1 Now if thou wilt hear the voice of all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations that are on the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee: yet so if thou hear his precepts. All these blessings, etc... In the Old Testament, God promised temporal blessings to the keepers of his law, heaven not being opened as yet; and that gross and sensual people being more moved with present and sensible things. But in the New Testament the goods that are promised us are spiritual and eternal; and temporal evils are turned into blessings. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the folds of thy sheep. 5 Blessed shall be thy barns and blessed thy stores. 6 Blessed shalt thou be coming in and going out. 7 The Lord shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee, and seven ways shall they flee before thee. 8 The Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou shalt receive. 9 The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee. 11 The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee. 12 The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one. 13 And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep and do them, 14 And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.
15 But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. All these curses, etc... Thus God dealt with the transgressors of his law in the Old Testament: but now he often suffers sinners to prosper in this world, rewarding them for some little good they have done, and reserving their punishment for the other world. 16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field. 17 Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep. 19 Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed going out. 20 The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken me. 21 May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.
22 May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish. 23 Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou treadest on, of iron. 24 The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed. 25 The Lord make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And be thy carcass meat for all the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and be there none to drive them away. 27 The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch: so that thou canst not be healed. 28 The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind. 29 And mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in the dark, and not make straight thy ways. And mayst thou at all times suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no one to deliver thee. 30 Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her. Mayst thou build a house, and not dwell therein. Mayest thou plant a vineyard and not gather the vintage thereof. 31 May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee. 32 May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and may there be no strength in thy hand. 33 May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be crushed at all times. 34 And be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes shall see: 35 May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top of the head. 36 The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, wood and stone. 37 And thou shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people, among whom the Lord shall bring thee in. 38 Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little: because the locusts shall consume all. 39 Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with worms. 40 Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish. 41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them: because they shall be led into captivity. 42 The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground. 43 The stranger that liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up over thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as the head, and thou shalt be the tail. 45 And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue and overtake thee, till thou perish: because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God, and didst not keep his commandments and ceremonies which he commanded thee. 46 And they shall be as signs and wonders on thee, and on thy seed for ever. 47 Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: 48 Thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an iron yoke upon thy neck, till he consume thee.
49 The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flyeth swiftly, whose tongue thou canst not understand, 50 A most insolent nation, that will show no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant, 51 And will devour the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruits of thy land: until thou be destroyed, and will leave thee no wheat, nor wine, nor oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep: until he destroy thee. 52 And consume thee in all thy cities, and thy strong and high wall be brought down, wherein thou trustedst in all thy land. Thou shalt be besieged within thy gates in all thy land which the Lord thy God will give thee: 53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb, and the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, in the distress and extremity wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee. 54 The man that is nice among you, and very delicate, shall envy his own brother, and his wife, that lieth in his bosom, 55 So that he will not give them of the flesh of his children, which he shall eat: because he hath nothing else in the siege and the want, wherewith thy enemies shall distress thee within all thy gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman, that could not go upon the ground, nor set down her foot for over much niceness and tenderness, will envy her husband who lieth in her bosom, the flesh of her son, and of her daughter, 57 And the filth of the afterbirths, that come forth from between her thighs, and the children that are born the same hour. For they shall eat them secretly for the want of all things, in the siege and distress, wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee within thy gates. 58 If thou wilt not keep, and fulfil all the words of this law, that are written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name: that is, The Lord thy God: 59 The Lord shall increase thy plagues, and the plagues of thy seed, plagues great and lasting, infirmities grievous and perpetual. 60 And he shall bring back on thee all the afflictions of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall stick fast to thee. 61 Moreover the Lord will bring upon thee all the diseases, and plagues, that are not written in the volume of this law till he consume thee: 62 And you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord thy God. 63 And as the Lord rejoiced upon you before doing good to you, and multiplying you: so he shall rejoice destroying and bringing you to nought, so that you shall be taken away from the land which thou shalt go in to possess.
