The big picture
Deuteronomy 28 is built like a reversal machine. The blessings begin with city and field, children and livestock, basket and store, coming in and going out, then expand to victory, rain, lending, and national distinction. When the curses arrive, they deliberately revisit the same places and turn each one inside out. The basket empties, the sky closes, enemies reverse the sevenfold flight, houses and vineyards are begun but not enjoyed, children are carried away, and labor continues without its expected fruit. As the chapter darkens, siege enters the household and destroys bonds that ordinary life should protect. Scattering among nations brings no rest, and the final image reverses the exodus itself by sending Israel back toward Egypt and an unwanted bondage. Yet the chapter’s terror is not random. It systematically dismantles the life the covenant had described as blessing. The long list works because the reader has already been shown, in detail, exactly what is being lost.
Central truth
Moses requires Israel to inscribe and affirm the covenant publicly, setting promised abundance beside devastating reversals so the people understand that life in the given land cannot be separated from obedience to the Lord.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Deuteronomy 28:1: “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command…”
Slow down at the turning point
Deuteronomy 28:24: “The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.”
Keep this word trail visible
LORD, fruit, land, destroyed, earth, enemies
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Deuteronomy 27:1-10
Stones, plaster, and an altar
Begin with the ceremony Moses commands for the day of crossing. Great stones are plastered and written with the law; an altar of uncut stones is built on mount Ebal, with burnt offerings, peace offerings, eating and rejoicing. Explain that "lift up any iron tool" (27:5) is forbidden so the altar is not shaped by human craft. Then 27:9: "this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God". Teach this first: covenant life begins with the word written plainly and with worship and joy. Joshua 8:30-35 records it.
Deuteronomy 27:11-26
Two mountains and twelve Amens
Set the scene with the tribes divided between Gerizim and Ebal and the Levites speaking aloud. Then read the twelve curses and let the class say Amen after each. Explain the groups: idolatry, honour of parents, landmarks, the blind, the stranger and widow, sexual wrongs within the family, secret murder, bribery for killing, and the summary. Be careful with the sexual curses; name them briefly and move on. Many target hidden sins, which is why the whole people must agree aloud.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14
The blessings of hearing
Read the blessings slowly. Note the condition, "if thou shalt hearken diligently", and the scope: city, field, body, ground, cattle, basket, coming and going, rain, lending, being "the head, and not the tail". Explain that these describe the covenant life of the nation in the land; they are not a formula for any individual's prosperity. Christians differ on how these promises carry into the new covenant. The blessing chapter is short; the curses are long, and that is deliberate.
Deuteronomy 28:15-46
The curses mirror the blessings
Read 28:15-19 against 28:3-6 and let the class hear the mirror. Then summarise the long list of disease, drought, defeat and loss rather than reading every verse. Explain "thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass" (28:23) as a sky that gives no rain. Handle the illnesses and blindness of 28:27-29 carefully: they are covenant warnings to a nation, not a way of reading anyone's disability. Note 28:43-44: the stranger becomes the lender, a reversal of 15:6 and 28:12.
Deuteronomy 28:47-57
Serve with joy, or serve enemies
Read 28:47 as the hinge: "Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things". The failure is ingratitude in plenty, which echoes chapters 6 and 8. Then comes the invading nation and the siege. Name 28:53-57 briefly and soberly without detail: in famine, parents turn against their own children. Lamentations 4:10 records that this happened at Jerusalem's fall. Do not read the verses aloud to children.
Deuteronomy 28:58-68
Back toward Egypt
Close with the final reversal. The people once "as the stars of heaven" become few (28:62); the LORD who rejoiced to do good now gives them up (28:63); they are scattered and restless (28:64-67), and finally taken back to Egypt to be sold, with no buyer. Explain that later books, especially 2 Kings 17 and 25, describe exile in these terms, and that the warning is followed in chapter 30 by a promise of return. End the lesson by pointing there so the class does not leave in despair.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"If I am poor, sick or disabled, it means God is cursing me."
These curses are spoken to a nation in covenant, about its life in the land. They do not let anyone read a particular person's illness or poverty as a verdict. Jesus refuses that reasoning in John 9:1-3 and Luke 13:1-5. Handle the sickness and blindness verses with real care for anyone in the room who lives with them.
"If I obey God, he will make me rich."
28:1-14 promises the nation rain, harvests and security in the land under the covenant. It is not a personal wealth guarantee; the same book insists that the poor will always be in the land (15:11) and that the faithful must care for them. Many faithful people in Scripture were poor. Present the different ways traditions apply these blessings, but keep the text's own scope.
"Chapter 28 is a prophecy about a particular modern people or event."
