27
📚And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. 2 📚And this must be done on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God gives you: you shall set up large stones for yourselves, and coat them with plaster; 3 📚and when you have crossed over you shall write on them all the words of this law, so that you may go on into the land which the LORD your God gives you, a land that flows with milk and honey, just as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you. 4 📚Therefore this must be done when you have gone over the Jordan: set up these stones, which I command you today, on mount Ebal. And you must cover them with plaster. 5 📚And there you must build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You must not use any iron tool on them. 6 📚You shall build the altar for the LORD your God out of uncut stones, and on it you shall offer burnt offerings to the LORD your God. 7 📚And you shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there and rejoice before the LORD your God. 8 📚And you shall write very clearly on the stones all the words of this law”. 9 📚And Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, O Israel. Today you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10 📚Therefore you must obey the voice of the LORD your God, and act according to his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day”.
11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,
12 📚When you have gone over the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin; 13 📚and these shall stand on mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
Curses that come on sinners
14 📚And the Levites shall speak, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
15 📚“Cursed is the man who makes any idol or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and puts it in a secret place”. And all the people shall answer and say, “Amen 📖”.
16 📚“Cursed is the one who dishonours his father or his mother”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
17 📚“Cursed is the one who moves his neighbour’s landmark”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
18 📚“Cursed is the one who makes the blind wander out of the way”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
19 📚“Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
20 📚“Cursed is the one who lies with his father’s wife, because he is uncovering his father’s skirt”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
21 📚“Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
22 📚“Cursed is the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
23 📚“Cursed is the one who lies with his mother-in-law”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
24 📚“Cursed is the one who strikes down his neighbour secretly”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
25 📚“Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
26 📚“Cursed is the one who does not uphold all the words of this law to do them”. And all the people shall say, “Amen”.
27:26 Ps 119:21; Jer 11:3-4; Gal 3:10. Observe in this list that the curse on idolatry comes first. Notice, too, that it was not necessary to break all the commands of God to bring a curse on oneself – just one transgression was enough (Jam 2:10).⚜