Leviticus 26
Expanded Bible
Rewards for Obeying God
26 “‘Don’t make idols for yourselves or set up ·statues [carved images] or ·memorials [pillars]. Don’t put stone statues in your land to bow down to, because I am the Lord your God [19:4; Ex. 20:4–6; Deut. 5:8–10].
2 “‘·Remember [Keep; Guard] my Sabbaths, and ·respect [fear] my ·Holy Place [sanctuary; 19:3, 30; 23:3; Ex. 20:8–14; Deut. 5:12–15]. I am the Lord.
3 “‘If you ·remember [keep; guard] my ·laws [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and commands and obey them, 4 I will give you rains at the right season [Deut. 11:14]; the land will produce crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will continue until it is time to plant. Then you will have plenty to eat and live ·safely [securely] in your land. 6 I will give peace to your country; you will lie down ·in peace, and no one will make you afraid [L and not be afraid]. I will keep ·harmful [dangerous] animals out of your country, and ·armies [L the sword] will not pass through it.
7 “‘You will ·chase [pursue] your enemies and ·defeat them, killing them with your [L they will fall before you by the] sword. 8 Five of you will ·chase [pursue] a hundred men; a hundred of you will ·chase [pursue] ten thousand men [Deut. 32:30; Josh. 23:10; Is. 30:17]. ·You will defeat your enemies and kill them with your [L They will fall before you by the] sword.
9 “‘Then I will ·show kindness to [L turn toward] you and ·let you have many children [L I will make you fruitful and multiply you]; I will ·keep my agreement [establish my covenant/treaty] with you. 10 You will ·have enough crops to last for more than a year [old grain long stored]. When you harvest the new crops, you will have to throw out the old ones to make room for them. 11 Also I will place my ·Holy Tent [sanctuary] among you, and I will not ·turn away from [L abhor] you. 12 I will walk with you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. I broke the ·heavy weights that were on your shoulders [bars of your yoke] and let you walk ·proudly [erect; standing tall] again.
Punishment for Not Obeying God
14 “‘But if you do not ·obey [keep; guard] me and ·keep [obey] all my commands, 15 and if you ·turn away from [disdain] my ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and ·hate [abhor] my ·laws [regulations], refusing to obey all my commands, you have broken our ·agreement [covenant; treaty]. 16 As a result, I will do this to you: I will ·cause terrible things to happen to [bring dread/terror on] you. I will cause you to have disease and fever that will destroy your eyes and slowly kill you. You will not have success when you plant your seed, and your enemy will eat your crops. 17 I will ·be [L set my face] against you, and your enemies will defeat you. These people who hate you will ·rule [exercise dominion] over you, and you will run away even when no one is ·chasing [pursuing] you.
18 “‘If after all this you still do not ·obey [listen to] me, I will ·punish [discipline] you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will break your great pride, and I will make the sky like iron and the earth like bronze [C there would be no rain]. 20 ·You will work hard, but it will not help [L Your strength will be for no purpose]. Your land will not grow any crops, and your trees will not give their fruit.
21 “‘If you still turn against me and refuse to ·obey [listen to] me, I will ·beat [strike] you seven times harder. The more you sin, the more you will be punished. 22 I will send wild animals to attack you, and they will ·take your children away from you and destroy [L bereave you and cut off] your cattle. They will make you so few in number the roads will be empty.
23 “‘If you don’t learn your lesson after all these things, and if you still turn against me, 24 I will also turn against you. I will ·punish [strike] you seven more times for your sins. 25 You broke my agreement, and I will ·punish [L have my revenge against] you. I will bring ·armies [L the sword] against you, and if you go into your cities for safety, I will cause ·diseases [plagues] to spread among you so that ·your enemy will defeat you [L you will be given into the enemy’s hand]. 26 ·There will be very little bread to eat; [L When I break your staff of bread,] ten women will ·be able to cook all [bake] your bread in one oven. They will measure [L by weight] each piece of bread, and you will eat, but you will ·still be hungry [L not be satisfied].
