King James Version · Egypt and Sinai
Deuteronomy 28
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt diligently unto thy , to observe and to do all his which I command thee this day, that thy will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt unto thy . shalt thou be in the city, and shalt thou be in the field. shall be the fruit 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. 5 shall be thy basket and thy store. shalt thou be when thou comest in, and shalt thou be when thou goest out. shall cause thine that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy : they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. shall command the upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall thee in the land which thy giveth thee. shall establish thee an people unto himself, as he hath unto thee, if thou shalt keep of thy , and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of ; and they shall be afraid of thee. And shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which sware unto thy fathers to give thee. shall open unto thee his good , the to give the unto thy land in his season, and to all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou unto of thy , which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to , or to the left, to go after other gods to them. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not unto thy , to observe to do all his and his which I command thee this day; that all these shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: shalt thou be in the city, and shalt thou be in the field. shall be thy basket and thy store. shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. shalt thou be when thou comest in, and shalt thou be when thou goest out. shall send upon thee , vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with , and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou . And thy that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. shall make the of thy land powder and : from shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. shall cause thee to be smitten before thine : thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. will smite thee with the botch of , and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of : And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth , and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall thee. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not therein: thou shalt plant a , and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy , and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine , and thou shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a , and , among all nations whither shall lead thee. Thou shalt carry much out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the , nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into . All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the consume. The that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover all these shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto thy , to keep his and his which he commanded thee: And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy for ever. Because thou servedst not thy with joyfulness, and with gladness of , for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou thine which shall send against thee, in , and in thirst, and in , and in want of all things: and he shall put a of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose thou shalt not understand; A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, , or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy , until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy throughout all thy land, which thy hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, of thy sons and of thy daughters, which thy hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine shall distress thee: So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his , and toward of his children which he shall leave: So that he will not give to any of them of of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine shall distress thee in all thy . The tender and delicate 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 , and toward her son, and toward her daughter, And toward her 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 . If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this and fearful name, THY ; Then will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy , even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of , which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of for multitude; because thou wouldest not thy . And it shall come to pass, that as rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but shall give thee there a trembling , and failing of eyes, and sorrow of : And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, Would it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would it were morning! for the fear of thine wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. And shall bring thee into again with ships, by whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Egypt and Sinai, 1450 BC to 1200 BC ›
Israel in and then out of Egypt, at a period when Egypt was an imperial power that also controlled Canaan. The nation is formed as a people with a law before it has any land.
- Egypt
- The New Kingdom at its imperial peak, with a professional army, a chariot corps, and control reaching up through Canaan. Ramesses II reigns for sixty-six years and covers the country in monuments to himself. Egyptian power in this period is the reason Canaan is garrisoned rather than free.
- The Hittites
- The other superpower, in what is now Turkey, and Egypt's rival for the Levant. The two fight the largest chariot battle of the ancient world at Kadesh, then sign a treaty whose text survives from both sides. Hittite treaty form, with its historical prologue, stipulations, witnesses, blessings, and curses, is the shape the Sinai covenant takes, which is one of the stronger arguments for the antiquity of that material.
- The Aegean
- Mycenaean Greece: warrior kings in stone citadels at Mycenae and Pylos, keeping palace accounts in Linear B. The world of the Trojan War stories, whatever lies behind them.
- Further afield
- The Shang dynasty in China is casting extraordinary bronzes and writing questions to its ancestors on ox bones. In Mesoamerica the Olmec are beginning the first civilisation of the Americas.