Leviticus 26
Contemporary English Version
Blessings for Obeying the Lord
The Lord said:
26 (A) I am the Lord your God! So don't make or worship idols or images. 2 Respect the Sabbath and honor the place where I am worshiped, because I am the Lord.
3 (B) Faithfully obey my laws, 4 and I will send rain to make your crops grow and your trees produce fruit. 5 Your harvest of grain and grapes will be so abundant, that you won't know what to do with it all. You will eat and be satisfied, and you will live in safety. 6 I will bless your country with peace, and you will rest without fear. I will wipe out the dangerous animals and protect you from enemy attacks. 7 You will chase and destroy your enemies, 8 even if there are only 5 of you and 100 of them, or only 100 of you and 10,000 of them. 9 I will treat you with such kindness that your nation will grow strong, and I will also keep my promises to you. 10 Your barns will overflow with grain each year. 11 I will live among you and never again look on you with disgust. 12 (C) I will walk with you—I will be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, and I rescued you from Egypt, so that you would never again be slaves. I have set you free; now walk with your heads held high.
Punishment for Disobeying the Lord
The Lord said:
14-15 (D) If you disobey me and my laws, and if you break our agreement, 16 I will punish you terribly, and you will be ruined. You will be struck with incurable diseases and with fever that leads to blindness and depression. Your enemies will eat the crops you plant, 17 and I will turn from you and let you be destroyed by your attackers. You will even run at the very rumor of attack. 18 Then, if you still refuse to obey me, I will punish you seven times for each of your sins, 19 until your pride is completely crushed. I will hold back the rain, so the sky above you will be like iron, and the ground beneath your feet will be like copper. 20 All of your hard work will be for nothing—and there will be no harvest of grain or fruit.
21 If you keep rebelling against me, I'll punish you seven times worse, just as your sins deserve! 22 I'll send wild animals to attack you, and they will gobble up your children and livestock. So few of you will be left that your roads will be deserted.
23 If you remain my enemies after this, 24 I'll remain your enemy and punish you even worse. 25 War will break out because you broke our agreement, and if you escape to your walled cities, I'll punish you with horrible diseases, and you will be captured by your enemies. 26 You will have such a shortage of bread, that ten women will be able to bake their bread in the same oven. Each of you will get only a few crumbs, and you will go hungry.
27 Then if you don't stop rebelling, 28 I'll really get furious and punish you terribly for your sins! 29 In fact, you will be so desperate for food that you will eat your own children. 30 I'll destroy your shrines and tear down your incense altars, leaving your dead bodies piled on top of your idols. And you will be disgusting to me. 31 I'll wipe out your towns and your places of worship and will no longer be pleased with the smell of your sacrifices. 32 Your land will become so desolate that even your enemies who settle there will be shocked when they see it. 33 After I destroy your towns and ruin your land with war, I'll scatter you among the nations.
34-35 While you are prisoners in foreign lands, your own land will enjoy years of rest and refreshment, as it should have done each seventh year when you lived there. 36-37 In the land of your enemies, you will tremble at the rustle of a leaf, as though it were a sword. And you will become so weak that you will stumble and fall over each other, even when no one is chasing you. 38 Many of you will die in foreign lands, 39 and others of you will waste away in sorrow as the result of your sins and the sins of your ancestors.
40-41 Then suppose you realize that I turned against you and brought you to the land of your enemies because both you and your ancestors had stubbornly sinned against me. If you humbly confess what you have done and start living right, 42 (E) I'll keep the promise I made to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will bless your land 43 and let it rest during the time that you are in a foreign country, paying for your rebellion against me and my laws.
44 (F) No matter what you have done, I am still the Lord your God, and I will never completely reject you or become absolutely disgusted with you there in the land of your enemies. 45 While nations watched, I rescued your ancestors from Egypt so that I would be their God. Yes, I am your Lord, and I will never forget our agreement.
46 Moses was on Mount Sinai when the Lord gave him these laws and teachings for the people of Israel.
Leviticus 26
New King James Version
Promise of Blessing and Retribution(A)
26 ‘You shall (B)not make idols for yourselves;
neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;
nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;
for I am the Lord your God.
2 (C)You shall [a]keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:
I am the Lord.
3 (D)‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
4 (E)then I will give you rain in its season, (F)the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 (G)Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;
you shall eat your bread to the full, and (H)dwell in your land safely.
6 (I)I will give peace in the land, and (J)you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;
I will rid the land of (K)evil[b] beasts,
and (L)the sword will not go through your land.
7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
8 (M)Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;
your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
9 ‘For I will (N)look on you favorably and (O)make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My (P)covenant with you.
10 You shall eat the (Q)old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.
11 (R)I will set My [c]tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.
12 (S)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, that you should not be their slaves;
I have broken the bands of your (T)yoke and made you walk [d]upright.
