Deuteronomy 28, More on Blessings and Curses

Moses has gone over the promises and rituals for entering the Promised Land. The previous chapter had a string of curses that would follow violations of the covenant.  Now we have a string of blessings.

Deuteronomy 28:1-6, High above all nations

If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

You will be blessed in the city 

and blessed in the country. 

The fruit of your womb will be blessed, 

and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock--

the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 

Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 

You will be blessed when you come in 

and blessed when you go out.

The Israelites have a chance to be more prosperous and more beautiful than any nation. Their cities and towns will be blessed; their families and livestock will be fertile and grow. These blessings will occur "when you come in and ... when you go out."

The first two verses give a basic ABBA chiasmus: 

    "If you fully obey ... 

        your God will set you high... 

        all these blessings will be your ... 

    if you obey." 

This is followed by a repetitive, poetical string of blessings. The blessing passage is a rhythmic anaphora, in which the word "blessing" is repeated at the beginning of each Hebrew phrase.

Deuteronomy 28:7-8, Victory over enemies

The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

The people will defeat their enemies. Their barns will be full. Their enemies will flee in "seven directions", that is in a complete rout.

Deuteronomy 28 9-13, A holy people, envied by all nations

The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 

The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. 

The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

 

If the people obey the covenant, their nation will be in charge. They will be "head", not "tail"; they will be top, not bottom.

Deuteronomy 28:14-19, But...

Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them. 

However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 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. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

But remember, says Moses, that if they do not follow the covenant, this will all turn. The previous list of blessings is turned into a complementary lists of curses. 

Deuteronomy 28:20-24, Curses, confusion, rebuke

The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.

The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.

The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

In these series of curses, we seek a bronze sky and iron ground -- an image of drought and desert.

Deuteronomy 28:25-26, Defeat

The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

Now the people, instead of the enemy, will be forced to flee in all -- that is, "seven" -- directions.

Deuteronomy 28:27-29, Plagues of Egypt

The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. At midday you will grope about like a blind man 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 you.

The plagues of Egypt will return on the people of Israel. The miracles of Egypt will be reversed.

Commentator Craigie suggests that these symptoms describe the effect of syphilis.

Deuteronomy 28:30-31, Futility

You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. 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.
 

These are curses of "futility" -- no matter what the people attempt, whether in marriage or construction or planting, their plans will be futile.

Deuteronomy 28:32-35, Devastation and defeat

Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. The sights you see will drive you mad. The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

Complete destruction of Israel by another nation is described.

Deuteronomy 28:36-42,  Locusts, captivity

The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.

You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.

You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

The "futility" curses continue: a trodden down nation, crops devoured by locust, children dragged off into captivity.

Deuteronomy 28:43-44, The tail, not the head

The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.

In this case, the other nation will be the "head"; Israel will be but the "tail".

Deuteronomy 28:45-48, All these curses.

All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 

Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

What a painful emphasis on the damage done by violating the covenant.

Deuteronomy 28:49-53, Enemy nation

The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 

They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you. Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you.

This describes the standard conquests of one powerful nation over another, and, in the future, the devastation of Israel by Babylon.

Deuteronomy 28:54-57, Sensitive children turned cruel

Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 

The most gentle and sensitive woman among you--so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot--will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.

Even sensitive young men and women will turn cruel under the effects of siege and starvation

Deuteronomy 28:58-61, Egypt

If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name--the LORD your God-- the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.
 

The people were saved from the plagues of Egypt forty years before, but the One who created those plagues in Egypt can bring them upon the Israelites if they break their commitment to the Law.

Deuteronomy 28:62-68, No resting place for the people of promise

You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods--gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.

In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"--because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

When once they were people of promise, as numerous as the stars, the precious treasure of YHWH, in the future the people can be conquered, violated, miserable. They might be sent back to Egypt or sold as slaves.

This chapter has echoes in Leviticus 26, in which similar blessings and curses are described.

What a painful list of disasters will come upon Israel if they turn away from their covenant agreement! I really want to move on to a better chapter!

Some Random Thoughts

Notice how strongly the culture of the ancient Near East (ANE) permeates the blessings at the top of this chapter! What was important to the people? Abundant crops, abundant flocks, abundant wombs, tables blessed with bread and fruit! This ANE view of prosperity -- and also of the opposite, of devastation -- continues throughout the passage.