64 The Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the farthest parts of the earth to the ends thereof: and there thou shalt serve strange gods, which both thou art ignorant of and thy fathers, wood and stone. 65 Neither shalt thou be quiet, even in those nations, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. For the Lord will give thee a fearful heart, and languishing eyes, and a soul consumed with pensiveness: 66 And thy life shall be as it were hanging before thee. Thou shalt fear night and day, neither shalt thou trust thy life. 67 In the morning thou shalt say: Who will grant me evening? and at evening: Who will grant me morning? for the fearfulness of thy heart, wherewith thou shalt be terrified, and for those things which thou shalt see with thy eyes. 68 The Lord shall bring thee again with ships into Egypt, by the way whereof he said to thee that thou shouldst see it no more. There shalt thou be set to sale to thy enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899
1 Si autem audieris vocem Domini Dei tui, ut facias atque custodias omnia mandata ejus, quæ ego præcipio tibi hodie, faciet te Dominus Deus tuus excelsiorem cunctis gentibus, quæ versantur in terra. 2 Venientque super te universæ benedictiones istæ, et apprehendent te: si tamen præcepta ejus audieris. 3 Benedictus tu in civitate, et benedictus in agro. 4 Benedictus fructus ventris tui, et fructus terræ tuæ, fructusque jumentorum tuorum, greges armentorum tuorum, et caulæ ovium tuarum. 5 Benedicta horrea tua, et benedictæ reliquiæ tuæ. 6 Benedictus eris tu ingrediens et egrediens. 7 Dabit Dominus inimicos tuos, qui consurgunt adversum te, corruentes in conspectu tuo: per unam viam venient contra te, et per septem fugient a facie tua. 8 Emittet Dominus benedictionem super cellaria tua, et super omnia opera manuum tuarum: benedicetque tibi in terra, quam acceperis. 9 Suscitabit te Dominus sibi in populum sanctum, sicut juravit tibi: si custodieris mandata Domini Dei tui, et ambulaveris in viis ejus. 10 Videbuntque omnes terrarum populi quod nomen Domini invocatum sit super te, et timebunt te. 11 Abundare te faciet Dominus omnibus bonis, fructu uteri tui, et fructu jumentorum tuorum, fructu terræ tuæ, quam juravit Dominus patribus tuis ut daret tibi. 12 Aperiet Dominus thesaurum suum optimum, cælum, ut tribuat pluviam terræ tuæ in tempore suo: benedicetque cunctis operibus manuum tuarum. Et fœnerabis gentibus multis, et ipse a nullo fœnus accipies. 13 Constituet te Dominus in caput, et non in caudam: et eris semper supra, et non subter: si tamen audieris mandata Domini Dei tui quæ ego præcipio tibi hodie, et custodieris et feceris, 14 ac non declinaveris ab eis nec ad dexteram, nec ad sinistram, nec secutus fueris deos alienos, neque colueris eos.
15 Quod si audire nolueris vocem Domini Dei tui, ut custodias, et facias omnia mandata ejus et cæremonias, quas ego præcipio tibi hodie, venient super te omnes maledictiones istæ, et apprehendent te. 16 Maledictus eris in civitate, maledictus in agro. 17 Maledictum horreum tuum, et maledictæ reliquiæ tuæ. 18 Maledictus fructus ventris tui, et fructus terræ tuæ, armenta boum tuorum, et greges ovium tuarum. 19 Maledictus eris ingrediens, et maledictus egrediens. 20 Mittet Dominus super te famem et esuriem, et increpationem in omnia opera tua, quæ tu facies: donec conterat te, et perdat velociter, propter adinventiones tuas pessimas in quibus reliquisti me. 21 Adjungat tibi Dominus pestilentiam, donec consumat te de terra ad quam ingredieris possidendam.
22 Percutiat te Dominus egestate, febri et frigore, ardore et æstu, et aëre corrupto ac rubigine, et persequatur donec pereas. 23 Sit cælum, quod supra te est, æneum: et terra, quam calcas, ferrea. 24 Det Dominus imbrem terræ tuæ pulverem, et de cælo descendat super te cinis, donec conteraris. 25 Tradat te Dominus corruentem ante hostes tuos: per unam viam egrediaris contra eos, et per septem fugias, et dispergaris per omnia regna terræ, 26 sitque cadaver tuum in escam cunctis volatilibus cæli, et bestiis terræ, et non sit qui abigat. 27 Percutiat te Dominus ulcere Ægypti, et partem corporis, per quam stercora egeruntur, scabie quoque et prurigine: ita ut curari nequeas. 28 Percutiat te Dominus amentia et cæcitate ac furore mentis, 29 et palpes in meridie sicut palpare solet cæcus in tenebris, et non dirigas vias tuas. Omnique tempore calumniam sustineas, et opprimaris violentia, nec habeas qui liberet te. 30 Uxorem accipias, et alius dormiat cum ea. Domum ædifices, et non habites in ea. Plantes vineam, et non vindemies eam. 31 Bos tuus immoletur coram te, et non comedas ex eo. Asinus tuus rapiatur in conspectu tuo, et non reddatur tibi. Oves tuæ dentur inimicis tuis, et non sit qui te adjuvet. 32 Filii tui et filiæ tuæ tradantur alteri populo, videntibus oculis tuis, et deficientibus ad conspectum eorum tota die, et non sit fortitudo in manu tua. 33 Fructus terræ tuæ, et omnes labores tuos, comedat populus quem ignoras: et sis semper calumniam sustinens, et oppressus cunctis diebus, 34 et stupens ad terrorem eorum quæ videbunt oculi tui. 35 Percutiat te Dominus ulcere pessimo in genibus et in suris, sanarique non possis a planta pedis usque ad verticem tuum. 36 Ducet te Dominus, et regem tuum, quem constitueris super te, in gentem, quam ignoras tu et patres tui: et servies ibi diis alienis, ligno et lapidi. 37 Et eris perditus in proverbium ac fabulam omnibus populis, ad quos te introduxerit Dominus. 38 Sementem multam jacies in terram, et modicum congregabis: quia locustæ devorabunt omnia. 39 Vineam plantabis, et fodies: et vinum non bibes, nec colliges ex ea quippiam: quoniam vastabitur vermibus. 40 Olivas habebis in omnibus terminis tuis, et non ungeris oleo: quia defluent, et peribunt. 41 Filios generabis et filias, et non frueris eis: quoniam ducentur in captivitatem. 42 Omnes arbores tuas et fruges terræ tuæ rubigo consumet. 43 Advena, qui tecum versatur in terra, ascendet super te, eritque sublimior: tu autem descendes, et eris inferior. 44 Ipse fœnerabit tibi, et tu non fœnerabis ei. Ipse erit in caput, et tu eris in caudam. 45 Et venient super te omnes maledictiones istæ, et persequentes apprehendent te, donec intereas: quia non audisti vocem Domini Dei tui, nec servasti mandata ejus et cæremonias, quas præcepit tibi. 46 Et erunt in te signa atque prodigia, et in semine tuo usque in sempiternum: 47 eo quod non servieris Domino Deo tuo in gaudio, cordisque lætitia, propter rerum omnium abundantiam. 48 Servies inimico tuo, quem immittet tibi Dominus, in fame, et siti, et nuditate, et omni penuria: et ponet jugum ferreum super cervicem tuam, donec te conterat.
