Deuteronomy - Remember What God Has Done and Said , Sarah Barry
CURSES FOR DISOBEDIENCE
Passage: Deuteronomy 28:15~35  
Key verse: 15
Curses for Disobedience
15 However, if you do not obey(A) the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today,(B) all these curses will come on you and overtake you:(C)
16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.(D)
17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.(E)
18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.(F)
19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.(G)
20 The Lord will send on you curses,(H) confusion and rebuke(I) in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin(J) because of the evil(K) you have done in forsaking him.[a] 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.(L) 22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease,(M) with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought,(N) with blight(O) and mildew, which will plague(P) you until you perish.(Q) 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.(R) 24 The Lord will turn the rain(S) of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated(T) before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven,(U) and you will become a thing of horror(V) to all the kingdoms on earth.(W) 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds(X) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.(Y) 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt(Z) and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope(AA) about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue(AB) you.
30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.(AC) You will build a house, but you will not live in it.(AD) You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.(AE) 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation,(AF) and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. 33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression(AG) all your days.(AH) 34 The sights you see will drive you mad.(AI) 35 The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils(AJ) that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.(AK)
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 28:20 Hebrew me
Cross references
- Deuteronomy 28:15 : 1Ki 9:6; 2Ch 7:19
- Deuteronomy 28:15 : S Dt 27:26
- Deuteronomy 28:15 : Dt 29:27; Jos 23:15; 2Ch 12:5; Da 9:11; Mal 2:2
- Deuteronomy 28:16 : ver 3
- Deuteronomy 28:17 : ver 5
- Deuteronomy 28:18 : ver 4
- Deuteronomy 28:19 : ver 6
- Deuteronomy 28:20 : ver 8, 15; Lev 26:16; Jer 42:18; Mal 2:2; 3:9; 4:6
- Deuteronomy 28:20 : Ps 39:11; 76:6; 80:16; Isa 17:13; 51:20; 54:9; 66:15; Eze 5:15
- Deuteronomy 28:20 : Dt 4:26
- Deuteronomy 28:20 : S Ex 32:22
- Deuteronomy 28:21 : Lev 26:25; Nu 14:12; Jer 24:10; Am 4:10
- Deuteronomy 28:22 : ver 48; Dt 32:24
- Deuteronomy 28:22 : Lev 26:16; 2Ki 8:1; Job 12:15; Ps 105:16; Jer 14:1; Hag 1:11; Mal 3:9
- Deuteronomy 28:22 : Hag 2:17
- Deuteronomy 28:22 : S Lev 26:25
- Deuteronomy 28:22 : Dt 4:26; Am 4:9
- Deuteronomy 28:23 : S Lev 26:19
- Deuteronomy 28:24 : Lev 26:19; Dt 11:17; 1Ki 8:35; 17:1; Isa 5:6; Jer 14:1; Hag 1:10
- Deuteronomy 28:25 : 1Sa 4:10; Ps 78:62
- Deuteronomy 28:25 : S Lev 26:17
- Deuteronomy 28:25 : ver 37
- Deuteronomy 28:25 : 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Jer 15:4; 24:9; 26:6; 29:18; 44:12; Eze 23:46
- Deuteronomy 28:26 : S Ge 40:19
- Deuteronomy 28:26 : Ps 79:2; Isa 18:6; Jer 7:33; 12:9; 15:2; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20
- Deuteronomy 28:27 : Dt 7:15
- Deuteronomy 28:29 : Ge 19:11; Ex 10:21; Job 5:14; 12:25; 24:13; 38:15; Isa 59:10
- Deuteronomy 28:29 : Jdg 3:9; 2Ki 13:5; Est 4:14; Isa 19:20; 43:11; Hos 13:4; Ob 1:21
- Deuteronomy 28:30 : Job 31:10
- Deuteronomy 28:30 : Isa 65:22; Am 5:11
- Deuteronomy 28:30 : Jer 12:13
- Deuteronomy 28:32 : ver 41
- Deuteronomy 28:33 : Jer 6:6; 22:17
- Deuteronomy 28:33 : Jer 5:15-17; Eze 25:4
- Deuteronomy 28:34 : ver 67
- Deuteronomy 28:35 : Dt 7:15; Rev 16:2
- Deuteronomy 28:35 : Job 2:7; 7:5; 13:28; 30:17, 30; Isa 1:6
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source:  BibleGateway
1. If you do not obey the Lord (15)
God earnestly wanted to bless his people and promised blessings beyond their imagination, when they carefully followed all his commands. But what if they did not? God gave Israel a second detailed list to read in the promised land-a list of all the curses that would fall on the people if they broke their promise to God to keep his commands. We are often tempted to tell ourselves that sinful behaviors do not have serious consequences. But in fact they bring deadly curses on life.
2. These curses will overtake you (16-35)
The curses here include every kind of unfruitfulness, failure, poverty, disease, and defeat. Every aspect of life that is blessed through keeping God's commands can also become cursed through breaking them. It is not pleasant to think about. But these curses are nothing more than an expression of the principle "The wages of sin is death" (Ro 6:23). Thankfully, we also know that, in spite of our sins, "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Prayer: Lord, help me never forget the deadly consequences of sin. Thank you for Jesus who frees us from the curse of sin.
One Word: Sinful living brings curses