Conquering the Land
26:1 Moses continued, “As you have been taught,1 when you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, you must take possession of it by conquering it from its present inhabitants and thendivide it among your tribes and settle in it.
First Fruits
2 As you have also been taught,2 once you enter the land, every landowner among you must bring the first fruits of the seven species previously mentioned as distinguishing the Land of Israel3 to the Temple (or, until the Temple is built, to the Tabernacle—and so in all further references to the Temple) as an offering. This obligation will not take effect, however, until you, as a nation, conquer the land completely from its previous inhabitants, divide it among your tribes, and settle in it.4 You must take the first specimen you see of each of these seven species, of all the fruit of the earth, which you must then bring as an offering from your land that God, your God, is giving you. Every year,when the first fruit of each species begins to ripen, designate it verbally as the first fruit, and tie a marker around it so you will be able to recognize it later. (The olives that are subject to this obligation are specifically those of the aguri species, whose oil is collected inside it, separate from its flesh.5) You must place these fruits into a basket and, taking it with you, go to the place on which God, your God, will choose to rest His Name, i.e., the Temple.
3 Once you enter the precincts of the Temple mount, place the basket on your shoulder and enter the Forecourt of the Temple (which corresponds to the Courtyard of the Tabernacle).6 You must then approach one of the priests who will be in office in those days7 and say to him, ‘I am not ungrateful to God. I declare today’—since you may only perform this ceremony once a year—‘to God, your God, that I have come to the land that God swore to our forefathers to give us.’ Having said, this, take the basket off your shoulder and hold it by its edge.
4 The priest must then place his hands under the basket, supporting it from underneath while you hold on to its edge.8 The priest will thus take the basket from the sole support9 of your hands, and move it, together with you,in the four lateral directions and then up and down,10 before the altar of God, your God. The priest must then remove his hands from under the basket, leaving you to hold it by yourself.
5 You must then raise your voice as you recount God’s kindnesses, contrasting our previous periods of settlement, which proved precarious, with our present, secure settlement in our land.11 Specifically, you must pronounce the following declaration before God, your God: ‘An Aramean was the destroyer of my forefather,’12 referring to how Jacob, after living for 20 years in Aram, had to flee from Laban,13 who intended to kill him and his whole family but was prevented by God from doing so. (Even though Laban did not in fact destroy Jacob, God nevertheless refers to him as if he had, because He counts the evil intentions of the gentiles to their demerit even if they are prevented from carrying them out.14) Still referring to Jacob, continue: ‘He went down to Egypt and sojourned there with his family, which was then only a small number of people, and he became a great, mighty, and numerous nation there.
6 Yet, although we lived in their land for 210 years, the Egyptians treated us cruelly, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor upon us.
7 So we cried out to God, God of our fathers, and God heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
8 And God brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great awe, and with signs and marvels,
9 and He brought us to this place’—referring to the Temple to which you have now come in order to show your appreciation to God for having given it to us15—‘and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey.’
10 Addressing God directly, continue: ‘Now, behold, in recognition of Your kindness in giving us this land,16 I have brought the first of the fruit of the soil that You, O God, have given to me.’ After you finish reciting this declaration, you must move the basket in the four lateral directions and then up and down before God, your God—this time by yourself—and then prostrate yourself before God, your God. You must then give the fruits to the priest, and they will be his to eat.17
In reciprocal recognition of your having declared your appreciation to God in a loud voice when you brought your first fruits to the Temple,18 a heavenly voice will then announce: “In reward for having brought your first fruits today, you will merit to bring first fruits from your coming year’s crop!”19 True reciprocity would require that God articulate this promise with His own voice, but since you told Him that you are afraid to hear His voice,20 He will make use of an angelic, heavenly voice instead.21
11 The obligation to recite this declaration applies only when you bring your first fruits to the Temple between Shavuot and Sukot, for since that is the harvest season, you will then be rejoicing with all the good that God, your God, has granted you and your household. If, however, you bring you first fruits later, you should simply move the basket as prescribed and give it to the priest without reciting the declaration. The obligation to bring first fruits applies equally to you; to the Levite, should he plant the relevant crops in his designated cities; and to the convert who is among you, but a convert—no matter when he brings his first fruits—does not recite the declaration, since he is not a descendant of Jacob.
