Study Desk

"The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.

"You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit.

Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you.

You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won't be able to help them.

"You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops.

You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines.

You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens.

You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity.

They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!

Then the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, to a destination I promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy you."

But to this day the Lord has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear!

You ate no bread and drank no wine or other alcoholic drink, but he provided for you so you would know that he is the Lord your God.

"When we came here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.

"But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses.

"The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.

"But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods,

But the Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy the nations living there, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua will lead you across the river, just as the Lord promised.

For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant.

"But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely, are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation.