You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very clearly.
9 Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the LORD your God.
Therefore obey the LORD your God, observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today.
11 The same day Moses charged the people as follows:
When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing of the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.
And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
Then the Levites shall declare in a loud voice to all the Israelites:
15 “Cursed be anyone who makes an idol or casts an image, anything abhorrent to the LORD, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret.” All the people shall respond, saying, “Amen!”
16 “Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
17 “Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor’s boundary marker.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
18 “Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind person on the road.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
19 “Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
20 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has violated his father’s rights.”[58 (#ulink_d1324c80-c211-549e-9f51-481159b152b3)] All the people shall say, “Amen!”
21 “Cursed be anyone who lies with any animal.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
22 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
23 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
24 “Cursed be anyone who strikes down a neighbor in secret.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
25 “Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
26 “Cursed be anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by observing them.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
28 If you will only obey the LORD your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth;
all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey 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, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue 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.
The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
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.
The LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give you.
The LORD will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.
The LORD will make you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them,
and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I am commanding you today, either to the right or to the left, following other gods to serve them.
15 But if you will not obey the LORD your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding 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, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and the issue 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 upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.
The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you off the land that you are entering to possess.
The LORD will afflict you with consumption, fever, inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
The sky over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you iron.
The LORD will change the rain of your land into powder, and only dust shall come down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed.
A DISOBEDIENT SPIRIT
To admire Satan, then, is to give one’s vote not only for a world of misery, but also for a world of lies and propaganda, of wishful thinking, of incessant autobiography. Yet the choice is possible. Hardly a day passes without some slight movement towards it in all of us.
—from A Preface to “Paradise Lost”
For reflection
Deuteronomy 28:15
25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way and flee before them seven ways. You shall become an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Your corpses shall be food for every bird of the air and animal of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.