Deadlines for Fulfilling the Duty to Give Agricultural Gifts
Second Reading 12 As you have been taught,22 you must take two types of tithes from your produce every year. By the time you have finished taking all the tithes of your produce that had grown in the third year of the seven-year cycle culminating in the sabbatical year—this third year being the year in which you are required to give the first tithe as usual, but in place of the second tithe you must give the tithe for the poor—it will be the middle of the fourth year. For fruits ripen only in the first half of the year after they bud, so fruit that budded in the third year is only harvested in the first half of the fourth year. Thus, only by Nisan of the fourth year will you have been able to give all of the third year’s first tithe to the Levite and all of the third year’s tithe for the poor to the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow, taking care to give each one enough23 so that they can eat to satiation in your cities.
13 God has therefore fixed the day before Passover of the fourth year as the deadline for fulfilling your obligations vis-à-vis the tithes of produce of the third year. If you neglected to fulfill your obligations vis-à-vis the tithes of the first and second year, as described above,24 this same deadline will apply for fulfilling these obligations, as well. After completing all these obligations by that date, you must then, on the seventh day of Passover,25 declare before God, your God: ‘I have removed from my house the second tithe and the fourth-year fruit,26both of which are considered holy because they must be eaten in the holy Temple city; and I have also given the first tithe to the Levite, the terumah27 and first fruits28 to the priest, and the tithe for the poor to the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, in accordance with all Your commandments that You commanded me regarding the precise order in which to give the gifts due from my produce:29 first the first fruits, then terumah, then the first tithe, and finally the second tithe30 (or tithe for the poor, depending on the year). I have not transgressed any of Your commandments, either by substituting one species of fruit for the gift due from another species or by substituting the produce of one year for the gift due from the produce of another year. Furthermore, I have not forgotten to thank You for granting me the opportunity to tithe my produce.
14 I did not consume any of thesecond tithe while in my grief, i.e., on the day one of my close relatives died, for this is forbidden.31 Nor did I consume any of it while I32 or the tithed produce was ritually defiled; neither did I use any of it to make a coffin or shrouds for the dead, for this, too, is forbidden. I have obeyed God, my God, by bringing it to the Temple city;33 I have acted in accordance with all that You commanded me regarding rejoicing myself and gladdening others.34
15 Being that we have exceeded the requirements of the law, therefore, You, too, bless us beyond the limitations of nature, as You promised You would.35 Even if we are guilty of any misdeeds on account of which we have forfeited Your blessings, may the merit of the gifts we have given the poor compensate for them,36 so that You look down favorably upon us from Your holy dwelling, from the heavens, and bless Your people Israel and the land that You have given to us as You swore to our forefathers—a land flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey.’
The same rules and procedures just described for tithing the produce of the first three years of each sabbatical-year cycle apply to tithing the produce of the second three years of each cycle. Thus, just as you must fulfill your obligations with regard to tithing the produce of the first three years by the day before Passover of the fourth year, so must you similarly fulfill your obligations with regard to the produce of the second three years by the day before Passover of the seventh year; and just as you must declare in the Temple, on the seventh day of Passover of the fourth year, that you have fulfilled your obligations regarding the produce of the first three years, so must you declare in the Temple, on the seventh day of Passover of the seventh year, that you have fulfilled your obligations regarding the produce of the second three years.
