Deu. 11:26-28
Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
The blessing, if you listen to the commandments of יהוה your Mighty One which I am commanding you this day.
And the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of יהוה your Mighty One but turn aside out of the Way which I am commanding you today, by following other mighty ones which you have not known.”
Moses speaks of these blessings and curses in chapters 27-28 and references them again in 30:1 and 30:15-20. Like those he had vocalized to the previous generation (Lev. 26), these blessings and curses were conditional to how the people would react to the instructions the Almighty gave them.
Deu. 11:29
And it shall come to pass, when יהוה your Mighty One brings you into the Land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal.”
This is also repeated in chapters 27:12, 13
These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people…
And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal for the curse…”
The initial curse(s) are specifically listed in Deu. 27:15-26. The blessings are listed in 28:1-13. Additional maledictions are then listed in 28:15-68.
The good news is that after all these terrible things happen, He gave them something to look forward to:
Deu. 30:1-6
And it shall be, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse…
And you shall return to יהוה your Mighty One, and listen to His voice…
That then יהוה your Mighty One will turn your captivity and have compassion on you and will return and gather you from all the peoples where יהוה your Mighty One has scattered you.
If any of you are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there יהוה your Mighty One will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.
And יהוה your Mighty One will bring you into the Land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it…
And יהוה your Mighty One will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your descendants, to love יהוה your Mighty One with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live.”
The promise YAH gave here is that His people would one day return to Him. They would listen to Him and obey Him. They would love Him with all their heart and with all their being.
While living in exile in the “uttermost parts of heaven” (Deu. 30:4) and the “four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:12), we would repent. He will send His Messiah to bring us back into the Land. He will put His words in our hearts in a way we cannot do ourselves.
Deu. 30:1
The blessing and the curse that Moses had spoken of in chapter 11 (26-28) has indeed come upon us as a people. Our ancestors rejected the words of their Redeemer. We can see this recorded throughout the Scriptures.
Consequently, the curse mentioned in Lev. 26:33, Deu. 4:27, and Deu. 28:64 came to pass. We were taken captive by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. The people who wish to live in the Promised Land with His Government in place are now scattered throughout the Middle East, Africa, the “islands of the sea” (Isa. 11:11) —even to the “ends of the earth” (Isa. 43:6).
There is hope. One day the Almighty will send His Messiah “a second time” (Isa. 11:11) to gather His people.
As we eagerly await His return, we must do our part and return to Him. What does His messenger say? “Return to me, and I will return to you” (Zec. 1:3; Mal. 3:7).
As Hoshea prophesied, the Messiah will return to us from His departure when we diligently look for Him (Hos. 5:15). We have become like a woman in labor, as the prophet Yeshayahu declared. We must cry out to יהוּה in our anguish (Isa. 26:16-17).
Hos. 5:15 and Isa. 26:16 are thus tied to Deu. 4:29-30:
Today is the day; now is the time to seek Him with all our hearts. It is time to reject all forms of idolatry. We must stop serving the works of our hands. We must abandon our practice of supplementing Scripture with the laws of our sages. Deu. 13:1. It has been long enough.
Isa. 55:6, 7
Deu. 4:31