Bible Commentaries

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe [and] to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will ^a set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

(a) He will make you the most excellent of all people.

And all these blessings shall come on thee, and ^b overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

(b) When you think you are forsaken.

Blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the ^c city, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the field.

(c) You will live richly.

Blessed [shall be] the fruit ^d of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

(d) Your children and succession.

Blessed [shalt] thou [be] when thou ^e comest in, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] when thou goest out.

(e) All your enterprises will have good success.

The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee ^f seven ways.

(f) Meaning many ways.

The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine ^g hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

(g) God will bless us, if we do our duty and are not idle.

And all people of the earth shall see that thou art ^h called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

(h) In that he is your God, and you are his people.

The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the ⁱ heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

(i) For nothing in the earth is profitable but when God sends his blessings from heaven.

And thy heaven that [is] over thy head shall be ^k brass, and the earth that is under thee [shall be] iron.

(k) It will give you no more moisture than if it were of brass.

The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be ^l removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

(i) Some read, you shall be a terror and fear, when they hear how God has plagued you.

And thy ^m carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray [them] away.

(m) You will be cursed both in your life and in your death: for the burial is a testimony of the resurrection a sign you will lack because of your wickedness.

And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the ⁿ blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save [thee].

(n) In things most evident and clear you will lack discretion and judgment.

Thy sons and thy daughters [shall be] given unto another people, and thine eyes ^o shall look, and fail [with longing] for them all the day long: and [there shall be] no might in thine hand.

(o) When they will return from their captivity.

The LORD shall bring thee, and thy ^p king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

(p) As he did Manasseh, Joiakim, Zedekiah and others.

All thy trees and fruit of thy land ^q shall the locust consume.

(q) Under one kind he contains all the vermin, which destroy the fruit of the land: and this is an evident token of God's curse.

The tender and delicate ^s woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

(s) As came to pass in the days of Joram king of Israel, (2 Kings 6:28) and when the Romans besieged Jerusalem.

And toward her ^t young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all [things] secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

(t) Hunger will so bite her, that she will be ready to eat her child before it is delivered.

If thou wilt not observe to do ^u all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;

(u) For he that offends in one, is guilty of all, (James 2:10)

Also every sickness, and every plague, which [is] not ^x written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

(x) Declaring, that God has infinite means to plague the wicked, besides those that are ordinary or written.

And the LORD shall ^y scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, [even] wood and stone.

(y) Signifying that it is a singular gift from God to be in a place where we may worship God purely and declare our faith and religion.

And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ^z ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy [you].

(z) Because they were unmindful of that miracle, when the sea made room for them to pass through.