Parashat Ki Tavo

When you^ayou See note at 12.5. enter the land that the ETERNAL your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it,
you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that the ETERNAL your God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where the ETERNAL your God will choose to establish the divine name.
You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before the ETERNAL your God that I have entered the land that GOD swore to our fathers^bfathers See note at 1.35. to assign us.”
The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of the ETERNAL your God.
You shall then recite as follows before the ETERNAL your God: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.
The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.
We cried to the ETERNAL, the God of our ancestors, and the ETERNAL heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.
GOD freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents,
bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
And so I now bring the first fruits of the soil that You, O ETERNAL One, have given me.”
You shall leave the basket^cthe basket Heb. “it.” before the ETERNAL your God and bow low before the ETERNAL your God.
And you shall enjoy, together with the Levite^dthe Levite See the second note at 12.12. and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that the ETERNAL your God has bestowed upon you and your household.
When you have set aside in full the tenth part of your yield—in the third year, the year of the tithe^ein the third year, the year of the tithe See 14.28–29.—and have given it to the Levite,^fthe Levite See the second note at 12.12. the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat their fill in your settlements,
you^gyou See note at 12.5. shall declare before the ETERNAL your God: “I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; and I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, just as You commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments:
^hMeaning of first part of verse uncertain. I have not eaten of it while in mourning, I have not cleared out any of it while I was impure, and I have not deposited any of it with the dead.ⁱdeposited any of it with the dead No part of the tithe may be left as food for the dead. I have obeyed the ETERNAL my God; I have done just as You commanded me.
Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.”^jfathers See note at 1.35.
The ETERNAL your God commands you this day to observe these laws and rules; observe them faithfully with all your heart and soul.
You have affirmed^kaffirmed Exact nuance of Heb. heʼemarta uncertain. this day that the ETERNAL is your God—in whose ways you will walk, whose laws and commandments and rules you will observe, and whom you will obey.
And GOD has affirmed^laffirmed See note at v. 17. this day that you are, as promised, God’s treasured people who shall observe all the commandments,
and that you will be set in fame and renown and glory, high above all the nations that [God] has made; and that you shall be, as promised, a holy people to the ETERNAL your God.
Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying: Observe all the Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day.
^aConstruction of vv. 2–4 is uncertain. As soon as you have crossed the Jordan into the land that the ETERNAL your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones. Coat them with plaster
and inscribe upon them all the words of this Teaching. When you cross over to enter the land that the ETERNAL your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the ETERNAL, the God of your ancestors, promised you—
upon crossing the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I charge you this day, on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster.
There, too, you shall build an altar to the ETERNAL your God, an altar of stones. Do not wield an iron tool over them;
you must build the altar of the ETERNAL your God of unhewn^bunhewn Lit. “whole.” stones. You shall offer on it burnt offerings to the ETERNAL your God,
and you shall sacrifice there offerings of well-being and eat them, rejoicing before the ETERNAL your God.
And on those stones you shall inscribe every word of this Teaching most distinctly.
Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Silence! Hear, O Israel! Today you have become the people of the ETERNAL your God:
Heed the ETERNAL your God and observe the commandments and laws that I enjoin upon you this day.
Thereupon Moses charged the people, saying:
^cConstruction of vv. 12–13 is uncertain. After you have crossed the Jordan, the following shall stand on Mount Gerizim when the blessing for the people is spoken: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.
And for the curse, the following shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
The Levites shall then proclaim in a loud voice to the entire body of Israel:
Cursed be anyone who makes a sculptured or molten image, abhorred by GOD, a craftsman’s handiwork, and sets it up in secret.—And all the people shall respond, Amen.
Cursed be the one who insults their father or mother.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who moves a neighbor’s landmark.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who misdirects a blind person who is underway.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who subverts the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who lies with his father’s wife, for he has removed his father’s garment.^dremoved his father’s garment See note at 23.1.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who lies with any animal.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who lies with his sister, whether daughter of his father or of his mother.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who lies with his mother-in-law.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who strikes down a fellow Israelite in secret.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be the one who accepts a bribe in the case of the murder of^ein the case of the murder of I.e., to acquit the murderer of; in contrast to others “to slay.” an innocent person.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be whoever will not uphold the terms of this Teaching and observe them.—And all the people shall say, Amen.
Now, if you obey the ETERNAL your God, to observe faithfully all the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, the ETERNAL your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
All these blessings shall come upon you and take effect, if you will but heed the word of the ETERNAL your God:
Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country.
Blessed shall be your issue from the womb, your produce from the soil, and the offspring of your cattle, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock.
Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
Blessed shall you be in your comings and blessed shall you be in your goings.
GOD will put to rout before you^ayou Addressing the nation’s militia. the enemies who attack you; they will march out against you by a single road, but flee from you by many^bmany Lit. “seven.” roads.
GOD will ordain blessings for you upon your barns and upon all your undertakings: you will be blessed in the land that the ETERNAL your God is giving you.
