Leviticus 26: Blessings for obeying, and what comes for disobeying
A free study, verse by verse. Text: World English Bible. Notes come from the Hebrew. How to read a study
What happens?
Yahweh tells Israel to make no idols and to keep his Sabbaths. If they walk in his laws, he promises rain, harvests, peace, victory over enemies, and his own presence among them. If they will not listen, he warns of disease, defeat, drought, wild animals, war, hunger, and being scattered among the nations, getting worse each time they refuse. If they confess, he will remember his covenant with Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, and even in their enemies' land he will not reject them.
Who is speaking?
Yahweh is still speaking to Moses: this chapter carries on the speech from chapter 25. God's own words are in 45 of the 46 verses: verses 1 to 45. Verse 46 is the narrator, who sums up the laws Yahweh gave at Mount Sinai. God's own words are printed in gold, and those verses are marked God speaks
1“‘You shall make for yourselves no idols, and you shall not raise up a carved image or a pillar, and you shall not place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am Yahweh your God.God speaks
In plain English: "You are not to make idols (literally: worthless things) for yourselves. You are not to set up a carved image or a sacred pillar (a standing stone), and you are not to put any carved stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am Yahweh your God.
The Hebrew words: "Idols" is elilim, which the dictionary gives as "good for nothing" and "specifically an idol". "Pillar" is matsevah, a standing stone, and "figured stone" is a stone with a maskit, a figure carved on it.
How it is translated: This Bible says a form of "idol" in 15 of the 17 verses that use elilim.
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2“‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.God speaks
In plain English: "You are to keep my Sabbaths and respect (literally: fear) my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.
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3“‘If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments, and do them,God speaks
In plain English: "If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them,
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4then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.God speaks
In plain English: then I will give you rain in its season. The land will give its crops, and the trees of the field will give their fruit.
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5Your threshing shall continue until the vintage, and the vintage shall continue until the sowing time. You shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.God speaks
In plain English: Your threshing will last until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will last until the time for sowing. You will eat all the bread you want and live safely in your land.
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6“‘I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one will make you afraid. I will remove evil animals out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.God speaks
In plain English: "I will give peace in the land, and you will lie down with no one to make you afraid. I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.
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7You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.God speaks
In plain English: You will chase your enemies, and they will fall in front of you by the sword.
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8Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.God speaks
In plain English: Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand. Your enemies will fall in front of you by the sword.
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9“‘I will have respect for you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you.God speaks
In plain English: "I will turn toward you (or: look on you with favor), make you fruitful, and make you many, and I will establish my covenant with you.
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10You shall eat old supplies long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new.God speaks
In plain English: You will eat old stores kept a long time, and you will have to clear out the old to make room for the new.
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11I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you.God speaks
In plain English: I will set my dwelling (or: my tabernacle) among you, and I (literally: my soul) will not loathe you.
The Hebrew words: "My tent" is mishkan, the word for the tabernacle, Yahweh's dwelling place. "My soul" is nephesh, the word explained at . Here Yahweh uses it of himself.
How it is translated: This Bible says "tabernacle" in 99 of the 129 verses that use mishkan, and "tent" in 31.
What changes: Read as "my tabernacle", the promise is that the tabernacle, Yahweh's dwelling, will stand among the people.
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12I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.God speaks
In plain English: I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.
Good to know: gives words like these as what God said: "I will be their God and they will be my people."
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13I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you walk upright.God speaks
In plain English: I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.
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14“‘But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments,God speaks
In plain English: "But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments,
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15and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,God speaks
In plain English: and if you reject my statutes and loathe (literally: your soul loathes) my ordinances, so that you do not do all my commandments but break my covenant,
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16I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.God speaks
In plain English: then I too will do this to you: I will bring sudden terror on you, a wasting disease and fever that dim the eyes and wear away life. You will sow your seed for nothing, because your enemies will eat it.
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17I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when no one pursues you.God speaks
In plain English: I will set my face against you, and you will be struck down (or: defeated) in front of your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run away when no one is chasing you.
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18“‘If you in spite of these things will not listen to me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins.God speaks
In plain English: "If after all this you still will not listen to me, then I will punish (or: discipline) you seven times more for your sins.
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19I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like bronze.God speaks
In plain English: I will break your proud strength. I will make your sky like iron and your ground like bronze.
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20Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.God speaks
In plain English: Your strength will be used up for nothing, for your land will not give its crops, and the trees of the land will not give their fruit.
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21“‘If you walk contrary to me, and won’t listen to me, then I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins.God speaks
In plain English: "If you walk against me (or: in hostility to me) and will not listen to me, then I will bring seven times more plagues (literally: blows) on you, as your sins deserve.
The Hebrew word: "Contrary" is qeri, which the dictionary gives as "hostile encounter".
How it is translated: The word is in only 7 verses of the Bible, all in this chapter. This Bible says "contrary" in all 7.
What changes: Read as "in hostility", the verse speaks of people who set themselves against Yahweh, and in of Yahweh setting himself against them.
