Leviticus 26:21-31

21 "If you defy me and refuse to listen, your punishment will be seven times more than your sins:

22 I'll set wild animals on you; they'll rob you of your children, kill your cattle, and decimate your numbers until you'll think you are living in a ghost town.

23 "And if even this doesn't work and you refuse my discipline and continue your defiance,

24 then it will be my turn to defy you. I, yes I, will punish you for your sins seven times over:

25 I'll let war loose on you, avenging your breaking of the covenant; when you huddle in your cities for protection, I'll send a deadly epidemic on you and you'll be helpless before your enemies;

26 when I cut off your bread supply, ten women will bake bread in one oven and ration it out. You'll eat, but barely - no one will get enough.

27 "And if this - even this! - doesn't work and you still won't listen, still defy me,

28 I'll have had enough and in hot anger will defy you, punishing you for your sins seven times over:

29 famine will be so severe that you'll end up cooking and eating your sons in stews and your daughters in barbecues;

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;

31 I'll turn your cities into rubble; I'll clean out your sanctuaries; I'll hold my nose at the "pleasing aroma" of your sacrifices.

Leviticus 26:21-31 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.