The warnings were addressed to Israel and are traced by later books to the exiles of Israel and Judah (2 Kings 17:6-23; 25:1-21). Learners may hear claims tying details like "ships" (28:68) to modern history. Do not follow them, and do not map these curses onto any people today. Chapter 30 follows with a promise of mercy and return.
"Saying Amen was just a religious habit."
In 27:15-26 the people say Amen to each curse, accepting it as just and binding on themselves. It is a solemn act of agreement, like a signature. The same word ends prayers in both Testaments (Nehemiah 8:6; 1 Corinthians 14:16) and still means "so be it". Encourage learners to mean it when they say it.
Learning objectives
- Describe the stones and altar commanded at Ebal.
- Explain the people's repeated response of Amen.
- Identify vulnerable neighbors protected by the announced curses.
- Compare paired blessings and curses in chapter 28.
- Trace the warning from lost abundance to siege and exile.
- Distinguish covenant warnings from claims about every modern sufferer.
Teacher preparation
- Read Deuteronomy 27–28; select readings and prepare learners before the siege details.
- Sketch Gerizim and Ebal on opposite sides of the assembly's setting; use the named tribal groups without inventing exact staging.
- Explain 'setteth light by' as treats with contempt, 'fray' as frighten away, and 'straitness' as desperate constraint.
- Prepare non-graphic summaries of sexual violence and cannibalism in 28:30, 53–57; offer quiet reading instead of requiring anyone to perform these words.
- Mark the conditions in 28:1, 14–15, 45, 58; do not extract 'head, and not the tail' as an unconditional slogan.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Read Deuteronomy 27:2–8: the words must be written plainly, an altar built of whole stones, and offerings accompanied by eating and rejoicing.
Scripture-supported
Compare Deuteronomy 27:17–19 with 19:14 and 24:17. The curses defend land boundaries, blind people, strangers, fatherless people, and widows against named abuses.
Strong inference
Infer from the repeated Amen in Deuteronomy 27:15–26 that the people publicly acknowledge the stated judgments; the response is not merely applause for good speaking.
Possible or traditional reading
Explain that Deuteronomy 28:49–68 is often connected with later invasions and exiles, including the events in 2 Kings 25. Do not assign every detail to one army the passage never names.
Limit
State that Deuteronomy 28:15–68 is not a tool for diagnosing every disability or disaster as individual guilt, or for identifying a modern population from the word 'ships' in verse 68.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Why write the words 'very plainly' on stones?
What a good answer contains
Because the law is meant to be read by everyone who passes. The stones are plastered (27:2), and Israel shall "write upon them all the words of this law" (27:3), and again, "write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly" (27:8). A strong answer sees public instruction: the covenant is set up where the whole people can see and read it on entering the land. A weak answer makes the stones a monument to admire, when the text cares about legibility.
Show teacher guidance
Use 27:2–8. Emphasize visible public instruction; correct the idea that the stones are valuable merely as impressive monuments.
2. What does Israel's repeated Amen acknowledge?
What a good answer contains
That the curse just spoken is just, and that they accept it as binding on themselves. After each line the Levites speak, "all the people shall say, Amen" (27:16 and following), twelve times. The last curse gathers all the rest: "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them" (27:26). A good answer explains Amen as "so be it" and sees that the people sign their own name to the covenant. A weak answer treats it as applause or a ritual noise.
Show teacher guidance
Read 27:15–26. Identify agreement with the stated covenant judgments, not a ritual sound emptied of its content.
3. Which offenses could powerful people conceal from an ordinary audience?
What a good answer contains
The man who "putteth it in a secret place" (27:15), the idol hidden from view; the one who "smiteth his neighbour secretly" (27:24); the one who "taketh reward to slay an innocent person" (27:25); and the one who "perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow" (27:19). A strong answer sees that many of the twelve are crimes no court might catch: hidden worship, secret violence, abuse of those with no defender. The curse places them before God, who sees.
Show teacher guidance
Locate the secret image and attack in 27:15, 24, and the corrupt judgment in 19. Explain why secrecy does not remove accountability.
4. How do the first curses reverse the first blessings?
What a good answer contains
The blessings and curses are built as mirrors. "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field" (28:3) becomes "Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field" (28:16); basket and store (28:5, 17); fruit of body and ground (28:4, 18); coming in and going out (28:6, 19). In 28:7 enemies "flee before thee seven ways"; in 28:25 Israel will "flee seven ways before them". A good answer tracks the reversals. A weak answer lists threats without seeing the pattern.
Show teacher guidance
Compare 28:3–6 with 16–19 and 7 with 25. Track city, field, produce, movement, and military reversal rather than collecting disconnected threats.
