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Blessings for Obedience

26 “‘You[a] shall not make for yourselves idols and divine images, and you shall not raise up stone pillars for yourselves, and you shall not put a sculptured stone in your land in order to[b] worship before it, because I am Yahweh your God.

“‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and you shall revere my sanctuary; I am Yahweh.

“‘If you walk in my statutes and you keep my commands and you do them, then[c] I will give you rains in their time, and the land shall give its produce, and the trees of the field shall give their fruit. And for you the threshing season shall overtake the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall overtake the sowing, and you shall eat your food to your fill[d] and you shall live securely[e] in your land. And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and there shall not be anybody who makes you afraid,[f] and I will remove harmful animals from the land, and no sword shall pass through your land.[g] And you shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.[h] And five of[i] you shall pursue a hundred, and a hundred of[j] you shall pursue a myriad;[k] and your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.[l] And I will turn to you, and I will make you fruitful, and I will make you numerous; and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 And you shall eat old grain,[m] and you shall clear away the old before the new.[n] 11 And I will put my dwelling place in your midst, and my inner self[o] shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk about in your midst, and I shall be your God,[p] and you shall be my people.[q] 13 I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves; and I broke the bars of your yoke, and I caused you to walk erectly.

Punishment for Disobedience

14 “‘But[r] if you do not listen to me and you do not carry out[s] all these commands, 15 and if you reject my statutes and if your inner self[t] abhors my regulations, to not carry out[u] all my commands by your breaking my covenant, 16 I in turn[v] will do this to you: then[w] I will summon onto you horror, the wasting disease, and the fever that wastes eyes and that drains away life; and you shall sow your seed in vain,[x] and your enemies shall eat it. 17 And I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated before[y] your enemies; and your haters shall rule over you, and you shall flee away, but[z] there shall not be anybody who is pursuing[aa] you.

18 “‘And if in spite of these things you do not listen to me, then[ab] I will continue to discipline you seven times for your sins. 19 And I will break the pride of your strength; and I will make your heaven like iron[ac] and your land like copper. 20 And your strength shall be consumed in vain;[ad] and your land shall not give its produce, and the land’s trees shall not give their fruit.

21 “‘And if you go against me in hostility and you are not willing to listen to me, then[ae] I will add a plague onto you seven times according to your sins. 22 And I will send wild animals[af] out among you, and they shall make you childless, and they shall cut down your domestic animals, and they shall make you fewer; and your roads shall be desolate.

23 “‘And if you do not accept correction from[ag] me through these things, but[ah] you go against me in hostility, 24 then[ai] I myself[aj] will also go against you in hostility, and I myself[ak] also will strike you seven times for your sins. 25 And I will bring upon you a sword that seeks vengeance for the covenant, and you shall be gathered to your cities; and I will send a plague in your midst, and you shall be given into the hand of an enemy. 26 At my breaking the supply[al] of bread[am] for you, then[an] ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat it, and you shall not be satisfied.

27 “‘And if through this you do not listen to me and you go against me in hostility, 28 then[ao] I will go against you in hostile anger, and also[ap] I myself[aq] will discipline you seven times for your sins. 29 And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. 30 And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols’ corpses; and my inner self[ar] shall abhor you. 31 And I will lay your cities in ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your sacrifices’[as] appeasing fragrance. 32 And I myself[at] will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it. 33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword behind you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a ruin. 34 Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of its lying desolate, and you shall be in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 All the days of its lying desolate it shall rest for the time[au] that it had not rested during your Sabbaths while you were living on it. 36 As for[av] the ones who remain among you, I will bring[aw] fearfulness in their hearts in the land of their enemies; and a sound of a windblown leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee like flight before[ax] a sword, and they shall fall, but[ay] there shall not be a pursuer. 37 And they shall stumble over one another[az] as from before[ba] a sword, but[bb] there shall not be a pursuer; and you shall have no resistance[bc] before[bd] your enemies. 38 And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you. 39 And because of their guilt, the ones among you who remain shall decay in the land of their enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their ancestors,[be] they shall decay with them.