The Ever-New Covenant
Third Reading 16 As you have been taught,37 whenever you are studying the Torah or performing God’s commandments, you should feel as if God is forging His relationship with you anew every day. In addition, you should feel this way even when you are not studying the Torah or performing any specific commandment. For example, even though you will only fulfill the commandment to bring your first fruits to the Temple once a year, you should relate to this commandment every day of your life with the enthusiasm intrinsic to a new experience, as if this very day, God, your God, is commanding you to fulfill these rules and ordinances regarding your first fruits. In return, God promises you that you will be privileged to safeguard these rules and ordinances—by constantly studying the Torah’s instructions regarding how to perform them—and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.38
17 Similarly, you should live every day of your life as if today—i.e., that very day—you have singled out God from all other deities to be your God, meaning that you have undertaken to walk in His ways; to safeguard His rules, commandments, and ordinances by studying how to perform them; and to obey Him.
18 If you behave in this manner, God will reciprocally39behave toward you each day as if He has set you apart today—i.e., that very day—from all other nations to be His treasured people, just as He spoke concerning you;40 to safeguard all His commandments by studying how to perform them;
19 to make you supreme above all the other nations that He made, so they will accordyou praise, a distinguished name, and glory; and for you to be a holy people, dedicated and devoted solely to God, your God, just as He spoke, commanding you to be.41
Thus, you will be glorifying God every day by committing yourselves to being His people, and He will be glorifying you by making you His treasured people, as He promised.”42
With this Moses concluded his review of the Torah’s laws. He now turned to expounding the particulars of the special relationship between God and the Jewish people, exhorting the people to uphold their part of this covenant.
Reaffirming the Covenant
Fourth Reading 27:1 Moses, together with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, “You must unceasingly safeguard43 all the commandments that I am commanding you this day by assiduously studying how to properly perform them.
2 In order to reinforce the covenant between you and God, as well as to reinforce your commitment to maintaining it by studying the Torah, your first order of business when you enter the land will be to ceremoniously reaffirm this covenant, as follows:
First, you must erect a monument commemorating your miraculous crossing of the Jordan River. As you approach the eastern bank of the river, it will stop flowing, allowing you to cross it on dry ground. As you have been taught,44 you must then cross the river with the intention of driving out the nations currently occupying the land. While you are crossing, Joshua must gather twelve boulders from the riverbed into a pile45 tall enough to remain visible above the surface of the water after the river resumes flowing, as a memorial to your miraculous crossing.46
Next, on the same day you cross the Jordan River in order to enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, you must, at your first encampment, set up for yourself a pile of twelve other boulders, which you must take from the Jordan River bed.47 You must later plaster them with lime, and
3 write upon them all the words of this Torah, as will be described presently. All this is an essential part of your crossing into the land to possess it, and is required in order for you to enter the land that God, your God, is giving you—a land flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey—as God, God of your forefathers, has spoken to you.
4 Finally, after you have crossed the Jordan, you must, on that same day,48 proceed directly to Shechem, between Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival,49 taking the second set of twelve boulders with you, and perform the ceremony of blessings and curses that will be described presently.50 After that,51 you must set up these stones, regarding which I command you this day, on Mount Eival, as an altar. You must then plaster them with lime.
5 You will thus build there an altar to God, your God; this altar will be constructed out of these stones. You must not wield any iron tool upon them to cut them to size; rather,
6 you must build the altar of God, your God, out of whole stones. You must then offer up ascent-offerings on it to God, your God.
7 After this, you must slaughter animals as peace-offerings, and you must eat your portions of these peace-offerings there. In this manner you must rejoice before God, your God.52
8 But before you sacrifice on this ad hoc altar, you must first write upon the plastered53 stones all the words of this Torah, translated very clearly into the world’s seventy archetypal languages.54After this, still on the same day, you must scrape the plaster off the altar,55 dismantle it, and return—bringing the twelve stones with you—to your initial encampment, and erect a memorial there out of these stones.”56
9 After describing this ceremony, Moses and the Levitic priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Pay special attention and listen, O Israel! See how important it is to God that you be impressed with the eternal vitality of your covenant with Him! Every day, you must live as if this day—i.e., that very day57—you have become a people covenantally bound to God, your God.
10 You must therefore obey God, your God, and fulfill His commandments and His rules concerning which I command you today.”
