Leviticus 26

New International Version

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.

²“‘Observe my Sabbaths^(E) and have reverence for my sanctuary.^(F) I am the Lord.

³“‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey^(G) my commands, ⁴I will send you rain^(H) in its season,^(I) and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.^(J) ⁵Your 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)

⁶“‘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. ⁷You will pursue your enemies,^(Q) and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸Five^(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)

⁹“‘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. ¹⁰You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.^(V) ¹¹I will put my dwelling place^[a]^(W) among you, and I will not abhor you.^(X) ¹²I will walk^(Y) among you and be your God,^(Z) and you will be my people.^(AA) ¹³I 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) ¹⁵and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws^(AF) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,^(AG) ¹⁶then 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) ¹⁷I 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) ¹⁹I will break down your stubborn pride^(AS) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.^(AT) ²⁰Your 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. ²²I 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, ²⁴I myself will be hostile^(BC) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. ²⁵And 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. ²⁶When 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, ²⁸then in my anger^(BI) I will be hostile^(BJ) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.^(BK) ²⁹You will eat^(BL) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.^(BM) ³⁰I 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. ³¹I 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) ³²I myself will lay waste the land,^(BV) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.^(BW) ³³I 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) ³⁴Then 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. ³⁵All 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) ³⁷They 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) ³⁸You will perish^(CK) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.^(CL) ³⁹Those 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, ⁴¹which 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, ⁴²I 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. ⁴³For 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) ⁴⁴Yet 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. ⁴⁵But 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.’”

⁴⁶These 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

Leviticus 26:11 Or my tabernacle
Leviticus 26:30 Or your funeral offerings

Ecclesiastes 9

New International Version

A Common Destiny for All

9 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.^(A) ²All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,^[a] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,
so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.^(B)

³This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.^(C) The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live,^(D) and afterward they join the dead.^(E) ⁴Anyone who is among the living has hope^[b]—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

⁵For the living know that they will die,
    but the dead know nothing;^(F)
they have no further reward,
    and even their name^(G) is forgotten.^(H)
⁶Their love, their hate
    and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
    in anything that happens under the sun.^(I)

⁷Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine^(J) with a joyful heart,^(K) for God has already approved what you do. ⁸Always be clothed in white,^(L) and always anoint your head with oil. ⁹Enjoy life with your wife,^(M) whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot^(N) in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. ¹⁰Whatever^(O) your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,^(P) for in the realm of the dead,^(Q) where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.^(R)

¹¹I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
    or the battle to the strong,^(S)
nor does food come to the wise^(T)
    or wealth to the brilliant
    or favor to the learned;
but time and chance^(U) happen to them all.^(V)

¹²Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times^(W)
that fall unexpectedly upon them.^(X)

Wisdom Better Than Folly

¹³I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom^(Y) that greatly impressed me: ¹⁴There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. ¹⁵Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.^(Z) ¹⁶So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.^(AA)

¹⁷The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
¹⁸Wisdom^(AB) is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 9:2 Septuagint (Aquila), Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew does not have and the bad.
Ecclesiastes 9:4 Or What then is to be chosen? With all who live, there is hope

Psalm 112

New International Version

Psalm 112^[a]

¹Praise the Lord.^[b]^(A)

Blessed are those^(B) who fear the Lord,^(C)
who find great delight^(D) in his commands.

²Their children^(E) will be mighty in the land;
    the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³Wealth and riches^(F) are in their houses,
    and their righteousness endures^(G) forever.
⁴Even in darkness light dawns^(H) for the upright,
    for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.^(I)
⁵Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,^(J)
    who conduct their affairs with justice.

⁶Surely the righteous will never be shaken;^(K)
    they will be remembered^(L) forever.
⁷They will have no fear of bad news;
    their hearts are steadfast,^(M) trusting in the Lord.^(N)
⁸Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;^(O)
    in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.^(P)
⁹They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,^(Q)
    their righteousness endures^(R) forever;
    their horn^[c] will be lifted^(S) high in honor.

¹⁰The wicked will see^(T) and be vexed,
they will gnash their teeth^(U) and waste away;^(V)
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.^(W)

Footnotes

Psalm 112:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, the lines of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalm 112:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah
Psalm 112:9 Horn here symbolizes dignity.