The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Punishments for Disobedience
Leviticus 26:14–39 — Punishments for Disobedience. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
14If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- lō ṯiš·mə·‘ū lî wə·lō ṯa·‘ă·śū ’êṯ kāl- hā·’êl·leh ham·miṣ·wōṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if (wĕ’im) not you-will-hear (tišmĕ‘û) to-Me, and-not you-will-do all the-commandments the-these.
Where the English smooths the original
The glowing promises of blessings for obedience are now followed by a catalogue of calamities of the most appalling nature, which will overtake the Israelites if they disobey the Divine commandments. The first degree of punishment with which this verse begins extends to Leviticus 26:17 .
14–39. The penalties that shall ensue, if Israel prove disobedient (Cp. Deuteronomy 28:15 ff.) They are arranged in five groups, viz. ( a ) Leviticus 26:16-18 , ( b ) Leviticus 26:19-20 , ( c ) Leviticus 26:21 ; Leviticus 26:32 , ( d ) Leviticus 26:23-26 , ( e ) Leviticus 26:27-39 , overthrow and exile of the nation.Cambridge's grouping is one defensible scheme; Keil (on v.17) counts a fourfold series. Both agree the curses escalate; the exact partition is editorial.
Two things would bring ruin. 1. A contempt of God's commandments. They that reject the precept, will come at last to renounce the covenant. 2. A contempt of his corrections. If they will not learn obedience by the things they suffer, God himself would be against them; and this is the root and cause of all their misery.
even all of them were to be respected, attended to, and performed, for the law curses everyone that does not do all things it requires, Galatians 3:10 .Gill reads the chapter through Paul's citation of Deut 27:26 in Gal 3:10. That is a theological gloss, not a verbal link from Lev 26 itself — see the flagged thread.
15and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- tim·’ā·sū wə·’im ’eṯ- bə·ḥuq·qō·ṯay tiḡ·‘al nap̄·šə·ḵem miš·pā·ṭay lə·ḇil·tî ‘ă·śō·wṯ ’eṯ- kāl- miṣ·wō·ṯay lə·hap̄·rə·ḵem ’eṯ- bə·rî·ṯî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if My-statutes you-reject (tim’āsû), and-if My-judgments loathes (tig‘al) your-soul, to-not doing all My-commandments, to-your-breaking (lĕhapĕrkem) My-covenant.
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without the “but,” which is not in the original, and obscures the sense of the passage, since it is the fact of their abhorrence of God’s law which breaks the Divine covenant with them.Trimmed; Ellicott's point is that covenant-breach is not a fourth, separate sin but the result of the preceding contempt.
Break your part or conditions of that covenant made between me and you, and thereby discharge me from the blessings promised on my part.
to be negligent hearers of the commands of God is bad, not to be doers of them worse, but to treat them with contempt is worse still: or if your soul abhor my judgments: which is worst of all
16then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ap̄- zōṯ ’ă·nî ’e·‘ĕ·śeh- lā·ḵem wə·hip̄·qaḏ·tî ‘ă·lê·ḵem be·hā·lāh ’eṯ- haš·ša·ḥe·p̄eṯ wə·’eṯ- haq·qad·da·ḥaṯ mə·ḵal·lō·wṯ ‘ê·na·yim ū·mə·ḏî·ḇōṯ nā·p̄eš ū·zə·ra‘·tem zar·‘ă·ḵem lā·rîq ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem wa·’ă·ḵā·lu·hū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Also this I will-do to-you: and-I-will-appoint over-you behālāh (sudden-terror), the-šaḥepet (wasting) and-the-qaddaḥat (fever), consuming the-eyes and-draining-away the-soul; and-you-will-sow your-seed in-vain (lārîq), for-your-enemies will-eat-it.
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These two diseases also occur together in Deuteronomy 28:22 , the only passage in the Bible where they occur again.This observation is borne out by the Verifier: H7829 and H6920 each appear in exactly two verses, Lev 26:16 and Deut 28:22.
The original word, בהלה , behalah, properly signifies a sudden and grievous consternation, and may be intended to denote that slavish fear, pusillanimity, and dejection which are consequent on the loss of confidence in God, and the testimony of a good conscience.
The first warning for disobedience is disease. "Terror" (literally trembling) is rendered trouble in Psalm 78:33 ; Isaiah 65:23 . It seems here to denote that terrible affliction, an anxious temperament, the mental state ever at war with Faith and Hope.
He would appoint over them בּחלה terror, - a general notion, which is afterwards particularized as consisting of diseases, sowing without enjoying the fruit, defeat in war, and flight before their enemies.
17And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·nā·ṯat·tî p̄ā·nay bā·ḵem wə·nig·gap̄·tem lip̄·nê ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem śō·nə·’ê·ḵem wə·rā·ḏū ḇā·ḵem wə·nas·tem wə·’ên- rō·ḏêp̄ ’eṯ·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I-will-set My-face (pānay) against-you, and-you-will-be-smitten (niggaptem) before your-enemies; and-they-will-rule-over (wĕrādû) you, those-hating-you, and-you-will-flee with-none pursuing you.
Where the English smooths the original
Be slain before your enemies. —Better, be smitten before your enemies, as this phrase is rendered in the Authorised Version ( Numbers 14:42 ; Deuteronomy 1:42 ; Deuteronomy 28:25 ).
and ye shall flee when none pursueth you; of such pusillanimous spirits should they be, and filled with such dread and terror of their enemies, so contrary from what is promised them on their obedience, Leviticus 26:8 .
ye shall flee when none pursueth you ] Cp. Leviticus 26:36 ; Proverbs 28:1 ; also Psalm 53:5 .
Yea, the Lord would turn His face against them, so that they would be beaten by their enemies, and be so thoroughly humbled in consequence, that they would flee when no man pursued
18And if after all this you will not obey Me, I will proceed to punish you sevenfold for your sins.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- ‘aḏ- ’êl·leh lō ṯiš·mə·‘ū lî wə·yā·sap̄·tî lə·yas·sə·rāh ’eṯ·ḵem še·ḇa‘ ‘al- ḥaṭ·ṭō·ṯê·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if up-to (‘ad) these you-will-not-hear to-Me, then-I-will-add (wĕyāsapĕtî) to-discipline (lĕyassĕrāh) you šeba‘ (sevenfold) for your-sins.
