Curses for Disobedience
15
"But it shall come to pass, t if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command 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 fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
19
"Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20
"The LORD will send on you u cursing, v confusion, and w rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.
21
"The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.
22
x "The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with y scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
23
"And z your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.
24
"The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25
a "The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26
b "Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
27
"The LORD will strike you with c the boils of Egypt, with d tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
28
"The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and e confusion of heart.
29
"And you shall f grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
30
g "You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; h you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; i you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes.
31
"Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them.
32
"Your sons and your daughters shall be given to j another people, and your eyes shall look and k fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your l hand.
33
"A nation whom you have not known shall eat m the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually.
34
"So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see.
35
"The LORD will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36
"The LORD will n bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and o there you shall serve other gods - wood and stone.
37
"And you shall become p an astonishment, a proverb, q and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you.
38
r "You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for s the locust shall consume it.
39
"You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the t wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40
"You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.
41
"You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for u they shall go into captivity.
42
"Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
43
"The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
44
"He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45
"Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.
46
"And they shall be upon v you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
47
w "Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, x for the abundance of everything,
48
"therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in y hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He z will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.
49
a "The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, b as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,
50
"a nation of fierce countenance, c which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young.
51
"And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.
52
"They shall d besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you.
53
e "You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you.
54
"The sensitive and very refined man among you f will be hostile toward his brother, toward g the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind,
55
"so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
56
"The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter,
57
"her placenta which comes out h from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
58
"If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear i this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD,
59
"then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants j extraordinary plagues - great and prolonged plagues - and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
60
"Moreover He will bring back on you all k the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
61
"Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed.
62
"You l shall be left few in number, whereas you were m as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
63
"And it shall be, that just as the LORD n rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD o will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be p plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
64
"Then the LORD q will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and r there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known - wood and stone.
65
"And s among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; t but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and u anguish of soul.
66
"Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.
67
v "In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and w because of the sight which your eyes see.
68
"And the LORD x will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, y 'You shall never see it again.' And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:14 - 39
But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments.
Joshua 23:15
Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.
Daniel 9:10 - 14
We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.
Malachi 2:2
If you will not hear, And if you will not take it to heart, To give glory to My name," Says the LORD of hosts, "I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take it to heart.
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Cross References
Malachi 2:2
If you will not hear, And if you will not take it to heart, To give glory to My name," Says the LORD of hosts, "I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take it to heart.
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Cross References
Isaiah 65:14
Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, But you shall cry for sorrow of heart, And wail for grief of spirit.
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Cross References
Psalms 80:16
It is burned with fire, it is cut down; They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
Isaiah 30:17
One thousand shall flee at the threat of one, At the threat of five you shall flee, Till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain And as a banner on a hill.
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:16
I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
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Cross References
Amos 4:9
I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:19
I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had surrendered them?
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Cross References
1 Samuel 17:44
And the Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!
Psalms 79:2
The dead bodies of Your servants They have given as food for the birds of the heavens, The flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
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Cross References
Exodus 15:26
And said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.
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Cross References
1 Samuel 5:6
But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 4:9
"And it shall come to pass in that day," says the LORD, " That the heart of the king shall perish, And the heart of the princes; The priests shall be astonished, And the prophets shall wonder."
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Cross References
Job 5:14
They meet with darkness in the daytime, And grope at noontime as in the night.
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Cross References
2 Samuel 12:11
Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
Job 31:10
Then let my wife grind for another, And let others bow down over her.
Jeremiah 8:10
Therefore I will give their wives to others, And their fields to those who will inherit them; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is given to covetousness; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone deals falsely.
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Cross References
Amos 5:11
Therefore, because you tread down the poor And take grain taxes from him, Though you have built houses of hewn stone, Yet you shall not dwell in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, But you shall not drink wine from them.
Zephaniah 1:13
Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 20:6
Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it.
Job 31:8
Then let me sow, and another eat; Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.
Jeremiah 12:13
They have sown wheat but reaped thorns; They have put themselves to pain but do not profit. But be ashamed of your harvest Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
Micah 6:15
You shall sow, but not reap; You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 29:9
For indeed, because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity.
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Cross References
Psalms 119:82
My eyes fail from searching Your word, Saying, "When will You comfort me?
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Cross References
Nehemiah 5:5
"Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards."
