1 “Now it shall come to pass, aif you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God bwill set you high above all nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and aovertake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
3a“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you bebin the country.
4 “Blessed shallbeathe fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 “Blessed shallbe your basket and your kneading bowl.
6a“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lordawill cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 “The Lord will acommand the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you bset your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
9a“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.
10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are acalled by the name of the Lord, and they shall be bafraid of you.
11 And athe Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord1 swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The Lord will open to you His good1 treasure, the heavens, ato give the rain to your land in its season, and bto bless all the work of your hand. cYou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 And the Lord will make ayou the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you1 heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.
14aSo you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Curses on Disobedience
15 “But it shall come to pass, aif you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
17 “Cursed shallbe your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 “Cursed shallbe the1 fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
19 “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 “The Lord will send on you acursing, bconfusion, and crebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.
21 The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.
22aThe Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with bscorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
23 And ayour heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shallbe iron.
24 The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25a“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become1 troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26aYour carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
27 The Lord will strike you with athe boils of Egypt, with btumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
A comparison of this chapter with Exodus 23:20-23 and Lev. 26 will show how Moses here resumes and amplifies the promises and threats already set forth in the earlier records of the Law. The language rises in this chapter to the sublimest strains, especially in the latter part of it; and the prophecies respecting the dispersion and degradation of the Jewish nation in its later days are among the most remarkable in scripture. They are plain, precise, and circumstantial; and the fulfillment of them has been literal, complete, and undeniable.
The Blessing. The six repetitions of the word "blessed" introduce the particular forms which the blessing would take in the various relations of life.
Deuteronomy 28:5
The "basket" or bag was a customary means in the East for carrying about whatever might be needed for personal uses (compare Deuteronomy 26:2; John 13:29).
The "store" is rather the kneading-trough Exodus 8:3; Exodus 12:34. The blessings here promised relate, it will be observed, to private and personal life: in Deuteronomy 28:7 those which are of a more public and national character are brought forward.
Deuteronomy 28:9
The oath with which God vouchsafed to confirm His promises to the patriarchs (compare Genesis 22:16; Hebrews 6:13-14) contained by implication these gifts of holiness and eminence to Israel (compare the marginal references).
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Deuteronomy 28:1:
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