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I will punish you seven times more. —That is, indefinitely or unceasingly; many more times. Seven being a complete number is often used to denote thoroughness
Seven times - The sabbatical number is here proverbially used to remind the people of the covenant.
Verses 18-20. - Punishment in its second degree. I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass; the result of no rain in a land scorched by the fiery Eastern sun.
Seven, as the number of perfection in the works of God, denotes the strengthening of the chastisement, even to the height of its full measure (cf. Proverbs 24:16 ).
19I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·šā·ḇar·tî ’eṯ- ‘uz·zə·ḵem gə·’ō·wn wə·nā·ṯat·tî ’eṯ- šə·mê·ḵem kab·bar·zel wə·’eṯ- ’ar·ṣə·ḵem kan·nə·ḥu·šāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I-will-break (wĕšābartî) the-pride-of (gĕ’ôn) your-strength; and-I-will-make your-skies like-the-iron (kabbarzel), and-your-land like-the-bronze.
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I will make your heaven as iron. —That is, the heaven which is over them shall yield no more rain than if it were of metal. In Deuteronomy 28:23 , where the same punishment is threatened, and the same figure is used, the metals are reversed, the heaven is brass, and the earth iron.
The pride of your power, i.e. your strength, of which you are proud, your numerous and united forces, your kingdom, yea, your ark and sanctuary.
the pride of your power ] the pride with which ye rely upon your prosperity and the fruitfulness of your land. The expression is found elsewhere only in Ezekiel
I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass—No figures could have been employed to convey a better idea of severe and long-continued famine.
20and your strength will be spent in vain. For your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kō·ḥă·ḵem wə·ṯam lā·rîq ’ar·ṣə·ḵem wə·lō- ṯit·tên ’eṯ- yə·ḇū·lāh wə·‘êṣ hā·’ā·reṣ lō yit·tên pir·yōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-will-be-spent (wĕtam) your-strength in-vain (lārîq); for-not will-give your-land its-produce, and-the-tree-of the-land will-not-give its-fruit.
Where the English smooths the original
with the heaven over them as metal, their labour expended in ploughing, digging, and sowing will be perfectly useless. Your land shall not yield her increase, as no amount of human labour will make up for the want of rain.
The second warning is utter sterility of the soil. Compare Deuteronomy 11:17 ; Deuteronomy 28:18 ; Ezekiel 33:28 ; Ezekiel 36:34-35 .
In endeavouring to till the ground, to plough, or sow, or to dig about the vines or olives, and prune them: for your land shall not yield its increase
21If you walk in hostility toward Me and refuse to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times, according to your sins.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- tê·lə·ḵū qe·rî ‘im·mî wə·lō ṯō·ḇū liš·mō·a‘ lî wə·yā·sap̄·tî ‘ă·lê·ḵem mak·kāh še·ḇa‘ kə·ḥaṭ·ṭō·ṯê·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if you-walk with-Me qerî (in-hostility / by-chance), and-you-are-not-willing to-hear to-Me, then-I-will-add upon-you a-blow (makkāh) šeba‘ (sevenfold) according-to-your-sins.
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The Jews follow the other sense, and expound it of those who, when they are afflicted by God, look on their sufferings as casual and contingent things, rather than as divine chastisements, to correct, amend, and bring them to repentance.Benson sets out both readings of qerî ("contumacy" vs. "by chance"); this excerpt gives the rabbinic "chance" sense.
carelessly or heedlessly with me, or before me, i.e. so as to be careless and unconcerned whether you please me or offend me. This is opposed to exact and circumspect walking with God, as Abraham did, Genesis 17:1
עם קרי הלך ("to go a meeting with a person," i.e., to meet a person in a hostile manner, to fight against him) only occurs here in Leviticus 26:21 and Leviticus 26:23 , and is strengthened in Leviticus 26:24 , Leviticus 26:27 , Leviticus 26:28 , Leviticus 26:40 , Leviticus 26:41Keil maps every occurrence of the qerî-idiom across the chapter — the Verifier confirms the lexeme appears in exactly 7 verses.
The third warning is the multiplication of destructive animals, etc. Compare Deuteronomy 32:24 ; Ezekiel 5:17 ; Ezekiel 14:15 ; Judges 5:6-7 ; Isaiah 33:8 .
22I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hiš·laḥ·tî ’eṯ- haś·śā·ḏeh ḥay·yaṯ ḇā·ḵem wə·šik·kə·lāh ’eṯ·ḵem wə·hiḵ·rî·ṯāh ’eṯ- bə·hem·tə·ḵem wə·him·‘î·ṭāh ’eṯ·ḵem dar·ḵê·ḵem wə·nā·šam·mū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I-will-send-against you the-beast-of (ḥayyat) the-field, and-it-will-bereave (wĕšikkĕlāh) you, and-it-will-cut-off your-cattle, and-it-will-make-you-few; and-your-ways will-be-desolate (wĕnāšammû).
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your highways shall be desolate—Trade and commerce will be destroyed—freedom and safety will be gone—neither stranger nor native will be found on the roads (Isa 33:8). This is an exact picture of the present state of the Holy LandJFB's claim that this describes "the present state" reflects nineteenth-century observation, not the text; cited as historical commentary, not as exegesis of the Hebrew.
By beasts of prey He would destroy their cattle, and by barrenness He would make the nation so small that the ways would be deserted, that high roads would cease because there would be no traveller upon them on account of the depopulation of the land ( Isaiah 33:8 ; Zephaniah 3:6 )
and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number;Geneva's bracketed gloss-markers in the raw ({l}, {m}) are omitted; this is the unmarked clause verbatim.
23And if in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- bə·’êl·leh lō ṯiw·wā·sə·rū lî wa·hă·laḵ·tem qe·rî ‘im·mî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if by-these you-will-not-be-disciplined (tiwwāsĕrû) by-Me, but-you-walk with-Me qerî (in-hostility),
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The fourth warning ( Leviticus 26:23-26 ) threatens the rebellious Israelites with a more intensified form of the punishment partially mentioned in the first warning. (See Leviticus 26:17 .)
