• Skin inflammation (v. 27)
• Blindness (vv. 28-29)
• loss of house, wife and proprty (vv. 30a, 30b, 33)
• constant abuse and robbery

According to a commentary in the new Jewish Study Bible, these curses are associated with particular 'gods' in the Neo-Assyrian pantheon, one of the Land's near neighbors:

• The moon god, Sin, is responsible for leprosy
• The Mesopotamian sun god, Shamash for blindness, and
• Dilipat (the planet Venus) for rape, dispossession and pillage by a foreign army.
• Shamash is also the god of justice, and so apt punishment for worshiping him would be the breakdown of law and order.

The arrangement of the curses follows the rank of the deities within that pantheon's hierarchy."

These punishments now seem entirely appropriate, in view of the Torah's strict warnings to the Israelites to guard against worshipping foreign gods when they finally enter their Land.

Enjoy these other commentaries centered on Ki-Tavo!

Making Room for God

The Ceremony of the Covenant

Saying Thanks