40 “‘But[bf] when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors[bg] in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility— 41 I myself[bh] also[bi] went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies—or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt, 42 I will remember[bj] my covenant with Jacob; and I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 And the land shall be deserted by them, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths in its being desolate from them, and they themselves[bk] must pay for their guilt, simply because[bl] they rejected my regulations, and their inner self[bm] abhorred my statutes. 44 And in spite of[bn] this, when they are[bo] in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God. 45 And I will remember the first covenant for them[bp]—whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of[bq] the nations to be their God.[br] I am Yahweh.’”

46 These are the rules and the regulations and the laws that Yahweh gave between himself and the Israelites[bs] on Mount Sinai[bt] through[bu] Moses.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 26:1 Plural throughout the entire chapter
  2. Leviticus 26:1 Or “to”
  3. Leviticus 26:4 Or “and”
  4. Leviticus 26:5 Literally “to contentment”
  5. Leviticus 26:5 Literally “with confidence”
  6. Leviticus 26:6 Literally “who makes afraid” or “making afraid”
  7. Leviticus 26:6 Literally “a sword shall not pass through in your land”
  8. Leviticus 26:7 Literally “to your faces”
  9. Leviticus 26:8 Hebrew “from”
  10. Leviticus 26:8 Hebrew “from”
  11. Leviticus 26:8 Or “ten thousand”
  12. Leviticus 26:8 Literally “to your faces”
  13. Leviticus 26:10 Literally “old what is stale”
  14. Leviticus 26:10 Literally “old from the faces of new you shall bring out”
  15. Leviticus 26:11 Or “soul”
  16. Leviticus 26:12 Or “as a God for you”
  17. Leviticus 26:12 Or “as a people for me”
  18. Leviticus 26:14 Or “And”
  19. Leviticus 26:14 Or “you do not do” or “you do not observe” or “you do not perform”
  20. Leviticus 26:15 Or “soul”
  21. Leviticus 26:15 Or “do” or “observe” or “perform”
  22. Leviticus 26:16 Literally “also” or “indeed”
  23. Leviticus 26:16 Or “and”
  24. Leviticus 26:16 Literally “for the emptiness”
  25. Leviticus 26:17 Literally “to the faces of”
  26. Leviticus 26:17 Or “and”
  27. Leviticus 26:17 Literally “who pursues” or “pursuing”
  28. Leviticus 26:18 Or “and”
  29. Leviticus 26:19 Or “iron ore”
  30. Leviticus 26:20 Literally “to the emptiness”
  31. Leviticus 26:21 Or “and”
  32. Leviticus 26:22 Literally “the animals of the field”
  33. Leviticus 26:23 Hebrew “for” or “to”
  34. Leviticus 26:23 Or “and”
  35. Leviticus 26:24 Or “and”
  36. Leviticus 26:24 Emphatic personal pronoun
  37. Leviticus 26:24 Emphatic personal pronoun
  38. Leviticus 26:26 Literally “staff”
  39. Leviticus 26:26 Or “food”
  40. Leviticus 26:26 Or “and”
  41. Leviticus 26:28 Or “and”
  42. Leviticus 26:28 Or “surely”
  43. Leviticus 26:28 Emphatic personal pronoun
  44. Leviticus 26:30 Or “soul”
  45. Leviticus 26:31 Implied by the use of the same phraseology in regard to the sacrifices in the early chapters of the book
  46. Leviticus 26:32 Emphatic personal pronoun
  47. Leviticus 26:35 Implied by context
  48. Leviticus 26:36 Or “And”
  49. Leviticus 26:36 Or “and I will bring”
  50. Leviticus 26:36 Literally “of”
  51. Leviticus 26:36 Or “and”
  52. Leviticus 26:37 Literally “a man on his brother”
  53. Leviticus 26:37 Literally “from the faces of”
  54. Leviticus 26:37 Or “and”
  55. Leviticus 26:37 Literally “it shall not be for you resistance”
  56. Leviticus 26:37 Literally “to the faces of”
  57. Leviticus 26:39 Or “fathers”
  58. Leviticus 26:40 Or “And”
  59. Leviticus 26:40 Or “fathers”
  60. Leviticus 26:41 Emphatic personal pronoun
  61. Leviticus 26:41 Or “surely”
  62. Leviticus 26:42 Or “and I will remember”
  63. Leviticus 26:43 Emphatic personal pronoun
  64. Leviticus 26:43 Literally “because and in because”
  65. Leviticus 26:43 Or “soul”
  66. Leviticus 26:44 Literally “also even” or “moreover also” or “moreover even”
  67. Leviticus 26:44 Literally “in their being”
  68. Leviticus 26:45 Or “on behalf of them” or “on their behalf”
  69. Leviticus 26:45 Literally “to the eyes of” or “for the eyes of”
  70. Leviticus 26:45 Literally “to be for them for God” or “to be for them as a God”
  71. Leviticus 26:46 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  72. Leviticus 26:46 Literally “the mountain of Sinai”
  73. Leviticus 26:46 Literally “in/by the hand of”

