Penalties of Disobedience

¹⁴ ‘^(A)But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, ¹⁵ if, instead, you ^(B)reject My statutes, and if your soul loathes My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, but rather to ^(C)break My covenant, ¹⁶ I, in turn, will do this to you: I will ^[a]summon a ^(D)sudden terror against you, consumption and fever that will make the eyes fail and the ^(E)soul languish; also, ^(F)you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it. ¹⁷ And I will set My face against you so that you will be defeated before your enemies; and ^(G)those who hate you will rule over you, and ^(H)you will flee when no one is pursuing you. ¹⁸ If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you ^(I)seven times more for your sins. ¹⁹ I will also ^(J)break down your pride of power; and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. ^20 (K)Your strength will be consumed uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

²¹ ‘Yet if you ^[b](L)show hostility toward Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you ^(M)seven times according to your sins. ^22 (N)I will also let loose among you the animals of the field, which will deprive you of your children and eliminate your cattle, and reduce your number so that ^(O)your roads become deserted.

²³ ‘^(P)And if by these things you do not learn your lesson regarding Me, but you show hostility toward Me, ²⁴ then I in turn will ^(Q)show hostility toward you; and I, even I, will strike you ^(R)seven times for your sins. ²⁵ I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute ^(S)vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send a ^(T)plague among you, so that you will be handed over to the enemy. ^26 (U)When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread ^[c]in rationed amounts, so that you will ^(V)eat and not be satisfied.

²⁷ ‘Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, ²⁸ then ^(W)I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I for My part will punish you seven times for your sins. ²⁹ Further, ^(X)you will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters. ³⁰ I then ^(Y)will destroy your high places, and cut down your ^(Z)incense altars, and ^[d]pile your ^[e]remains on the ^[f]remains of your idols, for My soul will loathe you. ³¹ I will turn your cities into ^(AA)ruins as well and make your ^(AB)sanctuaries desolate, and I will not ^(AC)smell your soothing aromas. ³² And I will make ^(AD)the land desolate ^(AE)so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled at it. ³³ You, however, I ^(AF)will scatter among the nations, and I will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become ruins.

³⁴ ‘^(AG)Then the land will restore its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and restore its Sabbaths. ³⁵ All the days of its desolation it will have the rest which it did not have on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it. ³⁶ As for those among you who are left, I will also bring ^(AH)despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a scattered leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing they will flee ^[g]as though from the sword, and they will fall. ^37 (AI)They will then stumble over each other as if running from the sword, although no one is pursuing; and you will have no strength to stand before your enemies. ³⁸ Instead, ^(AJ)you will perish among the nations, and your enemies’ land will consume you. ^39 (AK)So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their wrongdoing in the lands of your enemies; and also because of the wrongdoing of their forefathers they will rot away with them.

¹⁵ “For the Lord will strike Israel, just as a reed sways in the water; and ^(A)He will uproot Israel from ^(B)this good land which He gave to their fathers, and ^(C)will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, ^(D)because they have made their ^[a]Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger.

Elijah Predicts Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of ^[a](A)the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “^(B)As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, ^(C)there shall certainly be neither dew nor rain during these years, except by my word.”

¹⁷ So he said,