Correct interpretation of the Old Testament requires that we keep in mind the ANE culture in which it swims.

First published May 18, 2023; updated May 18, 2026

The Appearance of Particular Numbers in the Old Testament

In any brief reading through chapters of Genesis, one notes the common occurrence of certain numbers.  There are seven Days of Creation and repeatedly, after that, the number seven appears in the text.  For example, before Mt. Sinai, YHWH makes seven speeches.

7

The number seven represents completion and rest. The Hebrew for seven (sheba, שֶׁבַע) has the same consonants as the Hebrew word for completeness (saba, שָׂבַע). And, as pointed out in the Bible Project podcast on seven, the number seven can also represent the travel from 1 to 7, the pilgrimage to completion.  There are seven Hebrew words in the first verse of the Torah, in Genesis 1:1. The statements about the Seventh Day in Genesis 2:2 are three lines each of seven Hebrew words, says the Bible Project podcast.

If seven is "completion" then 3 1/2 if a broken seven, breaking down the completion. This number appears in the visions of Daniel.

In some of the genealogies, the seventh in the list is the main subject of the genealogy, the person of honor. Indeed, in the gospel of the Jewish writer Matthew, the genealogy of Jesus is given in two sevens from Abraham to David, two sevens from David to the Babylonian exile and then two sevens to Jesus.  Thus there are three doublets of sevens to reach this person of greatest honor.

The ancient Hebrews had a base ten numerical system and so 7 x 10 = 70 also had significance, it was a "big seven".  So there are 70 people or people groups described in Genesis 10, in the Table of Nations.  There are 70 people in Jacob's journey from Canaan to Egypt in Genesis 46. If 7 x 10 is important then so, as an emphasis, would be 70 + 7 or 70 x 7.

The number seven can be decomposed into 3+3+1, into two copies of 3, along with a final, Sabbath number.  In the first three Days of Creation, God makes light/dark, sky/sea and sea/and.  In the second three Days, He fills those dominions.  Since He rests on the Seventh Day, we have 3+3+1=7. In some places (as the BibleProject podcast emphasizes) we might view 7 as 3+1+3 with an emphasis on the middle word in a string of seven.

This emphasis on numbers continues, of course, in the Jewish writings that make up the New Testament.  There are seven churches in the book of Revelation, for example.

3

And so the number 3 is also significant and appears throughout the Old Testament. Indeed, in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus, Joshua, we have "three day journeys". It is possible that sometimes "three days" had the same meaning as "a couple of days" has in modern English -- it can be a short, indeterminate time.

Genesis tells us the story of three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

12

Jacob had twelve sons. So did Esau. Thereafter we see an emphasis, at times, on the number twelve. Throughout the Old Testament, there must always be twelve tribes of Israel. If we cannot count the priestly tribe of Levi then we must replace Joseph by the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph.

And of course, later on, Jesus had twelve close disciples and the early church took time, in Acts 1, to replace Judas so that the number remained at twelve.

40

Another number we will often see if the number 40. The Great Flood begins with 40 days of rain. Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai. Moses was 40 years old when he left Egypt and he returned another 40 years later. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years before entering Canaan. David and Solomon each reigned over Israel for 40 years. The number of years of a generation is sometimes described as 40 years and at times the expression "40 years" appears to be an approximate length of time, possibly a generation, just as one might casually use the English word "decade" for "about 10 years". According to John D. Currid, in his commentary on Deuteronomy (p. 437), the number 40 often represents, in the Old Testament, a period of testing. (See Genesis 7:17, I Samuel 17:16, indeed even, Matthew 4:1-2, for a testing period in days.)

As we read through the Old Testament, be alert for occurrences of these numbers and note their significance.

First published March 12, 2023; updated May 17, 2026

Deuteronomy 27, Ceremony on Mounts Ebal and Gerizim

Moses has reviewed the Law, listing a variety of decrees that appear to come out of principles undergirding the Ten Commandments. Now we have a passage, says Currid, that elaborates on the sanctions, both blessings and curses, that follow from obedience and disobedience to the covenant. 

Deuteronomy 27:1-8, Set up a pile of stones

Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: "Keep all these commands that I give you today.

When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool upon them. Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.

Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the LORD your God. And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up."

The Israelites are to create a pile of stones on Mount Ebal, on which the words of the covenant will be written. The command to not use tools on the stones may be related to Canaan altars, which involved finished stones, or, says Currid, the command might prevent one from working the stones into some type of idol. The final form of the stones is not the issue here.

The sacrifice is there are to be a celebration. The fellowship offering will lead to a feast, and the people are to rejoice in the presence of God.

Deuteronomy 27:9-10, Now the covenant is in effect

Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, "Be silent, O Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God. Obey the LORD your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today."

This moment marks the beginning of the covenant. Currid sees in this chapter the standard ceremony for ratifying an ancient Near East covenant between a king and his people. This  ratification ceremony will eventually take place after the conquest of the land, see Joshua 8:30-35.

Deuteronomy 27:11-13, Mount Gerizim

On the same day Moses commanded the people: When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.

The people, once in Canaan, are to stand in two groups, one on Mount Gerizim and the other on Ebal (above Shechem.) They are to recite the following prohibitions:

Deuteronomy 27:14-25, Cursed is the man

The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

"Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol--a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of the craftsman's hands--and sets it up in secret." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
 

"Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
  

"Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor's boundary stone." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
 

"Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
 

"Cursed is the man who sleeps with his father's wife, for he dishonors his father's bed." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who sleeps with his mother-in-law." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who kills his neighbor secretly." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

The people are to agree that these violations, all of which were listed previously, will bring curses on the people who commit the violations. The word "Amen" indicates agreement and affirmation.

Deuteronomy 27:26, Uphold the words of the Law!

"Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

This last vow summarizes the previous ones. The total number of curses is twelve; some have called this section of curses the Dodecalogue (the twelve words) in analogy with the Decalogue (ten words.) There is considerable overlap here with the Ten Commandments, but, of course, the emphasis is negative, on things one should not do and the curses that might follow.

First published May 17, 2023; updated May 16, 2026

Deuteronomy 26, Arrival Offerings

The lectures on fine points and examples from the Law are at an end. Now Moses concentrates on the attitude of the Israelites as they enter the land of Canaan.

Deuteronomy 26:1-4, Finally arrived!

When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.

The Israelites are to give a thanksgiving offering once they enter the land. If this passage continues meditations on the Ten Commandments then we have, once again, the opposite of coveting, in this case, thanksgiving.

Deuteronomy 26:5-11, My father was wandering Aramean

Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.

"So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me." 

Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.

The Israelites are to recite a brief history of their nation, beginning with the identification of themselves as wanderers. Currid identifies the first part of this passage, the statement made before YHWH, as an early creed of the Israelites.

Who was the wandering Aramean?  Some say Abraham, some say Jacob.  Jacob seems to be the most natural answer.

Deuteronomy 26:12-15, Tithe for Levites, aliens, fatherless and widows

When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

Then say to the LORD your God: "I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them. I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything you commanded me.

Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey."
 

The Israelites are to give (in the third year) a special tithe to the Levites (who do not have a possession in the land) and the poor -- the fatherless and the widow. They are to publicly affirm that they have given this portion, as an act of obedience to YHWH. This tithe is in additional to their annual giving.

The farmer is to affirm that he has stayed away from the cultic practices of the Canaanites.

 

Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Treasured possession

The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him. And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.

He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.

The people are to consciously remember their role as a "treasured possession" of YHWH.

First published May 16, 2023; updated May 15, 2026

Deuteronomy 25, Miscellaneous Decrees

We continue to explore the Ten Commandments, focusing on the principles behind them.

Deuteronomy 25:1-3, Flogging

When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. 

If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and have him flogged in his presence with the number of lashes his crime deserves, but he must not give him more than forty lashes. If he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes.
 

Flogging was an ancient Middle Eastern punishment. Apparently a flogging of more than forty lashes endangered the life of the punished man. Later the Jews stopped floggings at 39 lashes, one lash short of forty, apparently to avoid accidentally doing more than forty. The apostle Paul reports (2 Corinthians 11:24) that he was flogged with 39 lashes five different times.

Deuteronomy 25:4, Let the ox feed!

Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

An ox treading grain should be allowed to feed as it works! (This is a metaphor for a greater principle; see the New Testament passages 1 Corinthians 9:7-12, 1 Timothy 5:17-18.)

Deuteronomy 25:5-10, Unsandaled

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.

The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

However, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me."

Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, "I do not want to marry her," his brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line."

That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

In the patriarchal ancient Near East, one's lineage and descendants were of critical importance.  If a man died before he had children, his brother was obligated to impregnate the widow. If he refused, there was a ceremony that dishonored the stubborn brother. An example of this type of emphasis on one's lineage occurs with the story of Tamar in Genesis 38. A modified version of the sandal ceremony appears in Ruth 4.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12, Don't grab a man's genitals!

If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.
 

What a strange decree! There is surely some unknown cultural taboo in the background of this statement. Presumably the woman did not grab the man's genitals by accident but is deliberately trying to humiliate the man or even injure him enough that he could not have children.

Deuteronomy 25:13-15, Differing weights

Do not have two differing weights in your bag--one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house--one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

For the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

The existence of differing weights would imply a type of deceit. In weighing out silver, for example, one might, with a sleight of hand, replace one weight with another and so deceive a partner in barter. An almost identical prohibition appears in Leviticus 19:35-36; later the nation of Israel is accused of this type of cheating by the prophet Amos (Amos 8:5.)

Deuteronomy 25:17-19, Remember

Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.

When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

Revenge is ordered on the Amalekites, who attacked Israel from behind when the Israelites were moving through their region. The Amalekites will be a persistent enemy throughout the early days of the nation of Israel.

First published May 15, 2023; updated May 14, 2026

Deuteronomy 24, The Poor and Vulnerable

We continue exploring some decrees that flow out of the principles underlying the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4, Divorce

If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. 

That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

If, in this time, a man ruins a marriage with divorce, he doesn't get a second try later. Some suggest that this second marriage to the same woman was viewed as another form of adultery. Or this commandment may have been a prohibition against wife-swapping.

Rabbis debated on the meaning of "displeasing" -- could this describe any minor frustration a man had with his wife, or did it mean adultery. Jesus was asked to elaborate on this in Matthew 19:1-9.

Deuteronomy 24:5, Newlywed

If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.
 

A newlywed man is to spend a year developing his marriage without national duties such as warfare thrown upon him. In the patriarchal society that emphasized the importance of a man having descendants  this decree might protect a man from dying in battle still childless.

Deuteronomy 24:6, Millstone

Do not take a pair of millstones--not even the upper one--as security for a debt, because that would be taking a man's livelihood as security.

This is one of several admonitions against action that would destroy a person's livelihood.

Deuteronomy 24:7, Kidnapping

If a man is caught kidnapping one of his brother Israelites and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.

Kidnapping, slave capture and trading of slaves is all forbidden. (This implies that where "slavery" is allowed, it is that of an indentured servant, for a time not to exceed six years.) The punishment for kidnapping or selling a slave was death, see Exodus 21:16. 

Deuteronomy 24:8-9, Leprosy

In cases of leprous diseases be very careful to do exactly as the priests, who are Levites, instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them. Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.

Leprosy is a generic term for various skin diseases. This admonition looks back to Miriam's disease when the Israelites were leaving Egypt. Miriam got the skin disease when, in Numbers 12, she and Aaron challenged Moses.

Deuteronomy 24:10-13, Loans

When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into his house to get what he is offering as a pledge. Stay outside and let the man to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you.

If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession. Return his cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the LORD your God.

 

Apparently one is not to use the pledge as an excuse to invade the man's home. The poor are to be respected.

Like the millstone decree above, depriving a man of his cloak overnight is to deprive him of more than material possessions, it also harms him by not letting him sleep comfortably.

Deuteronomy 24:14-15, Pay wages promptly

Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.

Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
 

This is another decree that recognizes the thin margins of the poor -- they should be paid for their work immediately; their wages should not be held back for a time.  Later, the prophet Malachi accuses the Israelites doing exactly this -- of abusing the poor and powerless, see Malachi 3:5.

Deuteronomy 24:16, Personal responsibility

Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.

Justice and punishment are by individual, not by family. One is responsible for one's actions, but not the actions of their parents or children.