5. What is lost as the warning moves toward its conclusion?
What a good answer contains
Everything ordinary. A man betroths a wife, builds a house and plants a vineyard and loses all three (28:30); sons and daughters go to another people (28:32, 41); harvests are eaten by others (28:33, 38-40); then siege (28:52), scattering (28:64), and no rest: "neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest" (28:65), with life hanging "in doubt" (28:66). A strong answer names the loss of home, family, food, freedom and peace soberly. A weak answer either dramatises the horror or rushes past it.
Show teacher guidance
Trace 28:30–36, 47–52, 64–68: home, harvest, family security, freedom, place, and rest. Name the human weight without dramatizing the suffering.
6. Why is Egypt in 28:68 such a devastating endpoint?
What a good answer contains
Because the book began with rescue from Egypt. The last curse sends Israel back: "the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships" where "ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you" (28:68). It undoes 26:6-8, the confession of rescue. A good answer sees exodus reversed. It also refuses to turn "ships" into a code for any modern event or people; the text does not ask for that.
Show teacher guidance
Recall the rescue emphasized in 26:6–9. Explain the reversal toward bondage, while acknowledging that the verse's details should not be forced into a modern identity scheme.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Ask learners to restore the omitted conditions to a fictional poster quoting only 28:13; distinguish encouragement from editing the covenant.
Relationships and community
Evaluate a fictional official moving a widow's boundary while publicly affirming the law; use 27:17–19.
Taking public commitments seriously
Draft a plain-language explanation of Amen in this ceremony that includes what the people are acknowledging.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Written very plainly
Read 27:1-8 and take question one.
Twelve Amens
Read 27:11-26 with the class answering Amen. Take questions two and three, and confusion four.
The mirror
Read 28:1-6 and 28:15-19 side by side. Take question four and confusion two.
Loss upon loss
Summarise 28:20-57 and read 28:30-33 and 28:47. Take question five and confusion one, with care.
Back to Egypt
Read 28:62-68. Take question six and confusion three, and point ahead to chapter 30.
Handout
Read the key verse together and point to the take-home line.
90 minutes
A covenant ceremony
Draw two mountains on the board with a valley between them. Read 27:1-4 and 27:11-13.
Stones and altar
Read 27:1-10 with question one. Read Joshua 8:30-35 beside it.
Twelve curses
Read 27:14-26 with the Amen. Take questions two and three and confusion four.
The blessings
Read 28:1-14. Take confusion two and discuss how traditions apply these promises.
The curses mirror
Read 28:15-46 in sections. Take question four and confusion one, with care for the sick and disabled.
Joy in abundance
Read 28:47-57, summarising 28:53-57 without detail. Take question five. Read Lamentations 4:10 if adults are present.
The end of the road
Read 28:58-68. Take question six and confusion three.
Turning toward mercy
Read 30:1-3 aloud to end on the promise that follows these chapters.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together and pray for joyful obedience.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Make two hills from cushions and divide the children into two groups. One group says blessings in the city, in the field; the other says Amen. Explain that God told his people that following him leads to good and turning away leads to sorrow. Leave out the siege, the diseases and the curses about family sins. End by saying God always wants his people to come back.
Youth
Ask them to sort pairs of blessing and curse from 28:3-6 and 28:16-19 and notice the mirror. Discuss secret sins in 27:15 and 27:24 and why a whole people says Amen to them. Address the prosperity message they may hear online with confusion two. Treat 28:53-57 briefly and honestly. Point to chapter 30 at the end.
Adults
Give time to the structure of chapter 28 and its literary force. Compare 28:47 with 6:10-12 and 8:11-18. Discuss how traditions read covenant blessing and curse in light of Galatians 3:10-14. Be careful with those in the room who are sick, poor or grieving. Read 2 Kings 25 as the history the warnings anticipate.
One to one
Ask which part of the chapter felt heaviest. If they fear they are under a curse, read John 9:1-3 and Galatians 3:13, and listen. Read 28:47 and ask what serving God "with joyfulness" might look like in their week. Close by reading 30:1-3 together.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Deuteronomy 27:1–28:68
The passage in brief
Moses tells Israel to write God's law plainly on large stones and build an altar when they cross the Jordan. Six tribes will stand on one mountain to bless and six on another for the curses, and the people will answer Amen to each curse. If Israel listens to the LORD, they will be blessed in the city and the field, at home and on the road. If they turn away, every blessing will be reversed, and they will lose their land and even be taken back to Egypt.
A verse to keep
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Deuteronomy 28:47 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Why were the words on the stones to be written "very plainly" (27:8)?
How do the curses in 28:16-19 mirror the blessings in 28:3-6?
What does 28:47 say Israel failed to do in a time of plenty?
This week
Each day this week, name one blessing aloud and serve God in one small act with gladness.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