Yahweh now places Himself as it were in a hostile position toward His people who "will not be reformed" (rather, brought unto God: Jeremiah 2:30 ). He will avenge the outraged cause of His covenant, by the sword, pestilence, famine, and captivity.
be reformed unto ] rather, be disciplined by . See mg.
24then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ă·nî wə·hā·laḵ·tî ’ap̄- bə·qe·rî ‘im·mā·ḵem gam- ’ā·nî wə·hik·kê·ṯî ’eṯ·ḵem še·ḇa‘ ‘al- ḥaṭ·ṭō·ṯê·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Then-I, even-I, will-walk with-you qerî (in-hostility); and-I-will-strike (wĕhikkêtî) you, even-I, šeba‘ (sevenfold) for your-sins.
Where the English smooths the original
To those who regard not the operation of God’s hands, he appears unconcerned about human affairs; but those who have spiritual discernment, and understand the secret ways of providence, will see reason to believe that there is a spirit within, full of eyes, which guides and directs the wheels of that vast machine, even where others discern nothing but irregularity and confusion.Benson reads God's "walking by chance" with Israel as the appearance of providence withdrawn — discernible only to faith.
By their increased hostility to God, they simply increase their calamities, since He whom they are defying now also assumes a hostile attitude towards those who are defiant.
Contrary unto you, or, carelessly with you or towards you, i.e. I will put you out of my care and protection.
25And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hê·ḇê·ṯî ḥe·reḇ ‘ă·lê·ḵem nō·qe·meṯ nə·qam- bə·rîṯ wə·ne·’ĕ·sap̄·tem ’el- ‘ā·rê·ḵem wə·šil·laḥ·tî ḏe·ḇer bə·ṯō·wḵ·ḵem wə·nit·tat·tem bə·yaḏ- ’ō·w·yêḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I-will-bring upon-you a-sword (ḥereb) avenging the-vengeance-of (nĕqam) the-covenant (bĕrît); and-you-gather into your-cities, and-I-will-send a-plague (deber) in-your-midst, and-you-will-be-given into the-hand-of the-enemy.
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When, completely defeated in the battlefield, the Israelites escape from the avenging sword into their fortified cities, they will then become a prey to pestilence, so that the surviving remnant will prefer to deliver themselves over into the hands of the relentless enemy. (Comp. Jeremiah 21:6-9 ; Ezekiel 5:12 ; Ezekiel 7:15 .)
execute the vengeance of the covenant ] exact retribution from you for disregarding My covenant with you.
The "covenant vengeance" was punishment inflicted for a breach of the covenant, the severity of which corresponded to the greatness of the covenant blessings forfeited by a faithless apostasy.
the covenant made with them at Sinai, which they transgressed, and for which vengeance would be taken on them in this way, God so ordering it in his providence, though the enemy meant it not, Isaiah 10:5
26When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
bə·šiḇ·rî lā·ḵem maṭ·ṭêh- le·ḥem ‘e·śer nā·šîm wə·’ā·p̄ū laḥ·mə·ḵem ’e·ḥāḏ bə·ṯan·nūr wə·hê·šî·ḇū laḥ·mə·ḵem bam·miš·qāl wa·’ă·ḵal·tem wə·lō ṯiś·bā·‘ū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
When-I-break (bĕšibrî) for-you the-staff-of bread (maṭṭēh-leḥem), ten women will-bake your-bread in-one oven, and-they-will-return your-bread by-weight (bammišqāl); and-you-will-eat and-not be-satisfied (tiśbā‘û).
Where the English smooths the original
When it is brought from the bake-house each one will not be allowed to eat as much as he requires, but will have his stinted allowance most carefully served out to him by weight.
"To break the staff of bread," was a proverbial expression for cutting off the supply of bread, the staff of life ( Psalm 105:16 ; Ezekiel 4:16 ; Ezekiel 5:16 ; Ezekiel 14:13 ; compare Isaiah 3:1 ).
instead of the bread being brought home from the oven in such an abundant quantity that there is no need of weighing it, as there is obviously enough for all comers, it will then be needful to weigh it with the utmost precision, that the scanty supply may be measured out carefully to each, lest any should get more than their share.
the scarcity predicted here would be so great, that one oven would be sufficient to bake as much as ten women used in ordinary occasions to provide for family use; and even this scanty portion of bread would be distributed by weight (Eze 4:16).
27But if in spite of all this you do not obey Me, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- bə·zōṯ lō ṯiš·mə·‘ū lî wa·hă·laḵ·tem bə·qe·rî ‘im·mî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if by-this you-will-not-hear to-Me, but-you-walk with-Me bĕqerî (in-hostility),
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With this reiterated formula the fifth warning is introduced ( Leviticus 26:27-33 ), which threatens the total destruction of the land and the people in the midst of the most appalling horrors.
Verses 27-33. - Punishment in the fifth degree. Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. We find that this threat was fulfilled in Samaria ( 2 Kings 6:28 ), and in Jerusalem at the time both of the earlier siege by the Chaldaeans, and of the later siege by the Romans
all his corrections and chastisements being ineffectual to reform them, and make them obedient to him
28then I will walk in fury against you, and I, even I, will punish you sevenfold for your sins.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hā·laḵ·tî ba·ḥă·maṯ- qe·rî ‘im·mā·ḵem ’ā·nî ’ap̄- wə·yis·sar·tî ’eṯ·ḵem še·ḇa‘ ‘al- ḥaṭ·ṭō·ṯē·ḵɛm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Then-I-will-walk with-you in-fury-of (baḥămat) qerî (hostility); and-I, even-I, will-discipline (wĕyissartî) you šeba‘ (sevenfold) for your-sins.
Where the English smooths the original
Whilst in Leviticus 26:24 the persistent rebellion is responded to on the part of the defied God in the simple words, “then will I also work contrary unto you,” we have here the addition “in fury” as the provocation is more intense.