Fifth Reading 11 Moses commanded the people on that day, saying,
12 “As I have just mentioned, on the same day that you cross the Jordan River, you must perform a ceremony of blessings and curses. This is how you must do it: The priests and Levites will station themselves in the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival, together with the Ark of the Covenant. The following tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim, and the priests and Levites will face them in order to bless the people: Simeon, Levi (that is, those Levites too young or too old to serve in the Tabernacle58), Judah, Issachar, Joseph (i.e., Manasseh and Ephraim), and Benjamin.
13 The following tribes will stand on Mount Eival so the priests and Levites can turn and face them for the purpose of pronouncing the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.59
14 Once everyone is in position, the priests and Levites will speak up, saying the following pronouncements to every individual of Israel—even though they will only be facing half the people at a time—in a loud voice. They will first couch each pronouncement as a blessing, facing Mount Gerizim, and then as a curse, facing Mount Eival. These pronouncements chiefly concern behavior that can go undetected and therefore uncorrected.60
15 First, facing Mount Gerizim, they will say, ‘Blessed be the man who does not make any sculpted or molten image, which is an abomination to God—being the handiwork of a craftsman—and does not set it up in secret!’61 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Then, facing Mount Eival, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be the man who makes any scuplted or molten image, which is an abomination to God—being the handiwork of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret!’ All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
16 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not degrade his father and mother!’62 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who degrades his father and mother!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
17 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not push back his neighbor’s landmark!’63 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who pushes back his neighbor’s landmark!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
18 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not, figuratively speaking, misguide a “blind person” on the way—i.e., who does not give detrimental advice to someone who is uninformed regarding a particular matter!’64 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who figuratively misguides a “blind person” on the way!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
19 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not pervert the judgment of the convert, the orphan, or the widow!’65 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who perverts the judgment of the convert, the orphan, or the widow!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
20 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not fornicate with his father’s wife,66 thus figuratively uncovering the corner of his father’s garment!’ All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the Levites priests and will say, ‘Cursed be he who fornicates with his father’s wife, thus figuratively uncovering the corner of his father’s garment!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
21 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the Levites priests and will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not engage in carnal relations with any animal!’67 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the Levites priests and will say, ‘Cursed be he who engages in carnal relations with any animal!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
22 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not fornicate with his sister, whether she be the daughter of his father or of his mother!’68 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who fornicates with his sister, whether she be the daughter of his father or of his mother!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
23 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not fornicate with his mother-in-law!’69 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who fornicates with his mother-in-law!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
24 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who does not “strike his fellow” in secret, by engaging in injurious gossip against him!’70 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who “strikes his fellow” in secret!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
25 Again facing Mount Gerizim, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Blessed be he who, when officiating as a judge, does not take a bribe to put an innocent person to death!’71 All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Again facing Mount Eival, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who takes a bribe to put an innocent person to death!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’
26 The priests and Levites will then utter a general blessing and curse that apply to the entire legal corpus of the Torah: Facing Mount Gerizim for the final time, they will say, ‘Blessed be he who upholds all the words of this Torah by fulfilling them!’ All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
Facing Mount Eival for the final time, the priests and Levites will say, ‘Cursed be he who does not uphold all the words of this Torah by fulfilling them!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’ This will conclude the ceremony.
Blessings and Curses
28:1 As you know, God blessed you and cursed you when we were at Mount Sinai.72 I will now add my own blessings and curses to His. My curses, however, will be milder, both in intensity and in scope, since I will convey them to you in the singular, as individuals, rather than in the plural, to the whole people as a collective entity.73
If you obey God, your God, being sure to safeguard His commandments by studying the Torah’s instructions regarding how to properly perform all His commandments that I am commanding you to perform today, then God, your God, will place you supreme above all the nations of the earth.
2 You will not have to pursue prosperity; rather, all the following blessings will pursue you and overtake you if you obey God, your God:
3 You will be blessed both in the city and in the field.
4 Blessed will be your children, the fruit of your womb; your crops, the fruit of your soil; your animals, the fruit of your livestock: the offspring of your cattle and the choice of your flocks.
