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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Deuteronomy 28 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/deuteronomy/28.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/deuteronomy/28-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Deuteronomy 28</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../deuteronomy/27.htm" title="Deuteronomy 27">◄</a> Deuteronomy 28 <a href="../deuteronomy/29.htm" title="Deuteronomy 29">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Will Bless You if You Obey</h3><h5 class="sp">Moses said to Israel:</h5><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_1"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.1-Deut.28.2" class="v5_28_1">1-2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.28.1-Deut.28.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Today I am giving you the laws and teachings of the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God. Always obey them, and the <span class="nd">Lord</span> will make Israel the most famous and important nation on earth, and he will bless you in many ways.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_3"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.3" class="v5_28_3">3</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will make your businesses and your farms successful.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_4"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.4" class="v5_28_4">4</span>You will have many children. You will harvest large crops, and your herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats will produce many young.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_5"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.5" class="v5_28_5">5</span>You will have plenty of bread<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.28.5!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> to eat.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_6"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.6" class="v5_28_6">6</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will make you successful in your daily work.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_7"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.7" class="v5_28_7">7</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will help you defeat your enemies and make them scatter in all directions.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_8"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.8" class="v5_28_8">8</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God is giving you the land, and he will make sure you are successful in everything you do. Your harvests will be so large that your storehouses will be full.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_9"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.9" class="v5_28_9">9</span>If you follow and obey the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, he will make you his own special people, just as he promised. </span><span class="v5_28_10"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.10" class="v5_28_10">10</span>Then everyone on earth will know that you belong to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, and they will be afraid of you.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_11"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.11" class="v5_28_11">11</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will give you a lot of children and make sure that your animals give birth to many young. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> promised your ancestors that this land would be yours, and he will make it produce large crops for you.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_12"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.12" class="v5_28_12">12</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will open the storehouses of the skies where he keeps the rain, and he will send rain on your land at just the right times. He will make you successful in everything you do. You will have plenty of money to lend to other nations, but you won't need to borrow any yourself.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_13"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.13" class="v5_28_13">13</span>Obey the laws and teachings that I'm giving you today, and the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God will make Israel a leader among the nations, and not a follower. Israel will be wealthy and powerful, not poor and weak. </span><span class="v5_28_14"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.14" class="v5_28_14">14</span>But you must not reject any of his laws and teachings or worship other gods.</span></p><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Will Put Curses on You if You Disobey</h3><h5 class="r">(<ref loc="LEV 26:14-46">Leviticus 26.14-46</ref>)</h5><h5 class="sp">Moses said:</h5><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_15"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.15" class="v5_28_15">15</span>Israel, today I am giving you the laws and teachings of the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God. And if you don't obey them all, he will put many curses on you.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_16"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.16" class="v5_28_16">16</span>Your businesses and farms will fail.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_17"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.17" class="v5_28_17">17</span>You won't have enough bread<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.28.17!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> to eat.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_18"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.18" class="v5_28_18">18</span>You'll have only a few children, your crops will be small, and your herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats won't produce many young.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_19"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.19" class="v5_28_19">19</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will make you fail in everything you do.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_20"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.20" class="v5_28_20">20</span>No matter what you try to accomplish, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> will confuse you, and you will feel his anger. You won't last long, and you may even meet with disaster, all because you rejected the <span class="nd">Lord</span>.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_21"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.21-Deut.28.23" class="v5_28_21">21-23</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will send terrible diseases to attack you, and you will never be well again. You will suffer with burning fever and swelling and pain until you die somewhere in the land that you captured.