28:1 This verse resumes the sermon in Moab in which Moses is teaching Israel about its covenant with Yahweh. This is a repetition of 26:18–19; those verses were the conclusion of a transition in the sermon from an exposition of the stipulations to the announcement of consequences (26:16–19). In transitioning to the consequences of keeping the covenant, Moses reminds the assembly of its special calling as a treasured people.

28:2 The pronouncement of blessings is stated in the form of agency: “all these blessings shall come upon you” (v. 2). This is not full personification, since it is evident that God is the agent bringing about these actions. But this does emphasize the result of knowing and following the will of God.

28:3–6 The blessings are stated in three pairs that are a type of merism; that is, they include everything in their scope. The first is stated in terms of location: city and field; the second in terms of fecundity: animals and crops; the third in terms of activity: when you come and when you go. The middle pair is expanded by describing the fertility of the two main agricultural animals (bovine and sheep: calving and lambing) and the gathering and preparation of food (basket and kneading bowl). Both will be in abundance. The last pair is a generic expression inclusive of all activity, domestic and public, individual and collective. The blessings are inclusive in every way.

28:7–8 The concisely stated blessings are elaborated by divine promises. The blessings do not come as a kind of natural consequence but are the direct result of divine action. One kind of coming and going encompasses war and the necessity of self-defense against the enemy that rises against them. God will provide for their protection. The second promise elaborates God’s provision in the country and the city. Storage for food will be abundant; the generic word for storage indicates every kind of crop. God will bless “all that you undertake” (v. 8). God will not only give them the land but bless them in it.

28:9–10 These verses return to the motif that introduces the blessings and curses. To be a holy people involves a dedicated calling that sets Israel apart from the life of all other nations in the common. The name of the Lord is known through these people. To be the means of knowing the name of the Lord is not a part of ordinary activity in the world; it is a high calling that extends the significance of their world to that which is outside the world, to the one who has given life to them and to all things in the world.

28:11–13a The Lord will grant Israel a surplus from their animals and fields. Life and the food that sustains it come from another dimension, here called “the heavens.” There is no such thing as “Mother Nature.” Such an expression is the hubris of a culture that presumes human autonomy. The nation that knows its dependence on God will be the one that lends to others. They will be the ones who take the lead since their destiny is sure.

28:13b–14 The condition of blessing is mutable. Loyalty to God cannot be compromised. This is both complex and profound. As the curses anticipate, the profundity of such loyalty is beyond the ability of Israel to grasp, both intellectually and volitionally. Israel will find ways to rationalize fatal compromise of this requirement. The blessings begin and end with virtually the same words (cf. vv. 1, 13b). Such words are another way of stating the agency of the blessings; they are in no sense a natural consequence, and they cannot be manipulated in any way.

28:15–19 These lines are the converse of the opening (vv. 2–5). They employ the same expression in saying that the curses will “overtake” the people. The intended effect of the curses is seen in the response of King Josiah in hearing the content of the Torah (2 Kings 22:11, 19): he tears his garments and repents.

28:20–24 The evils sent by Yahweh are introduced with a triad of terms that are alliterative in Hebrew, describing the effect on the people: curse, panic, and futility. These are a natural sequence. The noun “curse” (me’erah) is from the root of the verbal form “cursed” (’arur). Living under the curse leads to turmoil, a confusion of mind, and an inability to know what to do. This is what happens in war or the breakdown of social order. Inability to plan any sensible course of action leads to futility and frustration. Every option is a bad one, and there is no way forward for improvement. Such a condition extends to everything the hand may touch, the same expression used in verse 8. The result is complete annihilation.

The pestilence that will not leave them is described with seven terms. There are no exact referents for these terms, nor is it even possible to know if they all refer to human ailments or if the last four pertain to crops, as interpreted by the ESV. The Masoretic Text reads “sword” (hereb) for “drought” (hareb), a meaning for the lexeme hrb that seems unlikely in this list, though war is the subject following drought (vv. 25–26). If all seven terms are interpreted as human afflictions, the last four terms would refer to illnesses of fever, heat, sallowness (yellowish skin), and jaundice. The ESV assumes a transition to drought, which is the result of a sky of bronze that rains dust.

28:25–26 The threat of defeat in battle is the reverse of Israel’s victory in battle (cf. v. 7). Corpses left on the battlefield for the consumption of wild animals is a stock motif in military rhetoric (1 Sam. 17:43–46). It is an appalling image to think of scavengers’ tearing at human bodies the way one observes vultures at roadkill. Deuteronomy 28:26 is identical to Jeremiah 7:33; this curse is found six times in the prose sermons of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 7 is known as the temple sermon, in which Jeremiah uses covenant formulations drawn from Deuteronomy to warn Judah of the coming end of Jerusalem.

28:27–29 Seven human sicknesses are named in these verses; four have to do with skin rash or eruption while three describe a mental disorder. The first is a skin inflammation referred to in the plagues (Ex. 9:9). The second is vocalized (read in the synagogue) as hemorrhoids, which is the way it is interpreted in the LXX. Itch and scab are a type of skin disease (dermatitis).

The three terms for madness are found in Zechariah 12:4, where the curse against Israel is turned on her enemies. Madness is the term that describes David in feigning insanity while seeking to avoid the wrath of Achish, king of Gath (1 Sam. 21:13–15). Bewilderment or confusion describes the horses in Zechariah. Blindness in these contexts is to be taken metaphorically; it describes people unable to think logically because they cannot see what is right. The image is of Israel groping to find its way even in the light of noon, like a blind man or a person in the dark. The horrors of chronic disease and war leave their victims robbed and abused, deprived of sense and bewildered, unable to see light regardless of how they try to plan.

28:30–34 A theme of helplessness characterizes the content of these threats. Social order will break down as marriage is violated (Deut. 28:30); the plunder of war will disrupt the establishment of a new home (v. 30). Victims will be powerless when their children are taken in captivity (v. 32); they will be abused and crushed as others consume their harvest (v. 33) until they are driven to madness (v. 34), as stated in the list of illnesses (v. 28). Even those essential life events that could exempt a soldier from battle will be desecrated (cf. 20:5–7). The loss of children in war is indescribable; eyes are exhausted in tears.

28:35–37 Debilitating skin disease and exile are in store for those who do not keep faith. The effect of this disease is like that suffered by Job (Job 2:7). It is chronic, if not fatal, and affects the whole body. The description is like that of small pox, an extremely contagious and deadly viral disease. Since the time of ancient Egypt, small pox has been one of the deadliest diseases among humans. Fever and pain are followed by a rash that develops into abscesses filled with pus, leaving scars.

Four Israelite kings are eventually exiled: Hoshea to Assyria, Jehoahaz to Egypt, and Jehoiachin and Zedekiah to Babylon. Beginning with the exile of northern Israel to areas of the Tigris, Israelites come to be in exile everywhere from southern Egypt to Persia. The demise of Israel will be an example known and taunted among the nations.

28:38–42 One pair of blessings was fertility, the fruit of the womb and of the land (Deut. 28:4). This blessing was expanded to describe the fecundity of animals and harvest. It is utterly negated in these verses. The land will become a possession of crickets. Only insects will survive the devastation.

28:43–44 These curses and threats reverse the state of the blessing given in verses 12–13. Israel will fall into perpetual need, always needing to borrow. The settlers in their place will be the ones who are prosperous.