Covenant Curse Types and Restorative Blessings

Question
I read one author sometime back who had a very helpful list of the "Covenant Curse Types and Restorative Blessings." Can you please cite these?
Answer

A REFERENCE LIST OF COVENANT CURSES TYPES

Throughout this volume, the Pentateuchal curses will be referred to by the following categorizations, as numbered:

1. Anger / rejection from Yahweh

Lev 26:17 "I will set my face against you . . . "

Lev 26:24 "I myself will be hostile toward you . . . "

Lev 26:28 "In my anger I will be hostile to you."

Lev 26:41 ". . . made me hostile toward them . . . "

Deut 4:24 "Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."

Deut 4:25 ". . . provoking (Yahweh your God) to anger . . . "

Deut 29:20 "Yahweh will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that person."

Deut 29:24 ". . . fierce, burning anger . . . "

Deut 29:27 "Therefore Yahweh's anger (will have) burned against this land . . . "

Deut 29:28 ". . . furious anger and great wrath . . . "

Deut 31:17 "I will become angry with them and forsake them. I will hide my face from them . . . "

Deut 31:17 ". . . because our God is not with us."

Deut 31:18 "I will certainly hide my face on that day . . . "

Deut 31:29 ". . . provoke him to anger . . . "

Deut 32:16 ". . . angered . . . "

Deut 32:19 "Yahweh . . . rejected them because he was angered . . . "

Deut 32:20 "I will hide my face from them . . . "

Deut 32:21 ". . . angered . . . "

Deut 32:30 ". . . unless their Rock had sold them, unless Yahweh had given them up."

2. Rejection / destruction of the cult

Lev 26:31 "I will lay waste your sanctuaries and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings."

3. War and its ravages

a. General

Lev 26:17 ". . . you will be defeated by your enemies."

Lev 26:25 "I will bring the sword upon you . . . "

Lev 26:25 ". . . you will be given into enemy hands."

Lev 26:33 ". . . (I will) . . . draw out my sword and pursue you."

Lev 26:37 "So you will not be able to stand before your enemies."

Deut 28:25 ". . . defeated before your enemies."

Deut 28:25 "You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven."

Deut 28:49-50 "Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young."

Deut 28:52 "Until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down."

Deut 32:23 "I will send my arrows against them."

Deut 32:24 "In the street the sword will make them childless."

Deut 32:30 ". . . one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight . . . "

Deut 32:41 "I will sharpen my flashing sword . . . "

Deut 32:42 "I will make my arrows drunk with blood while my sword devours flesh."

b. Siege

Lev 26:25 "When you withdraw into your cities I will send a plague among you . . . "

Lev 26:26 "When I cut off your supply of bread . . . "

Lev 26:29 "You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters."

Deut 28:52 "They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land . . . "

Deut 28:52 "They will besiege all the cities throughout the land . . . "

Deut 28:53 ". . . the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege . . . "

Deut 28:55 ". . . the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities."

Deut 28:57 ". . . during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities."

4. Fear / terror / horror

Lev 26:16 ". . . sudden terror . . . "

Lev 26:17 ". . . you will flee even when no one is pursuing you."

Lev 26:36 ". . . I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a wind-blown leaf will put them to flight."

Lev 26:36 "They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them."

Lev 26:37 "They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them."

Deut 28:66 "You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life."

Deut 28:67 "In the morning you will say If only it were evening! and in the evening, If only it were morning!because of the terror that will fill your hearts . . . "

Deut 32:25 "In their homes, terror will reign."

5. Occupation and oppression by enemies / aliens

Lev 26:16 "You will plant seed in vain because your enemies will eat it."

Lev 26:17 "Those who hate you will rule over you."

Lev 26:32 "(the land) . . . your enemies who live there . . . "

Deut 28:31 "Your sheep will be given to your enemies."

Deut 28:33 ". . . nothing but cruel oppression all your days."

Deut 28:43 "The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher . . . "

Deut 28:44 "He will lend to you but you will not lend to him. He will be the head but you will be the tail."

Deut 28:48 ". . . You will serve the enemies Yahweh sends against you."

Deut 28:48 "He will put an iron yoke on your neck . . . "

Deut 28:68 ". . . you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies . . . "

Deut 32:21 "I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding."

6. Agricultural disaster / unproductivity

a. Drought

Lev 26:19 "I will make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze."

Deut 28:22 ". . . drought . . . "

Deut 28:23 "The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron."

Deut 28:24 "Yahweh will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are ruined."

b. Crop pests

Deut 28:42 "Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land."

Deut 28:38 ". . . locusts will devour . . . "

Deut 28:39 ". . . worms will eat (your vineyards) . . . "

c. Other

Lev 26:20 ". . . your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit."

Deut 28:17 "Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed."