Reward for Obedience

26 “‘Do not make idols(A) or set up an image(B) or a sacred stone(C) for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone(D) in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

“‘Observe my Sabbaths(E) and have reverence for my sanctuary.(F) I am the Lord.

“‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey(G) my commands, I will send you rain(H) in its season,(I) and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.(J) Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want(K) and live in safety in your land.(L)

“‘I will grant peace in the land,(M) and you will lie down(N) and no one will make you afraid.(O) I will remove wild beasts(P) from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies,(Q) and they will fall by the sword before you. Five(R) of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.(S)

“‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers,(T) and I will keep my covenant(U) with you. 10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.(V) 11 I will put my dwelling place[a](W) among you, and I will not abhor you.(X) 12 I will walk(Y) among you and be your God,(Z) and you will be my people.(AA) 13 I am the Lord your God,(AB) who brought you out of Egypt(AC) so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke(AD) and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Punishment for Disobedience

14 “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,(AE) 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws(AF) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,(AG) 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever(AH) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.(AI) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.(AJ) 17 I will set my face(AK) against you so that you will be defeated(AL) by your enemies;(AM) those who hate you will rule over you,(AN) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.(AO)

18 “‘If after all this you will not listen to me,(AP) I will punish(AQ) you for your sins seven times over.(AR) 19 I will break down your stubborn pride(AS) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.(AT) 20 Your strength will be spent in vain,(AU) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.(AV)

21 “‘If you remain hostile(AW) toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over,(AX) as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals(AY) against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few(AZ) in number that your roads will be deserted.(BA)

23 “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction(BB) but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile(BC) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword(BD) on you to avenge(BE) the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague(BF) among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread,(BG) 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(BH) but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger(BI) I will be hostile(BJ) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.(BK) 29 You will eat(BL) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.(BM) 30 I will destroy your high places,(BN) cut down your incense altars(BO) and pile your dead bodies[b] on the lifeless forms of your idols,(BP) and I will abhor(BQ) you. 31 I will turn your cities into ruins(BR) and lay waste(BS) your sanctuaries,(BT) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.(BU) 32 I myself will lay waste the land,(BV) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.(BW) 33 I will scatter(BX) you among the nations(BY) and will draw out my sword(BZ) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,(CA) and your cities will lie in ruins.(CB) 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate(CC) and you are in the country of your enemies;(CD) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest(CE) 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(CF) will put them to flight.(CG) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.(CH) 37 They will stumble over one another(CI) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.(CJ) 38 You will perish(CK) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.(CL) 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’(CM) sins they will waste away.(CN)

40 “‘But if they will confess(CO) their sins(CP) and the sins of their ancestors(CQ)—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile(CR) toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts(CS) are humbled(CT) and they pay(CU) for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob(CV) and my covenant with Isaac(CW) and my covenant with Abraham,(CX) and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be deserted(CY) by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected(CZ) my laws and abhorred my decrees.(DA) 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies,(DB) I will not reject them or abhor(DC) them so as to destroy them completely,(DD) breaking my covenant(DE) with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember(DF) the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt(DG) in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

46 These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai(DH) between himself and the Israelites through Moses.(DI)

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 26:11 Or my tabernacle
  2. Leviticus 26:30 Or your funeral offerings