Leviticus 26:31-41

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.

33 I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.

34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

36 “ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.

37 They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.

38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.

39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away.

40 “ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me,

41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,

Leviticus 26:31-41 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

• 1. Nehemiah 1:3; Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 3:8,26; Isaiah 6:11; Isaiah 24:12; Isaiah 61:4; Jeremiah 4:7; Jeremiah 9:11; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 34:22; Jeremiah 44:2,6,22; Ezekiel 36:33; Micah 2:4; Micah 3:12; Zephaniah 2:5; Zephaniah 3:6
• 2. 2 Kings 22:19
• 3. Psalms 74:3-7; Isaiah 63:18; Isaiah 64:11; Lamentations 2:7; Ezekiel 24:21; Amos 7:9
• 4. Amos 5:21,22; Amos 8:10
• 5. Isaiah 5:6; Jeremiah 9:11; Jeremiah 12:11; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 26:9; Jeremiah 33:10; Jeremiah 34:22; Jeremiah 44:22
• 6. 1 Kings 9:8; 2 Chronicles 29:8; Isaiah 52:14; Jeremiah 18:16; Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 48:39; Ezekiel 5:14; Ezekiel 26:16; Ezekiel 27:35; Ezekiel 28:19
• 7. Jeremiah 40:15; Jeremiah 50:17; Ezekiel 34:6; Joel 3:2
• 8. Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 28:64; Nehemiah 1:8; Psalms 44:11; Psalms 106:27; Jeremiah 4:11; Jeremiah 9:16; Jeremiah 13:24; Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 5:10; Ezekiel 12:15; Ezekiel 17:21; Ezekiel 20:23; Ezekiel 22:15; Zechariah 7:14
• 9. Jeremiah 42:16; Amos 9:4
• 10. Isaiah 49:19; Jeremiah 7:34
• 11. ver 31; 1 Samuel 15:22; Job 36:11; Jeremiah 40:3
• 12. Isaiah 1:7; Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 44:6; Ezekiel 33:29
• 13. ver 43; 2 Chronicles 36:21
• 14. S Leviticus 25:4
• 15. Job 13:25
• 16. 2 Kings 25:5; Psalms 58:7; Lamentations 1:3,6; Lamentations 4:19; Ezekiel 21:7
• 17. S ver 17
• 18. Jeremiah 6:21; Jeremiah 13:16; Jeremiah 46:16; Ezekiel 3:20; Nahum 3:3
• 19. Joshua 7:12
• 20. Job 4:9; Job 36:12; Psalms 1:6; Isaiah 1:28; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 44:27
• 21. Deuteronomy 4:26
• 22. Exodus 20:5; Isaiah 14:21
• 23. S ver 16; Isaiah 24:16; Ezekiel 4:17
• 24. S Leviticus 5:5
• 25. Psalms 32:5; Psalms 38:18
• 26. Nehemiah 9:2; Psalms 106:6; Jeremiah 3:12-15; Jeremiah 14:20; Hosea 5:15; Luke 15:18; 1 John 1:9
• 27. S ver 21
• 28. Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 9:25,26; Ezekiel 44:7,9; Acts 7:51
• 29. 2 Chronicles 7:14; 2 Chronicles 12:6; Ezekiel 20:43
• 30. Isaiah 6:7; Isaiah 33:24; Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 53:5,6,11