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_21">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will make the sky overhead seem like a bronze roof that keeps out the rain, and the ground under your feet will become as hard as iron. Your crops will be scorched by the hot east wind or ruined by mildew. </span><span class="v5_28_24"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.24" class="v5_28_24">24</span>He will send dust and sandstorms instead of rain, and you will be wiped out.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_25"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.25" class="v5_28_25">25</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will let you be defeated by your enemies, and you will scatter in all directions. You will be a horrible sight for the other nations to see, </span><span class="v5_28_26"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.26" class="v5_28_26">26</span>and no one will disturb the birds and wild animals while they eat your dead bodies.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_27"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.27" class="v5_28_27">27</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will make you suffer with diseases that will cause oozing sores or crusty itchy patches on your skin or boils like the ones that are common in Egypt. And there will be no cure for you! </span><span class="v5_28_28"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.28" class="v5_28_28">28</span>You will become insane and go blind. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will make you so confused, </span><span class="v5_28_29"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.29" class="v5_28_29">29</span>that even in bright sunshine you will have to feel your way around like a blind person, who cannot tell day from night. For the rest of your life, people will beat and rob you, and no one will be able to stop them.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_30"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.30" class="v5_28_30">30</span>A man will be engaged to a woman, but before they can get married, she will be raped by enemy soldiers. Some of you will build houses, but never get to live in them. If you plant a vineyard, you won't be around long enough to enjoy the first harvest. </span><span class="v5_28_31"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.31" class="v5_28_31">31</span>Your cattle will be killed while you watch, but you won't get to eat any of the meat. Your donkeys and sheep will be stolen from you, and no one will be around to force your enemies to give them back. </span><span class="v5_28_32"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.32" class="v5_28_32">32</span>Your sons and daughters will be dragged off to a foreign country, while you stand there helpless. And even if you watch for them until you go blind, you will never see them again.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_33"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.33" class="v5_28_33">33</span>You will work hard on your farms, but everything you harvest will be eaten by foreigners, who will mistreat you and abuse you for the rest of your life.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_34"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.34" class="v5_28_34">34</span>What you see will be so horrible that you will go insane, </span><span class="v5_28_35"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.35" class="v5_28_35">35</span>and the <span class="nd">Lord</span> will punish you from head to toe with boils that never heal.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_36"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.36" class="v5_28_36">36</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will let you and your king be taken captive to a country that you and your ancestors have never even heard of, and there you will have to worship idols<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.28.36!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> made of wood and stone. </span><span class="v5_28_37"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.37" class="v5_28_37">37</span>People of nearby countries will shudder when they see your terrible troubles, but they will still make fun of you.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_38"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.38" class="v5_28_38">38</span>You will plant a lot of seed, but gather a small harvest, because locusts<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.28.38!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> will eat your crops. </span><span class="v5_28_39"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.39" class="v5_28_39">39</span>You will plant vineyards and work hard at taking care of them, but you won't gather any grapes, much less get any wine, because the vines themselves will be eaten by worms. </span><span class="v5_28_40"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.40" class="v5_28_40">40</span>Even if your olive trees grow everywhere in your country, the olives will fall off before they are ready, and there won't be enough olive oil for combing your hair.<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.28.40!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_41"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.41" class="v5_28_41">41</span>Even your children will be taken as prisoners of war.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_42"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.42" class="v5_28_42">42</span>Locusts<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.28.42!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> will eat your crops and strip your trees of leaves and fruit.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_43"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.43" class="v5_28_43">43</span>Foreigners in your towns will become wealthy and powerful, while you become poor and powerless. </span><span class="v5_28_44"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.44" class="v5_28_44">44</span>You will be so short of money that you will have to borrow from those foreigners. They will be the leaders in the community, and you will be the followers.</span></p><h3 class="s1">More Curses for Disobedience</h3><h5 class="sp">Moses said:</h5><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_45"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.45" class="v5_28_45">45</span>Israel, if you don't obey the laws and teachings that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God is giving you, he will send these curses to chase, attack, and destroy you. </span><span class="v5_28_46"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.46" class="v5_28_46">46</span>Then everyone will look at you and your descendants and realize that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> has placed you under a curse.