The Curses in Deuteronomy 28 and Their Application

Applying Deuteronomy 28 Curses.

The 12 Tribes of Israel were scattered due to disobedience (see 2 Kings 17 and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD). The curses in Deuteronomy 28 were given as warnings if the Israelites turned away from God and failed to keep His commandments.

Deuteronomy 28 Curse	Description	Application to Israelites	Supporting Details
28:15 - 28:68	If you do not obey God, curses will come upon you and overtake you.	General warning fulfilled in slavery, oppression, suffering.	Exiled and subsequent scattering, enslavement all over the world, ongoing systemic racism.
28:16	“Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.”	Urban and rural poverty—concentrated poverty in inner cities and rural areas.	Ghettos, food deserts, lack of land ownership.
28:17	“Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.”	Economic hardship, generational poverty in urban communities.	Wealth gaps, unemployment, barriers to business ownership.
28:18	“The fruit of thy body and of thy ground... shall not prosper.”	High rates of infant mortality, health disparities, and poor agricultural ownership.	Disproportionate health issues, infant mortality rates, lack of land in Black and Mexican communities.
28:22	“The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation... and with the sword.”	Disproportionate impact of disease, violence, and police brutality.	COVID-19 higher death rates, systemic health neglect, killings by police.
28:25	“The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies.”	Historical and ongoing oppression by government and social systems.	Slavery, Jim Crow laws, mass incarceration, racial profiling.
28:29	“Thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness.”	Lack of education, misinformation, spiritual blindness imposed by society.	Educational inequities, media stereotyping.
28:30	“Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her.”	Social disruption, broken families due to systemic pressures.	High rates of single-parent homes, family separation via incarceration or immigration.
28:33	“Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people.”	Forced assimilation, loss of cultural identity, children placed in foster care or taken from families.	Family separations, cultural erasure, foster system challenges.
28:44	“They shall eat up the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land...”	Economic exploitation and theft of resources.	Redlining, predatory lending, displacement via gentrification.
28:48	“Thou shalt serve thine enemies...”	Enslavement and servitude under foreign systems and people.	Slavery, systemic oppression, low-wage labor exploitation.
28:52-57	“Thou shalt eat the flesh of thy sons and daughters.”	Extreme desperation and suffering. Historically during famines and slave ship voyages, forced cannibalism or near starvation.	Documented cases on slave ships; metaphor for extreme suffering.
28:64	“And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people...”	Diaspora of Israelites, forced migrations, and displacement.	Transatlantic slave trade, forced removal and scattering.
28:65	“Among all people thou shalt find no ease...”	Ongoing persecution, lack of rest or peace.	Racial profiling, discrimination, poverty cycles.
28:66	“Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee...”	Constant threat of violence, death, and insecurity.	Police shootings, violence in communities, immigration fears.
28:67	“In the morning thou shalt say, would God it were even...”	Life full of hardship and sorrow.	Mental health crises, despair from systemic oppression.
28:68	“And thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them...”	Family separation through slavery, incarceration, deportation.	Historic family separations, ongoing mass incarceration, deportation of Mexican families.