¹ And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.

² Then came the word of the LORD to me, saying,

³ Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

⁴ Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

⁵ And say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand to them, saying, I am the Lord your GOD;

⁶ In the day that I lifted up my hand to them, to bring them forth from the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:

⁷ Then said I to them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

⁸ But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken to me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

⁹ But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth from the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ Wherefore I caused them to go forth from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

¹¹ And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man doeth, he shall even live in them.

¹² Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

¹³ But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man doeth, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

¹⁴ But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

¹⁵ Yet also I lifted up my hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

¹⁶ Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but profaned my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

¹⁷ Nevertheless my eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

¹⁸ But I said to their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

¹⁹ I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

²⁰ And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

²¹ Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man doeth, he shall even live in them: they profaned my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

²² Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

²³ I lifted up my hand to them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;

²⁴ Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.

²⁵ Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live;

²⁶ And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all the first-born, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

²⁷ Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

²⁸ For when I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savor, and poured out there their drink-offerings.

²⁹ Then I said to them, What is the high place to which ye go? and its name is called Bamah to this day.

³⁰ Wherefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye lewd deeds after their abominations?

³¹ For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

³² And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

³³ As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with an out-stretched arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

³⁴ And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries in which ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an out-stretched arm, and with fury poured out.

³⁵ And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

³⁶ As I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.

³⁷ And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

³⁸ And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

³⁹ As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken to me: but profane ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

⁴⁰ For on my holy mountain, on the mountain of the hight of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.

⁴¹ I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries in which ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.

⁴² And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers.

⁴³ And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings in which ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.

⁴⁴ And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the LORD GOD.

⁴⁵ Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁴⁶ Son of man, set thy face towards the south, and drop thy word towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;

⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

⁴⁹ Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?

⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.

¹ It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that Yahweh your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth:

² and all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

³ You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field.

⁴ You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.

⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed.

⁶ You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out.

⁷ Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways.

⁸ Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to; and he will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

⁹ Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you; if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways.

¹⁰ All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Yahweh; and they shall be afraid of you.

¹¹ Yahweh will make you plenteous for good, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you.

¹² Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand: and you shall lend to many nations, and you shall not borrow.

¹³ Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if you shall listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day, to observe and to do [them],

¹⁴ and shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

¹⁵ But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you.

¹⁶ You shall be cursed in the city, and you shall be cursed in the field.

¹⁷ Your basket and your kneading trough shall be cursed.

¹⁸ The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock shall be cursed.

¹⁹ You shall be cursed when you come in, and you shall be cursed when you go out.

²⁰ Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke, in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me.

²¹ Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it.

²² Yahweh will strike you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish.

²³ Your sky that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron.

²⁴ Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust: from the sky shall it come down on you, until you are destroyed.

²⁵ Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and shall flee seven ways before them: and you shall be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.

²⁶ Your dead body shall be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there shall be none to frighten them away.

²⁷ Yahweh will strike you with the boil of Egypt, and with the tumors, and with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed.

²⁸ Yahweh will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart;

²⁹ and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways: and you shall be only oppressed and robbed always, and there shall be none to save you.

³⁰ You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell therein: you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not use its fruit.

³¹ Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it: your donkey shall be violently taken away from before your face, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have none to save you.

³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people; and your eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day: and there shall be nothing in the power of your hand.

³³ The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, shall a nation which you don't know eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always;

³⁴ so that you shall be mad for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.

³⁵ Yahweh will strike you in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, of which you can not be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

³⁶ Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.

³⁷ You shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh shall lead you away.

³⁸ You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it.

³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather [the grapes]; for the worm shall eat them.

⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olive shall cast [its fruit].

⁴¹ You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.

⁴² All your trees and the fruit of your ground shall the locust possess.

⁴³ The foreigner who is in the midst of you shall mount up above you higher and higher; and you shall come down lower and lower.

⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

⁴⁵ All these curses shall come on you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed; because you didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you:

⁴⁶ and they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever.

⁴⁷ Because you didn't serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;

⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you shall not understand;

⁵⁰ a nation of fierce facial expressions, that shall not respect the person of the old, nor show favor to the young,

⁵¹ and shall eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; that also shall not leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

⁵² They shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which Yahweh your God has given you.

⁵³ You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.

⁵⁴ The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining;

⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your gates.

⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

⁵⁷ and toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your gates.

⁵⁸ If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD;

⁵⁹ then Yahweh will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and severe sicknesses, and of long continuance.

⁶⁰ He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cling to you.

⁶¹ Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring them on you, until you are destroyed.

⁶² You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

⁶³ It shall happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and you shall be plucked from off the land where you go in to possess it.

⁶⁴ Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.

⁶⁵ Among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot: but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul;

⁶⁶ and your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.

⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, "I wish it were evening!" and at evening you shall say, "I wish it were morning!" for the fear of your heart which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.

⁶⁸ Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall see it no more again: and there you shall sell yourselves to your enemies for bondservants and for bondmaids, and no man shall buy you.