As the ETERNAL swore to you, you will be established as a holy people if you keep the commandments of the ETERNAL your God, walking in those ways.
And all the peoples of the earth shall see that GOD’s name is proclaimed over you,^cGOD’s name is proclaimed over you I.e., GOD is responsible for your protection; cf. Isa. 4.1; Jer. 14.9; 2 Sam. 12.28. and they shall stand in fear of you.
GOD will give you abounding prosperity in your issue from the womb, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil in the land that GOD swore to your fathers^dfathers See note at 1.35. to assign to you.
GOD will open for you that bounteous store, the heavens, to provide rain for your land in season and to bless all your undertakings. You will be creditor to many nations, but debtor to none.
GOD will make you the head, not the tail; you will always be at the top and never at the bottom—if only you obey and faithfully observe the commandments of the ETERNAL your God that I enjoin upon you this day,
and do not deviate to the right or to the left from any of the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day and turn to the worship of other gods.
But if you do not obey the ETERNAL your God to observe faithfully all the commandments and laws that I enjoin upon you this day, all these curses shall come upon you and take effect:
Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the country.
Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
Cursed shall be your issue from the womb and your produce from the soil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock.
Cursed shall you be in your comings and cursed shall you be in your goings.
GOD will let loose against you calamity, panic, and frustration in all the enterprises you undertake, so that you shall soon be utterly wiped out because of your evildoing in forsaking Me.
GOD will make pestilence cling to you, thus putting an end to you in the land that you are entering to possess.
GOD will strike you with consumption, fever, and inflammation,^econsumption, fever, and inflammation Exact nature of these afflictions uncertain. with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew; they shall hound you until you perish.
The skies above your head shall be copper and the earth under you iron.
GOD will make the rain of your land dust, and sand shall drop on you from the sky, until you are wiped out.
GOD will put you^fyou See the first note at v. 7. to rout before your enemies; you shall march out against them by a single road, but flee from them by many^gmany Lit. “seven.” roads; and you shall become a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Your carcasses shall become food for all the birds of the sky and all the animals of the earth, with none to frighten them off.
GOD will strike you with the Egyptian inflammation,^hthe Egyptian inflammation See Exod. 9.9–10. with hemorrhoids, boil-scars, and itch, from which you shall never recover.
GOD will strike you with madness, blindness, and dismay.ⁱdismay Lit. “numbness of heart.”
You shall grope at noon as the blind grope in the dark; you shall not prosper in your ventures, but shall be constantly abused and robbed, with none to give help.
If you^jyou Addressing the typical man among you; see note at 5.18 and cf. 20.7. pay the bride-price for a wife, another man shall enjoy her.
If you^kyou Addressing the head of a stereotypical household; cf. 20.5. build a house, you shall not live in it. If you plant a vineyard, you shall not harvest it.^lIf you plant a vineyard … harvest it Cf. 20.6.
Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be seized in front of you, and it shall not be returned to you; your flock shall be delivered to your enemies, with none to help you.
Your sons and daughters shall be delivered to another people, while you look on; and your eyes shall strain for them constantly, but you shall be helpless.
A people you do not know shall eat up the produce of your soil and all your gains; you shall be abused and downtrodden continually,
until you are driven mad by what your eyes behold.
GOD will afflict you at the knees and thighs with a severe inflammation, from which you shall never recover—from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
GOD will drive you, and the king you have set over you, to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone.
You shall be a consternation, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples to which GOD will drive you.
Though you take much seed out to the field, you shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it.
Though you plant vineyards and till them, you shall have no wine to drink or store, for the worm shall devour them.
Though you have olive trees throughout your territory, you shall have no oil for anointment, for your olives shall drop off.
Though you beget sons and daughters, they shall not remain with you, for they shall go into captivity.
The cricket shall take over all the trees and produce of your land.
The strangers in your midst shall rise above you higher and higher, while you sink lower and lower:
they shall be your creditors, but you shall not be theirs; they shall be the head and you the tail.
All these curses shall befall you; they shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are wiped out, because you did not heed the ETERNAL your God and keep the commandments and laws enjoined upon you.
They shall serve as signs and proofs against you and your offspring for all time.
Because you would not serve the ETERNAL your God in joy and gladness over the abundance of everything,
you shall have to serve—in hunger and thirst, naked and lacking everything—the enemies whom GOD will let loose against you. An iron yoke will be put upon your neck until you are wiped out.
GOD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, that will swoop down like the eagle—a nation whose language you do not understand,
a ruthless nation, that will show the old no regard and the young^mthe old…the young Or “the influential…the vulnerable.” no mercy.
It shall devour the offspring of your cattle and the produce of your soil, until you have been wiped out, leaving you nothing of new grain, wine, or oil, of the calving of your herds and the lambing of your flocks, until it has brought you to ruin.
It shall shut you up in all your towns throughout your land until every mighty, towering wall in which you trust has come down. And when you are shut up in all your towns throughout your land that the ETERNAL your God has assigned to you,
you shall eat your own issue, the flesh of your sons and daughters that the ETERNAL your God has assigned to you, because of the desperate straits to which your enemy shall reduce you.
