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Deuteronomy 27

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And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.

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And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister:

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And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee.

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Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.

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And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

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Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God:

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And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God.

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8

And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.

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And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God.

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Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.

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And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,

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These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:

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And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

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And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

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15

Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his father’s skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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Deuteronomy 27

The Shechem ceremony establishes the covenant at the geographic center of the promised land with plastered stones inscribed with the law, an altar for burnt and peace offerings, and the formal pronouncement of twelve curses for secret sins followed by communal Amen responses. The requirement that all curse transgressions be acknowledged publicly creates covenant consciousness that extends to hidden wrongs and establishes the community as covenant guardian responsible for maintaining holiness. The formula cursed is anyone who does not uphold all the words of this law establishes the covenant's comprehensive character—it is all or nothing, an integrated whole that cannot be partially obeyed. This chapter transforms static text into enacted ritual, making the law a binding ceremony witnessed by geography itself and requiring community participation and affirmation, thus institutionalizing covenant renewal as the foundation of Israel's ongoing relationship with the LORD.

Deuteronomy 27:26

Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them — the twelfth and climactic curse is the most comprehensive of all, sweeping up every violation of the entire covenant law under a single comprehensive curse: not just the specific hidden sins named in the preceding eleven curses but every failure to uphold every word of this law. The word confirm (yakim, from qum — to stand, to establish, to uphold) implies active ratification rather than passive non-violation — the curse falls not merely on those who break the law but on those who fail to uphold it, who let it stand idle, who do not act to bring the law's requirements to realization in their lives and communities. Paul quotes this verse in Galatians 3:10 (everyone who does not do all things written in the Book of the Law is cursed) as the demonstration that no one is justified by the law, since no one upholds it in its totality — the curse that the law places on everyone is what Christ bore on the cross (Gal 3:13, quoting Deuteronomy 21:23). And all the people shall say Amen — the final communal ratification seals the covenant's comprehensive scope.

Deuteronomy 27:9

Therefore obey the LORD your God by observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today — obedience is the covenant response. The commandments ('mitzvot') are not suggestions but the terms of the people's status as God's own.

Deuteronomy 27:10

The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice — the Levites' role is prophetic: they voice the covenant terms and curses. Their 'loud voice' (b'kol ram) ensures all Israel hears the sacred law.

Deuteronomy 27:20

Cursed be anyone who strikes down a neighbor in secret.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — murder done in secret ('hakeha b'seter') lacks the accountability of public crime. Cain's secret murder of Abel is the archetype of this curse.

Deuteronomy 27:21

Cursed be anyone who accepts payment for shedding innocent blood.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — murder-for-hire ('shokher al nefesh') turns death into commerce. The curse targets the assassin who kills for payment.

Deuteronomy 27:22

Cursed be anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by observing them.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen' — the final curse encompasses all previous curses: failure to uphold the entire law invokes the comprehensive curse. This 'umbrella curse' gathers all covenant violations into one judgment.

Deuteronomy 27:23

Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law — the eleventh curse in the series of twelve addresses sexual violation within the extended family structure, targeting the specific relationship of a man with his wife's mother, a prohibited union also listed in Leviticus 18:17 and 20:14. The in-law relationship created by marriage was understood in Israelite law to constitute a genuine kinship bond — sexual violation of that bond is not merely an offense against a social boundary but a desecration of the familial structure that the covenant community depends on for its integrity. The hidden nature of this sin (like the others in the series) is implicit in the context — the curse addresses behavior that might occur without witnesses and therefore escape human legal process. And all the people shall say Amen — the communal ratification of each curse performs the act of covenant before God, making the community collectively responsible for upholding the prohibition even in cases where enforcement through witnesses is impossible.

Deuteronomy 27:24

Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret — the twelfth and penultimate curse addresses secret murder, the most fundamental violation of the neighbor-love that the entire law's social ethics are designed to protect. The hidden killing (secretly, basseter) distinguishes this from public violence that can be prosecuted through the two-or-three-witness requirement of Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15 — this curse specifically covers the cases where no human court can act because no human witness is present. The covenant community's Amen declares that God himself is the witness to what is done in secret — the curse invokes the divine omniscience as the legal supplement to the human judicial system's inherent limitations. The progression from sexual sins (vv.20-23) to violence (v.24) follows the same logic as the Decalogue's second table — the covenant's protection of human dignity encompasses both the body's sexual integrity and the body's physical safety.