Your obstinate contempt of my laws shall be punished with new and more grievous plagues; which was fulfilled in their captivity in the days of Manasseh, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah.
in fury of rashness or carelessness with you or among you, like a raging lion breaking into a multitude of people, and destroying all he meets with promiscuously
29You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wa·’ă·ḵal·tem bə·śar bə·nê·ḵem tō·ḵê·lū ū·ḇə·śar bə·nō·ṯê·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-you-will-eat (wa’ăkaltem) the-flesh-of (bĕśar) your-sons, and-the-flesh-of your-daughters you-will-eat.
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This prediction actually came to pass at the siege of Samaria by the Syrians ( 2Kings 6:28-29 ), and at the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldæans, which Jeremiah thus bewails, “the hands of pitiful women have sodden their own children, they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people” ( Lamentations 4:10
a fact which literally occurred in Samaria in the period of the Syrians ( 2 Kings 6:28-29 ), and in Jerusalem in that of the Chaldeans ( Lamentations 2:20 ; Lamentations 4:10 ), and in the Roman war of extermination under Titus (Josephus bell. jud. v. 10, 3) in the most appalling manner.
This is the very utmost calamity that could come upon a people. See it described at large, and in the most lively colours, Deuteronomy 28:53-57 .
30I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hiš·maḏ·tî ’eṯ- bā·mō·ṯê·ḵem wə·hiḵ·rat·tî ’eṯ- ḥam·mā·nê·ḵem wə·nā·ṯat·tî ’eṯ- piḡ·rê·ḵem ‘al- piḡ·rê gil·lū·lê·ḵem nap̄·šî wə·ḡā·‘ă·lāh ’eṯ·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I-will-destroy (wĕhišmadtî) your-high-places (bāmōt), and-I-will-cut-down your-sun-pillars (ḥammānêkem), and-I-will-set your-corpses (pigrêkem) upon the-corpses-of your-idols (gillûlêkem); and-My-soul will-loathe (gā‘ălāh) you.
Where the English smooths the original
When the apostate Israelites have succumbed to the sword, famine, and pestilence, they will not even have a seemly burial, but their carcases will be mixed up with the shattered remains of their gods, and thus form one dunghill. Similar is the picture given by Ezekiel, “Your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idolsEllicott names the Ezekiel 6:4–5 parallel; the Verifier confirms it is a verbal link (shared rare lexemes ḥammān and gillûl).
Idols - The Hebrew word here literally means things which could be rolled about, such as a block of wood or a lump of dirt. It was no doubt a name given in derision. Compare Isaiah 40:20 ; Isaiah 44:19 ; 2 Kings 1:2 .
sun-images ] rather, sun-pillars, probably emblems of a Phoenician deity, Baal-Ḥammân, ‘Lord of the sun’s heat.’
With the idols the idolaters also were to perish, and defile with their corpses the images, which had also become corpses as it were, through their overthrow and destruction. For the further execution of this threat, see Ezekiel 6:4 .
31I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·nā·ṯat·tî ’eṯ- ‘ā·rê·ḵem ḥā·rə·bāh wa·hă·šim·mō·w·ṯî ’eṯ- miq·də·šê·ḵem wə·lō ’ā·rî·aḥ nî·ḥō·ḥă·ḵem bə·rê·aḥ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I-will-give your-cities to-ruin (ḥorbāh), and-I-will-lay-waste (wahăšimmôtî) your-sanctuaries (miqdĕšêkem); and-not will-I-smell the-aroma-of-rest (nîḥōaḥ) of-your-sacrifices.
Where the English smooths the original
God thus reversing the promise which He made to the Israelites, that He will set up His dwelling place in the midst of them (see Leviticus 26:11 ) if they will walk according to His commandments.
God vouchsafes not to call it his own, but theirs, to show that by their wickedness it would be polluted and rendered unworthy of him, and that therefore he would disown and abhor it, and all the services which they should perform in it
ניחח ריח ( Leviticus 1:9 ) is the odour of the sacrifice; and ריח, to smell, an anthropomorphic designation of divine satisfaction (cf. Amos 5:21 ; Isaiah 11:3 ).
32And I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who dwell in it will be appalled.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ă·nî ’eṯ- wa·hă·šim·mō·ṯî hā·’ā·reṣ ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem hay·yō·šə·ḇîm bāh wə·šā·mə·mū ‘ā·le·hā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I, even-I, will-lay-waste (wahăšimmōtî) the-land; and-they-will-be-appalled (wĕšāmĕmû) over-it, your-enemies the-ones-dwelling in-it.
Where the English smooths the original
Whilst the devastations hitherto were the result of God permitting hostile invasions and conquests, the desolation of the whole country and the dispersion of the Israelites described in the following verses are to be the work of God Himself.
The land was to become a wilderness, so that even the enemies who dwelt therein would be terrified in consequence (cf. Jeremiah 18:16 ; Jeremiah 19:8 )
shall be astonished at it; at the desolation of the land, that such a fruitful country, a land flowing with milk and honey, should be turned into barrenness, for the wickedness of its inhabitants
33But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’eṯ·ḵem ’ĕ·zā·reh ḇag·gō·w·yim wa·hă·rî·qō·ṯî ḥā·reḇ ’a·ḥă·rê·ḵem ’ar·ṣə·ḵem wə·hā·yə·ṯāh šə·mā·māh wə·‘ā·rê·ḵem yih·yū ḥā·rə·bāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-you I-will-scatter (’ĕzāreh) among-the-nations (baggôyim), and-I-will-draw-out (wahărîqōtî) after-you a-sword (ḥāreb); and-your-land will-become a-desolation (šĕmāmāh), and-your-cities will-be a-ruin.
Where the English smooths the original
Thus the sword which God promised should not go through their land (see Leviticus 26:6 ) if they walk according to the Divine commandments, will now be wielded by Himself to bring about their utter dispersion from the land.
And I will scatter you among the Heathen,.... As with a fan, Jeremiah 15:7 ; so they were at the time of the Assyrian and Babylonish captivities, some were carried to one place, and some to another
will draw out the sword ] For this expression, as implying the hot pursuit of fugitives, see Ezekiel 5:2 ; Ezekiel 5:12 ; Ezekiel 12:14 .
34Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’āz hā·’ā·reṣ tir·ṣeh ’eṯ- šab·bə·ṯō·ṯe·hā kōl yə·mê hoš·šam·māh wə·’at·tem bə·’e·reṣ ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem ’āz hā·’ā·reṣ tiš·baṯ wə·hir·ṣāṯ ’eṯ- šab·bə·ṯō·ṯe·hā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Then the-land will-be-pleased-with (tirṣeh) its-sabbaths (šabbĕtōteyhā) all the-days of-its-desolation, while-you in-the-land-of your-enemies; then the-land will-rest (tišbat), and-it-will-make-good its-sabbaths.
Where the English smooths the original
It shall enjoy those sabbatical years of rest from tillage, which you, through covetousness, would not give it: a most seasonable warning this.
A long arrear of sabbatic years had accumulated through the avarice and apostasy of the Israelites, who had deprived their land of its appointed season of rest. The number of those sabbatic years seems to have been seventy, as determined by the duration of the captivity.
The result was that they lost the land altogether for a period equal to that during which it ought to have kept sabbath, and the land "as long as she lay desolate kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years" ( 2 Chronicles 36:21 ).
As the earth groans under the pressure of the sin of men, so does it rejoice in deliverance from this pressure, and participation in the blessed rest of the whole creation.
35As long as it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not receive during the Sabbaths when you lived in it.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kāl- yə·mê hāš·šam·māh tiš·bōṯ ’êṯ ’ă·šer lō- šā·ḇə·ṯāh bə·šab·bə·ṯō·ṯê·ḵem bə·šiḇ·tə·ḵem ‘ā·le·hā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
All the-days of-its-desolation (hoššammāh) it-will-rest (tišbōt) — that which it-did-not-rest (šābĕtāh) on-your-sabbaths while-you-dwelt upon-it.
Where the English smooths the original
All the days of its desolation shall it rest that time which it rested not in your Sabbaths while ye dwelt upon it. That is, the periods of rest of which the land had been deprived would be made up to it. Compare 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 .
the land during its desolation will not be cultivated but will lie fallow, and thus be enabled to make up by its long rest for the many sabbaths and sabbatical years of which it had been deprived by the lawless Israelites during their sojourn in it.
It is evident from this, that the keeping of the Sabbaths and sabbatical years was suspended when the apostasy of the nation increased
36As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·han·niš·’ā·rîm bā·ḵem wə·hê·ḇê·ṯî mō·reḵ bil·ḇā·ḇām bə·’ar·ṣōṯ ’ō·yə·ḇê·hem qō·wl nid·dāp̄ ‘ā·leh wə·rā·ḏap̄ ’ō·ṯām wə·nā·sū mə·nu·saṯ- ḥe·reḇ wə·nā·p̄ə·lū wə·’ên rō·ḏêp̄
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-ones-remaining (hannišʼārîm) of-you — I-will-bring faintness (mōrek) into-their-hearts in-the-lands-of their-enemies; and-the-sound-of a-driven leaf (‘āleh niddāp̄) will-pursue them, and-they-will-flee as-a-flight-from a-sword, and-they-will-fall with-none pursuing.
Where the English smooths the original
The sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them — A very significant phrase, importing that they should sink into a state of the most slavish fear and despicable cowardice.
Faintness: the word notes a tenderness and softness of mind, whereby they are disenabled from bearing the present miseries, and are in continual dread of further and sorer miseries.
God will bring despair into their heart in the lands of your enemies, that the sound ("voice") of a moving leaf will hunt them to flee as before the sword, so that they will fall in their anxious flight, and stumble one over another, though no one is pursuing.Keil elsewhere marks mōrek ("faintness") a hapax legomenon; the Verifier corroborates its extreme rarity.
Upon them that are left, that is, the surviving captives and exiles, I will send a faintness into their hearts, - so Ezekiel 21:7 , "And every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint
37They will stumble over one another as before the sword, though no one is behind them. So you will not be able to stand against your enemies.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḵā·šə·lū ’îš- bə·’ā·ḥîw kə·mip·pə·nê- ḥe·reḇ ’ā·yin wə·rō·ḏêp̄ wə·lō- lā·ḵem ṯih·yeh tə·qū·māh lip̄·nê ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-will-stumble (wĕkāšĕlû), each over his-brother, as-before a-sword though-none (’āyin) pursuing; and-there-will-be no standing (tĕqûmāh) for-you before your-enemies.
Where the English smooths the original
They shall fall one upon another, as soldiers use to do when their ranks are broken, and they forced to flee away hastily from their pursuers. When non pursueth; your guilt and fear causing you to imagine that they do pursue you when indeed they do not.
as if a sword was drawn and brandished at them, just ready to be thrust in them, filling them with the utmost dread and terror, and yet at the same time none in pursuit of them
There should not be to them תּקוּמה, standi et resistendi facultas (Rosenmller), standing before the enemy; but they should perish among the nations.
38You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will consume you.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wa·’ă·ḇaḏ·tem bag·gō·w·yim ’e·reṣ ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem wə·’ā·ḵə·lāh ’eṯ·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-you-will-perish (wa’ăbadtem) among-the-nations, and-the-land-of your-enemies will-eat (wĕ’ākĕlāh) you.
Where the English smooths the original
The context plainly shows that utter destruction is not meant here. The very next verse speaks of a remnant who are to pine away, whilst Leviticus 26:40 speaks of their confessing their guilt.
The land of your enemies shall eat you up - Compare Numbers 13:32 ; Ezekiel 36:13 .
On the removal of the ten tribes into captivity, they never returned, and all traces of them were lost.
39Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·han·niš·’ā·rîm bā·ḵem bə·’ar·ṣōṯ ’ō·yə·ḇê·ḵem yim·maq·qū ba·‘ă·wō·nām wə·’ap̄ yim·māq·qū ba·‘ă·wō·nōṯ ’ă·ḇō·ṯām ’it·tām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-ones-remaining (hannišʼārîm) of-you will-rot-away (yimmaqqû) in-their-iniquity (‘āwōn) in-the-lands-of their-enemies; and-also in-the-iniquities-of their-fathers with-them they-will-rot-away.