27 “‘If you still refuse to ·listen to [obey] me and still turn against me, 28 I will ·show [L turn against you with] my great anger; I will ·punish [discipline] you seven more times for your sins. 29 You will eat the ·bodies [flesh] of your sons and [L the flesh of your] daughters [Deut. 28:53–57; Is. 49:26; Jer. 19:9; Ezek. 5:10]. 30 I will destroy your ·places where gods are worshiped [L high places] and cut down your incense altars. I will pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols [2 Kin. 23:14–16]. I will ·hate [abhor] you. 31 I will ·destroy your cities [make your cities a ruin] and make your holy places ·empty [desolate], and I will not smell the pleasing smell of your offerings. 32 I will make the land ·empty [desolate] so that your enemies who come to live in it will be shocked at it. 33 I will scatter you among the nations, and I will pull out my sword and destroy you. Your land will become empty, your cities a ·waste [ruin]. 34 When you are taken to your enemy’s country, your land will finally get its ·rest [sabbath; 25:1–7]. It will enjoy its ·time of rest [sabbath] all the time it lies empty. 35 During the time the land is empty, it will have the ·rest [sabbath] you should have given it while you lived in it [2 Chr. 36:21].
36 “‘Those of you who are left alive will ·lose their courage [L place despondency in their hearts] in the land of their enemies. ·They will be frightened by the sound of a leaf being blown by the wind [L The sound of a driven leaf will make them flee]. They will ·run [flee] as if someone were chasing them with a sword, and they will fall even when no one is ·chasing [pursuing] them. 37 They will fall over ·each other [L their brother/kinsman], as if ·someone were chasing them with [L before] a sword, even though no one is ·chasing [pursuing] them. You will not be strong enough to stand up against your enemies. 38 You will ·die [perish] among other nations and ·disappear in your enemies’ countries [L the land of your enemies will consume you]. 39 So those who are left alive will ·rot [or pine] away in their enemies’ countries because of their sins. They will also ·rot [or pine] away because of their ·ancestors’ [fathers’] sins.
There Is Always Hope
40 “‘But maybe the people will confess their sins and the sins of their ·ancestors [fathers]; maybe they will admit they turned against me and ·sinned [committed treachery] against me, 41 which made me turn against them and send them into the land of their enemies. If ·these disobedient people [L their uncircumcised hearts; Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 4:4] are ·sorry for what they did [L humbled] and accept punishment for their sin, 42 I will remember my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Jacob [Gen. 35:9–15], my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Isaac [Gen. 26:24], and my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Abraham [Gen 12:1–3; 15; 17], and I will remember the land. 43 The land will be ·left empty by its people [L forsaken/abandoned of them], and it will enjoy its ·time of rest [sabbath; 25:1–7] as it lies ·bare [desolate] without them. Then those who are left alive will accept the punishment for their sins. They will learn that they were punished because they ·hated [disdained] my ·laws [regulations] and ·refused to obey [abhorred] my ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements]. 44 But even though this is true, I will not ·turn away from [disdain] them when they are in the land of their enemies. I will not ·hate [abhor] them so much that I completely destroy them and break my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with them, because I am the Lord their God. 45 For their good I will remember the ·agreement with their ancestors [L former covenant/treaty], whom I brought out of the land of Egypt [C the covenant with Moses; Ex. 19–24] so I could become their God; the other nations saw these things. I am the Lord.’”
46 These are the ·laws [statutes; ordinances; requirements], ·rules [regulations], and ·teachings [laws; instructions] the Lord made between himself and the Israelites through Moses at Mount Sinai.
