These curses will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants.

you will therefore serve your enemies whom the Lord sends against you, in hunger and in thirst, in nakedness and in lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke [of slavery] on your neck until He has destroyed you.

“The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, [as swift] as the eagle swoops down [to attack], a nation whose language you will not understand,

a defiant nation who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young,

They will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, or lambs of your flocks until they have destroyed you.

They will besiege all of your villages until all of your high and fortified walls collapse -- those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you.

You will then eat your own offspring, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege by which your enemies will constrict you.

The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children.

so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, because he has nothing else left, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities.

The most refined and well-bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and pampered, will be cruel and hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,

and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her legs and toward the children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in your cities.

“If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear and honor with reverence this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,

then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.

Moreover, He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.

Also the Lord will bring on you every sickness and every plague which is not written in this book of this law, until you are destroyed.

There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, because you will have disobeyed the Lord your God.

It shall come about that just as the Lord delighted over you to make you prosper and multiply, so the Lord will delight over you to bring you to ruin and destruction; and you will be uprooted [violently] from the land which you are entering to possess.

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

Among those nations you will find no peace (rest), and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.

Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next.

In the morning you will say, 'If only it were evening!' And in the evening you will say, 'I wish it were morning!' because of the things you will fear and the things you will see.

Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

And Moses will call to all Israel and will say, to them, Ye saw all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land;

And ye shall come to this place; and Sihon, king of Heshbon, will come, and Og, king of Bashan, to our meeting, to war; and we shall smite them.

Therefore, observe the words of this covenant and follow them, so that you will succeed in everything you do.

Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

When such a person hears the words of this oath he secretly blesses himself and says, "I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit." This will destroy the watered ground with the parched.

the Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him; the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.

Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel [making an example of him], according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law.

The generation to come -- your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places -- will see the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it.

The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.

Then all the nations will ask, "Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?"

Then people will say, "Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

And they will go and serve other gods, and will worship to them gods which they knew them not, and a portion not to them.

And the anger of Jehovah will kindle against this land, to bring upon it all the curses written in this book.

And Jehovah will tear them up from their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great anger, and will send them to another land as this day.

"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.

and when you you and your descendants, that is will have returned to him and obeyed all the commands that I'm giving you today with all your heart and soul,

then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes [in your return from exile], and have compassion on you, and will gather you together again from all the peoples (nations) where He has scattered you.

Even if any of your dispersed are at the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you together from there, and from there He will bring you back.

The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it; and He shall make you prosper and multiply—even more than your fathers.

“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants [that is, He will remove the desire to sin from your heart], so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live [as a recipient of His blessing].

The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who have persecuted you.

You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving you today.

Then the Lord your God shall make you abundantly prosperous in everything that you do, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your land; for the Lord will again delight over you for good, just as He delighted over your fathers,

[He will do this] if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God by keeping his commandment and his statutes written in the scroll of this law [and] if you return to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your inner self.

It is not in heaven, as though one must say, "Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, "Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments (precepts), so that you will live and multiply, and that the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you will not hear and obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,

I declare to you this very day that you will certainly perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

And Moses will go and speak these words to all Israel

He said to them, "Today I am a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has said to me, 'You will not cross the Jordan.'

It is the Lord your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will go across before you [to lead you], just as the Lord has said.

The Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

The Lord will hand them over to you, and you shall do to them in accordance with all the commandments which I have commanded you.

Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble in dread before them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not fail you or abandon you.”

Then Moses called out to Joshua in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you will accompany these people to the land that the Lord promised to give their ancestors, and you will enable them to inherit it.

It is the Lord who goes before you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

And Moses will write this law and will give it to the priests, the sons of Levi, lifting up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and to all the old men of Israel.

when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

Then their children, who have not known this law, will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

And Jehovah will say to Moses, Behold thy days draw near to die: call Joshua, and stand ye in the tent of appointment, and I will command him. And Moses will go, and Joshua, and they will stand in the tent of appointment.

And Jehovah will be seen in the tent in a pillar of cloud: and the pillar of the cloud will stand at the door of the tent.

The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down [in death] with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the prostitute (commit apostasy) with the foreign gods [of the people] of the land, where they go to be among them. They will abandon (turn away from) Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

Then My anger will be kindled and burn against them in that day, and I will abandon (turn away from) them and hide My face from them. They will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will come on them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come on us?’

But I will certainly hide My face [from them] in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods [to worship lifeless idols, to honor handmade relics].

"Now write this song and teach it to the Israelis. Put this song in their very mouths, so that it will be a witness for me against the Israelis,

For when I bring them into the land which I have sworn to their fathers, a land [of plenty] flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise and reject Me and break My covenant.

Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this [sacred] song will confront them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten from the mouth of their descendants. For I know their inclination which is developing even now, before I bring them into the land which I have sworn to give them.”

And Moses will write this song in that day, and will teach it to the sons of Israel

Then He commanded and commissioned Joshua, the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I have sworn to give them, and I will be with you.”

And Moses will command the Levites lifting up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, saying,

"Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you,

for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. Indeed, even while I have been living among you to this very day, you have rebelled against the Lord; you will be even more rebellious after my death!

Gather to me all the old men of your tribes and your scribes, and I will speak in their ears these words, and I will take the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

For I know that after my death you will behave corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will come upon you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

And Moses will speak in the ears of all the gathering of Israel the words of this song till he finished them.

“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

My teaching will drop like the rain, my sayings will drip like the dew, as rain drops upon the grass, and showers upon new growth.

“For I proclaim the name [and presence] of the Lord;
Ascribe greatness and honor to our God!

To Jehovah will ye recompense this, A people foolish and not wise? He thy father: did he not buy thee? He made thee, and he will protect thee.

“Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations.
Ask your father, and he will inform you,
Your elders, and they will tell you.

He will find him in the land of the desert, In a waste howling desolation: He will encompass him about; he will teach him, He will keep him as the pupil of the eye.

As the eagle he will arouse his young brood, He will brood over his young birds; He will spread out his wings, and will take them; He will lift them up upon his wings:

Jehovah alone will lead him, And no strange god with him.

He will cause him to ride upon the heights of the land; He shall eat the produce of the field; And he shall suck honey from the rock, And oil from the flint of the rock

And Jeshurun will be fat and will tread down: Thou wert fat, thou wert thick, thou wert covered; And he will reject God having made him, And he will despise the Rock of his deliverance.

He will cause him to be jealous with strangers, With abominations they will irritate him.

They will sacrifice to demons, not God; Gods they have not known them New ones came out from the midst; Your fathers not having feared them.

Thou wilt forsake the Rock begetting thee, And thou wilt forget God setting thee free.

And God will see and will reject, From the irritating of his sons and his daughters

“Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end shall be;
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom there is no faithfulness.

‘They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

‘I will heap misfortunes on them;
I will use My arrows on them.

‘They will be wasted by hunger, and consumed by plague
And a bitter destruction;
And I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
With the venom of crawling things of the dust.

The sword will make people childless outside, and terror will do so inside; they will destroy both the young man and the virgin, the infant and the gray-haired man.

“I would have said: I will cut them to pieces
and blot out the memory of them from mankind,