Deuteronomy 24:17-18, Care for the alien and fatherless

Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

All of Israel is to care for the vulnerable.  They are to recall their poverty and suffering in Egypt and to empathize with the alien.

Deuteronomy 24:19-22, Gleaning

When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. 

When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

There are methods, in an agricultural society, to allow the poor to get some food by cleaning up after the harvesters.  These decrees set a formal process by which the vulnerable, the alien/fatherless/widow, can follow the harvesters and survive. If these commandments are arising from meditations on the Tenth Commandment, then this type of hospitality represents the opposite of coveting; it is a positive side of the "Do not covet" commandment.

Some Random Thoughts

Verse 10, above, makes it clear that just because one provides a neighbor with a loan and expects some type of pledge in return, one does not the right to go into their neighbor's house and rummage around. Even though the person needs to borrow from another, their house is still private and their property is to be respected. That verse – and verses that follow – insist on the importance and humanity of the poor. The humanity of the poor (God watches over them!) is a theme that run throughout the Mosaic Law.

First published May 13, 2023; updated May 13, 2026

Deuteronomy 23, Impurities

As we explore the Seventh Commandment, prohibition against adultery, we continue to look at examples of desecration or incompleteness.

Deuteronomy 23:1-2, Incomplete

No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.

No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation.

Here are apparently two examples of incompleteness. In the first, an "incomplete" male is prohibited; in the second those born of a "forbidden marriage". It is not clear what the term "born of a forbidden marriage" means but the term appears in Zechariah 9:6 where the NIV translates it as "mongrel." Presumably this is related to marrying someone outside of the tribe of Israel. 

Deuteronomy 23:3-6, Ammonites and Moabites

No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation. For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. However, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.

We continue to have prohibitions about intermarrying the outsiders. But we will see later that David's great grandmother was a Moab woman. 

The restrictions about Ammonites and Moabites may fit in to this discussion of sexual mores since the Moabites and Ammonites are descendants of children of Lot's daughters (see Genesis 19:30-38) after they had sex with their father.

(NIV Footnotes: Aram Naharaim is apparently northwest Mesopotamia.)

Deuteronomy 23:7-8, Edomites

Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as an alien in his country. The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.

The Edomites and Egyptians are treated differently than the Moabites and Ammonites, with whom Moses and Israel have had warfare.

Deuteronomy 23:9-14, Impurity in various forms

When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure. 

If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return to the camp.

Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.

For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

These decrees seem to be linked to incompleteness, poor hygiene, emphasizing a certain purity for the camp of Israel. The subjects of this discussion appears to be soldiers on campaign.

Now we begin to explore the Eighth Commandment (Deuteronomy 5:19), the prohibition against theft.

Deuteronomy 23:15-16, Refugee slave

If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master. Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.

A slave, running away from another land, is to be welcomed. Currid claims that this is the opposite of ancient Near East practice; for example, in the Code of Hammurabi one who aided a slave could be put to death. (A copy of a translation of the code of Hammurabi is here; Currid is probably referring to law 16.)

Deuteronomy 23:17-18, Prostitutes

No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.

You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both.
 

Prostitution (by males or females) is a particularly dangerous form of sexual impurity and is to be completely forbidden. The Hebrew word translated here "male prostitute" is the word keleb (כֶּלֶב), literally "dog".

In Canaanite cultic practices, the money collected from prostitution was given to the temple. This is explicitly prohibited here.

Deuteronomy 23:19-20, Interests

Do not charge your brother interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.

Excessive interest is a form of theft.

Deuteronomy 23:21-23, Vows

If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 

But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.

Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.

Dishonest vows may fit here in a discussion of the Ten Commandments because, says Currid, they represent theft from God.

Deuteronomy 23:24-25, Grapes and grain

If you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket.

If you enter your neighbor's grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain.

A farmer is to be hospitable, allowing people to stave off hunger by picking from their fields. One is allowed to pick fruit off the vine to satisfy one's hunger, but not to harvest it -- it is the same with actions in the grainfield. Picking a few items by hand is not a serious threat to your neighbor but using a basket or a sickle represents theft, not hunger.

Later there will be additional decrees about leaving some fruit or grain on the stalks for the poor.

First published May 12, 2023; updated May 12, 2026