Deuteronomy 27:25

Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood — the penultimate curse addresses the corruption of the justice system itself: the judge, witness, or official who accepts payment to condemn an innocent person to death. The phrase innocent blood (dam naqi) carries enormous weight in the OT — the bloodguilt attached to the shedding of innocent blood is not personal only but communal, polluting the land (Numbers 35:33) and bringing divine judgment on the entire nation. The bribe (shochad) is singled out throughout Deuteronomy (16:19; 10:17) as the systemic corruption most destructive to the covenant community's justice, because it turns the very mechanism of protection for the weak into an instrument of their destruction. The curse is particularly relevant given that Deuteronomy's law of the king (17:14-20) and the judge (17:8-13) and the false witness (19:16-21) are all designed to prevent precisely this kind of systemic injustice — the curse supplements the law with the threat of divine sanction where legal structures are insufficient.

Deuteronomy 27:8

Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the LORD your God — the moment is declarative: the covenant is formalized. 'This very day' (ha-yom hazeh) is the perpetual present of covenant-making.

Deuteronomy 27:11

Cursed be anyone who makes an idol or casts an image, anything abhorrent to the LORD, the work of an artisan's hands, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall respond, saying, 'Amen' — the first curse condemns idolatry: images and idols ('pesel u-massekhah') are abhorrent. The people's 'Amen' (so be it) joins them to the curse: they accept the judgment on violators.

Deuteronomy 27:12

Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — the second curse targets filial impiety. Dishonoring parents ('maklim av v'em') violates the foundational covenant relationship; the household structure mirrors God's authority.

Deuteronomy 27:13

Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor's boundary stone.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen' — boundary stones mark property lines; moving them is theft disguised as a border dispute. The curse targets hidden theft, secret injustice.

Deuteronomy 27:14

Cursed be anyone who leads a blind person astray on the road.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — the curse targets exploitation of the helpless. Leading a blind person astray is a paradigm of covenant-breaking: taking advantage of vulnerability.

Deuteronomy 27:15

Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — the triad of vulnerable persons appears; depriving them of justice ('mishpat') is to deny God's protection of the defenseless. The curse on judicial corruption is explicit.

Deuteronomy 27:16

Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, for he uncovers his father's nakedness.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — incest with a stepmother violates the father's covenant right to his wife's sexuality. The 'uncovering of nakedness' ('galah ervat') is a formula for sexual violation.

Deuteronomy 27:17

Cursed be anyone who lies with any animal.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — bestiality ('shakav im behemah') is cursed; it violates the creation order that separates humans from animals. Leviticus 18:23 similarly condemns this act.

Deuteronomy 27:18

Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — incest with a sister (whether full or half-sibling) is cursed. The covenant forbids sexual relations that confuse family hierarchy.

Deuteronomy 27:19

Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.' All the people shall say, 'Amen' — lying with the in-law violates the marriage covenant and the in-law relationship it creates. The curse protects the integrity of affinal kinship.

Deuteronomy 27:1

Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today — the transition to Ch. 27 marks a new covenant ceremony at Shechem. The command is unambiguous: 'shomer et kol hamitzvah' (keep the entire commandment).

Deuteronomy 27:2

On the day you cross over the Jordan into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster — the large plastered stones are covenant memorials, inscribed with the law. The Jordan crossing marks the moment when the covenant becomes inscribed in the land itself.

Deuteronomy 27:3

You shall write on them all the words of this law. When you have crossed over, to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set them up on Mount Ebal — the entire Torah law is to be inscribed on these stones. Mount Ebal (the curse mountain, paired with Mount Gerizim for blessings) is the location for this covenant renewal.

Deuteronomy 27:4

And you shall build an altar there to the LORD your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool — the altar of uncut stones (cf. Exodus 20:25) preserves the stones' natural state, untouched by human craft. Iron, an instrument of violence and technology, is excluded; holiness requires simplicity.

Deuteronomy 27:5

You shall offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God — the altar at Mount Ebal is functional: Israel sacrifices to God in the land of promise. Burnt offerings ('olah) are total offerings, given entirely to God, signifying complete devotion.

Deuteronomy 27:6

You shall offer fellowship offerings, and shall eat there, rejoicing before the LORD your God — the 'shelamim' (fellowship offerings) are shared: God receives the fat and blood, the worshippers eat the meat. Rejoicing ('samach lifnei YHVH') connects sacrifice to celebration.

Deuteronomy 27:7

You shall write clearly on the stones all the words of this law — the clarity ('ba'ur meod') ensures the law is legible, inscribed plainly so the people can read it. Law written on stone memorializes the covenant in the land.