The manⁿman See note at 1.31. who is most tender and fastidious among you shall be too mean to his brother and his mate^ohis mate Lit. “the wife of his bosom.” and the children he has spared
to share with any of them the flesh of the children that he eats, because he has nothing else left as a result of the desperate straits to which your enemy shall reduce you in all your towns.
And she who is most tender and dainty among you, so tender and dainty that she would never venture to set a foot on the ground, shall begrudge her mate,^pher mate Lit. “the husband of her bosom.” and her son and her daughter,
the afterbirth that issues from between her legs and the babies she bears; she shall eat them secretly, because of utter want, in the desperate straits to which your enemy shall reduce you in your towns.
If you fail to observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching that are written in this book, to reverence this honored and awesome Name, the ETERNAL your God,
the ETERNAL will inflict extraordinary plagues upon you and your offspring, strange and lasting plagues, malignant and chronic diseases—
bringing back upon you all the sicknesses of Egypt that you dreaded so, and they shall cling to you.
Moreover, GOD will bring upon you all the other diseases and plagues that are not mentioned in this book of Teaching, until you are wiped out.
You shall be left a scant few, after having been as numerous as the stars in the skies, because you did not heed the command of the ETERNAL your God.
And as GOD once delighted in making you prosperous and many, so will GOD now delight in causing you to perish and in wiping you out; you shall be torn from the land that you are about to enter and possess.
GOD will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, whom neither you nor your ancestors have experienced.^qwhom neither you nor your ancestors have experienced See note at 11.28.
Yet even among those nations you shall find no peace, nor shall your foot find a place to rest. GOD will give you there an anguished heart and eyes that pine and a despondent spirit.
The life you face shall be precarious; you shall be in terror, night and day, with no assurance of survival.
In the morning you shall say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening you shall say, “If only it were morning!”—because of what your heart shall dread and your eyes shall see.
GOD will send you back to Egypt in galleys, by a route that I told you you should not see again. There you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but none will buy.
^rThis verse is labeled as 29.1 in some editions. These are the terms of the covenant that GOD commanded Moses to conclude with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant that was made with them at Horeb.
Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:
You have seen all that GOD did before your very eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his courtiers and to his whole country:
the wondrous feats that you saw with your own eyes, those prodigious signs and marvels.
Yet to this day GOD has not given you a mind to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.
I led you through the wilderness forty years; the clothes on your back did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet;
you had no bread to eat and no wine or other intoxicant to drink—that you might know that I the ETERNAL am your God.
When you reached this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to engage us in battle, but we defeated them.
We took their land and gave it to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh as their heritage.
Therefore observe faithfully all the terms of this covenant, that you may succeed in all that you undertake.
You stand this day, all of you, before the ETERNAL your God: your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials—the entire body of Israel^athe entire body of Israel As the ratifying party to the pending covenant with GOD; cf. 1 Kings 8.2. In contrast to others “all the men of Israel.”—
your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer,
to enter into the covenant of the ETERNAL your God, which the ETERNAL your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions;^bits sanctions I.e., the curses that covenant violations will entail.
in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone,
but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the ETERNAL our God and with those who are not with us here this day.
Well you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the midst of various other nations;
and you have seen the detestable things and the fetishes of wood and stone, silver and gold, that they keep.
Perchance there is among you some man or woman, or some clan or tribe, whose heart is even now turning away from the ETERNAL our God to go and worship the gods of those nations—perchance there is among you a stock sprouting poison weed and wormwood.
When hearing the words of these sanctions, they may imagine a special immunity, thinking, “I shall be safe, though I follow my own willful heart”—to the utter ruin of moist and dry alike.^cmoist and dry alike I.e., everything.
GOD will never forgive them. Rather, GOD’s anger and passion will rage against them, till every sanction recorded in this book comes down upon them, and GOD blots out their name from under heaven.
[As for such a clan or tribe,] GOD will single it out from all the tribes of Israel for misfortune, in accordance with all the sanctions of the covenant recorded in this book of Teaching.
And later generations will ask—the children who succeed you, and foreigners who come from distant lands and see the plagues and diseases that GOD has inflicted upon that land,
all its soil devastated by sulfur and salt, beyond sowing and producing, no grass growing in it, just like the upheaval of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which GOD overthrew in fierce anger—
all nations will ask, “Why did GOD do thus to this land? Wherefore that awful wrath?”
They will be told, “Because they forsook the covenant that the ETERNAL, God of their ancestors, made with them upon freeing them from the land of Egypt;
they turned to the service of other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not experienced^dwhom they had not experienced See note at 11.28. and who had not been allotted^eallotted See 4.19–20. to them.
So GOD was incensed at that land and brought upon it all the curses recorded in this book.
GOD uprooted them from their soil in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as is still the case.”
Concealed acts concern the ETERNAL our God; but with overt acts, it is for us and our children ever to apply all the provisions of this Teaching.