Deuteronomy 28

Have you ever read Deuteronomy 28? Seems like a random chapter, right? We're not talking Genesis 1 or John 1 or 1 Corinthians 13 here!

I've probably read Deuteronomy 28 over thirty times in my life. You know how pastors/priests always tell us to read the Bible as a family? Well, my dad was really big on Family Bible Time. And most of the time, when we read the Bible as a family, we read Deuteronomy 28. Even if we read another chapter, we'd start with this one.

The first 14 verses are awesome. The next 54 are frightful.

Whenever my grandmother was there for FBT, she would always say, "Can't we just stop after the good part" And dad would insist we read it all, each daughter taking a turn, reading a few verses.

Fourteen verses of blessings, the blessings that come with following the one true and living God.

Then 54 parallel curses that come with betraying Him.

I learned a lot, for sure. Some lessons were spiritual: not necessarily that God was scary but that life without Him is. Some lessons were linguistic: it was my introduction to the words siege, placenta, and sole (of the foot).

My favorite part to read out loud was the very last verse. I would nearly get jealous if it was a different sister's turn to read that part. In my mind as a Coptic immigrant, it read so ominously it could have been Poe and not Moses who wrote it.

"And the LORD will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, 'You shall never see it again.' And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

BUT NO ONE WILL BUY YOU! DUN DUN DAAAA! No, seriously. Turn your back on His commandments, and you'll be a slave. And such worthless goods at that you won't even be worth a purchase price.

Anyway, I recommend a read. It's a good reminder that all goodness flows from God, and without Him life is (simply) not.