Deuteronomy 28 is the longest chapter in Deuteronomy and one of the most-cited covenant chapters in the entire Old Testament. The Deuteronomy 28 quiz below tests the brief opening section of blessings, the long catalogue of curses, and the closing reversal that ends the chapter.
Pair it with the Deuteronomy 27 quiz on the Mount Ebal ceremony that precedes it, the Deuteronomy 29 quiz on the Moab covenant renewal that follows, and the entire Bible quiz.
Deuteronomy 28 Quiz Questions and Answers
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Answer 1: D. The siege-cannibalism curse is one of the most appalling in the chapter. The verse names the eating of one’s own children explicitly, and the curse is later recorded as fulfilled at the siege of Samaria (2 Kings 6:28-29) and again in Lamentations 4:10 during the fall of Jerusalem.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:53. “And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters… in the siege, and in the straitness.”
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Answer 2: B. The verb “overtake” is striking — blessings here are personified as pursuers that catch up with the obedient. The same verb appears with reversed direction in verse 15, where the curses “overtake” the disobedient. The chapter uses identical language for both outcomes, signalling that obedience and disobedience trigger active pursuits.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:2. “And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.”
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Answer 3: A. Two parallel pairs: head/tail and above/beneath. The metaphors are spatial and political — top of the body and top of the structure. Verse 44 reverses both pairs explicitly when the stranger becomes head and Israel becomes tail in the curse section.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:13. “And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath.”
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Answer 4: E. The phrase “rest for the sole of thy foot” recalls Genesis 8:9, where the dove finds no rest. The image is of a wandering people perpetually unable to settle. Hebrews 4:1-11 develops the theological inverse — the people of God seeking the rest the wilderness generation forfeited.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:65. “And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest.”
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Answer 5: C. The verb “cleave” is the same Hebrew root used in Genesis 2:24 of marital union (“a man shall… cleave unto his wife”) — a covenantal bonding. Here the chapter uses the same verb to describe pestilence as inseparable from the disobedient, an attachment that lasts until consumption.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:21. “The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land.”
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Answer 6: A. The verse is the reverse of the head/tail blessing in verse 13. The “very high” and “very low” intensifiers are deliberate rhetorical doublings that mark a complete inversion of social standing. Verse 44 extends the same reversal: the stranger lends, Israel borrows; the stranger is the head, Israel is the tail.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:43. “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.”
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Answer 7: E. Brass refuses to release rain; iron refuses to yield crop. The metaphor is one of total agricultural collapse from above and below simultaneously. Leviticus 26:19 uses the inverse pairing (“heaven as iron, earth as brass”) — both metals figure in covenant curse language across the Pentateuch.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:23. “And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.”
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Answer 8: C. Three internal afflictions: heart, eyes, mind. The curse is psychological as much as physical. The “trembling heart” recurs in verse 67 as the source of the morning-and-evening cry. The chapter consistently treats internal terror as a more lasting punishment than external loss.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:65. “the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.”
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Answer 9: B. The cry is identical in structure morning and evening but with the times reversed — a perfect verbal symmetry that captures the impossibility of escape from terror. Each end of the day longs for the other end. The verse names “the fear of thine heart” and “the sight of thine eyes” as the reasons.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:67. “In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning!”
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Answer 10: D. The eagle simile signals speed of arrival; the language barrier signals the depth of foreignness. Habakkuk 1:8 uses the same eagle image of the Chaldean invasion. Both passages draw on the imagery of an inescapable, alien predator descending from the heights.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:49. “The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth.”
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Answer 11: E. The reason is named in the second half of the verse: “for the locust shall consume it.” The same pattern recurs in verses 39-42 with vineyard, olive, and tree — labour without yield as a defining curse. Joel 1-2 develops the locust-as-judgment theme at length.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:38. “Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.”
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Answer 12: C. Four diseases named in sequence, all skin afflictions. The “botch of Egypt” links to the sixth plague of Exodus 9:9-11 (boils with blains). The verse closes with “whereof thou canst not be healed” — the curse removes not only health but the possibility of recovery.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:27. “The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch.”
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Answer 13: D. Three internal afflictions affecting mind, sight, and heart. The next verse develops the blindness specifically: “thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness.” The chapter treats mental and perceptual collapse as covenantal punishments equal in severity to physical disease.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:28. “The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart.”
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Answer 14: A. Three nouns of public shame in sequence: astonishment (involuntary reaction), proverb (recurring saying), byword (mocking nickname). The verse signals not just defeat but lasting cultural memory of the defeat — Israel’s name itself becomes a warning used by other peoples.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:37. “And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.”
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Answer 15: B. Lending without borrowing signifies economic independence and surplus. Verse 44 reverses this exactly: under the curse the stranger lends, and Israel cannot lend back. The chapter uses the lending direction as a precise barometer of covenantal standing.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:12. “and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.”
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Answer 16: C. Iron is the heaviest and least removable of the metals. The “until he have destroyed thee” closing clause makes the yoke not merely a hardship but a process of consumption. Jeremiah 28 develops the iron yoke as a symbol of Babylonian captivity, drawing on this exact image.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:48. “and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.”
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Answer 17: A. The verse reaches back to Exodus 19:6 (“a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation”) and forward to 1 Peter 2:9. The “as he hath sworn” clause grounds the establishment in patriarchal oath, not present worthiness.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:9. “The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee.”
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Answer 18: B. Three labours fail in succession: planting, dressing, and harvest. The verse names the worm as the destroyer of the vineyard. The same labour-without-reward pattern repeats with the olive (v.40) and the field (v.38). The chapter treats agricultural futility as a defining mark of the curse.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:39. “Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.”
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Answer 19: D. The closing verse of the chapter reverses the entire Exodus story. Egypt was the land they were brought out of “with an high hand”; they now return as goods on ships, and the market does not even want them. The image is of total covenantal collapse — slavery beyond the reach of buyer or seller.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:68. “And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships… and ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.”
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Answer 20: E. The reduction reverses the patriarchal promise of Genesis 22:17 and 26:4. The chapter’s logic is precise: the very promise that defined Israel’s blessing becomes the scale against which their loss is measured. Population collapse becomes a verdict on covenantal failure.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:62. “And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude.”
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Answer 21: C. “His good treasure” is named explicitly as the heaven that holds the rain. This is the inverse of the brass-heaven curse of verse 23. The chapter consistently treats rainfall as the primary gift — the difference between blessing and curse is whether the heavens open or shut.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:12. “The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season.”
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Answer 22: A. Out one way, flee seven — the numerical reversal is exact and ironic. Verse 7 promised the same numerical pattern in reverse for the obedient enemy. The chapter uses the same numbers in opposite directions to mark obedience and disobedience as mirror outcomes.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:25. “thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.”
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Answer 23: B. The verse names the irony directly: the diseases Israel feared in Egypt would now be brought upon them. The plagues that fell on the oppressor become the inheritance of the disobedient covenant nation. The chapter inverts the Exodus by making Israel the new target of plagues that once delivered them.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:60. “Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.”
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Answer 24: D. The verse closes by naming what is missing: “and no man shall fray them away.” Burial denied is the deepest dishonour in the chapter’s economy. Jeremiah 7:33 and 16:4 reuse this exact image of carcasses left for fowls and beasts as a sign of judgment.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:26. “And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.”
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Answer 25: E. The verse names three categories of fruit: body (children), ground (crops), and cattle (livestock — specified as “the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep”). The triad covers human, agricultural, and pastoral fertility. Verse 18 reverses the same triad exactly under the curse.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 28:4. “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.”