Deut 28:18 "(cursed) . . . the crops of your land and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks."

Deut 28:22 ". . . scorching heat . . . blight and mildew . . . "

Deut 28:40 ". . . the olives will drop off . . . "

Deut 29:23 ". . . nothing planted, nothing sprouted, no vegetation growing on it."

7. Starvation / famine

Lev 26:26 "When I cut off your supply of bread . . . "

Lev 26:26 ". . . ten women will be able to bake bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat but not be satisfied."

Lev 26:26 "You will eat but not be satisfied."

Lev 26:29 "You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters."

Lev 26:45 ". . . in hunger and thirst . . . "

Deut 28:53 ". . . you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters Yahweh has given you."

Deut 28:54 "Even the most gentle . . . man . . . will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children."

Deut 28:55 "It will be all he has left . . . "

Deut 28:56 "The most gentle . . . woman . . . will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son and daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears . . . "

Deut 28:56 "She intends to eat them secretly . . . "

Deut 32:24 "I will send wasting famine against them."

8. Illness / pestilence / contamination

Lev 26:16 "wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life."

Deut 28:21 "Yahweh will plague you with diseases . . . "

Deut 28:22 ". . . wasting disease, fever, inflammation, . . . blight and mildew . . . which will plague you . . . "

Deut 28:27 ". . . the boils of Egypt, and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured."

Deut 28:28 ". . . blindness . . . "

Deut 28:35 "Yahweh will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head."

Deut 28:59 ". . . fearful plagues on you and your descendants . . . "

Deut 28:59 ". . . severe and lingering illnesses."

Deut 28:60 "He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you."

Deut 28:61 ". . . every kind of sickness . . . "

Deut 29:22 ". . . diseases with which Yahweh (will have) has afflicted it."

Deut 32:24 ". . . consuming pestilence and deadly plague."

Deut 32:39 "I wound . . . "

9. Desolation

a. Of holy places

Lev 26:31 "I will . . . lay waste your sanctuaries . . . "

b. Of cities / towns

Lev 26:31 "I will turn your cities into ruins . . . "

Lev 26:33 ". . . your cities will lie in ruins."

c. Of the land

Lev 26:32 "I will lay waste the land so that your enemies who live there will be appalled."

Lev 26:33 "Your land will be laid waste . . . "

Lev 26:34 ". . . the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time it lies desolate . . . "

Lev 26:34 ". . . the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths."

Lev 26:35 "see the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it."

Lev 26:43 "The land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them."

Deut 28:51 "They will devour . . . the crops of your land."

Deut 28:51 "They will leave you no grain, wine or oil."

Deut 29:23 "The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur . . . "

10. Destruction by fire

Deut 28:24 "Yahweh will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. "

Deut 32:22 "For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to Sheol below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set on fire the foundations of the mountains."

11. Harm from wild animals

Lev 26:22 "I will send wild animals against you . . . "

Deut 32:24 "I will send against them the fangs of wild animals; the venom of vipers that glide in the dust."

12. Decimation / infertility

a. Of family

Lev 26:22 ". . . (wild animals) . . . will rob you of your children . . . "

Deut 28:18 "The fruit of your womb will be cursed."

Deut 28:59 ". . . plagues on you and your descendants . . . "

b. Of cattle

Lev 26:22 "(wild animals) . . . will destroy your cattle . . . "

Deut 28:18 ". . . the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks (will be cursed)."

Deut 28:51 "They will devour the young of your livestock . . . "

c. Of population generally

Lev 26:22 "(wild animals) . . . will make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted."

Lev 26:36 ". . . those of you who are left . . . "

Deut 4:27 ". . . only a few of you will survive among the nations to which Yahweh will drive you."

Deut 28:62 "You who were as numerous as the stars of the sky will be left but few in number."

Deut 32:36 ". . . and no one is left, slave or free."

13. Exile / captivity

a. Of the people

Lev 26:33 "I will scatter you among the nations . . . "

Lev 26:34 ". . . all the time . . . you are in the country of your enemies . . . "

Lev 26:36 ". . . in the lands of their enemies . . . "

Lev 26:38 ". . . you will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you."

Lev 26:39 "Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies . . . "

Lev 26:41 ". . . I sent them into the land of their enemies . . . "

Lev 26:44 ". . . in the land of their enemies . . . "

Deut 4:27 "Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples . . . "

Deut 4:27 ". . . among the nations to which Yahweh will drive you."

Deut 28:36 "Yahweh will drive you . . . to a nation unknown . . . "

Deut 28:37 ". . . all the nations where Yahweh will drive you."

Deut 28:41 "(sons and daughters) will go into captivity . . . "

Deut 28:63 "You will be uprooted from the land . . . "

Deut 28:64 "Yahweh will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other."

