Leviticus 26:20-30

20 '1Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.
21 'If then, you 2act with hostility against Me and are unwilling * to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you 3seven times according to your sins.
22 '4I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that 5your roads lie deserted.
23 '6And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me,
24 then I will 7act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you 8seven times for your sins.
25 'I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute 9vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send 10pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands.
26 '11When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so that you will 12eat and not be satisfied.
27 'Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me,
28 then 13I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins.
29 'Further, 14you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.
30 'I then 15will destroy your high places, and cut down your 16incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you.

Leviticus 26:20-30 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 26

In this chapter, after a repetition of some laws against idolatry, and concerning keeping sabbaths, and reverencing the sanctuary of God, Le 26:1,2; in order to encourage the Israelites to keep the various statutes and commandments in this book, and in the preceding, many promises are made of plenty, and peace, and safety from enemies, and of the presence of God with them, Le 26:3-13; and on the contrary, to such as should despise and break his commandments, the most grievous things are threatened, as diseases of body, destruction by their enemies, barrenness and unfruitfulness of land, the sore judgments of wild beasts, famine, sword, and pestilence, Le 26:14-39; and yet after all, when they should confess their sins, and were humbled for them, the Lord promises to remember the covenant he made with their ancestors, and would deal kindly with them, and not cast them away, and utterly destroy them, Le 26:40-46.

Cross References 16

  • 1. Psalms 127:1; Isaiah 17:10, 11; Isaiah 49:4; Jeremiah 12:13
  • 2. Lev 26:23, 27, 40
  • 3. Leviticus 26:18
  • 4. 2 Kings 17:25
  • 5. Judges 5:6
  • 6. Leviticus 26:21; Jeremiah 5:3
  • 7. Leviticus 26:28, 41
  • 8. Leviticus 26:21
  • 9. Jeremiah 50:28; Jeremiah 51:11
  • 10. Numbers 14:12
  • 11. Isaiah 3:1; Ezekiel 4:16, 17; Ezekiel 5:16
  • 12. Micah 6:14
  • 13. Leviticus 26:24, 41; Isaiah 59:18
  • 14. 2 Kings 6:29
  • 15. 2 Kings 23:20; Ezekiel 6:3, 6; Amos 7:9
  • 16. 2 Chronicles 34:4, 7; Isaiah 27:9

Footnotes 4

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.