Where the English smooths the original
The language of Scripture does not make that trenchant division between sin and punishment which we are accustomed to do. Sin is its own punishment, having in itself, from its very commencement, the germ of death. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" James 1:15 ; Romans 2:5 ; Romans 5:12 .
Shall languish out the remainder of their days in bitter grief, and sad reflections upon the miseries which their own and their fathers’ complicated guilt has brought upon them; and hereby shall be consumed and melt away.
those who will survive the terrible doom described under the five warnings, will pine away with grief, reflecting upon their sins which have brought upon them these tribulations.
in the iniquities of their fathers ] in the guilt to which their fathers have contributed. with them ] meaning either, as they have done, or, as holding fast by their fathers’ iniquities.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The whole catalogue hangs on a single conjunction. Keil & Delitzsch read it precisely: "The following judgments are threatened, not for single breaches of the law, but for contempt of all the laws, amounting to inward contempt of the divine commandments and a breach of the covenant" (Lev 26:14–15). The opening verb is not "disobey" but shāma‘, "hear" — apostasy begins in a stopped ear. Ellicott names the literary turn: "The glowing promises of blessings for obedience are now followed by a catalogue of calamities of the most appalling nature." The first stroke is dread itself — the rare word behālāh, which Benson calls "a sudden and grievous consternation" born of "the loss of confidence in God," and which Barnes glosses as "the mental state ever at war with Faith and Hope." Then God's face turns: wĕnātattî pānay, "I will set My face against you," the exact inversion of the priestly benediction's shining face, so that (Keil) "they would flee when no man pursued" — the chapter's signature terror, named here and returning in vv.36–37.
Four times the refrain returns: šeba‘, "seven times more." Barnes hears the covenant in the number itself: "the sabbatical number is here proverbially used to remind the people of the covenant"; Keil, "the number of perfection in the works of God... the chastisement, even to the height of its full measure." Yet the governing verb is not vengeance but yāsar — to discipline, the rod of a father (vv.18, 23, 28). The cycles turn on the chapter's untranslatable crux, qerî: Keil documents that the idiom "to go a meeting with a person in a hostile manner... only occurs here in Leviticus 26:21 and Leviticus 26:23, and is strengthened in Leviticus 26:24, 27, 28, 40, 41" — seven verses, all in this chapter (so the Verifier confirms). Benson and the Geneva margin preserve an older sense, walking with God "by fortune, imputing my plagues to chance" — treating divine discipline as random luck. Either way the structure is symmetrical: a fixed defiance answered by a rising rod, until (Keil) the curse breaks "the staff of bread" and ten women share one oven, and the people "eat but not be satisfied" — the precise negation of v.5's bread "to the full."
The fifth and severest stage opens with the unspeakable: parents eating their children, which Keil, Ellicott, and the Pulpit Commentary all record as literally fulfilled at the sieges of Samaria, Jerusalem under the Chaldeans, and Jerusalem under Titus. Then false worship is unmade. The ḥammānîm are not generic "incense altars" but, says Cambridge, "sun-pillars, probably emblems of a Phoenician deity, Baal-Ḥammân, 'Lord of the sun's heat'"; the idols are gillûlîm, which Barnes exposes as "things which could be rolled about... a name given in derision." Ellicott draws the grim picture: the apostates' carcasses "mixed up with the shattered remains of their gods, and thus form one dunghill" — and he, with Keil, names the verbal echo in Ezekiel 6:4. The cycle closes with God's own nepeš loathing them (gā‘al, v.30) — the very verb used of Israel's soul loathing His judgments in v.15. Then God reverses His indwelling promise (v.11): "I will not smell the savour" — which Keil calls "an anthropomorphic designation of divine satisfaction," now withdrawn.
The most unexpected turn in the whole curse is that the desolation becomes rest. Benson: the land "shall enjoy those sabbatical years of rest from tillage, which you, through covetousness, would not give it." The verb rāṣāh means the land "takes satisfaction," and (Cambridge) is "regarded as having been long deprived of its rights, which are now restored." Keil lifts it to creation-theology: "As the earth groans under the pressure of the sin of men, so does it rejoice in deliverance from this pressure, and participation in the blessed rest of the whole creation." The Pulpit Commentary and JFB both tie the seventy years of exile to the unkept sabbaths, the link 2 Chronicles 36:21 makes explicit. And the chapter does not end in extinction: Ellicott insists the survivors "shall be lost," not destroyed — "The context plainly shows that utter destruction is not meant here. The very next verse speaks of a remnant." The remnant "rots" (māqaq) in iniquity (vv.36, 39) — but Barnes reads the very word for iniquity as already containing its own remedy's logic: "Sin is its own punishment." Beyond this unit's edge, vv.40–45 turn that rotting confession into the door of remembered covenant.
Read under Sola Scriptura, the architecture of Leviticus 26 is its argument: this is not a list of disasters but a single sentence, an if (v.14) whose every clause escalates by the sabbath-number seven (vv.18, 21, 24, 28) and turns on one word, qerî — a defiance that calls God's discipline mere chance. The curses are deliberately the photographic negatives of the blessings of vv.3–13: the same sky and land (v.4 / v.19), the same bread eaten to the full or not at all (v.5 / v.26), the same wild beasts removed or loosed (v.6 / v.22), the same enemies fleeing or ruling (v.7–8 / v.17, 37), the same sword passing or not passing through the land (v.6 / v.25, 33), the same divine dwelling set up or its sanctuaries laid waste (v.11 / v.31), the same soul of God not loathing or now loathing (v.11 / v.30). And the curse's hidden hinge is grace: the land's enforced desolation is reckoned as the very sabbath-rest the people robbed it of (vv.34–35) — judgment that simultaneously vindicates a withheld command and prepares restoration. The chapter refuses to end in annihilation; it leaves a remnant rotting in guilt (v.39), poised on the threshold of the confession and remembered covenant of vv.40–45. The fallible reading: in this Holiness Code, the LORD's wrath never stops being fatherly correction (yāsar), and even His harshest desolation serves both the land's sabbath and the sinner's eventual return — a severity ordered toward mercy.