Deut 28:68 "Yahweh will send you back in ships [in miseries] to Egypt . . . "

Deut 28:68 "There you will offer yourselves for sale . . . as slaves . . . "

Deut 29:28 ". . . Yahweh (will have) uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land . . . "

Deut 30:4 ". . . banished to the most distant land under the heavens . . . "

Deut 32:26 "I said I would scatter them . . . "

b. Of the king

Deut 28:36 "Yahweh will drive . . . the king you set over you . . . to a nation unknown . . . "

14. Forced idolatry in exile

Deut 4:28 "There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone which cannot see or hear or eat or smell."

Deut 28:36 "You will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone."

Deut 28:64 "There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone which neither you nor your fathers have known."

15. Futility

Lev 26:16 "You will plant seed in vain because your enemies will eat it."

Lev 26:20 "Your strength will be spent in vain . . . (on farming)."

Deut 28:20 ". . . curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to . . . "

Deut 28:29 "You will be unsuccessful in everything you do."

Deut 28:30 "You will be pledged to marry a woman, but another will take her and ravish her."

Deut 28:30 "You will build a house but you will not live in it."

Deut 28:30 "You will plant a vineyard but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit."

Deut 28:31 "Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it."

Deut 28:33 "A people you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce."

Deut 28:38 "You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little."

Deut 28:39 "You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes . . . "

Deut 28:40 "You will have olive trees . . . but you will not use the oil . . . "

Deut 28:41 "You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them . . . "

16. Dishonor / degradation

Lev 26:19 "I will break down your stubborn pride."

Deut 28:20 ". . . rebuke . . . "

Deut 28:25 "You will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth."

Deut 28:37 "You will become a thing of horror, and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations . . . "

Deut 28:43 ". . . you will sink lower and lower."

Deut 28:44 ". . . you will be the tail . . . "

Deut 28:68 "You will offer yourselves for sale . . . as slaves but none will buy you."

17. Loss of possessions / impoverishment

Deut 28:31 "Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and not returned."

Deut 28:31 "Your sheep will be given to your enemies and no one will rescue them."

Deut 28:48 ". . . in nakedness and dire poverty . . . "

18. Loss of family

Deut 28:30 ". . . another will take (your betrothed) and ravish her."

Deut 28:32 "Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation."

Deut 28:41 "You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them."

Deut 32:25 ". . . the sword will make them childless."

19. Helplessness / stumbling

Lev 26:36 ". . . they will fall . . . "

Lev 26:37 ". . . they will stumble over one another . . . "

Deut 28:29 "At midday you will grope around like a blind man in the dark."

Deut 28:29 "Day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you."

Deut 28:32 ". . . powerless to lift a hand."

Deut 32:35 "In due time their foot will slip."

Deut 32:36 ". . . when . . . their strength is gone."

Deut 32:38 "Let (your gods) rise up to help you; let them give you shelter?"

Deut 32:39 ". . . no one can deliver from my hand."

20. Psychological afflictions

Deut 28:20 ". . . confusion . . . "

Deut 28:28 ". . . madness . . . and confusion of the mind . . . "

Deut 28:34 "The sights you see will drive you mad."

Deut 28:65 ". . . an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart."

Deut 28:66 ". . . you will live in constant suspense . . . "

Deut 28:67 ". . . because of the sights that your eyes will see."

21. Lack of peace / rest

Deut 28:65 "Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot."

22. Denial of burial

Deut 28:26 "Your carcasses will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away."

23. Becoming like the cities of the plain

Deut 29:23 "It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew . . . "

24. Death / destruction

Lev 26:38 "You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you."

Lev 26:39 "Those of you who are left will waste away . . . they will waste away."

Deut 4:26 ". . . you will quickly perish from the land . . . "

Deut 4:26 "You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed."

Deut 28:20 ". . . destroyed and come to sudden ruin . . . "

Deut 28:21 ". . . until (Yahweh) has destroyed you from the land . . . "

Deut 28:22 ". . . until you perish . . . "

Deut 28:24 ". . . until you are destroyed . . . "

Deut 28:48 ". . . until he has destroyed you."

Deut 28:51 ". . . until you are destroyed."

Deut 28:61 ". . . until you are destroyed."

Deut 29:20 "Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven . . . "

Deut 30:15 ". . . death and destruction."

Deut 30:18 ". . . you will surely be destroyed. You will not live long in the land . . . "

Deut 30:19 ". . . death . . . "

Deut 31:17 ". . . they will be destroyed."

Deut 32:25 "Young men and young women will perish, infants and grayhaired men."

Deut 32:26 ". . . erase their memory from mankind."

Deut 32:35 ". . . their doom rushes upon them."

