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Deuteronomy 28 · a question people ask

Why are the curses so much longer than the blessings?

In the text

The blessings run for fourteen verses (28:1-14); the curses for fifty-four (28:15-68). The chapter doesn't say why. It does say what the curses would be for and why they would come. "They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever" (28:46). They would come "because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice" (28:45), and "If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD your God" (28:58). And the curses are not Moses' last word. Two chapters later he says, "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants" (30:19).

The verses

“All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever.”
Deuteronomy 28:45-46 · World English Bible
“If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD your God,”
Deuteronomy 28:58 · World English Bible
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants,”
Deuteronomy 30:19 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Deuteronomy 28

Deuteronomy 28: Blessings that overtake you

Six times "blessed" (28:3-6) are answered by six times "cursed" (28:16-19); the blessings "overtake" those who listen (28:2); one reason given for the curses is not serving the LORD "with joyfulness" in "the abundance of all things" (28:47); and the last curse is "into Egypt again" (28:68).

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Last reviewed September 26, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions