Leviticus 26:14-39

Punishment for Disobedience

14 “ ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,
15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,
16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.
18 “ ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.
19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.
20 Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.
21 “ ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve.
22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.
23 “ ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me,
24 I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over.
25 And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands.
26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
27 “ ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me,
28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.
29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.
30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies[a] on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.
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.

Leviticus 26:14-39 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 62

  • 1. Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Malachi 2:2
  • 2. S ver 11
  • 3. S Genesis 17:7
  • 4. Deuteronomy 28:22,35; Psalms 78:33
  • 5. ver 39; 1 Samuel 2:33; Psalms 107:17; Ezekiel 4:17; Ezekiel 24:23; Ezekiel 33:10
  • 6. Judges 6:3-6; Job 31:8
  • 7. Leviticus 17:10; Ezekiel 15:7
  • 8. Deuteronomy 28:48; Joshua 7:12; Judges 2:15; 1 Kings 8:33; 2 Chronicles 6:24
  • 9. Joshua 7:4; Jeremiah 19:7; Jeremiah 21:7
  • 10. Psalms 106:41
  • 11. ver 36,37; Deuteronomy 28:7,25; Psalms 53:5; Proverbs 28:1; Isaiah 30:17
  • 12. ver 14
  • 13. Psalms 99:8; Jeremiah 21:14; Amos 3:14
  • 14. ver 21
  • 15. Psalms 10:4; Psalms 73:6; Isaiah 16:6; Isaiah 25:11; Isaiah 28:1-3; Jeremiah 13:9; Jeremiah 48:29; Ezekiel 24:21; Amos 6:8; Zephaniah 3:11
  • 16. Deuteronomy 28:23; Job 38:38
  • 17. Deuteronomy 28:38; Psalms 127:1; Isaiah 17:11; Isaiah 49:4; Jeremiah 12:13; Micah 6:15; Haggai 1:6
  • 18. Deuteronomy 11:17; Deuteronomy 28:24
  • 19. ver 41
  • 20. ver 18; S Genesis 4:15
  • 21. S Genesis 37:20; Deuteronomy 32:24
  • 22. Deuteronomy 28:62; Jeremiah 42:2
  • 23. Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 14:16; Jeremiah 15:3; Jeremiah 16:4; Ezekiel 14:15
  • 24. Jeremiah 2:30; Jeremiah 5:3; Jeremiah 7:28; Jeremiah 17:23; Jeremiah 32:33; Zephaniah 3:2
  • 25. 2 Samuel 22:27
  • 26. Jeremiah 5:17; Jeremiah 15:3; Jeremiah 47:6; Ezekiel 11:8; Ezekiel 14:17; Ezekiel 21:4; Ezekiel 33:2
  • 27. Jeremiah 50:28; Jeremiah 51:6,11
  • 28. S Exodus 5:3; S Exodus 9:3; Numbers 16:46; 1 Kings 8:37; Habakkuk 3:5; Numbers 14:12; Ezekiel 5:17
  • 29. 1 Kings 8:37; 1 Kings 18:2; 2 Kings 4:38; 2 Kings 6:25; 2 Kings 8:1; 2 Kings 25:3; Ezekiel 5:16">Ps 10Ezekiel 5:16; Isaiah 3:1; Isaiah 9:20; Jeremiah 37:21; Jeremiah 52:6; Ezekiel 4:16,17; Ezekiel 5:16; Ezekiel 14:13; Hosea 4:10; Micah 6:14
  • 30. ver 14
  • 31. Deuteronomy 32:19; Judges 2:14; Psalms 78:59; Psalms 106:40
  • 32. Deuteronomy 7:10; Job 34:11; Isaiah 59:18; Isaiah 65:6-7; Isaiah 66:6; Jeremiah 17:10; Jeremiah 25:29; Joel 3:4
  • 33. ver 18
  • 34. 2 Kings 6:29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 4:10; Ezekiel 5:10
  • 35. Deuteronomy 28:53
  • 36. Deuteronomy 12:2; 1 Samuel 9:12; 1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Kings 3:2,4; 1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:2,32; 2 Kings 17:29; 2 Kings 23:20; 2 Chronicles 34:3; Psalms 78:58; Ezekiel 6:3; Ezekiel 16:16; Amos 7:9
  • 37. 2 Chronicles 34:4; Isaiah 17:8; Isaiah 27:9; Ezekiel 6:6
  • 38. Isaiah 21:9; Jeremiah 50:2; Ezekiel 6:13
  • 39. Psalms 106:40; Amos 6:8
  • 40. 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
  • 41. 2 Kings 22:19
  • 42. Psalms 74:3-7; Isaiah 63:18; Isaiah 64:11; Lamentations 2:7; Ezekiel 24:21; Amos 7:9
  • 43. Amos 5:21,22; Amos 8:10
  • 44. Isaiah 5:6; Jeremiah 9:11; Jeremiah 12:11; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 26:9; Jeremiah 33:10; Jeremiah 34:22; Jeremiah 44:22
  • 45. 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
  • 46. Jeremiah 40:15; Jeremiah 50:17; Ezekiel 34:6; Joel 3:2
  • 47. 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
  • 48. Jeremiah 42:16; Amos 9:4
  • 49. Isaiah 49:19; Jeremiah 7:34
  • 50. ver 31; 1 Samuel 15:22; Job 36:11; Jeremiah 40:3
  • 51. Isaiah 1:7; Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 44:6; Ezekiel 33:29
  • 52. ver 43; 2 Chronicles 36:21
  • 53. S Leviticus 25:4
  • 54. Job 13:25
  • 55. 2 Kings 25:5; Psalms 58:7; Lamentations 1:3,6; Lamentations 4:19; Ezekiel 21:7
  • 56. S ver 17
  • 57. Jeremiah 6:21; Jeremiah 13:16; Jeremiah 46:16; Ezekiel 3:20; Nahum 3:3
  • 58. Joshua 7:12
  • 59. Job 4:9; Job 36:12; Psalms 1:6; Isaiah 1:28; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 44:27
  • 60. Deuteronomy 4:26
  • 61. Exodus 20:5; Isaiah 14:21
  • 62. S ver 16; Isaiah 24:16; Ezekiel 4:17

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "your funeral offerings"
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