The Focus Verse
“The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.”
— Deuteronomy 28:43 (NIV)
Introduction: Understanding the Context
Deuteronomy 28:43 is part of one of the most sobering passages in Scripture—a chapter that details both the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience to God’s covenant. This verse specifically addresses the reversal of fortunes that would occur if the Israelites turned away from God’s commandments.
To fully understand this verse, we must examine it within the broader biblical narrative of covenant relationship, obedience, blessing, consequence, and ultimately, redemption. This comprehensive guide presents 50 Bible verses that illuminate the themes surrounding Deuteronomy 28:43, helping us grasp both the severity of turning from God and the hope of restoration through His grace.
1. Deuteronomy 28:1
“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.”
This opening verse of Deuteronomy 28 establishes the conditional nature of the covenant—obedience leads to blessing.
2. Deuteronomy 28:15
“However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you.”
The flip side of the covenant—disobedience leads to consequences.
3. Exodus 19:5-6
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
God’s original covenant promise to Israel at Mount Sinai.
4. Leviticus 26:3-4
“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.”
Another covenant passage showing God’s desire to bless obedience.
5. Deuteronomy 11:26-28
“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God.”
The clear choice presented to Israel: blessing or curse.
6. Joshua 1:8
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
The path to blessing through meditation on and obedience to God’s Word.
7. Deuteronomy 30:19-20
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God.”
The dramatic choice between life and death, blessing and curse.
8. 2 Chronicles 7:14
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
God’s promise of restoration when His people repent.
9. Jeremiah 7:23
“But I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.”
The relationship between obedience and wellbeing.
10. Psalm 81:13-14
“If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!”
God’s desire for His people’s obedience and His readiness to protect them.
11. Deuteronomy 28:2-6
“All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country…”
The comprehensive nature of God’s blessings.
12. Deuteronomy 28:12
“The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.”
God’s provision from heaven for the obedient.
13. Psalm 1:1-3
“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD… That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.”
The prosperity that comes from delighting in God’s Word.
14. Proverbs 3:9-10
“Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
The blessing that comes from honoring God with our resources.
15. Malachi 3:10-11
“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.'”
God’s invitation to test His faithfulness in blessing.
16. Isaiah 1:19
“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land.”
The connection between willingness, obedience, and provision.
17. James 1:25
“But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
New Testament affirmation of blessing through obedience.
18. John 13:17
“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
Jesus affirming that blessing comes through action, not just knowledge.
19. Psalm 128:1-2
“Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.”
The fruit of labor for those who fear God.
20. Luke 11:28
“He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.'”
Jesus’ declaration about true blessedness.
21. Deuteronomy 28:20
“The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.”
The comprehensive nature of consequences for forsaking God.
22. Deuteronomy 28:38-40
“You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.”
The frustration of unrealized labor.
23. Leviticus 26:14-16
“But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever.”
The covenant curses parallel to Deuteronomy 28.
24. Judges 2:14-15
“In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them.”
Historical fulfillment of covenant curses.
25. Proverbs 13:15
“Good judgment wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction.”
The destructive path of unfaithfulness.
26. Isaiah 59:1-2
“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”
Sin creates separation from God’s blessing.
27. Jeremiah 5:25
“Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.”
Sin deprives us of the good God intends for us.
28. Hosea 8:7
“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.”
The principle of sowing and reaping consequences.
29. Galatians 6:7-8
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
New Testament affirmation of the sowing and reaping principle.
30. Romans 2:8-9
“But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil.”
The consequence of rejecting truth and pursuing evil.
31. 2 Kings 25:8-11
“On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem… He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem.”
The Babylonian exile—a fulfillment of covenant curses.
32. Lamentations 5:2
“Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.”
Jeremiah’s lament reflecting the reality of Deuteronomy 28:43.
33. Nehemiah 9:36-37
“But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us.”
Recognition of the consequences of disobedience.
34. Ezekiel 36:19-20
“I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name.”
God’s judgment through dispersion.
35. Daniel 1:1-2
“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.”
God allowing conquest as consequence.
36. Deuteronomy 30:1-3
“When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him… then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you.”
