לא תעשו לכם אלילים, “do not make for yourselves idols;” this law is repeated as if a Jew is sold to a gentile the subject of making himself an idol out of frustration over what has befallen him is quite understandable. Compare Rashi and Sifra on this verse.

את שבתותי תשמורו, “You shall keep My Sabbaths;” according to the understanding of Targum Yerushalmi, the Torah here speaks about the sh’mittah years every seventh year. Those years are also called Sabbaths.

ומקדשי תיראו, “and revere My Sanctuary;” keep the Yovel year as a holy year. (This is the interpretation of Midrash Tanchuma)

אם בחקתי תלכו, “If you will walk in My statutes;” if you will do what I decreed that you should do, also the clouds and the soil and the trees all of which have been created only for your sake, will do their share, as I have instructed them to do so.” (B’chor shor)

גשמיכם בעתם, “your rains at their appointed times.” If these rains would descend at the wrong time they would make your crops rot instead of ripen.

והשיג לכם דיש וגו, “and your threshing will extend, etc.;” just as you will be performing My commandments constantly without interruption, I will heap blessing after blessing upon you.”

וישבתם לבטח בארצכם, “and you will live in your land feeling secure.” Previously, in 25,18, this has been worded slightly differently, when the Torah wrote: וישבתם על הארץ לבטח, “you will dwell on the land in security.” Here the Torah stresses the fact that G’d will consider the land as your land. However, during a famine, people will be exiled as it says: לא תוסף תת כחה לך. נע ונד תהיה בארץ, “the land will not continue to give you from its strength; you will be a nomad on earth wandering from place to place.” (Genesis 4,12) Or, as we find in Job 15,23: ?נודד הוא ללחם איה, “he wanders searching for bread, where is he?”

ונתתי שלום בארץ, “I will give peace in the land;” Rashi comments, paraphrasing Isaiah 45,7: עושה שלום ובורא את הכל, “making peace and creating the All.” [The best interpretation of why this is plausible, is that having created evil, the Creator is forced to establish peace, else the evil will ruin all that He had created prior to it. Ed.]

והשבתי חיה רעה, “I will cause evil beasts to cease.” Isaiah has paraphrased this too, saying: Isaiah 65,25, “the lion will lie down peacefully next to the lamb.”

ורדפו מכם חמשה מאה, ומאה מכם רבבה ירדופו “five of you will put one hundred 100 to flight, and one hundred of you will pursue ten thousand.” Because the merit of the numerous is greater.

רבבה, “ten thousand;”

והקימותי את בריתי אתכם, “I will maintain My covenant with you.” This is the covenant I established with your forefathers that I will multiply you to become as numerous as the stars in heaven and the dust on the earth. (Genesis 26,4 and Genesis 28,14, Ibn Ezra)

ואכלתם ישן נושן, “you shall eat from stores long kept.” Seeing that you will have been blessed with abundant crops, so that at the end of the harvesting season you still have surpluses from the previous harvests, they will become mixed, and during each year you will eat from the proceeds of two harvests.

והייתי לכם לאלוקים, “and I will remain your G-d;” the word elohim here is used as a simile for judge, the one who will avenge the wrongs done to you by your enemies. (B’chor shor)

מוטות עולכם, “the bars of your yokes.” This is a reference to yokes which force the bearer to incline his head and neck towards the ground. (B’chor shor)

ואולך אתכם קוממיות, “I will enable you to walk upright with your heads held high.” This is reminiscent of Exodus 14,5 describing the Israelites as holding their heads high when leaving Egypt. (B’chor shor)

את כל המצות האלה, “all these commandments;” if you will fail to observe any of these commandments;” [it would be impossible to ignore all of these commandments. Ed.] We find a parallel expression to the construction in Exodus 20,10: לא תעשה כל מלאכה, “you shall not do any work,” or in verse Exodus 22,21: כל אלמנה ויתום לא תענון, “you are not to mistreat any widow or orphan.” [In both these verses the meaning of the word כל could not possibly be “all.” Ed.]

ואם בחקותי תמאסו, “but if you will despise My statutes;” this is the opposite of “if you will “walk” in My statutes, אם בחקתי תלכו, “when you will “walk” according to My statutes, because you find them appropriate.”

ואם את משפטי תגעל נפשכם, “or if your souls despise My social laws;” this is the opposite of ואת מצותי תשמורו, “and you will observe My commandments.”

לבלתי עשות, “by not performing (them);” this is the opposite of ועשיתם אותם, “and you will perform them” (in verse 3, of this chapter.)

