Leviticus 26:8-18

8 1five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.
9 'So I will turn toward you and 2make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will 3confirm My covenant with you.
10 '4You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because * of the new.
11 '5Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you.
12 '6I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
13 '7I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and 8I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Penalties of Disobedience

14 '9But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments,
15 if, instead, you 10reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so 11break My covenant,
16 I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a 12sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the 13soul to pine away; also, 14you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up.
17 'I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and 15those who hate you will rule over you, and 16you will flee when no one is pursuing you.
18 'If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you 17seven times more for your sins.

Leviticus 26:8-18 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 17

  • 1. Deuteronomy 32:30
  • 2. Genesis 17:6; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 48:4
  • 3. Genesis 17:7
  • 4. Leviticus 25:22
  • 5. Exodus 25:8; Exodus 29:45, 46; Ezekiel 37:26
  • 6. Genesis 3:8; Deuteronomy 23:14; 2 Corinthians 6:16
  • 7. Exodus 20:2
  • 8. Ezekiel 34:27
  • 9. Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Joshua 23:15
  • 10. Leviticus 26:11; 2 Kings 17:15
  • 11. Leviticus 26:9
  • 12. Deuteronomy 28:22; Psalms 78:33
  • 13. 1 Samuel 2:33; Ezekiel 24:23; Ezekiel 33:10
  • 14. Judges 6:3-6; Job 31:8
  • 15. Psalms 106:41
  • 16. Leviticus 26:36, 37; Psalms 53:5; Proverbs 28:1
  • 17. Lev 26:21, 24, 28

Footnotes 2

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