Deut 32:39 "I put to death . . . "

Deut 32:42 ". . . the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders . . . "

25. General / unspecified

Deut 4:30 "When you are in distress . . . "

Deut 28:20 "Yahweh will send on you curses, confusion, rebuke in everything you put your hand to until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin . . . "

Deut 28:24 ". . . until you are ruined . . . "

Deut 28:45 "All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed . . . "

Deut 28:59 ". . . harsh and prolonged disasters . . . "

Deut 28:61 ". . . every kind of . . . disaster not recorded in this book of the Law . . . "

Deut 28:63 ". . . it will please him to ruin and destroy you . . . "

Deut 29:19 ". . . disaster on the watered land as well as the dry."

Deut 29:21 "Yahweh will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster . . . "

Deut 29:22 ". . . calamities that (will) have fallen on the land . . . "

Deut 31:17 "Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them . . . "

Deut 31:17 ". . . these disasters have come upon us . . . "

Deut 31:21 ". . . many disasters and difficulties . . . "

Deut 31:29 ". . . disaster will fall upon you . . . "

Deut 32:23 "I will heap calamities upon them . . . "

Deut 32:35 "Their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."

26. General punishment / curse / vengeance

Lev 26:41 ". . . they will pay for their sin . . . "

Lev 26:43 "They will pay for their sins . . . "

Deut 28:16 "You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country." *

Deut 29:20 "All the curses written in this book will fall upon him."

Deut 29:21 ". . . all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law."

Deut 29:27 ". . . all the curses written in this book."

Deut 30:19 ". . . curses."

Deut 32:35 "It is mine to avenge; I will repay."

Deut 32:41 "I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me."

Deut 32:41 ". . . judgment . . . "

Deut 32:43 "He will take vengeance on his enemies . . . "

27. Multiple punishment

Lev 26:18 "I will punish you for your sins seven times over."

Lev 26:21 "I will multiply your afflictions seven times over."

Lev 26:24 "I will afflict your sins seven times over."

Lev 26:28 "I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over."

A REFERENCE LIST OF COVENANT RESTORATION BLESSINGS

Throughout this volume, the Pentateuchal restoration blessings will be referred to by the following categorizations, as numbered:

1. Renewal of Yahweh's favor / loyalty / presence

Lev 26:44 "I will not reject them or abhor them . . . "

Lev 26:45 ". . . to be their God."

Deut 4:29 "You will find him if you look for him with all your heart and soul."

Deut 4:31 "Yahweh your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon you . . . "

Deut 30:3 ". . . Yahweh . . . will have compassion on you . . . "

Deut 30:9 "Yahweh will again delight in you . . . just as he delighted in your fathers."

2. Renewal of the covenant

Lev 26:42 "I will remember my covenant with Jacob . . . "

Lev 26:44 "I will not . . . (break) my covenant with them . . . "

Lev 26:45 "For their sake I will remember the covenant . . . "

Deut 4:31 ". . . he will not forget the covenant with your forefathers . . . "

[Note: Renewal of the covenant implies restoration of any of the original blessings and reversal of any of the curses.]

3. Restoration of true worship, ability to be faithful

Deut 4:30 ". . . in the later days you will return to Yahweh your God and obey him."

Deut 30:6 "Yahweh your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of all your descendants so that you may love him with all your heart . . . "

Deut 30:8 "You will again obey Yahweh and follow all his commands . . . "

4. Population increase

Deut 30:5 "He will make you . . . more numerous than your fathers."

Deut 30:9 ". . . most prosperous . . . in the fruit of your womb . . . "

5. Agricultural bounty

Lev 26:42 "I will remember the land."

Deut 30:9 ". . . most prosperous . . . in the young of your livestock and the crops of your land."

6. Restoration of general prosperity, well-being, health

Deut 30:3 ". . . then Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes . . . "

Deut 30:5 "He will make you more prosperous . . . than your fathers . . . "

Deut 30:9 "Then Yahweh your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands . . . "

Deut 30:9 "Yahweh will again . . . make you prosperous . . . "

Deut 32:39 ". . . I will heal."

7. Return from exile / repossession of the land

Deut 30:3 "Yahweh . . . will gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you."

Deut 30:4 ". . . from there Yahweh will bring you back."

Deut 30:5 "He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers and you will take possession of it."

8. Reunification

Deut 30:3 "Yahweh will gather you again . . . "

Deut 30:4 ". . . from there Yahweh . . . will gather you . . . "

9. Power over enemies / aliens

Deut 30:7 "Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies . . . "

10. Freedom / restoration from death / destruction

Lev 26:44 "I will not . . . destroy them completely . . . "

Deut 30:6 ". . . so that you may . . . live." 32:39 ". . . I bring to life . . .

Reference (modified from): Stuart, D. (2002). Hosea-Jonah. Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

Answer by Dr. Joseph R. Nally, Jr.

Dr. Joseph R. Nally, Jr., D.D., M.Div. is the Theological Editor at Third Millennium Ministries (Thirdmill).