Add parallel Print Page Options

Punishment for Disobedience(A)

14 (B)The Lord said, “If you will not obey my commands, you will be punished. 15 If you refuse to obey my laws and commands and break the covenant I have made with you, 16 I will punish you. I will bring disaster on you—incurable diseases and fevers that will make you blind and cause your life to waste away. You will plant your crops, but it will do you no good, because your enemies will conquer you and eat what you have grown. 17 I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated, and those who hate you will rule over you; you will be so terrified that you will run when no one is chasing you.

18 “If even after all of this you still do not obey me, I will increase your punishment seven times. 19 I will break your stubborn pride; there will be no rain, and your land will be dry and as hard as iron. 20 All your hard work will do you no good, because your land will not produce crops and the trees will not bear fruit.

21 “If you still continue to resist me and refuse to obey me, I will again increase your punishment seven times. 22 I will send dangerous animals among you, and they will kill your children, destroy your livestock, and leave so few of you that your roads will be deserted.

23 “If after all of this punishment you still do not listen to me, but continue to defy me, 24 then I will turn on you and punish you seven times harder than before. 25 I will bring war on you to punish you for breaking our covenant, and if you gather in your cities for safety, I will send incurable diseases among you, and you will be forced to surrender to your enemies. 26 I will cut off your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake all the bread they have. They will ration it out, and when you have eaten it all, you will still be hungry.

27 “If after all of this you still continue to defy me and refuse to obey me, 28 then in my anger I will turn on you and again make your punishment seven times worse than before. 29 Your hunger will be so great that you will eat your own children. 30 I will destroy your places of worship on the hills, tear down your incense altars, and throw your dead bodies on your fallen idols. In utter disgust 31 I will turn your cities into ruins, destroy your places of worship, and refuse to accept your sacrifices. 32 I will destroy your land so completely that the enemies who occupy it will be shocked at the destruction. 33 I will bring war on you and scatter you in foreign lands. Your land will be deserted, and your cities left in ruins. 34-35 Then the land will enjoy the years of complete rest that you would not give it; it will lie abandoned and get its rest while you are in exile in the land of your enemies.

36 “I will make those of you who are in exile so terrified that the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will make you run. You will run as if you were being pursued in battle, and you will fall when there is no enemy near you. 37 You will stumble over one another when no one is chasing you, and you will be unable to fight against any enemy. 38 You will die in exile, swallowed up by the land of your enemies. 39 The few of you who survive in the land of your enemies will waste away because of your own sin and the sin of your ancestors.

40 “But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me, 41 and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion, 42 (C)I will remember my covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham, and I will renew my promise to give my people the land. 43 First, however, the land must be rid of its people, so that it can enjoy its complete rest, and they must pay the full penalty for having rejected my laws and my commands. 44 But even then, when they are still in the land of their enemies, I will not completely abandon them or destroy them. That would put an end to my covenant with them, and I am the Lord their God. 45 I will renew the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I showed all the nations my power by bringing my people out of Egypt, in order that I, the Lord, might be their God.”

46 All these are the laws and commands that the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.

Read full chapter

Punishment for Disobedience

14 “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,(A) 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws(B) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,(C) 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever(D) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.(E) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.(F) 17 I will set my face(G) against you so that you will be defeated(H) by your enemies;(I) those who hate you will rule over you,(J) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.(K)

18 “‘If after all this you will not listen to me,(L) I will punish(M) you for your sins seven times over.(N) 19 I will break down your stubborn pride(O) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.(P) 20 Your strength will be spent in vain,(Q) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.(R)

21 “‘If you remain hostile(S) toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over,(T) as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals(U) against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few(V) in number that your roads will be deserted.(W)

23 “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction(X) but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile(Y) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword(Z) on you to avenge(AA) the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague(AB) among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread,(AC) 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(AD) but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger(AE) I will be hostile(AF) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.(AG) 29 You will eat(AH) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.(AI) 30 I will destroy your high places,(AJ) cut down your incense altars(AK) and pile your dead bodies[a] on the lifeless forms of your idols,(AL) and I will abhor(AM) you. 31 I will turn your cities into ruins(AN) and lay waste(AO) your sanctuaries,(AP) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.(AQ) 32 I myself will lay waste the land,(AR) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.(AS) 33 I will scatter(AT) you among the nations(AU) and will draw out my sword(AV) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,(AW) and your cities will lie in ruins.(AX) 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate(AY) and you are in the country of your enemies;(AZ) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest(BA) 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(BB) will put them to flight.(BC) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.(BD) 37 They will stumble over one another(BE) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.(BF) 38 You will perish(BG) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.(BH) 39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’(BI) sins they will waste away.(BJ)

40 “‘But if they will confess(BK) their sins(BL) and the sins of their ancestors(BM)—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile(BN) toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts(BO) are humbled(BP) and they pay(BQ) for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob(BR) and my covenant with Isaac(BS) and my covenant with Abraham,(BT) and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be deserted(BU) by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected(BV) my laws and abhorred my decrees.(BW) 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies,(BX) I will not reject them or abhor(BY) them so as to destroy them completely,(BZ) breaking my covenant(CA) with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember(CB) the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt(CC) in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

46 These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai(CD) between himself and the Israelites through Moses.(CE)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 26:30 Or your funeral offerings

14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:

16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.

21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.

23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;

24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;

28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.

30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.

32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.

33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.

35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.

36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.

37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;

41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:

42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.

43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.

44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God.

45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.

46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Read full chapter