5 Blessed will be your food basket and your kneading bowl.
6 Just as you are blessed when you enter the world, being free of sin, so will you be similarly blessed when you depart the world.
Sixth Reading 7 God will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be beaten by you. They will attack you from one direction, but you will overcome them and terrify them so much that they will flee from you, retreating in seven directions.
8 God will command the blessing of success to accompany you in your granaries and in all your endeavors. He will bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
9 God will establish you as His holy people, as He swore to you, if you safeguard the commandments of God, your God, by studying how to perform them properly, and walk in His ways.
10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of God is associated only with you, as His chosen people, and they will fear you.
11 God will make you superior to them with regard to children, the fruit of your womb; with regard to your cattle, the fruit of your livestock; and with regard to your produce, the fruit of your soil, on the land that God swore to your forefathers to give you.
12 God will open up His good treasury—heaven—for you, in order to give your land its rain in its right time and thereby bless everything you do. You will be so wealthy that you will lend to many nations, but you will not need to borrow.
13 God will place you at the head of the world, and not at the tail; and you will be only at the top, and not at the bottom, if you obey the commandments of God, your God, regarding which I am commanding you today to safeguard them by studying how to perform them, and to do them.
14 You must not veer right or left from all of the matters about which I am commanding you today, by following other deities and worshipping them.
15 If, on the other hand, you do not obey God, your God, neglecting to safeguard His commandments by studying the Torah’s instructions regarding how to properly perform all His commandments and rules that I am commanding you to perform today, then all the following 98 curses will pursue you and overtake you:
16 [1] You will be cursed both in the city [2] and in the field.
17 [3] Cursed will be your food basket [4] and your kneading bowl.
18 [5] Cursed will be your children, the fruit of your womb; [6] your crops, the fruit of your soil; [7] your animals, the fruit of your livestock: the offspring of your cattle and the choice of your flocks.
19 [8] You will be cursed when you come into your home74[9] and you will be cursed when you leave it.
20 [10] God will send against you shortages, [11] pandemonium, [12] and self-rebuke in all of your endeavors that you undertake, until you are [13] destroyed [14] and quickly vanish, because,” Moses said in God’s name,“of the evil you did in forsaking Me.”
21 [15] Speaking again of God in the third person, Moses continued: “God will infect you with a disease that will spread as an epidemic and that will persist until it has eradicated you from the land that you are entering in order to possess.
22 [16] God will strike you with diseases accompanied by consumption and blisters, [17] regular fever, [18] high fever, [19] and unquenchable thirst; [20] with the sword of invading armies[21] and with a crop-destroying east wind and with drought; [22] and they all will pursue you until you perish.
23 As you recall, among God’s curses at Mount Sinai was His threat to ‘make your skies (dry) like iron (which does not sweat, so there will be no rain to water new crops) and your land (moist) like copper (which does sweat, so any existing produce will rot).’75 In contrast, my curse to you is that [23] your skies above you will be moistlike copper, so even though they will only be moist but not dripping wet with rain, and thus you will not be able to grow all the food you need, there will at least be some moisture for crops;[24] and the earth below you will be dry like iron, so at least it will not rot the produce.
24 [25] God will turn the rain of your land into a cause of dust and mud: not being sufficient to grow any crops, as just stated, it will also not be sufficient to weigh down the soil, so the wind will blow the wet dust onto the vegetation, encrusting the leaves so they cannot breathe, thus killing the plants. [26] The rain will rain down upon you from the sky in this detrimental manner until you are destroyed for lack of food.
25 [27] God will cause you to be beaten by your enemy: you will attack them from one direction, but they will overcome you and terrify you so much that you will flee from them, dispersing in seven directions. [28] You, as an example of what can happen to a nation, will become a source of terror for all the kingdoms on earth.
26 [29] Your corpse will be food for all the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, [30] and no one will frighten them away from eating your corpse.
