11 All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You.

12 You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.

13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth.

14 Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it upon us. For the LORD our God is righteous in all He does; yet we have not obeyed His voice.

— Daniel 9:11-14

26 See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—

27 a blessing if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you today,

28 but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

— Deuteronomy 11:26-28

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and salvation from Christ to you.

God keeps His promises to not only give blessings but also to bring punishment. The exile of God’s people fulfilled the curses God promised through Moses and the judgments God foretold. The unprecedented destruction of Jerusalem, foretold by Jeremiah and carried out by Babylon, pointed to worse trauma yet to come. Rome’s conquest in AD 70 delivered God’s righteous judgment. The massive global conflict during earth’s final days remains just as certain.

Humanity’s refusal to repent, even amid disaster, reveals the darkness of the human heart. People do not naturally turn away from their sin and toward God. Our disaster is deserved. As Daniel recounted the persistent sin of God’s people, he affirmed the just and holy character of the God who brought judgment: “For the LORD our God is righteous in everything He does; yet we have not obeyed Him.”