Deuteronomy 28:15

15 And it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep, to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee today, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee.

Deuteronomy 28:15 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:15

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to the
voice of the Lord thy God
As directed, exhorted, and encouraged to, ( Deuteronomy 28:1 )

to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I
command thee this day;
both moral and ceremonial:

that all these curses shall come upon thee;
from the hand of God, certainly, suddenly, and unawares:

and overtake thee;
pursuing after thee, will come up to thee, and seize upon thee, though they may seem to move slowly; see ( Zechariah 5:3 Zechariah 5:4 ) ; namely, the curses which follow. Manasseh Ben Israel ^F6 divides them into two parts, the first from hence to ( Deuteronomy 28:45 ) ; which respects the destruction of the first temple, and the things that went before or related to that; and the second from thence to the end of the chapter, which he thinks refers to the destruction of the second temple, and their present case and circumstances; and it must be owned that for the most part the distinction may seem to hold good; what is prophesied of that should befall the Jews for their disobedience being more remarkably and distinctly fulfilled in the one than in the other; yet there are things in the whole which respect both, or that were fulfilled, some under one dispensation, and some under another, and some that were fulfilled in both; but chiefly and more manifestly at and since their dispersion by the Romans.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F6 De Termino Vitae, l. 3. sect. 3. p. 126.

Deuteronomy 28:15 In-Context

13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail, and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, when thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to keep them and to fulfill them.

14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

15 And it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep, to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee today, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee.

16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.