14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,
15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,
16 I also will do this to you:
I will even appoint terror over you, (U)wasting disease and fever which shall (V)consume the eyes and (W)cause sorrow of heart.
And (X)you shall sow your seed [e]in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 I will [f]set (Y)My face against you, and (Z)you shall be defeated by your enemies.
(AA)Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall (AB)flee when no one pursues you.
18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you (AC)seven times more for your sins.
19 I will (AD)break the pride of your power;
I (AE)will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
20 And your (AF)strength shall be spent in vain;
for your (AG)land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
21 ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.
22 (AH)I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;
and (AI)your highways shall be desolate.
23 ‘And if (AJ)by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,
24 (AK)then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
25 And (AL)I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;
when you are gathered together within your cities (AM)I will send pestilence among you;
and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 (AN)When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, (AO)and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
27 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
28 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;
and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 (AP)You[g] shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
30 (AQ)I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols;
and My soul shall abhor you.
31 I will lay your (AR)cities waste and (AS)bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not (AT)smell the fragrance of your [h]sweet aromas.
32 (AU)I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
33 (AV)I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you;
your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
34 (AW)Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land;
then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
35 As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—
for the time it did not rest on your (AX)sabbaths when you dwelt in it.
36 ‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send (AY)faintness[i] into their hearts in the lands of their enemies;
the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee;
they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.
37 (AZ)They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues;
and (BA)you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 You shall (BB)perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 And those of you who are left (BC)shall [j]waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands;
also in their (BD)fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.
40 ‘But (BE)if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,
41 and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;
if their (BF)uncircumcised hearts are (BG)humbled, and they (BH)accept their guilt—
42 then I will (BI)remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;
I will (BJ)remember the land.
43 (BK)The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them;
they will accept their guilt, because they (BL)despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.
44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, (BM)I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;
for I am the Lord their God.
45 But (BN)for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, (BO)whom I brought out of the land of Egypt (BP)in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God:
I am the Lord.’ ”
46 (BQ)These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel (BR)on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 26:2 observe
- Leviticus 26:6 wild beasts
- Leviticus 26:11 dwelling place
- Leviticus 26:13 erect
- Leviticus 26:16 without profit
- Leviticus 26:17 oppose you
- Leviticus 26:29 In time of famine
- Leviticus 26:31 pleasing
- Leviticus 26:36 fear
- Leviticus 26:39 rot away
Leviticus 26
English Standard Version
Blessings for Obedience
26 “You shall not make (A)idols for yourselves or erect an (B)image or (C)pillar, and you shall not set up a (D)figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 (E)You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
3 (F)“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then (G)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. 5 (H)Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And (I)you shall eat your bread to the full and (J)dwell in your land securely. 6 (K)I will give peace in the land, and (L)you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And (M)I will remove harmful beasts from the land, (N)and the sword shall not go through your land. 7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 (O)Five 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. 9 (P)I will turn to you and (Q)make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat (R)old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 (S)I will make my dwelling[a] among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 (T)And I (U)will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 (V)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. (W)And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
Punishment for Disobedience
14 (X)“But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but (Y)break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with (Z)wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And (AA)you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will (AB)set my face against you, and (AC)you shall be struck down before your enemies. (AD)Those who hate you shall rule over you, and (AE)you shall flee when none pursues you. 18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again (AF)sevenfold for your sins, 19 and I will break (AG)the pride of your power, and I (AH)will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 And (AI)your strength shall be spent in vain, for (AJ)your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
21 (AK)“Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22 And (AL)I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that (AM)your roads shall be deserted.
23 “And (AN)if by this discipline you are not turned to me (AO)but walk contrary to me, 24 (AP)then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. 25 And (AQ)I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, (AR)I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 (AS)When I break your supply[b] of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and (AT)you shall eat and not be satisfied.
27 “But (AU)if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you (AV)in fury, and I myself will discipline you (AW)sevenfold for your sins. 29 (AX)You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 And (AY)I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and (AZ)cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. 31 And I will (BA)lay your cities waste and will (BB)make your sanctuaries desolate, and (BC)I will not smell your pleasing aromas. 32 And (BD)I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be (BE)appalled at it. 33 And (BF)I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
34 (BG)“Then the land shall enjoy[c] its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it. 36 And as for those of you who are left, (BH)I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The (BI)sound of a (BJ)driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues. 37 They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And (BK)you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 And those of you who are left shall (BL)rot away in your enemies' lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.
40 “But if (BM)they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they (BN)committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their (BO)uncircumcised heart is (BP)humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will (BQ)remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will (BR)remember the land. 43 But (BS)the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, (BT)I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and (BU)break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, (BV)whom I brought out of the land of Egypt (BW)in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”
46 (BX)These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses (BY)on Mount Sinai.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 26:11 Hebrew tabernacle
- Leviticus 26:26 Hebrew staff
- Leviticus 26:34 Or pay for; twice in this verse; also verse 43
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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