Leviticus 26
Big idea: Two roads, laid out with unflinching honesty. If you walk in my statutes: rain in season, bread to the full, peace, sleep without fear, five chasing a hundred — and the promise the whole book has been building toward, I will set my tent among you, I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people. If you will not listen, discipline comes in five escalating waves, each introduced with the same phrase — seven times more for your sins — running from terror and fever to a sky like iron, wild animals, siege, cannibalism, and finally the cities laid waste and the people scattered among the nations, while the land enjoys the Sabbaths it never got. And then, when everything is lost, the chapter does something remarkable: if they confess their iniquity and their uncircumcised heart is humbled, I will remember my covenant with Jacob, with Isaac, with Abraham — and I will remember the land.
Chapter 26 closes the covenant with blessing, discipline and remembrance. Chapter 27 is an appendix on vows and valuations — what it costs to give something to God, and to buy it back.
26:1–13 — If you walk in my statutes
No idols, no carved image, no pillar, no figured stone to bow to; keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. Then the blessings: rains in season, the land yielding its increase, threshing lasting until the vintage and the vintage until sowing, bread to the full, dwelling safely. Peace in the land, lying down with no one to make you afraid, evil animals removed, no sword passing through; five chasing a hundred and a hundred chasing ten thousand. God will have respect for them, make them fruitful, multiply them, establish his covenant — they will move out the old harvest to make room for the new. And the summit: I will set my tent among you, and my soul won't abhor you; I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.
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. 2 “‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am Yahweh. 3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments, and do them, 4 then 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 Your 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. 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. 7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 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 “‘I will have respect for you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old supplies long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new. 11 I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. 12 I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I 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.
26:14–26 — Seven times more
But if you will not listen, and reject my statutes and break my covenant, discipline comes in waves. First: terror, consumption and fever, seed sown in vain and eaten by enemies, defeat, and fleeing when no one pursues. If that does not work — seven times more for your sins: the pride of your power broken, a sky like iron and soil like bronze, strength spent in vain. If you still walk contrary — seven times more plagues: wild animals robbing them of children, destroying livestock, making roads desolate. If still not turned back — a sword executing the vengeance of the covenant, gathered into cities, pestilence, delivered into the enemy's hand, the staff of bread broken so ten women bake in one oven and deliver bread by weight, and you eat and are not satisfied.
14 “‘But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments, 15 and 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, 16 I 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. 17 I 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. 18 “‘If you in spite of these things will not listen to me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit. 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. 22 I 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. 23 “‘If by these things you won’t be turned back to me, but will walk contrary to me, 24 then I will also walk contrary to you; and I will strike you, even I, seven times for your sins. 25 I 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. 26 When 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.
26:27–39 — Scattered, and the land at rest
The final wave. High places destroyed, incense altars cut down, dead bodies cast on the bodies of their idols; cities laid waste, sanctuaries desolate, offerings unwelcome. The land brought into desolation, so that their enemies who dwell in it are astonished — and the people scattered among the nations with a sword drawn after them. Then a startling note: the land will enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, the rest it did not have while they lived on it. Those who are left will be given a faintness of heart in exile, fleeing at the sound of a driven leaf, stumbling over one another with no one pursuing, pining away in their own iniquity and their fathers'.
27 “‘If you in spite of this won’t listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you in wrath. I will also chastise you seven times for your sins. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 I 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. 31 I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation. I will not take delight in the sweet fragrance of your offerings. 32 I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it will be astonished at it. 33 I 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. 34 Then 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. 35 As 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. 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. 37 They 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. 38 You will perish among the nations. The land of your enemies will eat you up. 39 Those 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.
26:40–46 — I will remember my covenant
If they confess their iniquity and their fathers' — the trespass they trespassed, and that they walked contrary to God, so that he walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies — and if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they accept the punishment of their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land. The land will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate, and they will accept their punishment. Yet even in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them to destroy them utterly and break my covenant — for I am Yahweh their God. I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations. These are the statutes given in Mount Sinai by Moses.
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, 41 I 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, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land. 43 The 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. 44 Yet 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. 45 But 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.’” 46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws, which Yahweh made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).