49 Adducet Dominus super te gentem de longinquo, et de extremis terræ finibus in similitudinem aquilæ volantis cum impetu, cujus linguam intelligere non possis: 50 gentem procacissimam, quæ non deferat seni, nec misereatur parvuli, 51 et devoret fructum jumentorum tuorum, ac fruges terræ tuæ: donec intereas, et non relinquat tibi triticum, vinum, et oleum, armenta boum, et greges ovium: donec te disperdat, 52 et conterat in cunctis urbibus tuis, et destruantur muri tui firmi atque sublimes, in quibus habebas fiduciam in omni terra tua. Obsideberis intra portas tuas in omni terra tua, quam dabit tibi Dominus Deus tuus: 53 et comedes fructum uteri tui, et carnes filiorum tuorum et filiarum tuarum, quas dederit tibi Dominus Deus tuus, in angustia et vastitate qua opprimet te hostis tuus. 54 Homo delicatus in te, et luxuriosus valde, invidebit fratri suo, et uxori, quæ cubat in sinu suo, 55 ne det eis de carnibus filiorum suorum, quas comedet: eo quod nihil aliud habeat in obsidione et penuria, qua vastaverint te inimici tui intra omnes portas tuas. 56 Tenera mulier et delicata, quæ super terram ingredi non valebat, nec pedis vestigium figere, propter mollitiem et teneritudinem nimiam, invidebit viro suo, qui cubat in sinu ejus, super filii et filiæ carnibus, 57 et illuvie secundarum, quæ egrediuntur de medio feminum ejus, et super liberis qui eadem hora nati sunt. Comedent enim eos clam propter rerum omnium penuriam in obsidione et vastitate, qua opprimet te inimicus tuus intra portas tuas. 58 Nisi custodieris et feceris omnia verba legis hujus, quæ scripta sunt in hoc volumine, et timueris nomen ejus gloriosum et terribile, hoc est, Dominum Deum tuum: 59 augebit Dominus plagas tuas, et plagas seminis tui, plagas magnas et perseverantes, infirmitates pessimas et perpetuas: 60 et convertet in te omnes afflictiones Ægypti, quas timuisti, et adhærebunt tibi. 61 Insuper et universos languores, et plagas, quæ non sunt scriptæ in volumine legis hujus, inducet Dominus super te, donec te conterat: 62 et remanebitis pauci numero, qui prius eratis sicut astra cæli præ multitudine, quoniam non audisti vocem Domini Dei tui. 63 Et sicut ante lætatus est Dominus super vos, bene vobis faciens, vosque multiplicans: sic lætabitur disperdens vos atque subvertens, ut auferamini de terra, ad quam ingredieris possidendam.
64 Disperget te Dominus in omnes populos, a summitate terræ usque ad terminos ejus: et servies ibi diis alienis, quos et tu ignoras et patres tui, lignis et lapidibus. 65 In gentibus quoque illis non quiesces, neque erit requies vestigio pedis tui. Dabit enim tibi Dominus ibi cor pavidum, et deficientes oculos, et animam consumptam mœrore: 66 et erit vita tua quasi pendens ante te. Timebis nocte et die, et non credes vitæ tuæ. 67 Mane dices: Quis mihi det vesperum? et vespere: Quis mihi det mane? propter cordis tui formidinem, qua terreberis, et propter ea, quæ tuis videbis oculis. 68 Reducet te Dominus classibus in Ægyptum per viam de qua dixit tibi ut eam amplius non videres. Ibi venderis inimicis tuis in servos et ancillas, et non erit qui emat.
Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
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