Leviticus 26
Amplified Bible
Blessings of Obedience
26 [a]‘You shall not make idols for yourselves, nor shall you erect an image, a sacred pillar or an obelisk, nor shall you place any figured stone in your land so that you may bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God. 2 You shall keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the Lord. 3 If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and [obediently] do them, 4 then I will give you rain in its season, and the land will yield her produce and the trees of the field bear their fruit. 5 And your threshing season will last until grape gathering and the grape gathering [time] will last until planting, and you will eat your bread and be filled and live securely in your land. 6 I will also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down and there will be no one to make you afraid. I will also eliminate harmful animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. 7 And you will chase your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will put ten thousand to flight; your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9 For I will turn toward you [with favor and regard] and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish and confirm My covenant with you.(A) 10 You will eat the old supply of [abundant] produce, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new. 11 I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject nor separate itself from you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves; and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright [with heads held high as free men].
Penalties of Disobedience
14 ‘But if you do not obey Me and do not [obediently] do all these commandments, 15 if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul rejects My ordinances, so that you will not [obediently] do all My commandments, and in this way break My covenant, 16 I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to languish also. And you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat what you plant. 17 I will set My face against you so that [b]you will be struck down before your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.(B) 18 If in spite of all this you still will not listen to Me and be obedient, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will break your pride in your power, and I will make your sky like iron [giving no rain and blocking all prayers] and your ground like bronze [hard to plow and yielding no produce].(C) 20 Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.
21 ‘If then, you act with hostility toward Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times in accordance with your sins. 22 I will let loose the [wild] animals of the field among you, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you so few in number that your roads will lie deserted and desolate.(D)
23 ‘And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act [c]with hostility against Me, 24 then I also will act with hostility against you, and I will strike you seven times for your sins. 25 I will bring a sword on you that will execute vengeance for [breaking] the covenant; and when you gather together in your cities, I will send pestilence (virulent disease) among you, and you shall be handed over to the enemy.(E) 26 When I break your staff of bread [that is, cut off your supply of food], ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will ration your bread; and you will eat and not be satisfied.(F)
27 ‘Yet if in spite of this you will not [attentively] listen to Me but act with hostility against me, 28 then I will act with hostility against you in wrath, and I also will punish you seven times for your sins. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.(G) 30 I will destroy your high places [devoted to idolatrous worship], and cut down your incense altars, and heap your dead bodies upon the [crushed] bodies of your idols, and My soul will detest you [with deep and unutterable loathing].(H) 31 I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your sweet and soothing aromas [of offerings by fire].(I) 32 I will make the land desolate, and your enemies who settle in it will be appalled at it. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out the sword [of your enemies] after you; your land will become desolate and your cities will become ruins.(J)
34 ‘Then the land [of Israel] will enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate, it will have rest, the rest it did not have on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it.(K) 36 As for those who are left of you, I will bring despair (lack of courage, weakness) into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a scattered leaf will put them to flight, and they will flee as if [running] from the sword, and will fall even when no one is chasing them. 37 They shall stumble over one another as if to escape from a sword when no one is chasing them; and you will have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you. 39 Those of you who are left will rot away because of their wickedness in the lands of your enemies; also because of the wickedness of their forefathers they will rot away like them.
40 ‘If they confess their wickedness and the wickedness of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they have committed against Me—and also in their acting with hostility toward Me— 41 I also was acting with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—then if their uncircumcised (sin-filled) hearts are humbled and they accept the punishment for their wickedness,(L) 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham, and remember the land.(M) 43 But the land will be abandoned by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment for their wickedness and make amends because they rejected My ordinances and their soul rejected My statutes. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so despise them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God.(N) 45 But I will, for their sake, [earnestly] remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I have brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.’”
46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws which the Lord established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses at Mount Sinai.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 26:1 Through Moses God explains clearly how He will bless the Israelites for their faithful obedience and repeatedly emphasizes that His blessings are contingent on Israel’s responsiveness. If the Israelites want God’s blessings, they must not take Him for granted.
- Leviticus 26:17 These verses specify the penalties for disobedience. The Scripture references indicate where the fulfillments of these prophecies are recorded. God keeps His word, whether a blessing or a judgment.
- Leviticus 26:23 Lit contrary to and so throughout the chapter.
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