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:16
I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
Jeremiah 5:15
Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say.
Jeremiah 5:17
And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, Which your sons and daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; They shall destroy your fortified cities, In which you trust, with the sword.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:4
And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy ...
2 Kings 17:6
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyri...
2 Kings 24:12
Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his ...
2 Kings 24:14
Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: a...
2 Kings 25:7
Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before hi...
2 Kings 25:11
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carri...
2 Chronicles 36:1 - 21
Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the s...
Jeremiah 39:1 - 9
In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in...
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 4:28
And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
Jeremiah 16:13
'Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.'
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Cross References
1 Kings 9:7
Then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
1 Kings 9:8
"And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?'
Jeremiah 24:9
I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.
Jeremiah 25:9
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
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Cross References
Psalms 44:14
You make us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples.
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Cross References
Micah 6:15
You shall sow, but not reap; You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
Haggai 1:6
"You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes."
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Cross References
Exodus 10:4
Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.
Joel 1:4
What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
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Cross References
Zephaniah 1:13
Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:5
Her adversaries have become the master, Her enemies prosper; For the LORD has afflicted her Because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy.
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Cross References
Numbers 26:10
And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah when that company died, when the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men; and they became a sign.
Isaiah 8:18
Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.
Ezekiel 14:8
I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:7
And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
Nehemiah 9:35 - 37
For they have not served You in their kingdom, Or in the many good things that You gave them, Or in the large and rich land which You set before them; Nor did they turn from their wicked works.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:15
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
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Cross References
Lamentations 4:4 - 6
The tongue of the infant clings To the roof of its mouth for thirst; The young children ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 28:13
"Go and tell Hananiah, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron."
Jeremiah 28:14
'For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also." '"
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Cross References
Isaiah 5:26 - 30
He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, And will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly.
Isaiah 7:18 - 20
And it shall come to pass in that day That the LORD will whistle for the fly That is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
Jeremiah 5:15
Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 48:40
For thus says the LORD: "Behold, one shall fly like an eagle, And spread his wings over Moab.
Jeremiah 49:22
Behold, He shall come up and fly like the eagle, And spread His wings over Bozrah; The heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.
Lamentations 4:19
Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the heavens. They pursued us on the mountains And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
Hosea 8:1
Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the LORD, Because they have transgressed My covenant And rebelled against My law.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 36:17
Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand.
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Cross References
2 Kings 25:1
Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.
2 Kings 25:2
So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
2 Kings 25:4
Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And the king went by way of the plain.
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:29
You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you s...
2 Kings 6:28
Then the king said to her, "What is troubling y...
2 Kings 6:29
"So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said t...
Jeremiah 19:9
"And I will cause them to eat the flesh of thei...
Lamentations 2:20
See, O LORD, and consider! To whom have You don...
Lamentations 4:10
The hands of the compassionate women Have cooke...
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 15:9
Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the LORD against you, and it become sin among you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 13:6
If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers.
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Cross References
Genesis 49:10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
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Cross References
Exodus 6:3
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them.
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Cross References
Daniel 9:12
And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 7:15
And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 4:27
And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 10:22
Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
Nehemiah 9:23
You also multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, And brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers To go in and possess.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 30:9
The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers.
Jeremiah 32:41
'Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.'
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Cross References
Proverbs 1:26
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes.
Isaiah 1:24
Therefore the Lord says, The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, "Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries, And take vengeance on My enemies.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 12:14
Thus says the LORD: "Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit - behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
Jeremiah 45:4
Thus you shall say to him, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land.
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:33
I will scatter you among the nations and draw o...
Deuteronomy 4:27
And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples...
Deuteronomy 4:28
And there you will serve gods, the work of men'...
Nehemiah 1:8
Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Y...
Jeremiah 16:13
'Therefore I will cast you out of this land int...
Amos 9:9
For surely I will command, And will sift the ho...
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:36
The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods - wood and stone.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:3
Judah has gone into captivity, Under affliction and hard servitude; She dwells among the nations, She finds no rest; All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
Amos 9:4
Though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword, And it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:36
And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:16
I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
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Cross References
Job 7:4
When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, And the night be ended?' For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:34
So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 43:7
So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they went as far as Tahpanhes.
Hosea 8:13
For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it, But the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 17:16
"But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, 'You shall not return that way again.'
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.