Leviticus 26:30

30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies[a] on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.

Leviticus 26:30 in Other Translations

KJV
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
ESV
30 And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you.
NLT
30 I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols, and I will despise you.
MSG
30 I'll smash your sex-and-religion shrines and all the paraphernalia that goes with them, and then stack your corpses and the idol-corpses in the same piles - I'll abhor you;
CSB
30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your dead bodies on the lifeless bodies of your idols; I will reject you.

Leviticus 26:30 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 26:30

And I will destroy your high places
Which Jarchi interprets of towers and palaces; but Aben Ezra of the place of sacrifices; for on high places, hills and mountains, they used to build altars, and there offer sacrifices, in imitation of the Heathens; (See Gill on Ezekiel 6:13); and cut down your images;
called Chammanim, either from Ham, the son of Noah, the first introducer of idolatrous worship after the flood, as some have thought; or from Jupiter Ammon, worshipped in Egypt, from whence the Jews might have these images; or rather from Chammah, the sun, so called from its heat; so Jarchi says, there were a sort of idols placed on the roofs of houses, and because they were set in the sun, they were called by this name; and Kimchi F19 observes they were made of wood, and made by the worshippers of the sun, see ( 2 Kings 23:11 ) ; but Aben Ezra is of opinion that these were temples built for the worship of the sun, which is the most early sort of idolatry that appeared in the world, to which Job may be thought to refer, ( Job 31:26 Job 31:27 ) . Some take these to be the (puraiyeia) , or "fire hearths", which Strabo F20 described as large enclosures, in the midst of which was an altar, where the (Persian) Magi kept their fire that never went out, which was an emblem of the sun they worshipped; and these, he says, were in the temples of Anaitis and Omanus, and where the statue of the latter was in great pomp; which idol seems to have its name from the word in the text; and these are fitly added to the high places, because on such, as Herodotus F21 says, the Persians used to worship: and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols;
or "dunghill gods" F23; such as the beetle, the Egyptians worshipped, signifying that they and their idols should be destroyed together: and my soul shall abhor you;
the reverse of ( Leviticus 26:6 ) ; and by comparing it with that, this may signify the removal of the divine Presence from them, as a token of his abhorrence of them; and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 Sepher Shorash. rad. (Mmx) & (Nmx) .
F20 Geograph. l. 15. p. 504.
F21 Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 131.
F23 (Mkylwlg) "stercoreorum deorum vestrorum", Junius & Trernellius, Piscator, Drusius.

Leviticus 26:30 In-Context

28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.
29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.
30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.
31 I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.
32 I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.

Cross References 4

  • 1. Deuteronomy 12:2; 1 Samuel 9:12; 1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Kings 3:2,4; 1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:2,32; 2 Kings 17:29; 2 Kings 23:20; 2 Chronicles 34:3; Psalms 78:58; Ezekiel 6:3; Ezekiel 16:16; Amos 7:9
  • 2. 2 Chronicles 34:4; Isaiah 17:8; Isaiah 27:9; Ezekiel 6:6
  • 3. Isaiah 21:9; Jeremiah 50:2; Ezekiel 6:13
  • 4. Psalms 106:40; Amos 6:8

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "your funeral offerings"
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