; Deut. 7.12-24)
1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt diligently hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God also will exalt thee above all the nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
3 Blessed art thou in the city, and blessed art thou in the field.
4 Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, and the increase of thy herds, and the flocks of thy flocks.
5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading trough.
6 Blessed shalt thou be as thou comest in, and blessed as thou goest out.
7 The LORD will defeat your enemies who rise up against you; by one way they will come out against you, and by seven ways they will flee from before you.
8 The LORD will send his blessing upon your barns, and upon all that you put your hand to; and he will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, when you keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways.
10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the LORD is called upon thee, and they shall fear thee.
11 And the LORD shall make thee exceeding abundant in good things, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
12 The LORD will open to you his good treasure, the heavens, to send rain on your land in its season, and to bless every work of your hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
13 The LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and shalt not be beneath, if thou shalt obey the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to keep and to do them,
14 And if thou turn not aside from all the words which I command thee this day, neither to the right hand, nor to the left, to go after other gods, to serve them.
Consequences of disobedience
(Lev. 26.14-46)
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not obey the voice of the LORD thy God, to seek 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.
16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
17 Damn your basket, and your kneading trough.
18 Cursed be the fruit of thy womb, the fruit of thy ground, the increase of thy herd, and the flocks of thy flock.
19 Cursed shalt thou be as thou goest in, and cursed shalt thou be as thou goest out.
20 And the LORD shall send upon thee the curse, destruction, and astonishment, in all that thou settest thine hand to do, until thou be destroyed, and perish quickly for the wickedness of thy works, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
21 The LORD will bring a pestilence upon you, until he consumes you from the land into which you enter to take possession of it.
22 The LORD will smite thee with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, and with burning, with drought, with sudden calamity, and with blasting; and they shall pursue thee till thou perish.
23 And the heavens that are over your head shall be brass, and the earth beneath you shall be iron.
24 The LORD will give dust and ashes for rain upon your land; dust and ashes shall come down from heaven upon you until you perish.
25 The LORD shall deliver thee up beaten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and seven ways shalt thou flee before them; and thou shalt be vexed in all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 And your carcasses shall be food for every bird of the air and for every beast of the earth, and there shall be none to scare them away.
27 The LORD will smite thee with the sore of Egypt, with tumors, with scabies, and with itching from which thou canst not be healed.
28 Jehovah will strike you with madness, blindness and confusion of spirit;
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in the dark, and shalt not prosper in thy ways, but shalt be oppressed and robbed all the day long, and none shall save thee.
30 Thou shalt betroth thee to a wife, and another man shall lie with her; thou shalt build an house, and not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and not enjoy it.
31 Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it; your ass shall be 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 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given to another people, and thine eyes shall see it, and shall faint for them all the day long; and there shall be no strength in thine hand.
33 The fruit of thy land and of all thy labor shall a people eat whom thou hast not known: and thou shalt be but oppressed and bruised all thy days.
34 And you will go mad because of what you will see with your eyes.
35 The LORD will smite thee with an evil boil upon thy knees and upon thy legs, from the sole of thy foot unto the crown of thy head, and thou shalt not be healed.
36 The LORD shall bring thee, and the king whom thou hast set over thee, unto a nation which thou hast not known, neither thou nor thy fathers; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
37 And you shall be a terror, and shall be a reproach and a derision to all the peoples to whom the LORD will bring you.
38 You shall bring forth much seed into the field, and gather little, for the locust shall eat it up.
39 You shall plant vineyards and till, but you shall not drink wine, nor gather grapes, for the worm will eat them.
40 You shall have olive trees in all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olive shall fall.
41 Sons and daughters you shall beget, and they shall not be for you, for they shall go into captivity.
42 All your grove and the fruit of your land will be consumed by the locust.
43 The stranger who will be in the midst of you will rise above you very high, and you will descend very low.
44 He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him; he will be for a head, and you will be for a tail.
45 And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, until thou be destroyed, because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes, which he commanded thee;
46 And they shall be in thee for a sign and for a wonder, and in thy seed forever.
47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things,
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies whom 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 have destroyed thee.
49 The LORD will bring against you a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, flying like an eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand;
50 a people of fierce countenance, who will not respect an old man, nor spare a child;
51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy ground, until thou perish; and shall leave thee neither corn, nor new wine, nor oil, nor the increase of thy herd, nor the flocks of thy flock, until he have destroyed thee.
52 He shall lay siege to all thy cities, until thy high and fortified walls, in which thou trustest, fall down in all thy land: therefore shall he lay siege to all thy cities, and to all the land which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the place and in the distress wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee.
54 The tender man in the midst of thee, and the very delicate, shall look with evil eyes upon his brother, and upon the wife of his bosom, and upon the remnant of his children that remain unto him;
55 lest he give to any of them of the flesh of his children, which he eateth, because he hath none left to him, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemy shall oppress thee in all thy cities.
56 The tender and delicate one among you, who would never the sole of her foot attempt to sit on the earth, of pure delicacy and tenderness, will look askance at the husband of her bosom, her son, her daughter,
57 The newborn that cometh out from between her feet, and her children which she bringeth forth: for she shall eat them secretly, because of the want of all things, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemy shall oppress thee in thy cities.