The curse is the blessing read backward — and even read backward, it bends toward a sabbath and a remnant. (a fallible synthesis, not Scripture)
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The diseases of v.16, šaḥepet (wasting) and qaddaḥat (fever), are each among the rarest words in the Hebrew Bible: the Verifier finds them in exactly two verses apiece — here and Deuteronomy 28:22. Ellicott noted the same fact unaided: "These two diseases also occur together in Deuteronomy 28:22, the only passage in the Bible where they occur again." The shared rare pair, plus the parallel structure both Cambridge ("Cp. Deuteronomy 28:15 ff.") and Deuteronomy itself attest, make this the firmest verbal link in the unit: two covenant curse-catalogs, one Sinaitic and one Moabite, sharing a clinical vocabulary found nowhere else.
Leviticus 26:16 · Deuteronomy 28:22
basis: rare shared lexemes H7829 šaḥepet (in 2 vv) and H6920 qaddaḥat (in 2 vv) — each occurs in only these two verses in the whole Hebrew Bible (râdaph H7291 is also shared but common)
The defiance-word qerî ("hostile encounter," or in the older reading "by chance") is unique to this chapter: the Verifier records it in only 7 verses, all in Leviticus 26 — vv.21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 40, 41. Keil mapped the same distribution. The thread that binds the curses (v.21) to the confession (vv.40–41) is therefore lexical, not merely thematic: the same word that names Israel's defiance names what they must confess. With ’ap̄ ("yea/even," the wrath-particle) also shared, the link to v.41 is a genuine verbal one within the chapter.
Leviticus 26:21 · Leviticus 26:40 · Leviticus 26:41
basis: rare shared lexeme H7147 qᵉrîy (in 7 vv, all within Leviticus 26) joins the curse-cycles to the confession; also shared H637 ʼaph, H5973 ʻim, H1980 hâlak
The land's enforced rest (vv.34–35) is explicitly cited as fulfilled by 2 Chronicles 36:21, which says the captivity lasted "until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths... to fulfill threescore and ten years." The Pulpit Commentary, JFB, and Benson all anchor the seventy-year exile to this verse. The Verifier shows the shared verbal core — rāṣāh (enjoy/accept), šābat (rest), šāmam (lie desolate), shabbāt (sabbath) — so the link is both an explicit later citation and a genuine vocabulary overlap. The tie to Lev 26:43 (within the chapter) rests on the same sabbath-and-acceptance lexemes.
Leviticus 26:34 · Leviticus 26:35 · 2 Chronicles 36:21 · Leviticus 26:43
basis: shared lexemes H7521 râtsâh, H7673 shâbath, H8074 shâmêm, H7676 shabbâth; 2 Chronicles 36:21 names this prophecy as fulfilled (explicit later citation), though it adds the seventy-year figure not stated in Leviticus
Ezekiel 6:4 is the most direct verbal echo of any curse in this unit, as Ellicott, Keil, Barnes, and the Pulpit Commentary all observe ("For the further execution of this threat, see Ezekiel 6:4" — Keil). The Verifier confirms a verbal basis: the two verses share the rare ḥammān (sun-pillar, in 8 vv) and gillûl (idol). Ezekiel takes up Leviticus' own contemptuous vocabulary for false worship and its image of corpses heaped on the wreckage of the gods — a prophet consciously re-applying the Holiness Code's threat to his own generation.
Leviticus 26:30 · Ezekiel 6:4
basis: shared rare lexemes H2553 ḥammân (sun-pillars, in 8 vv) and H1544 gillûl (idols); Ezekiel re-uses the distinctive idol-vocabulary and the corpse-on-carcass image of Lev 26:30
The flight of the terror-struck remnant (v.36) and Isaiah's promise of an unhurried departure from Babylon ("you will not go out in haste, nor go in flight") share the rare word mĕnûsāh ("flight/retreat"), which the Verifier finds in only 2 verses. The link is real but it is not a quotation: there is no claim that Isaiah cites Leviticus, and the relation is in fact one of contrast — the curse's panicked rout ("they will flee as one flees the sword") is answered, in the comfort of Isaiah, by a redeemed people who need not flee at all. Because a single shared word carrying an antithetical motif is a thematic echo rather than a verbal quotation, the badge is tiered down to structural/thematic; the pointed reversal across the curse-and-restoration arc is the substance of the link.
Leviticus 26:36 · Isaiah 52:12
basis: one rare shared lexeme H4499 mᵉnûwçâh (flight, in only 2 vv) plus common H622 ʼâçaph; no quotation claim and the relation is antithetical (Leviticus' panic-flight vs. Isaiah's unhurried exodus) — a shared-motif echo, deliberately NOT tiered verbal
Isaiah's new-creation oracle promises the reversal of this very curse: "They will not labor in vain (rîq) or bear children doomed to terror (behālāh)." The Verifier confirms the shared rare words behālāh (terror, in 4 vv) and rîq (emptiness/vain, in 12 vv), plus the common zera‘ (seed). Barnes already linked the "terror" of v.16 to Isaiah 65:23. But the relation is restorative contrast, not citation: Isaiah does not quote Leviticus, he undoes it, lifting in the age to come the very futility (sowing seed for the enemy, dread over offspring) that the curse imposes. Two genuinely rare shared words make the motif-link strong, yet because there is no quotation and the sense runs the opposite direction, this is honestly tiered structural/thematic rather than verbal.
Leviticus 26:16 · Isaiah 65:23
basis: two rare shared lexemes H928 behâlâh (terror, in 4 vv) and H7385 rîyq (vain, in 12 vv), plus common H2233 zeraʻ (seed); Isaiah 65:23 reverses rather than quotes the curse's futile sowing and dread — a shared-motif contrast, not a verbal quotation
John Gill reads Leviticus 26:14 through Paul's "for the law curses everyone that does not do all things it requires, Galatians 3:10." The connection is theologically venerable but must be flagged: Galatians 3:10 quotes Deuteronomy 27:26, not Leviticus 26, and the link is cross-Testament (Greek New Testament to Hebrew). The Verifier returns no shared original-language lexeme — "connection, if any, is thematic/structural and must be argued, not asserted." A Greek-to-Hebrew link can never be "verbal" on shared Strong's numbers; the curse-for-disobedience theology is real and ancient, but the specific citation belongs to Deuteronomy, so this is recorded as a contested-provenance thread.