להפרכם את בריתי, “thereby breaking My covenant;” this is the opposite of והקימותי את בריתי אתכם, “I will maintain My covenant with you,” (in verse 9.)

אף אני אעשה זאת לכם, “I also will do this to you.” The Torah warns that the punishment will fit the crime. He had promised that if we observe His commandments He will protect us against any and all possible diseases, (Exodus 15,26), whereas if we will break His covenant (deliberately and in order to affront Him) He will actively expose us to them. Instead of acting as your physician, as I did when you observed My statutes, I will allow all kinds of diseases to afflict you.

בהלה, “terror,” the opposite of when I allowed you to go to sleep without worry, as spelled out in verse 6.

בהלה את השחפת וגו, “even consumption and fever;” this is to be understood as a special kind of terror caused by your being feverish. The word את in this verse is to be understood as של, “of, caused by.”[There follow detailed examples of diseases and afflictions, the author trying to explain their equivalent in our language. I have decided to skip this, as the principle has been established. Ed.]

ומדיבות נפש, “and mental depression.” This is the opposite mental state of someone lording it over slaves as in verse 13, where the Israelites are reminded how they had had a physical and mental state of being enslaved while in Egypt. Their renewed state of mental depression is the second type of plague that G-d will employ if the people continue to despise and ignore His laws.

וזרעתם לריק זרעכם, “you will sow your seed in vain.”

ואכלוהו אויביכם, “and your enemies will eat whatever these seeds produce. This is the opposite of the promise made in verse 5 if we observe the Torah. This is the fourth of the seven plagues threatened in verse 21.

ונתתי פני בכם, “I will set My face against you.” This is the opposite of ופניתי אליכם, “I will turn to you with goodwill.” This is the fifth of the seven plagues.

ונגפתם לפני אויביכם, “you will be smitten before your enemies.” This is the reverse of the blessing that “you will pursue and overwhelm those who hate you.” This is the sixth of the seven plagues.

ונסתם ואין רודף אתכם, “you will flee even when no one pursues you.” This is the reverse of the blessing that five of you will put to flight a hundred of your enemies. (verse 8) This is the seventh of the seven plagues that will befall you.

ואם עד אלה, “if, as Rashi understands the word בעד, as בעוד, “still not,” we find a similar construction using this expression in Job 2,4: עור בעד עור, “skin for skin!” Compare also: ויסגור ה' בעדו, “G-d closed the door (of the ark) on his behalf.” (Genesis 7.16)

ויספתי ליסרה אתכם, “I will continue to discipline you.”

שבע, on account of the seventh year (sh’mittah) during which you did not release your hold on material possessions, especially by working the land. In the event you consider this interpretation far fetched, compare what the Torah writes in verse 34, where it describes the soil of the land of Israel making up during their exile for the years when its owners did not observe the shmittah legislation.

על חטאתיכם, “for your (various) sins.” Compare Psalms 44,23 where the psalmist writes: כי עליך הורגנו כל היום, “since for Your sake we are being killed all day long.” (the word על being used in the same sense) Also compare Psalms 69,8:כי עליך נשאתי חרפה, “for on Your account I have been reviled.”

ושברתי את גאון עוזכם, “I will break the pride of your power;” this has to be contrasted with verse 13 where the Torah described G-d as breaking all the yokes that the Egyptians had used to keep the Israelites down. This is stage one in this process of humbling the Jewish people. Step two follows with: ונתתי שמיכם ברזל, “I will make your heaven as iron;” this is the contrast to verse 4 where rain was promised to fall at the appropriate time of the year.

ואת ארצכם נחושת, “and your soil like copper.” This contrasts the word בעתם, “at their proper time” in verse 4 above. This was a separate blessing, i.e. the third one.

The word נחושת, “copper,” is a noun, as in Psalms 18,35: ונחתה קשת נחושה זרועותי, “my arms can bend a bow of copper.”

ותם לריק כוכחם, “your strength will be spent in vain.” This is the opposite of verse 5, ובציר ישיג את זרע, “and the grape harvest will last until it is time to sew again.” We find the expression כח used in connection with harvest in Genesis 4,12 when G-d tells Kayin that the earth will not continue to give its strength to him as it had cooperated with him in hiding his brother’s blood. This is the fourth curse.

ולא תתן ארצכם את יבולה, “your land will not yield its harvest.” This is the fifth curse.

לא יתן פריו, “the trees will not yield their fruit.” This is the sixth curse. According to Rashi, this is a twofold curse. (as it refers both to the trunks of the trees and their fruit)

ואם תלכו עמי קרי, “but if you will walk with Me as if what happens to you is only coincidental;”

שבע על חטאתכם, “seven plagues;” just as your sins were committed by ignoring the legislation governing activities in the seventh year.

