Leviticus 26
26
Promise of Blessing and Retribution
1‘You shall #Ex. 20:4, 5; Deut. 4:15–18; 5:8not make idols for yourselves;
neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;
nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;
for I am the Lord your God.
2#Lev. 19:30You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:
I am the Lord.
3#Deut. 28:1–14‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
4#Is. 30:23then I will give you rain in its season, #Ps. 67:6the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5#Deut. 11:15; Joel 2:19, 26; Amos 9:13Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;
you shall eat your bread to the full, and #Lev. 25:18, 19; Ezek. 34:25dwell in your land safely.
6#Is. 45:7I will give peace in the land, and #Job 11:19; Ps. 4:8; Zeph. 3:13you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;
I will rid the land of #2 Kin. 17:25; Hos. 2:18evil beasts,
and #Ezek. 14:17the sword will not go through your land.
7You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
8#Deut. 32:30; Judg. 7:7–12Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;
your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
9‘For I will #Ex. 2:25; 2 Kin. 13:23look on you favorably and #Gen. 17:6, 7; Ps. 107:38make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My #Gen. 17:1–7covenant with you.
10You shall eat the #Lev. 25:22old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.
11#Ex. 25:8; 29:45, 46; Josh. 22:19; Ps. 76:2; Ezek. 37:26; Rev. 21:3I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.
12#Deut. 23:14; (2 Cor. 6:16)I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
13I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves;
I have broken the bands of your #Gen. 27:40yoke and made you walk upright.
14‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,
15and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,
16I also will do this to you:
I will even appoint terror over you, #Deut. 28:22wasting disease and fever which shall #1 Sam. 2:33consume the eyes and #Ezek. 24:23; 33:10cause sorrow of heart.
And #Judg. 6:3–6; Job 31:8; Mic. 6:15you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17I will set #Ps. 34:16My face against you, and #Deut. 28:25; 1 Sam. 4:10; 31:1you shall be defeated by your enemies.
#Ps. 106:41Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall #Prov. 28:1flee when no one pursues you.
18‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you #1 Sam. 2:5seven times more for your sins.
19I will #Is. 25:11break the pride of your power;
I #Deut. 28:23will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
20And your #Ps. 127:1; Is. 17:10, 11; 49:4; Jer. 12:13strength shall be spent in vain;
for your #Gen. 4:12; Deut. 11:17land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
21‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.
22#Deut. 32:24; Ezek. 14:21I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;
and #Judg. 5:6; 2 Chr. 15:5; Zech. 7:14your highways shall be desolate.
23‘And if #Jer. 2:30; Amos 4:6–12by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,
24#Lev. 26:28, 41; Ps. 18:26then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
25And #Ezek. 5:17I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;
when you are gathered together within your cities #Num. 16:49; Deut. 28:21; 2 Sam. 24:15I will send pestilence among you;
and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26#Ps. 105:16; Is. 3:1; Ezek. 4:16, 17; 5:16When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, #Mic. 6:14; Hag. 1:6and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
27‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
28then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;
and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29#Deut. 28:53; 2 Kin. 6:28, 29You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
30#1 Kin. 13:2; 2 Chr. 34:3; Is. 27:9; Ezek. 6:3–6, 13I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols;
and My soul shall abhor you.
31I will lay your #2 Kin. 25:4, 10cities waste and #2 Chr. 36:19; Ps. 74:7bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not #Is. 1:11–15smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas.
32#Jer. 9:11; 18:16I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
33#Deut. 4:27; Ps. 44:11; Ezek. 12:15; 20:23; 22:15; Zech. 7:14I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you;
your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
34#Lev. 26:43; 2 Chr. 36:21Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land;
then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
35As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—
for the time it did not rest on your #Lev. 25:2sabbaths when you dwelt in it.
36‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send #Is. 30:17; Lam. 1:3, 6; 4:19; Ezek. 21:7, 12, 15faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies;
the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee;
they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.
37#Judg. 7:22; 1 Sam. 14:15, 16; Is. 10:4They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues;
and #Josh. 7:12, 13; Judg. 2:14you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38You shall #Deut. 4:26perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39And those of you who are left #Deut. 28:65; Ezek. 4:17; 33:10; Zech. 10:9shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands;
also in their #Ex. 34:7fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.
40‘But #Num. 5:7; 1 Kin. 8:33, 34; Neh. 9:2; Luke 15:18; (1 John 1:9)if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,
41and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;
if their #Acts 7:51; Rom. 2:29uncircumcised hearts are #2 Chr. 12:6, 7, 12; 1 Pet. 5:5, 6humbled, and they #Ps. 39:9; 51:3, 4; Dan. 9:7accept their guilt—
42then I will #Ex. 2:24; 6:5; Ps. 106:45; Ezek. 16:60remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;
I will #Ps. 136:23remember the land.
43#Lev. 26:34, 35The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them;
they will accept their guilt, because they #Lev. 26:15despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.
44Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, #Deut. 4:31; 2 Kin. 13:23; Jer. 30:11; (Rom. 11:1–36)I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;
for I am the Lord their God.
45But #(Rom. 11:28)for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, #Lev. 22:33; 25:38whom I brought out of the land of Egypt #Ps. 98:2; Ezek. 20:9, 14, 22in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God:
I am the Lord.’ ”
46#Lev. 27:34; Deut. 6:1; 12:1; (John 1:17)These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel #Lev. 25:1on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
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Leviticus 26: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Leviticus 26
26
The Reward of Obedience. 1#This chapter concludes the revelation of laws at Mount Sinai (cf. v. 46). Blessings and curses are also found at the end of Deuteronomy’s law collection (Dt 28). Similar lists of blessings and curses appear in the conclusions of ancient Near Eastern treaties. Do not make idols for yourselves. You shall not erect a carved image or a sacred stone for yourselves, nor shall you set up a carved stone for worship in your land;#Lv 19:4; Nm 33:52. for I, the Lord, am your God. 2Keep my sabbaths,#Lv 23:3. and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
3#The blessings are concerned with the well-being of the nation and its land and involve agricultural bounty, national security, military success and population growth. #Dt 28:1–69. If you live in accordance with my statutes and are careful to observe my commandments, 4I will give you your rains in due season, so that the land will yield its crops, and the trees their fruit;#Dt 11:14; Ps 85:13; Ez 34:26–27. 5your threshing will last till vintage time, and your vintage till the time for sowing, and you will eat your fill of food, and live securely in your land.#Lv 25:18–19; Dt 12:10. 6I will establish peace in the land, and you will lie down to rest with no one to cause you anxiety. I will rid the country of ravenous beasts, and no sword shall sweep across your land. 7You will rout your enemies, and they shall fall before your sword. 8Five of you will put a hundred of your foes to flight, and a hundred of you will put to flight ten thousand, till your enemies fall before your sword.#Dt 32:30; Jos 23:10. 9I will look with favor upon you, and make you fruitful and numerous,#Gn 1:28; Ex 1:7. as I carry out my covenant with you. 10You shall eat the oldest stored harvest, and have to discard it to make room for the new.#Lv 25:22. 11#Ex 29:45; Ez 37:26–28; 2 Cor 6:16. I will set my tabernacle in your midst, and will not loathe you. 12Ever present in your midst, I will be your God, and you will be my people; 13I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be their slaves no more, breaking the bars of your yoke and making you walk erect.#Ez 34:27; Na 1:13.
The Punishment of Disobedience.#To encourage obedience, the list of punishments is longer than the blessings (cf. a similar proportion in Dt 28). The punishments are presented in waves (vv. 14–17, 18–20, 21–22, 23–26, 27–39), one group following another if the people do not return to obedience. Punishments involve sickness, pestilence, agricultural failure and famine, attack of wild animals, death of the people’s children, destruction of illicit and even licit cults, military defeat, panic, and exile. 14#Dt 28:15–69. But if you do not heed me and do not keep all these commandments, 15if you reject my statutes and loathe my decrees, refusing to obey all my commandments and breaking my covenant, 16then I, in turn, will do this to you: I will bring terror upon you—with consumption and fever to dim the eyes and sap the life. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will consume the crop. 17I will turn against you, and you will be beaten down before your enemies#1 Kgs 8:33–34. and your foes will lord it over you. You will flee though no one pursues you.
