Chapter Summary
Core Passages from Deuteronomy 28
Deuteronomy 28:1-2"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth." And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
This passage sets the positive foundation for the entire chapter, making a clear promise that if Israel follows God's ways, His favor and goodness will actively pursue and overtake them.Deuteronomy 28:15"But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you."
This verse marks the pivotal turn in the chapter, introducing the severe consequences of rejecting God's commands. It establishes that the curses are not random but a direct result of disobedience.Deuteronomy 28:47-48Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
Moses reveals the core issue: the curses result from breaking rules and from failing to serve God with a joyful and grateful heart for His blessings.
Historical & Cultural Context
A Final Plea on the Edge of Promise
The scene is set on the plains of Moab, with the nation of Israel poised to enter the Promised Land after forty years of wandering. Moses, now at the end of his life, is delivering his final series of speeches, which make up the book of Deuteronomy. This chapter is a crucial part of his farewell address, serving as a powerful reminder of the covenant agreement between God and Israel. He is giving them laws. He is pleading with them to choose a path that leads to life.
The Terms of the Covenant
This chapter functions like the fine print of a sacred contract. In the ancient world, treaties between a great king and his people often included lists of blessings for loyalty and curses for rebellion. Here, God is the great King, and He is clearly laying out the benefits of a faithful relationship with Him and the dire consequences of breaking that trust. The detailed and graphic nature of the warnings was meant to impress upon Israel the seriousness of their commitment.
A Tale of Two Futures
In Deuteronomy 28, Moses paints two incredibly detailed pictures of Israel's potential future. He doesn't hold back, wanting the people to fully grasp the weight of their decision. First, he describes a nation flourishing under God's favor, a direct result of their faithfulness. Then, with equal intensity, he outlines a future of decay, defeat, and despair that will follow if they abandon their God. The entire chapter is a powerful, high-stakes presentation of cause and effect.
The Blessings of Obedience (Deuteronomy 28:1-14)
1 "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth."
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 "The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways."
8 The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake.
9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if 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 you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.
11 And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,
14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Commentary:
Faithfully following God will lead to all-encompassing prosperity, security, and national influence.
Related Verse Analysis
The Curses of Disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15-44)
15 "But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you."
16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
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 curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.
21 The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.
23 And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.
24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25 "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 be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth."
26 Your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.
27 The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.
28 The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind,
29 and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.
30 You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her.
31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you.
32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.
33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually,
34 So you shall be driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.
35 The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
36 "The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone."
37 And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away.
38 "You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it."
39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.
40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off.
41 You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
42 The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground.
43 The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
44 "He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail."
Commentary:
Rejecting God's commands will result in the complete reversal of blessings, leading to disease, famine, and defeat.
The Horror of Invasion and Siege (Deuteronomy 28:45-57)
45 "All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you."
46 They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever.
47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,
48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,
50 a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young.
51 It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
52 "They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you."
53 And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
54 The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left,
55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns.
56 The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge the husband she embraces, her son and her daughter,
57 her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.
Commentary:
Continued rebellion will lead to invasion by a merciless enemy and a complete societal collapse.
The Final Judgment: Exile (Deuteronomy 28:58-68)
58 "If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,"
59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.
60 He will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
61 Also every sickness and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.
62 Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
63 And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.
64 "And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known."
65 And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.
66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.
67 In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.
68 And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."
Commentary:
The ultimate punishment for persistent disobedience is being scattered from the Promised Land and losing their covenant identity.
The Weight of Covenant and Choice
The Reality of Cause and Effect
This chapter is a powerful lesson in sowing and reaping. It demonstrates that our choices are not made in a vacuum. They have real, tangible consequences. For Israel, obedience to God's life-giving commands would yield a harvest of peace and prosperity, while sowing rebellion would yield a harvest of chaos and destruction.
God's Justice and Holiness
The severity of the curses can be difficult to read, but they reveal how seriously God takes His covenant and His own holiness. Sin is not a small matter to Him because it destroys human flourishing. His justice reflects His goodness. He cannot allow evil to go unchecked indefinitely because He is committed to restoring His world.
The Heart of Worship
Deuteronomy 28:47 reveals that the core issue was external rule-breaking and a failure to serve God 'with joyfulness and gladness of heart.' This shows that God desires a relationship with His people that is rooted in love and gratitude, not reluctant duty. True obedience flows from a heart that delights in the Giver of all good things.
Living in Light of God's Ways
While your salvation is secured by grace through faith in Jesus, not by works, this chapter reminds you that your choices still matter. For a Christian, obedience is the joyful response to the grace you've received, not a way to earn it. Walking in God's ways still leads to a life of greater peace and purpose, while choosing sin can bring painful, natural consequences and hinder your relationship with Him.
The harshness of the curses shows us the seriousness of sin and the absolute holiness of God. It reveals that He is a just God who will not ignore rebellion forever. For Christians, this intense picture should deepen your gratitude for Jesus, who, according to Galatians 3:13, took the curse upon Himself on the cross so that you could be free from this judgment.
You can cultivate joy by shifting your focus from the rules to the relationship. Regularly take time to remember all that God has done for you, especially the gift of salvation. When you see obedience not as a heavy burden but as a loving response to His incredible grace, your service naturally becomes more joyful and less of a chore.
The Weight of Your Choice
Deuteronomy 28 lays out the stark reality of Israel's covenant relationship with God. He clearly defines the two paths before them: one of wholehearted obedience leading to life and flourishing, the other of rebellion leading to ruin and exile. The message is that our choices have real-world consequences. This chapter is a powerful call to love and fear the Lord, recognizing that He is the source of all blessing.
What This Means for Us Today
The choice presented to Israel is ultimately the choice presented to all humanity: will we walk in God's ways or our own? While we are no longer under this specific law, the principle remains that true life is found in Him. This chapter invites us to consider the path we are on and to choose the Giver of all good things.
- In what areas of my life am I choosing my own way over God's?
- How can I better recognize and celebrate God's blessings as a motivation for joyful obedience?
- Knowing Christ took the curse for me, how does that change my response to my own failures?
Further Reading
Immediate Context
This chapter sets the stage for the blessings and curses by commanding Israel to perform a public ceremony of covenant commitment once they enter the land.
Following the stark warnings, Moses formally calls the people to renew their covenant with God, urging them to choose loyalty.
Connections Across Scripture
This chapter provides a parallel list of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, reinforcing the covenant's terms.
Here, the returned exiles confess their sins, acknowledging that the curses of Deuteronomy 28 were justly fulfilled in Israel's history.
Paul explains how Christ redeemed believers from the 'curse of the law' by becoming a curse for us, fulfilling its demands on our behalf.
Discussion Questions
- This chapter presents a very clear cause-and-effect relationship between obedience and blessing. How have you seen this principle play out in your own life or in the world around you?
- Reading the list of curses can be unsettling. How does the cross of Jesus Christ change the way we read and understand these warnings of judgment?
- Verse 47 points to a lack of joyful service as a root cause of disobedience. What are some practical ways we can guard our hearts against serving God out of mere duty and instead cultivate genuine joy?
Glossary
theological concepts
Covenant
A sacred, binding agreement initiated by God that defines His relationship with His people, outlining promises and responsibilities.
Blessing
God's favor, protection, and provision given as a result of a right relationship with Him.
Curse
The consequences of divine judgment for sin and disobedience, involving hardship and separation from God's favor.