Leviticus 26:14 · Galatians 3:10 · Deuteronomy 27:26
basis: no shared original-language lexeme (cross-Testament Greek↔Hebrew); Galatians 3:10 cites Deuteronomy 27:26, not Leviticus 26 — Gill's link is thematic (the law's curse on disobedience), not a quotation of this verse
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Leviticus 26 lays out the covenant curse in full: defeat, famine, sword, exile — and, at the head of it, the divine face turned away (v.17, wĕnātattî pānay, the inversion of the priestly blessing's shining face). The New Testament reads the whole Mosaic curse-economy as resolved at the cross: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (Gal 3:13), citing the hanged-and-cursed of Deuteronomy 21:23. The same Paul whom Gill invokes on v.14 ("the law curses everyone that does not do all things") sees in Christ the One who absorbs the catalog of vv.14–39 on behalf of covenant-breakers. The specific note of v.17 — God's face set against rather than toward — is what the Gospels record falling on the crucified: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt 27:46), the turned face borne by the only one who never earned it. The link is theological and canonical, not a verbal quotation of this Hebrew passage — but it is the ancient and widely-held Christian reading of the Levitical curse: the curse fell, and fell on Him.
Leviticus 26:14 · Leviticus 26:17 · Galatians 3:13
The strangest mercy in the chapter is that the land's desolation is reckoned as sabbath (vv.34–35) — the rest withheld is at last paid. Keil hears in it "participation in the blessed rest of the whole creation." Hebrews 4 takes up the sabbath-rest theme of Genesis 2 and the wilderness generation and declares "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (Heb 4:9), entered by faith in Christ, who is greater than the rest Joshua could give. Leviticus 26's land-sabbath — rest enforced by judgment, anticipating restoration — points beyond itself to the rest no curse can revoke. The connection is typological, drawn from the canon's wider sabbath-theology rather than a shared lexeme (the Septuagint and Hebrews use Greek; Leviticus, Hebrew), so it is offered as a figural reading.
Leviticus 26:34 · Leviticus 26:35 · Hebrews 4:9
The unit ends not in annihilation but in a remnant who "rot" in their iniquity yet survive (vv.36, 39); Ellicott insists "utter destruction is not meant here. The very next verse speaks of a remnant." Verses 40–45 (just beyond this unit) turn that remnant's confession into God's remembrance of His covenant with the patriarchs "for their sake." Paul reads the preserved remnant as the thread by which the promise to Abraham reaches Christ and is opened to the nations: "so too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace" (Rom 11:5). The curse cannot consume the people through whom the Seed (Gal 3:16) must come. A canonical-typological reading of the remnant motif, not a verbal claim on this text.
Leviticus 26:38 · Leviticus 26:39 · Romans 11:5
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Provenance and honesty notes for this unit.
1. Misattributed scrape. The Albert Barnes text supplied for vv.14, 15, and 17 ("Bring forth the old because of the new...") is mis-scraped from Leviticus 26:10 and does not belong to these verses; it has been excluded. Barnes' genuine notes on vv.16, 18, 20, 23, 26, 30, 35, 38, and 39 are used. Several authors' notes also legitimately span ranges (e.g. Keil's single comment covers vv.14–16; Henry's covers all of 26:14–39), and are quoted under the verse where they are anchored.
2. The qerî crux (vv.21, 23, 24, 27, 28). The keyword qerî (H7147) is genuinely disputed. The ancient versions (LXX, Targum, Vulgate) and most moderns render "hostility / contrariness"; a strong Jewish tradition (preserved in Benson and the Geneva margin) reads "by chance / by fortune" — to treat God's discipline as random misfortune. BSB follows "hostility," which the synthesis adopts while flagging the alternative. Both senses converge on defiant disregard of the LORD.
3. Sevenfold (vv.18, 21, 24, 28). Whether šeba‘ means a literal seven, "seven times more," or "indefinitely / to the full" is contested among the sources (Ellicott: indefinite; Keil/Barnes: the covenant's perfection-number). The synthesis presents it as the sabbath-number used proverbially, without forcing an arithmetic.
4. Cross-Testament links are never 'verbal.' The Christ and Galatians threads (Gal 3:10, 3:13; Heb 4:9; Rom 11:5) connect a Greek New Testament to a Hebrew text; they cannot share Strong's numbers and are tiered structural/typological or flagged, never verbal. Gill's appeal to Galatians 3:10 on v.14 is theologically venerable but cites Deuteronomy 27:26, not Leviticus — recorded honestly as a flagged thread.
5. Rare shared word ≠ quotation. Two Hebrew↔Hebrew threads (Isaiah 52:12 on v.36; Isaiah 65:23 on v.16) share genuinely rare lexemes with this unit, and the Verifier's mechanical tier returns "verbal." But in both cases Isaiah does not quote the curse — he reverses it (an unhurried exodus instead of panic-flight; fruitful labor instead of sowing in vain). Because the relation is an antithetical motif-echo with no citation claim, the editor has deliberately tiered these down from verbal to structural/thematic, preferring to under-claim. The within-chapter qerî link (vv.21/40/41) and the Deuteronomy 28:22 / Ezekiel 6:4 links remain verbal, since those rest on rare words used in the same (curse) sense, with Ezekiel consciously re-preaching the threat.
6. Fulfillment claims. The cannibalism of v.29 and the seventy-year sabbath of vv.34–35 are reported by the commentators as historically fulfilled (Samaria 2 Kgs 6; Jerusalem under the Chaldeans and under Titus; the exile per 2 Chron 36:21). These are the human authors' historical readings, presented as such; the text itself states the threat conditionally, and the chapter's own coda (vv.40–45, beyond this unit) holds the conditional door of mercy open.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)