Leviticus 26:31

31 And I will lay your cities waste, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell the savour of your sacrifices.

Leviticus 26:31 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 26:31

I will make your cities waste
By suffering the enemy to besiege them, enter into them, and plunder them, and destroy the houses in them, and reduce them to the most desolate condition, as Jerusalem, their metropolis, was more than once: and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation;
the temple, so called from the several apartments in it, the court, the holy place, and the most holy; or rather both sanctuaries or temples are intended, the first built by Solomon, and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; the second rebuilt by Zerubbabel, and adorned by Herod, and reduced to ashes by Titus Vespasian: the Jews understand this of their synagogues, which were many both in Jerusalem, and in other parts of their country, but cannot be intended, since it follows: and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours:
of their incense offered on the altar of incense; or the savour of their offerings, as the Targum of Jonathan, of their burnt offerings, and the fat of their other offerings burnt on the altar of burnt offering; signifying, that these would not be acceptable to him, or he smell a savour of rest in them; see ( Genesis 8:21 ) ; now these were only offered in the temple, not in synagogues.

Leviticus 26:31 In-Context

29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
30 And I will render your pillars desolate, and will utterly destroy your wooden made with hands; and I will lay your carcases on the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall loathe you.
31 And I will lay your cities waste, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell the savour of your sacrifices.
32 And I will lay your land desolate, and your enemies who dwell in it shall wonder at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and the sword shall come upon you and consume you; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities shall be desolate.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.