58 If thou shalt not observe to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, fearing this glorious and fearful name, the LORD THY GOD,
59 then the LORD will wonderfully increase your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, great and permanent plagues, and malignant and lasting diseases;
60 And he will bring upon you all the evils of Egypt, before which you feared, and they will not leave you.
61 Also every sickness and every plague that is not written in the book of this law, the LORD will send upon you, until you are destroyed.
62 And ye shall be left few in number, instead of being as the stars of heaven for multitude, because ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God.
63 As the LORD rejoiced to do you good and to multiply you, so will the LORD rejoice to ruin you and to destroy you; and you shall be plucked up from over the land into which you are entering to take possession of it.
64 And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, which you and your fathers have not known, wood and stone.
65 And even among these nations thou shalt not rest, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: for there the LORD will give thee an anxious heart, and faintness of eyes, and sorrow of soul;
66 and you will have your life as a thing hanging before you, and you will be afraid night and day, and you will have no assurance of your life.
67 In the morning you will say: “Would that it were evening! and in the evening you will say: “Would that it were morning! because of the fear of your heart with which you will be afraid, and because of what your eyes will see.
68 And the LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which he has said to you, You shall return no more; and there you shall be sold to your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and there shall be none to buy you.
Explanation and meaning of Deuteronomy 28
Since this is a very long text, in this article we will focus on the most important verses that give meaning to all the surrounding verses.
- Deuteronomy 28:1 and Deuteronomy 28:2
The first two verses of the chapter give the intended message in a very clear way: if you choose to follow God’s way you will have his blessing.
It is crucial to emphasize the nuance that the phrase is subject to a condition, i.e., everyone is free to choose whether to listen to and live according to the Word of God or not, being solely responsible for the consequences of their decision.
Thus, as good Christians we should try to choose the right choose the right path and, even if circumstances sometimes lead us astray, have the willpower to return to the Lord and humbly ask for forgiveness.
- Deuteronomy 28:7 and Deuteronomy 28:8
Once you have chosen the way of salvation, the blessings will come of their own accord. As these two verses express, you have nothing to fear if you act according to the Holy Scriptures.
People who wish you harm will never achieve their goals as long as you stand by God’s side; and at no time will you lack food on your plate, interpreting this in a materially and spiritually.
- Deuteronomy 28:12 and Deuteronomy 28:13
Apart from all the benefits that the Lord gives us in life so that we may be happy and lack nothing, there is also the great gift of God: salvation at the end of our days.
A life dedicated to prayer and the practice of the sacred texts has an enormous reward. The Lord is kind and his love goes beyond everything material in the world.
- Deuteronomy 28:15
In this verse the text takes a turn, we find again an “if” that reminds us again of the condition for good things to happen. In case it is not fulfilled, one only has to continue reading the remaining 53 verses to see that is not a good idea.
With this phrase, Moses begins the section on curses that occur when people stray from God’s path and allow themselves to be carried away by materialism, materialistic ephemeral pleasures and selfishness.
- Deuteronomy 28:28
This harsh verse is nothing more than a warning for those people who decidedly throw themselves into living an unbridled life, completely forgetting the Word of God.
Sooner or later, everything will turn against you and economic, health and especially spiritual problems will come. That false happiness will disappear like desert sand in your hands, and the people who do good will prevail and be happy and saved.
Context of Deuteronomy 28
Deuteronomy 28 is chapter 28 of the book of the same name: Deuteronomy. It belongs to the Old Testament and is the last of the books that make up the Pentateuch, after the book of Numbers.
The Pentateuch is the collection of five books that form the central axis of the tanakh Hebrew and Christian Old Testament, since they lay the historical and religious foundations for all later texts.
Traditionally, all of them are attributed to Moses although it is now known that other authors contributed to its writing at different times. Even so, this does not detract from the weight of the texts, and their transcendence is such that their influence extends from the time of their writing to the present day.
You should know that texts as important and well known as the creation of the world or the exodus of the Jews from Egypt are found in these books, and form a fundamental pillar for the Judeo-Christian imaginary.
Regarding Deuteronomy, it is a book that prolongs the laws given by Moses on Mount Sinai and known as the Ten Commandments. That is why its name means “Second Law” and narrates the last moments of Moses’ life, at the head of a people totally different from the one that followed him during the Exodus.
Thus, Deuteronomy is a book that gives guidelines for the faithful to follow in order to keep the covenant with God and to live in peace. Likewise, it is also a warning to those who stray from the path and do wrong.
A good example of the latter is today’s chapter, which is divided into two clear parts. The first talks about the benefits of obeying the divine command, while the second speaks of the consequences of turning away from it.
Deuteronomy 28 Prayer
As you have seen, he blessings of the Christian life and obedience to the Word of the Lord are necessary to live in real happiness. Today we end the article with a prayer regarding Deuteronomy 28, so that everything you have learned will be of benefit to you.
Enjoy the video and internalize the message of today’s chapter, and you will see how much better your life will be.
After this prayer, it is time to say goodbye for the day. We hope that the words of Deuteronomy 28 have touched you to the bottom of your heart. If so, feel free to share this article with the people you love!
For our part this is all, we hope to see you in the next article!