והשלחתי בכם וגו, “I shall send forth against you, etc.;” this corresponds to the blessing in verse 6, where G-d promises to destroy or keep in check wild beasts as a reward for our keeping the Torah. Seeing that the positive virtues are always evident in greater measure than the negative ones, when speaking about the wild beasts in the blessings, when referring to the wild beasts in the curses, the Torah uses the whole species, חיה רעה, whereas when referring to them in the context of His blessings, He mentions only “free roaming animals of the field,” not the whole species.

ושכלה אתכם,”He will cause you bereavement amongst your children;” this is the opposite of when in the blessings the Torah portrayed you as pursuing your enemies (verse 9). Now that you have suffered bereavements you will not have enough people left to pursue your enemies.

והכריתה את בהמתכם, “it will destroy your cattle;” this corresponds to the blessing in verse 6 where wild beasts are destroyed, thus protecting your cattle against attack. The word מן הארץ, in verse 6, a second time is the link to the word from the land is the link to the והמעיטה, “it will diminish your numbers,” in our verse here. [The reader will notice to what length our author goes to demonstrate how the curses match the blessings throughout this chapter. Ed.]

The word והמעיטה is exactly the opposite of the words והרביתי, “I will make more numerous,” in verse 9 of the blessings in our chapter.

ונשמו דרכיכם, “your ways will become desolate.” This is the opposite of ונתתי שלום בארץ, “I will grant peace in your land;” [when no one will be scared to walk alone on these ways. Ed.] This is the conclusion of the seven curses as explained by Rashi.

והלכתי אף אני עמכם בקרי, “and I too will walk with you as if what happens to you is only coincidental, and not related to your disloyalty to Me.” [This will make it harder for you to return to Me in penitence, as you cannot see cause and effect in your history. Ed.] This is another example of the punishment fitting the crime.

חרב, “sword,” this is the opposite of the promise in verse 6, that no sword will cross the boundaries of your land. Regarding this “sword,” Isaiah 1,20, has said that you will be devoured by it. נוקמת נקם הברית “it shall execute the vengeance of the covenant (that has been broken by you.) The Torah had warned of this already in Exodus 24,8, when it was first described as a great blessing for you. In Vayikra Rabbah 35,6, the author, quoting Isaiah 1,18, אם תאבו ושמעתם טוב הארץ תאכלו, speaks of if you will agree and listen you will eat of the best the earth has to offer,” adding that “you will be devoured by the sword if you do not listen.”Rashi adds on our verse that there is also a vengeance that is not related to this covenant between the Jewish people and their G-d, citing the gouging out of King Tzidkiyahu’s eyes for having broken a covenant with King Nebuchadnezzar. (Torat Kohanim) This is a form of vengeance not mentioned in the Torah. [The first time we encounter it occurs with Shimshon, whose eyes were gouged out by the Philisitines, but in his caseaccording to our sages, it was actually retribution not for what he had done to the Philistines, but by what he had done to himself by following his eyes when repeatedly choosing Philistine women to cohabit with. The Torah, and Shimshon’s father, had warned him not to rely on what his eyes saw when choosing a wife. Ed.] There is yet another kind of vengeance not mentioned in the Torah, which is also described as violation of a covenant; When the Torah wrote in Deuteronomy 28,69, at the end of Moses’ version of the reprimands, Tochachah, אלה דברי בהרית, “these are the words of (warning) of the covenant concluded with the people at Mount Chorev,” the very word: אלה “these,” hints to us that in addition to “these,” there may be other contractual and mutual obligations, but not necessarily the ones entered into at Mount Sinai. [Keeping one’s solemn promise surely did not have to become part of morality only after the Jewish people accepted the Torah. Our forefathers already encountered this problem in their lives, Ed.]

ונאספתם אל עריכם, “you shall be gathered within your cities;” you will have to take refuge within the walls of your cities from the swords of your enemies. Even this defensive measure will prove useless; because pestilence will break out amongst you within these cities, and you will be delivered into the hands of your enemies. This is the second curse contrasted with verse 13 where G-d promised that He will lead us in upright and selfconfident posture. The third plague follows when the Torah writes here that we will be delivered to our enemies as opposed to verse 8, when the Jewish people were described as so powerful and feared that a mere one hundred of them put to flight 10000 of their attackers. This is the third of the seven curses, the fourth being that you will fall before your enemies instead of at least being able to save your lives.

