 Professor Gerhard von Rad of Heidelberg University in the mid-20th-century argued that the section of curses attracted gradual amplifications after the catastrophe of the exile of 587 BCE.Von Rad saw the original set of curses in and 43–44, followed by a formal conclusion and summing up in 

In some Biblical translations, chapter 28 of Deuteronomy ends with "These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which He made with them in Horeb," reading therefore that the covenant made or renewed at Moab was the one detailed in the preceding chapters of Deuteronomy.In the majority of modern texts, however, these words form verse 1 of chapter 29.