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22I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. Your roads will become desolate.God speaks
In plain English: I will send wild animals among you, which will take your children from you, destroy your livestock, and make you few. Your roads will be empty.
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23“‘If by these things you won’t be turned back to me, but will walk contrary to me,God speaks
In plain English: "If even by these things you will not be corrected by me (or: turn back to me), but walk against me,
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24then I will also walk contrary to you; and I will strike you, even I, seven times for your sins.God speaks
In plain English: then I too will walk against you, and I myself will strike you seven times for your sins.
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25I will bring a sword upon you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. You will be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you. You will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.God speaks
In plain English: I will bring a sword on you that will carry out the punishment for the broken covenant (literally: the vengeance of the covenant). You will gather inside your cities, and I will send disease (or: plague) among you, and you will be handed over to the enemy.
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26When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight. You shall eat, and not be satisfied.God speaks
In plain English: When I cut off your supply of bread (literally: break your staff of bread), ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will give out your bread by weight. You will eat and not be satisfied.
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27“‘If you in spite of this won’t listen to me, but walk contrary to me,God speaks
In plain English: "If in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk against me,
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28then I will walk contrary to you in wrath. I will also chastise you seven times for your sins.God speaks
In plain English: then I will walk against you in anger. I too will punish (or: discipline) you seven times for your sins.
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29You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.God speaks
In plain English: You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.
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30I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you.God speaks
In plain English: I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars (or: sun-pillars), and throw your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols. And I (literally: my soul) will loathe you.
The Hebrew words: "High places" is bamot, which the dictionary gives as "an elevation": raised places of worship. "Incense altars" is chammanim, which the dictionary gives as "a sun-pillar".
How it is translated: This Bible says "incense" in 7 of the 8 verses that use chamman.
What changes: Read as "sun-pillars", these are pillars linked to worship of the sun, not altars for incense. The text does not describe them.
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31I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation. I will not take delight in the sweet fragrance of your offerings.God speaks
In plain English: I will make your cities ruins and bring your sanctuaries to desolation. I will not take pleasure in (literally: smell) the pleasing aroma of your offerings.
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32I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it will be astonished at it.God speaks
In plain English: I will make the land desolate, and your enemies who live in it will be shocked at it.
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33I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.God speaks
In plain English: I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw the sword after you. Your land will be desolate, and your cities will be ruins.
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34Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land. Even then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.God speaks
In plain English: Then the land will enjoy (or: make up for) its Sabbaths all the time it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies. Then the land will rest and enjoy (or: make up for) its Sabbaths.
The Hebrew word: "Enjoy" is ratsah. The dictionary gives it as "to be pleased with; specifically, to satisfy a debt".
How it is translated: In Leviticus this Bible says "accept" in 8 of the 9 verses that use it, and "enjoy" in 2 (this verse and , which has both).
What changes: Read as "pay off a debt", the land makes up for the Sabbath years it was not given. The same word is in and , where the people "accept" (or pay for) their wrongdoing.
Good to know: looks back to these words: "until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths", "to fulfill seventy years".
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35As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it didn’t have in your Sabbaths when you lived on it.God speaks
In plain English: All the time it lies desolate it will have rest, the rest it did not have in your Sabbaths when you lived on it.
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36“‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues.God speaks
In plain English: "As for those of you who are left, I will send fear (literally: faintness) into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will chase them. They will run as people run from a sword, and they will fall when no one is chasing them.
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37They will stumble over one another, as it were before the sword, when no one pursues. You will have no power to stand before your enemies.God speaks
In plain English: They will stumble over one another as if running from a sword, when no one is chasing them. You will have no strength to stand against your enemies.
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38You will perish among the nations. The land of your enemies will eat you up.God speaks
In plain English: You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will eat you up.
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39Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away with them.God speaks
In plain English: Those of you who are left will waste away (or: rot away) because of their wrongdoing in the lands of your enemies. They will also waste away because of their fathers' wrongdoing, along with them.
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40“‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me; and also that because they walked contrary to me,God speaks
In plain English: "If they confess their wrongdoing and the wrongdoing of their fathers, their unfaithfulness against me, and also that they walked against me,
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41I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity,God speaks
In plain English: so that I too walked against them and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they accept the punishment for their wrongdoing (or: pay for their wrongdoing),
Good to know: uses the same picture of the heart: "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked."
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42then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land.God speaks
In plain English: then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham. And I will remember the land.
Good to know: The verse names the fathers in reverse order: Jacob, then Isaac, then Abraham.
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43The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes.God speaks
In plain English: The land will be left empty by them and will enjoy (or: make up for) its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. And they will accept the punishment for their wrongdoing (or: pay for their wrongdoing), because they rejected my ordinances and they (literally: their soul) loathed my statutes.
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44Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God.God speaks
In plain English: Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or loathe them so as to destroy them completely and break my covenant with them, for I am Yahweh their God.
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45But I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Yahweh.’”God speaks
In plain English: For their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, so that I might be their God. I am Yahweh."
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46These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws, which Yahweh made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.
In plain English: These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that Yahweh made between himself and the Israelites on Mount Sinai, through Moses.
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