18If even after this you do not obey me, I will increase the chastisement for your sins sevenfold,#Ps 79:12; Prv 6:31. 19to break your proud strength. I will make the sky above you as hard as iron, and your soil as hard as bronze, 20so that your strength will be spent in vain; your land will bear no crops, and its trees no fruit.
21If then you continue hostile, unwilling to obey me, I will multiply my blows sevenfold, as your sins deserve. 22I will unleash wild beasts against you, to rob you of your children and wipe out your livestock, till your population dwindles away and your roads become deserted.
23If, with all this, you still do not accept my discipline and continue hostile to me, 24#Jer 2:30; Ez 5:17; 14:17. I, too, will continue to be hostile to you and I, for my part, will smite you for your sins sevenfold. 25I will bring against you the sword, the avenger of my covenant. Though you then huddle together in your cities, I will send pestilence among you, till you are delivered to the enemy. 26When I break your staff of bread, ten women will need but one oven for baking your bread, and they shall dole it out to you by weight;#Is 9:19; Ez 4:16; 5:16; 14:13; Mi 6:14. and though you eat, you shall not be satisfied.
27If, despite all this, you disobey and continue hostile to me, 28I will continue in my hostile rage toward you, and I myself will discipline you for your sins sevenfold, 29till you begin to eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.#Lam 2:20. 30I will demolish your high places, overthrow your incense stands, and cast your corpses upon the corpses of your idols.#2 Chr 14:5; 34:3–4, 7; Ez 6:3–6. In my loathing of you, 31I will lay waste your cities and desolate your sanctuaries, refusing your sweet-smelling offerings. 32So devastated will I leave the land that your enemies who come to live there will stand aghast at the sight of it.#1 Kgs 9:8; Jer 9:11; 18:16; 19:8; 25:18. 33And you I will scatter among the nations#Ps 44:12; Jer 15:7; Ez 6:8. at the point of my drawn sword, leaving your countryside desolate and your cities deserted. 34Then shall the land, during the time it lies waste, make up its lost sabbaths, while you are in the land of your enemies; then shall the land have rest and make up for its sabbaths#Lv 25:2; 2 Chr 36:21. 35during all the time that it lies desolate, enjoying the rest that you would not let it have on your sabbaths when you lived there.
36Those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies, I will make so fainthearted that the sound of a driven leaf will pursue them, and they shall run as if from the sword, and fall though no one pursues them; 37stumbling over one another as if to escape a sword, while no one is after them—so helpless will you be to take a stand against your foes! 38You shall perish among the nations, swallowed up in your enemies’ country. 39Those of you who survive will waste away in the lands of their enemies, for their own and their ancestors’ guilt.#Ez 4:17; 24:23; 33:10.
40#Even though the people may be severely punished, God will remember the covenant when the people repent. They will confess#Lv 16:21; Nm 5:7; Neh 1:6. their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors in their treachery against me and in their continued hostility toward me, 41so that I, too, had to be hostile to them and bring them into their enemies’ land. Then, when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac; and also my covenant with Abraham I will remember.#Ex 6:5; 2 Kgs 13:23; Ps 106:45; Ez 16:60. The land, too, I will remember. 43The land will be forsaken by them, that in its desolation without them, it may make up its sabbaths, and that they, too, may make good the debt of their guilt for having spurned my decrees and loathed my statutes. 44Yet even so, even while they are in their enemies’ land, I will not reject or loathe them to the point of wiping them out, thus making void my covenant with them; for I, the Lord, am their God. 45I will remember for them the covenant I made with their forebears, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations,#Ex 12:51. that I might be their God. I am the Lord.
46These are the statutes, decrees and laws which the Lord established between himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.#Lv 7:38; Nm 36:13.
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