15 " But it shall come about, if you do not obey e the Lord your God , to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today , that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 " Cursed shall you be in the city , and cursed shall you be in the country . 17 " Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl . 18 " Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground , the increase of your herd and the young of your flock . 19 " Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. 20 " The Lord will send upon you curses , confusion , and rebuke , in all you undertake to do , until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly , on account e of the evil of your deeds , because you have forsaken Me. 21 " The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where e you are entering to possess it. 22 " The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew , and they will pursue you until you perish . 23 "The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze , and the earth which is under you, iron . 24 " The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust ; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed . 25 " The Lord shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies ; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth . 26 " Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth , and there will be no one to frighten them away .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:15-26
Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:15-44
(Read Deuteronomy 28:15-44)
If we do not keep God's commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful.