11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 1 11:27 the blessing if you take to heart 2 the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, 11:28 and the curse if you pay no attention 3 to his 4 commandments and turn from the way I am setting before 5 you today to pursue 6 other gods you have not known.
1 sn A blessing and a curse. Every extant treaty text of the late Bronze Age attests to a section known as the “blessings and curses,” the former for covenant loyalty and the latter for covenant breach. Blessings were promised rewards for obedience; curses were threatened judgments for disobedience. In the Book of Deuteronomy these are fully developed in 27:1–28:68. Here Moses adumbrates the whole by way of anticipation.
2 tn Heb “listen to,” that is, obey.
3 tn Heb “do not listen to,” that is, do not obey.
4 tn Heb “the commandments of the
5 tn Heb “am commanding” (so NASB, NRSV).
6 tn Heb “walk after”; NIV “by following”; NLT “by worshiping.” This is a violation of the first commandment, the most serious of the covenant violations (Deut 5:6-7).