Leviticus 26:38

38 You shall perish among the Gentiles: and an enemy’s land shall consume you.

Leviticus 26:38 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 26:38

And ye shall perish among the Heathen
Not utterly, but great numbers of them, through change of air, and different diet, as Aben Ezra, and through the cruel usage of their enemies; for there is a body of them which continues unto this day; unless this is to be understood of the ten tribes, as R. Akiba F2 interprets it, who are supposed to be entirely lost and swallowed up among the nations where they were carried captive:

and the land of your enemies shall eat you up;
they should die in it through one disease or another; by the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so be buried in it; in which sense it may be said to eat them up, or consume them, for the grave swallows up and consumes all that are put into it; Jarchi says, this is to be understood of those that die in captivity.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 In Torat Cohanim, ut supra. (par. 1. fol. 197. 2.)

Leviticus 26:38 In-Context

36 And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies. The sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them: and they shall flee as it were from the sword. They shall fall, when no man pursueth them.
37 And they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars: none of you shall dare to resist your enemies.
38 You shall perish among the Gentiles: and an enemy’s land shall consume you.
39 And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies: and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own.
40 Until they confess their iniquities, and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed against me, and walked contrary unto me.
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