בשברי לכם מטה הלחם, ”when I break your staff of bread;” this curse is the reverse of the blessing in verse 5 that we will eat our bread and find that it satisfies our requirements and we will be sated. This is the fifth curse. והשיבו לחמכם במשקל, “and they shall deliver your bread again by weight;” the vowel under the letter is a patach. Dough which has been put inside the oven for baking will be found not to have increased in weight. The entire expression symbolises how even the little that is available will be measured minutely. This curse is contrasted with the blessing in verse 10 where the abundance of food is described as lasting well into the next harvest season. It is the sixth of the seven curses.

ואכלתם ולא תשבעו, “even when you eat that you will not experience the feeling of having been sated.” This is the opposite of the blessing in verse 10 that you will eat from grain long held in storage.

ויסרתי, “I will chastise;” the vowels here are: sh’va, followed by chirik. [strong conjugation piel. Ed.]

ואכלתם בשר בניכם, “you will eat the flesh of your children.” This curse corresponds to the blessing in verse 9 והפרתי אתכם, “I will make you fruitful.”Some commentators understand this as referring to children who are from highly respected families getting married to families of far lower social standing, by trading their superior ancestry for making an alliance with a wealthier family through marriage. If so, this would be the first curse.

והשמדתי את במותיכם והכרתי את חמניכם, “I will destroy your high places and cut down your sun pillars;” This is not part of the curses, as it refers simply to your idols being destroyed.

חמניכם, from the word חמה, another word for “sun, שמש; the letter נ in this word is extraneous, just as the letter נ in the word נשים for “women” is extraneous in the expression: נשים רחמניות, (Lamentations 4,10)

ונתתי את פגריכם על פגרי גלוליכם, “I will cast your carcasses next to the carcasses of your idols.” This curse corresponds to the blessing in verse 12: “I will be your G-d, and you will be My people.” This is the second curse.

וגעלה נפשי אתכם, “My soul shall abhor you.” This corresponds to the blessing in verse 11 that “My soul will not abhor you.” This is the third curse.

עריכם חרבה, ”your cities will be waste;” this must be contrasted with the blessing in verse 5, “you will pursue etc.” This is the fourth curse.

והשימותי את מקדשיכם, “I will lay waste your sanctuaries.” This is to be contrasted with the blessing of ונתתי משכני בתוככם, “I will set My Tabernacle amongst you in verse 11. This is the fifth curse.

ולא אריח ברית ניחוחכם, “I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.” This may be contrasted with the blessing in verse 12: והתהלכתי בתוככם, “I will go for walks amongst you.” This is the sixth of the curses.

והשמותי אני את הארץ, “I will bring the land into desolation;”

ושממו עליה אויביכם, but your enemies will be amazed by the desolation in your country. Your cities will also become desolate, i.e. ארצכם שממה ועריכם יהיו חרבה. We find a repetition here.

How am I going to do this? ואתכם אזרה בגויים, “I will scatter you among the nations.” This is to be contrasted with verse 5 of the blessings where the Torah promised that you will dwell securely in your land. This is the seventh of the curses.

אז תרצה הארץ, “then the land be recompensed for the Sabbath (years) [during which it had been worked although it should have been allowed to rest. Ed.] After 6 of the evil decrees which we demonstrated as representing a measure for measure type of punishment have already been endured by you, i.e. you should work the land for six years consecutively and then let it rest during the seventh year, the land will finally enjoy a rest during the seventh year. It will make up for all the sh’mittah years you had not observed during the 70 years of your exile. [It will experience 70 consecutive such sh’mittah years. Ed.]

תרצה; this expression also occurs in the sense in which we have translated it in Psalms 49,14: ואחריהם בפיהם ירצו, “and their descendants approve of them with what they have learned from their mouths.”A different approach to our verse: the word תרצה is to be understood as equivalent to תשלים, “will conclude.” Compare Job 14,6: עד ירצה כשכיר יומו, “until he finishes his day like a hireling.” Or: כי נרצה עונו, “for her sin has been expiated;” (Isaiah 40,2) A third interpretation: the meaning of the word is: “to become reconciled, to have made peace, settled a disagreement.” This would be reflected by Psalms 77,8: ולא יוסיף לרצות עוד, “and will He never again show favour?” Psalms 145,16, ומשביע לכל חי רצון, “and You feed every living creature to its heart content,” also reflects this sentiment.

אז תשבת הארץ, “then the land will rest.” The letter ב has the vowel patach, [the word being a verb. Ed.]

כל ימי השמה, “during all the years of its being desolate;” it will be as if emptied out of its people.

