I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze.

I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword ¹  after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

then he promises, ¹  “I will send rain for your land ²  in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, ³  so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil.

“‘When you gather in the harvest ¹  of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, ²  and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest.

You must sound loud horn blasts ¹  – in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement – you must sound the horn in your entire land.

Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land ¹  will not produce their fruit.

So Balaam got up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your land, ¹  for the Lord has refused to permit me to go ²  with you.”

Your land is devastated, your cities burned with fire. Right before your eyes your crops are being destroyed by foreign invaders. ¹  They leave behind devastation and destruction. ² 

When you gather in the harvest ¹  of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, ²  and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.’” ³ 

You should make images of the sores and images of the mice ¹  that are destroying the land. You should honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his grip on you, your gods, and your land. ² 

Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses. ¹