27 [31] God will strike you with the horrible boils of Egypt, which are wet inside and dry outside; [32] with hemorrhoids; [33] with oozing boils; [34] and with dry boils, from all of which you will be unable to be healed.
28 God will strike you with [35] insanity, [36] blindness, [37] and bewilderment.
29 [38] You will grope at midday as the blind man gropes in the dark, [39] and you will be unsuccessful in your undertakings. [40] You will be nothing but constantly contested in whatever you do[41] and robbed, [42] and there will be no one who will rescue you.
30 [43] You will betroth a woman, but another man will fornicate with her. [44] You will build a house, but you will not live in it. [45] You will plant a vineyard, but you will not redeem its fourth-year fruits, the first that may be eaten.76
31 [46] Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat from it. [47] Your donkey will be robbed from you right in front of you, and it will not return to you. [48] Your flock will be given over to your enemies, [49] and there will be no one who will rescue it for you.
32 [50] Your sons and daughters will be given over to another people as your own eyes see it happen; you will long for them all day long, but be powerless to do anything about it.
33 [51] A people unknown to you will eat up the fruit of your soil and the result of all your toil. [52] You will be nothing but constantly contested in whatever you do, and crushed.
34 [53] You will go insane from the vision that you will behold before your eyes.
35 [54] God will strike you on the knees and on the legs with a terrible skin eruption, from which you will be unable to be healed; it will eventually cover your entire body, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36 [55] God will lead you and your king, whom you will have appointed over yourself, to a nation unknown to you or your fathers; [56] there, as exiled slaves, youwill serve idol-worshipping masters, so it will be as if77 you yourselves will serve other deities made of wood and stone.
37 [57] You will become an object of astonishment, [58] an archetype of extraordinary misfortune, [59] and a topic of discussion among all the peoples to whose lands God will lead you.
38 [60] You will take out a great deal of seed to sow in the field, yet you will gather in little produce, for the locusts will finish it off.
39 [61] You will plant vineyards and work them, but you will neither drink their wine nor gather their grapes, for the worms will devour them.
40 [62] You will have olive trees throughout all your boundaries, but you will not anoint yourself with their oil, for your olive tree will drop allits fruit before it ripens.
41 [63] You will bear sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, for they will go into captivity.
42 [64] The locust will make all your trees and all the fruit of your soil barren.
43 [65] The resident alien who lives among you will rise higher and higher in wealth and stature above you, while you descend lower and lower.
44 [66] He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. [67] He will be at the head, while you will be at the tail.
45 All these curses will befall you, pursuing you and overtaking you until they destroy you, because you did not obey God, your God, neglecting to safeguard His commandments and rules concerning which He commanded you, by studying the Torah’s instructions regarding how to properly perform them.
46 These curses will serve as a sign and a marvel for you and your descendants forever.
47 Since you did not serve God, your God, with joy and with heartfelt gladness when you had an abundance of everything—
48 [68] you will instead serve your enemies, whom God will send against you, when you are[69] in hunger, [70] thirst, [71] nakedness, [72] and lacking everything. [73] Your enemy will place an iron yoke upon your neck, working you until he has destroyed you.
49 [74] God will bring upon you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, who will conquer you unexpectedly, successfully, and quickly, the way the eagle swoops down upon its prey. It will be a nation whose language you will not understand,
50 a brazen nation who neither respects the elderly nor shows favor to the young.
51 [75] They will devour your animals, the fruit of your livestock, [76] and your produce, the fruit of your soil, [77] until they destroy you through starvation. [78] They will be a nation who will not leave you any grain, wine, oil, the offspring of your cattle, or the choice of your flocks, until they annihilate you through starvation.
52 [79] They will besiege you in all your cities, until your high and fortified walls in which you trust are overcome throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your cities of the land that God, your God, has given you.
53 [80] You will eat your children, the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom God, your God, gave you, on account of the siege and the oppression of famine to which your enemies will subject you.
