Deuteronomy 27 · a question people ask
Six tribes stand "to bless the people". So why are all twelve sayings curses?
Six tribes are to stand on Mount Gerizim "to bless the people" (27:12), and six on Mount Ebal "for the curse" (27:13). But the sayings in 27:15-26 all begin "Cursed is", and the chapter gives no words for the blessing. Readers agree on what the text shows: the Levites speak the twelve curses (27:14), all the people answer "Amen" (27:15-26), and the next chapter has blessings as well as curses (28:3-6, 28:16-19). When Joshua carried out the command, "he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse" (Joshua 8:34). They read the missing blessing in two main ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The blessing comes in chapter 28
Those who hold this view read chapters 27 and 28 as one scene, with the blessing spoken in 28:3-6. There "blessed" comes six times: "You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field" (28:3). In 28:16-19 "cursed" comes six times: "You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field" (28:16). They note that Joshua read "the blessing and the curse" (Joshua 8:34).
Deuteronomy 28:3-6 · Deuteronomy 28:16-19 · Joshua 8:34
The Levites' curses are a separate act
Those who hold this view read the Levites' twelve curses as a different act from the tribes on the two mountains. The tribes "stand" (27:12-13); "the Levites shall say to all the men of Israel" (27:14); and "All the people shall answer" (27:15). On this reading the chapter doesn't record what was spoken from Gerizim, and the Levites' twelve sayings end with the one that gathers up the whole law: "Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them" (27:26).
Deuteronomy 27:12-15 · Deuteronomy 27:26
The verses
“You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out.”
“You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed. You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out.”
“Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law.”