Leviticus 26

Blessings for Obedience

126 “Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the LORD your God. 2You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. 1 am the LORD. 3“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land. 6"I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land. 7In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. 8Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword. 9"T will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you. 10You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest! 11I will live among you, and I will not despise you. 121 wilt walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. 13[. am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.

Punishments for Disobedience

14'4"However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands, ‘Sand if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands, ‘61 will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you—wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them. 17I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you! 18“And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for 26:18 4 04, 28 your sins. ‘91 will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as ironandthe 3.49 ’ earthas hard as bronze. 20All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, Deut 28:23 and your trees will bear no fruit. ta 25:11; 26:5 2\Tf even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster 26:2) 18 on you seven times over for your sins. 221 will send wild animals that will rob you of your 26:22 children and destroy your livestock. Your numbers will dwindle, and your roads will be Peut 52:24 deserted. 23"And if you fail to learn the lesson and continue your hostility toward me, *4then I my- 20.28 0. 5:3 self will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamity seven times over for your sins, 251 will send armies against you to carry out the curse of the covenant you have 26:25... 4 broken. When yourun to your towns for safety, I will senda plague to destroy you there, and 27-29; 32:35 you will be handed over to your enemies. 26I will destroy your food supply, so that ten 26:26 |, women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food Fook 4:18 by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied. 27"If in spite of all this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me, 28then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins. 29Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters. 30T will destroy your pagan 26:28, . A..: eut 28:53-57 shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on 2 kgs 6:26-30 top of your lifeless idols,* and I will despise you. 31I will make your cities desolate and de- 26:30 stroy your places of pagan worship. I will take no pleasure in your offerings that shouldbea [.M%.9" pleasing aroma to me. 32Yes, I myself will devastate your land, and your enemies who come 26:31 to occupy it will be appalled at what they see. 991 will scatter you among the nations and Ps 743, bring out my sword against you. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will lie in 56.30 ruins. 34Then at last the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while Jer 12:11; 18:16 youare in exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sab- 26:33, «6. baths it missed. 35As longas the land lies in ruins, it will enjoy the rest you never alloweditto oe.oq take every seventh year while you lived in it. Lev 26:43 2 Chr 36:21 36“And for those of you who survive, I will demoralize you in the land of your enemies. You will live in such fear that the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will send you fleeing. ane 21:7 You will run as though fleeing from a sword, and you will fall even when no one pursues you. 37Though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other as though fleeing from a sword. You will have no power to stand up against your enemies. You willdie among the 26:38, I foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies. 39Those of you who survive 36.29 ‘ willwaste away in your enemies’ lands because of their sinsand the sins of their ancestors. Ezek 33:10 40“But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betray- 26:40 ing me and being hostile toward me. 41When I have turned their hostility back on them and aeaer brought ther to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be hum- 14" "9 bled, and they will pay for their sins. 42Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and 262. so.44 my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43For 13-16. 26:25, I the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the oa 315 people will pay for their sins, for they have continually rejected my regulations and despised tev 26:34 my decrees.

and Babylonia. The nation was held in captivity for 70 years,making up for all of the years that the Israelites did not observethe law of the Sabbath year (2 Chronicles 36:21).26:40-45 These verses show what God meant when he saidhe is slow to anger (Exodus 34:6). Even if the Israelites choseto disobey and were scattered among their enemies, God wouldstill give them the opportunity to repent and return to him. Hispurpose was not to destroy them, but to help them grow. Ourday-to-day experiences and hardships are sometimes over-whelming; unless we can see that God’s purpose is to bringabout continual growth in us, we may despair. The hope we needis well expressed in Jeremiah 29:11, 12: “For I know the plansI have for you,’ says the LORD. ‘They are plans for good and notfor disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days whenyou pray, I will listen.” To retain hope while we suffer shows weunderstand God’s merciful ways of relating to his people.

44"But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for lam the LORD their God. 45For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. Tam the LORD.” 46These are the decrees, regulations, and instructions that the LORD gave through Moses on Mount Sinai as evidence of the relationship between himself and the Israelites.