תשבות, “it shall have rest;” the word is spelled with the vowel cholem, on account of the cantillation mark etnachta under it. Compare Psalms 114,3: הים ראה וינוס, “the sea saw and fled;” and verse 34 that we just read: והרצת את שבתתיה, “and repay her Sabbaths.”

והנשארים בכם והבאתי מורך בלבבם, “and I will bring faintness into the hearts of those that are left of them;” I shall continue to heap more curses upon them until they have endured 49 curses corresponding to the yovel cycle of 49 years that they have ignored.

מורך בלבבם, this is the first plague; ורדף אותם קול עלה, “and even the sound of a leaf fluttering in the wind will frighten them.” This is the second plague.

ונסו מנוסת חרב, “they will flee from it as if fleeing from a sword.” This is the third plague.

ונפלו ואין רודף, “they will fall even though there was no pursuer.” This is the fourth plague.

וכשלו איש באחיו כמפני חרב ורודף אין, “they will stumble upon one another, as if on account of a sword although there is no pursuer;” there is some repetition here.

ולא תהיה לכם תקומה, “you will not have the strength to stand up to your enemies.” This is the fifth curse.

ואבדת בגויים, “you will perish among the nations.” This is the sixth curse. Exile is also called אובד, as we know from Psalms 119,176: תעיתי כשה אובד, “I have strayed like a lost sheep.”

ואכלה אתכם ארץ אויביכם, “and the land of your enemies will eat you up." This is the seventh plague. What is meant here is that the frequent need for you to change your place of residence and to move to different climates, will not give you an opportunity to acclimatize to the climate and result in disease and death. (Ibn Ezra).

אף אני אלך עמכם בקרי, “also I will walk with you as if what befalls you was coincidental; even though by now the people had confessed that they had sinned, seeing that they had not taken the next step and done penitence, I cannot relent yet.”

או אז יכנע לבבם הערל, “if perchance their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled;” then I will remember My covenant, etc;” I will continue to reciprocate then in their favour, as recognition of their penitence; as we know from Hoseah 14,4: ומודה ועוזב ירוחם, “[inaccurate quote, the prophet says there that when the people no longer treat their man made idols as deities, they will experience G-d’s mercy. Ed.]

וזכרתי את בריתי יעקב, “I will remember My covenant with Yaakov;” seeing that none of Yaakov's children were disloyal to his teachings, the Torah did not use the word “אף,” “anger,” in connection with Yaakov, as during all his 147 years he had been loyal to G-d, and that is also why the Torah here mentions the word: “My covenant,” first. [According to Ibn Ezra, not all the years that Avraham lived were lived after G-d had made a covenant with him. Yaakov also experienced prophetic insights at an earlier age than his father and grandfather. Ed.]

והארץ אזכור, “and I will remember the land (fondly).” This statement annuls the two statements in verses 32 and 20 in which the bounty of the land was denied to the errant Jewish people.

ותרץ הארץ את שבתותיה, והם ירצו את עונם, “and the land will be paid her Sabbaths, and they shall be paid for their sins.” This is the retribution for 49 years of ignoring the yovel legislation during which also seven sh’mittah years were ignored. There will be reconciliation between the people and their G-d. They will be penitent, admitting that what they had been made to suffer was only because of their disloyalty to their G-d, and their totally negative attitude to His Torah. An alternate interpretation of this verse: “they will complete thee punishment for their sins”. A similar construction to this would be found in Samuel I 28,10: אם יקרך עון בדבר הזה, “if you would be punished for a sin on account of this matter.“ [King Shaul to the witch of Endor. Ed.]

ואף גם זאת בהיותם בארץ אויביהם, “and yet, in spite of their being in the land of their enemies, etc.;” what has been left for the surviving Israelites who have been deprived of all that had made their lives worth living?” G-d promises that the most precious of their possessions, the Torah, they had not been deprived of, and this will make them distinguished even when in exile and the nations look down upon them. This is what the famous liturgist had in mind when he composed the phrase: ואין שיור רק התורה הזאת, “there is nothing left except this Torah.” [zechor brit, recited as part of the selichot, near the end of the Ne’ilah prayer on the Day of Atonement.” Ed.

וזכרתי להם ברית ראשונם, “I will remember in their favour the covenant with the earlier generations;” from this verse we learn that the covenant was concluded with the different tribes [at the time when the people left Egypt]. The curses, i.e. admonitions, we have just read are referred to as the brit, covenant, as spelled out in Deuteronomy 28,69: אלה דברי הברית מלבד הברית אשר כרת אתם בחורב, “these are the words of the covenant, apart from the covenant He made with them at Mount Chorev.”