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_47"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.47" class="v5_28_47">47</span>If the <span class="nd">Lord</span> makes you wealthy, but you don't joyfully worship and honor him, </span><span class="v5_28_48"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.48" class="v5_28_48">48</span>he will send enemies to attack you and make you their slaves. Then you will live in poverty with nothing to eat, drink, or wear, and your owners will work you to death.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_49"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.49" class="v5_28_49">49</span>Foreigners who speak a strange language will be sent to attack you without warning, just like an eagle swooping down. </span><span class="v5_28_50"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.50" class="v5_28_50">50</span>They won't show any mercy, and they will have no respect for old people or pity for children. </span><span class="v5_28_51"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.51" class="v5_28_51">51</span>They will take your cattle, sheep, goats, grain, wine, and olive oil, then leave you to starve.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_52"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.52" class="v5_28_52">52</span>All over the land that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God gave you, the enemy army will surround your towns. You may feel safe inside your town walls, but the enemy will tear them down, </span><span class="v5_28_53"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.53" class="v5_28_53">53</span>while you wait in horror. Finally, you will get so hungry that you will eat the sons and daughters that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> gave you. </span><span class="v5_28_54"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.54-Deut.28.55" class="v5_28_54">54-55</span>Because of hunger, a man who had been gentle and kind will eat his own children and refuse to share the meal with his brother or wife or with his other children. </span><span class="v5_28_56"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.56-Deut.28.57" class="v5_28_56">56-57</span><a href="#Deut.28.56-Deut.28.57!x.1" id="link_Deut.28.56-Deut.28.57!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> A woman may have grown up in such luxury that she never had to put a foot on the ground. But times will be so bad that she will secretly eat both her newborn baby and the afterbirth, without sharing any with her husband or her other children.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Disobedience Brings Destruction</h3><h5 class="sp">Moses said to Israel:</h5><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_58"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.58" class="v5_28_58">58</span>You must obey everything in <span class="bk">The Book of God's Law</span>. Because if you don't respect the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, </span><span class="v5_28_59"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.59" class="v5_28_59">59</span>he will punish you and your descendants with incurable diseases, </span><span class="v5_28_60"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.60" class="v5_28_60">60</span>like those you were so afraid of in Egypt. </span><span class="v5_28_61"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.61" class="v5_28_61">61</span>Remember! If the <span class="nd">Lord</span> decides to destroy your nation, he can use any disease or disaster, not just the ones written in <span class="bk">The Book of God's Law</span>.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_62"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.62" class="v5_28_62">62</span>There are as many of you now as the stars in the sky, but if you disobey the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God, only a few of you will be left. </span><span class="v5_28_63"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.63" class="v5_28_63">63</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> is happy to make you successful and to help your nation grow while you conquer the land. But if you disobey him, he will be just as happy to pull you up by your roots.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_64"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.64" class="v5_28_64">64</span>Those of you that survive will be scattered to every nation on earth, and you will have to worship stone and wood idols<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.28.64!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> that never helped you or your ancestors. </span><span class="v5_28_65"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.65" class="v5_28_65">65</span>You will be restless—always longing for home, but never able to return. </span><span class="v5_28_66"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.66" class="v5_28_66">66</span>You will live in constant fear of death. </span><span class="v5_28_67"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.67" class="v5_28_67">67</span>Each morning you will wake up to such terrible sights that you will say, “I wish it were night!” But at night you will be terrified and say, “I wish it were day!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_28_68"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.28.68" class="v5_28_68">68</span>I told you never to go back to Egypt. But now the <span class="nd">Lord</span> himself will load you on ships and send you back. Then you will even try to sell yourselves as slaves, but no one will be interested.</span></p></div> </div> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">28.5 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">bread: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The main food of the Israelites.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">28.17 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">bread: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The main food of the Israelites.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">28.36 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">have to worship idols: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">It was sometimes thought that only the gods of a country could be worshiped within the borders of that country.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">28.38 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">locusts: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">A type of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">28.40 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">olive oil … hair: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Olive oil was used for combing the hair.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">28.42 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Locusts: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 28.38.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">28.64 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">have to worship … idols: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 28.36.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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