Deuteronomy 28 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Now if you truly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and carefully follow every command I'm giving you today, Yahweh your God will set you high above every nation on earth.

All these good things will come after you and catch up with you, because you listened to the voice of Yahweh your God:

Good things will come to you in the city, and good things will come to you in the countryside.

Good things will come to your children, the crops of your land, and the offspring of your livestock — the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Good things will come to your bread basket and your kneading bowl.

Good things will follow you when you come in, and good things will follow you when you go out.

Yahweh will cause the enemies who rise against you to be crushed right in front of you. They'll come at you from one direction but scatter from you in seven.

Yahweh will command good things to fill your storehouses and to be in everything you put your hand to. He will bring good things to you in the land Yahweh your God is giving you.

Yahweh will establish you as a people set apart for himself, just as he promised you with a sworn oath — if you keep the commands of Yahweh your God and walk in his ways.

Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by Yahweh's name, and they will be in awe of you.

Yahweh will give you more than enough good things — in your children, in the offspring of your livestock, and in the crops of your land — in the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors he would give you.

Yahweh will open up for you his rich storehouse — the sky — to give rain to your land at the right time and to bring good things to everything you do. You'll lend to many nations but never need to borrow.

Yahweh will make you the head, not the tail. You'll always be on top and never on the bottom — if you pay attention to the commands of Yahweh your God that I'm giving you today and carefully follow them.

Don't turn aside from any of the words I'm commanding you today — not to the right or the left — by chasing after other gods and serving them.

But if you don't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God and aren't careful to follow all his commands and guidelines that I'm giving you today, then all these disasters will come after you and catch up with you:

Disaster will find you in the city, and disaster will find you in the countryside.

Disaster will hit your bread basket and your kneading bowl.

Disaster will strike your children, the crops of your land, the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Disaster will follow you when you come in, and disaster will follow you when you go out.

Yahweh will send against you ruin, confusion, and failure in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and quickly wiped out because of the evil of your actions in abandoning him.

Yahweh will make plague cling to you until it has consumed you from the land you're going in to possess.

Yahweh will strike you with wasting disease, with fever, with inflammation, with scorching heat, with drought, with crop blight, and with mildew. These will chase you until you're finished.

The sky above your head will be bronze, and the ground beneath you will be iron.

Yahweh will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder. It will come down on you from the sky until you're destroyed.

Yahweh will cause you to be crushed in front of your enemies. You'll march out against them from one direction but scatter from them in seven. You'll become a horror to every kingdom on earth.

Your dead bodies will be food for every bird in the sky and every animal on the ground, and no one will scare them away.

Yahweh will strike you with the sores of Egypt, with tumors, with scabs, and with an itch that can't be cured.

Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with a panicked mind.

You'll be groping around at noon like someone groping in total darkness. Nothing you do will succeed. You'll be constantly oppressed and robbed, and no one will rescue you.

You'll get engaged to a woman but another man will violate her. You'll build a house but never live in it. You'll plant a vineyard but never enjoy its fruit.

Your ox will be slaughtered right in front of you, but you won't eat any of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you and never returned. Your sheep will be handed over to your enemies, and no one will help you.

Your sons and daughters will be handed over to another people. Your eyes will watch for them and fail with longing for them all day long, and your hand will be powerless to do anything.

A people you've never known will eat the produce of your land and all your hard work. You'll be nothing but oppressed and crushed — every single day.

What you see with your own eyes will drive you mad.

Yahweh will strike you with painful, incurable sores on your knees and legs — from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

Yahweh will drive you and the king you've set over yourselves to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you'll serve other gods made of wood and stone.

You'll become an object of shock, a cautionary tale, and a joke among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you.

You'll carry out lots of seed to the field but harvest almost nothing, because the locusts will devour it.

You'll plant vineyards and work them, but you won't drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

You'll have olive trees throughout your territory, but you won't rub yourself with the oil, because your olives will drop off before they're ripe.

You'll have sons and daughters but they won't be yours for long, because they'll go into captivity.

Swarms of insects will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

The foreigners living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower.

They'll lend to you, but you won't lend to them. They'll become the head, and you'll become the tail.

All these disasters will come after you, chase you down, and catch up with you until you're destroyed — because you didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God and didn't keep the commands and guidelines he gave you.

These things will be a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever.

Because you didn't serve Yahweh your God with joy and a glad heart when you had more than enough of everything,

you'll serve the enemies Yahweh sends against you — in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, swooping down like an eagle — a nation whose language you won't understand,

a fierce-looking nation that shows no respect for the old and no mercy to the young.