God’s promise of restoration after judgment.
37. Jeremiah 29:10-11
“When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God’s promise even in exile.
38. Joel 2:25
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you.”
God’s promise to restore what was lost.
39. Ezekiel 36:24-26
“For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.”
The promise of spiritual and physical restoration.
40. Isaiah 61:7
“Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.”
The reversal of shame and disgrace.
41. Zechariah 8:12-13
“The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing.”
From curse to blessing through God’s restoration.
42. Hosea 14:4
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”
God’s free love and healing after judgment.
43. Isaiah 1:18
“‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'”
The invitation to restoration and cleansing.
44. Lamentations 3:22-23
“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Hope in the midst of judgment.
45. Micah 7:18-19
“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
God’s character of mercy and forgiveness.
46. Galatians 3:13-14
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus.”
Christ bearing the curse of the law for us.
47. 2 Corinthians 5:21
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The great exchange—our sin for His righteousness.
48. Romans 8:1-2
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
Freedom from condemnation through Christ.
49. Ephesians 2:4-5
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
Salvation by grace, not by perfect obedience.
50. Colossians 2:13-14
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”
The cancellation of our debt through the cross.
Theological Themes and Applications
The Nature of God’s Covenant
Deuteronomy 28:43 must be understood within the framework of covenant theology. God established a covenant with Israel that was conditional—blessing for obedience, consequences for disobedience. This wasn’t arbitrary harshness but the natural outworking of relationship. When we align ourselves with God’s ways, we experience flourishing. When we turn from Him, we experience the consequences of that separation.
The Seriousness of Sin
These verses remind us that sin has real consequences. God takes disobedience seriously because He knows its destructive power. The reversal described in Deuteronomy 28:43—where the foreigner rises above and God’s people sink lower—illustrates the complete undoing of the blessing relationship when covenant is broken.
God’s Heart for Restoration
Despite the severity of the consequences described, the overwhelming testimony of Scripture is God’s desire to restore. Even in passages describing judgment, we find hints of hope and promises of restoration. God disciplines those He loves, not to destroy but to restore.
The Gospel Solution
The New Testament reveals the ultimate solution to the curse of the law: Jesus Christ. He became the curse for us, bearing the judgment we deserved, so that we might receive the blessing we don’t deserve. In Christ, we’re no longer under the conditional covenant of Deuteronomy but under the new covenant of grace.
Practical Application for Today
1. Recognize the Principle Still Applies
While we’re not under the Old Covenant, the principle that our choices have consequences remains true. Obedience to God leads to blessing and flourishing; disobedience leads to difficulty and separation from God’s best for us.
2. Don’t Fear the Curse—Trust the Cross
Christians need not live in fear of divine punishment. Christ has borne the curse for us. However, we should live in reverent awareness that our choices matter and that God’s ways are always best.
3. Return Quickly When You Stray
The path of restoration begins with repentance. When you recognize you’ve turned from God’s ways, don’t delay in returning. His arms are always open to receive you back.
4. Value God’s Word
The Israelites experienced blessing or curse based on their relationship with God’s Word. We too must value Scripture, meditating on it and allowing it to shape our lives.
5. Trust God’s Character
Even in discipline, God’s character is love. He is the God who restores, who redeems, who brings beauty from ashes. Trust Him even in seasons of consequence.
Conclusion
Deuteronomy 28:43 is a sobering verse, but it’s not the end of the story. The biblical narrative moves from creation to fall, from covenant to broken covenant, from judgment to restoration, and ultimately to redemption through Christ.
Yes, turning from God has consequences. Yes, sin leads to reversal of blessing. But the overwhelming message of Scripture is that God is in the business of restoration. He specializes in bringing dead things to life, in making streams in the wasteland, in turning mourning into dancing.
For those who have experienced the consequences of disobedience, there is hope. For those walking in obedience, there is encouragement to continue. And for all of us, there is the cross—where curse became blessing, where death became life, where we who were sinking low were raised to sit with Christ in the heavenly places.
Robert Hugh Benson shares inspiring Bible verses and faith-filled reflections on Prayer Forest to guide readers toward peace, hope, and prayer.