54 The most tender and delicate man among you, who would ordinarily be revolted at the thought of eating human flesh, will be so famished that he will relish the taste of the flesh of his own children, and will therefore begrudge his own brother, the wife of his embrace, and the rest of his children who will remain,
55 of giving any one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating, because nothing will remain for him, on account of the siege and the oppression of famine to which your enemies will subject you in all your cities. Even if his hunger does not derange him to the point that he enjoys the taste of his children’s flesh, it will nevertheless make him so cruel that he will not want to share his children’s flesh with his wife and remaining children.
56 Similarly, the most tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set her foot upon the ground out of delicateness and tenderness, will begrudge the husband of her embrace, her own grown son and grown daughter,
57 the newborn infants who emerge from between her legs, and her own small children whom she will bear, for out of utter destitution she will eat some of them in secret, hiding them from the others who are left, on account of the siege and the oppression of famine to which your enemies will subject you in your cities.
58 If you do not safeguard God’s commandments by studying the Torah’s instructions regarding how to fulfill all the words of this Torah, which are written in this scroll, thereby learning how to revere this glorious and awesome Name, i.e., that of God, your God,
59 then [81] God will intensify the plagues that He will bring upon you and upon your offspring beyond other plagues, afflicting you with worse, terrible, unyielding plagues [82] and evil, unyielding sicknesses.
60 [83] He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded when you were in Egypt,78 and they will cling to you.
61 [84] In addition, God will bring upon you every disease and plague that is not written in the scroll of this Torah—that is, in this frightening section of curses79—in order to destroy you.
62 [85] You will remain few in number instead of being how you once were—as numerous as the stars of the heavens—because you did not obey God, your God.
63 [86] Just as God rejoiced over you to do good for you and to increase you, so will God make your enemies rejoice over you as they proceed to annihilate you and destroy you. [87] You will be uprooted from the land that you are entering in order to possess.
64 [88] God will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there [89] you will serve these nations, who serve other deities that were unknown to you or your forefathers—deities of wood and stone—by paying tribute and poll taxes to pagan priests.
65 [90] You will find no respite among those nations, [91] nor will your foot find any rest. [92] There, God will give you a frightened, trembling heart, [93] dashed hopes, [94] and a depressed soul.
66 [95] Your life will hang in suspense before you:80 you will live in daily fear both for your very life and for your livelihood, for you will be dependent on the availability of food in an unstable market. [96] You will be afraid night and day, [97] and since you will be dependent on bakeries for bread, which will in turn rely on an unreliable economy, you will not believe in the reliability of your own life.
67 Inasmuch as your situation will constantly worsen, you will say in the morning, ‘If only it were yesterday evening!’ and you will say in the evening, ‘If only it were this morning!’ because of the fear in your heart that you will experience over the future and because of the sights that you will behold.
68 [98] God will bring you back to Egypt, which in itself will be traumatic since your worst memories are of your captivity in Egypt, but in addition—for as much of the journey as possible—you will return thereas captives in slave-ships, in which captives suffer greater subjugation to their captors than they do when transported overland. For the rest of the journey, which cannot be made by sea, you will return overland via the route you took leaving Egypt: through the huge and awesome desert filled with snakes, vipers, and scorpions, plagued by drought and devoid of water.81 This is the path about which I promised you and said to you, ‘You will never see it again’82 because you were so traumatized by its memory. There, your slavery will be so insufferable that you will beg your captors to let you offer yourselves for sale to your other enemies as slaves and bondwomen rather than serve them, in the hope that your other enemies will not treat you as badly as your captors; but there will be no buyer among your other enemies, for your original captors will have already sentenced you to death and annihilation.”83
69 These are the words that constitute the covenant that God commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in which they accepted their obligation to fulfill His commandments subject to the penalties enumerated in these curses. This covenant was in addition to the covenant of blessings and curses that He made with them at Mount Horeb, i.e., Sinai.84
Reassurances
Seventh Reading 29:1 After the people heard Moses’ 98 curses and recalled the 48 curses God had threatened them with earlier,85 they became frightened, doubting if they could endure such suffering. Moses therefore summoned all of Israel in order to reassure them of God’s love for them, and said to them,86 “You have seen before your very eyes all that God did in Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his entire land:
2 the great trials that you saw with your own eyes and those great signs and marvels. You have indeed appreciated these miracles, and they have taught you to believe in God’s omnipotence and to respect His word.
3 But this is not enough. You must also learn to appreciate God’s kindnesses. However, until this day, God did not give you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear—that is, with which to appreciate—His great kindnesses, specifically, how—”
4 and here Moses continued in God’s name, “I led you through the desert for forty years, during which time your garments did not wear out and fall off of you, nor did your shoes wear out and fall off your feet.
5 You neither ate bread nor drank new wine or old wine, but instead ate the miraculous manna and drank the miraculous water from the well—all this in order that you would know that I am God, your God.”
Maftir 6 Continuing in his own name, Moses said, “Furthermore, you came to this place, the territory east of the Jordan River, and King Sichon of Cheshbon and King Og of Bashan came out towards us in battle, but we smote them.
7 We took their land, and we gave it as an inheritance to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh.
8 So you see that God truly loves you. In order that you be sufficiently impressed by God’s kindness, you must safeguard the words that constitute this covenant by studying them diligently, and fulfill them, in order that you succeed in all you do.”
Moses’ words of reassurance continue into the first verse of the next parashah: “Look around; you see that, despite having angered God on numerous occasions already, you are all still standing firm. Just like the day, which is overtaken by the night but overcomes it in turn, you have enjoyed periods of tranquility in the past and so will enjoy more in the future, despite whatever suffering you may endure in between. And it is precisely the dark periods of life that will strengthen you, enabling you to endure forever.”
Clinging to God; Avoiding Conceit
The final eight verses of this parashah also contain Moses’ words to the people when he assembled them again on the 7th of Adar, which he knew would be the day he would die, for his third, final address, and constitute his introduction to the new covenant with God that he will have them enter:87 [1] On this day, Moses summoned all of Israel and said to them, “You have seen before your very eyes all that God did in Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his entire land: [2] the great trials that you saw with your own eyes and those great signs and marvels. You have indeed appreciated these miracles, and they have taught you to believe in God’s omnipotence and to respect His word. But this is not enough. You must also learn to appreciate God’s kindnesses so thoroughly that you are inspired to cling to Him out of love. [3] However, until this day, God did not give you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear—that is, with which to appreciate—His great kindnesses, specifically,” (and here Moses continued in God’s name) [4] “how I led you through the desert for forty years, during which time your garments did not wear out and fall off of you, nor did your shoes wear out and fall off your feet. [5]And how you neither ate bread nor drank new wine or old wine, but instead ate the miraculous manna and drank the miraculous water from the well, in order that you would know that I am God, your God. Since these miracles occurred repeatedly, they became second nature to you and you began to take them for granted. You have therefore not been inspired to cling to Me out of love.” Continuing in his own name, Moses said, “It is especially important now, as you prepare to enter the land, that you cling to God, for once you embark on a more natural existence, you will be at greater risk of ascribing your achievements to your own prowess instead of God’s kindness. This false sense of self-reliance can lead you to eventually rebel against God. You have already begun to confront this challenge: [6] You came to this place, the territory east of the Jordan River, and King Sichon of Cheshbon and King Og of Bashan came out towards us in battle, but we smote them. [7] We took their land, and we gave it as an inheritance to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh. So you may understandably feel somewhat proud of your accomplishments and flattered by the reputation you have made for yourselves among the neighboring nations. Therefore, both in order that you be sufficiently impressed by God’s kindnesses that you are inspired to cling to Him out of love and in order that you not become vain, [8] you must safeguard the words that constitute this covenant by studying them diligently, and fulfill them, in order that you succeed in all you do.
Furthermore, since it is known that it takes 40 years for a student to fully understand his teacher’s instruction, God has been lenient with you until now. But now that it is almost 40 years since you received the Torah, God will begin to hold you to the terms of this covenant, so take care to learn the Torah well and follow all its teachings.”88
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