curses

¹⁷Yet truly, to Adam, he said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, from which I instructed you that you should not eat, cursed is the land that you work. In hardship shall you eat from it, all the days of your life.

¹³Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, since he became a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is anyone who hangs from a tree.”

⁴⁷Because you did not serve the Lord your God, with gladness and a joyful heart, over the abundance of all things. ⁴⁸You will serve your enemy, whom the Lord will send to you, in hunger and thirst and nakedness, and in destitution of all things. And he will place an iron yoke upon your neck, until he has crushed you.

⁴For he is a minister of God for you unto good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid. For it is not without reason that he carries a sword. For he is a minister of God; an avenger to execute wrath upon whomever does evil.

¹“So then, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all of his commandments, which I instruct to you this day, the Lord your God will cause you to be more exalted than all the nations which exist upon the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come to you and take hold of you, but only if you listen to his precepts. ³Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, and the fruit of your cattle, the droves of your herds, and the folds of your sheep. ⁵Blessed shall be your barns, and blessed your storehouses. ⁶Blessed shall you be entering and departing.

¹²For God loves mercy and truth. The Lord will give grace and glory.

²Like a bird flying away to another place, and like a sparrow that hurries away freely, so also a curse uttered against someone without cause will pass away.

⁶Therefore, come and curse this people, for they are stronger than I am. If only, in some way, I might be able to strike them and to drive them from my land. For I know that he whom you bless shall be blessed, and he whom you curse shall be cursed.”

²⁰The soul that sins, the same shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The justice of the just man shall be upon himself, but the impiety of the impious man shall be upon himself.

²If a thief will have been discovered breaking into a house, or digging under it, and he has received a mortal wound, he who struck him down will not be guilty of blood. ³But if he did this when the sun was risen, he has perpetrated a homicide, and he shall die. If he does not have the means to make restitution for the theft, he shall be sold.

³Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb.

²³‘Cursed be the land of Meroz!’ said the Angel of the Lord. ‘Cursed be its inhabitants! For they did not come to the aid of the Lord, to the assistance of his most valiant men.’

¹⁹Do not defend yourselves, dearest ones. Instead, step aside from wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is mine. I shall give retribution, says the Lord.”