Leviticus 26:11-21

11 '¹Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you.

12 '²I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

13 '³I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and ⁴I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Penalties of Disobedience

14 '⁵But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments,

15 if, instead, you ⁶reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so ⁷break My covenant,

16 I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a ⁸sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the ⁹soul to pine away; also, ¹⁰you 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 ¹¹those who hate you will rule over you, and ¹²you will flee when no one is pursuing you.

18 'If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you ¹³seven times more for your sins.

19 'I will also ¹⁴break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze.

20 '¹⁵Your 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 ¹⁶act with hostility against Me and are unwilling * to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you ¹⁷seven times according to your sins.

Leviticus 26:11-21 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. Exodus 25:8; Exodus 29:45, 46; Ezekiel 37:26
• 2. Genesis 3:8; Deuteronomy 23:14; 2 Corinthians 6:16
• 3. Exodus 20:2
• 4. Ezekiel 34:27
• 5. Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Joshua 23:15
• 6. Leviticus 26:11; 2 Kings 17:15
• 7. Leviticus 26:9
• 8. Deuteronomy 28:22; Psalms 78:33
• 9. 1 Samuel 2:33; Ezekiel 24:23; Ezekiel 33:10
• 10. Judges 6:3-6; Job 31:8
• 11. Psalms 106:41
• 12. Leviticus 26:36, 37; Psalms 53:5; Proverbs 28:1
• 13. Lev 26:21, 24, 28
• 14. Isaiah 28:1-3; Ezekiel 24:21
• 15. Psalms 127:1; Isaiah 17:10, 11; Isaiah 49:4; Jeremiah 12:13
• 16. Lev 26:23, 27, 40
• 17. Leviticus 26:18

Footnotes

• [a] Or "tabernacle"
• [b] Lit "abhor"
• [c] Lit "walk," and so throughout the ch