Leviticus 26

Rewards for Obeying God

1 “ ‘Don’t make idols for yourselves or set up statues or memorials. Don’t put stone statues in your land to bow down to, because I am the Lord your God.

2 “ ‘Remember my Sabbaths, and respect my Holy Place. I am the Lord.
3 “ ‘If you remember my laws and commands and obey them,4 I will give you rains at the right season; the land will produce crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.5 Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will continue until it is time to plant. Then you will have plenty to eat and live safely in your land.

6 I will give peace to your country; you will lie down in peace, and no one will make you afraid. I will keep harmful animals out of your country, and armies will not pass through it.
7 “ ‘You will chase your enemies and defeat them, killing them with your sword.

8 Five of you will chase a hundred men; a hundred of you will chase ten thousand men. You will defeat your enemies and kill them with your sword.
9 “ ‘Then I will show kindness to you and let you have many children; I will keep my agreement with you.10 You will have enough crops to last for more than a year. When you harvest the new crops, you will have to throw out the old ones to make room for them.11 Also I will place my Holy Tent among you, and I will not turn away from you.12 I will walk with you and be your God, and you will be my people.

13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. I broke the heavy weights that were on your shoulders and let you walk proudly again.

Punishment for Not Obeying God

14 “ ‘But if you do not obey me and keep all my commands,15 and if you turn away from my rules and hate my laws, refusing to obey all my commands, you have broken our agreement.16 As a result, I will do this to you: I will cause terrible things to happen to you. I will cause you to have disease and fever that will destroy your eyes and slowly kill you. You will not have success when you plant your seed, and your enemy will eat your crops.

17 I will be against you, and your enemies will defeat you. These people who hate you will rule over you, and you will run away even when no one is chasing you.
18 “ ‘If after all this you still do not obey me, I will punish you seven times more for your sins.19 I will break your great pride, and I will make the sky like iron and the earth like bronze. 

20 You will work hard, but it will not help. Your land will not grow any crops, and your trees will not give their fruit.
21 “ ‘If you still turn against me and refuse to obey me, I will beat you seven times harder. The more you sin, the more you will be punished.

22 I will send wild animals to attack you, and they will take your children away from you and destroy your cattle. They will make you so few in number the roads will be empty.
23 “ ‘If you don’t learn your lesson after all these things, and if you still turn against me,24 I will also turn against you. I will punish you seven more times for your sins.25 You broke my agreement, and I will punish you. I will bring armies against you, and if you go into your cities for safety, I will cause diseases to spread among you so that your enemy will defeat you.

26 There will be very little bread to eat; ten women will be able to cook all your bread in one oven. They will measure each piece of bread, and you will eat, but you will still be hungry.
27 “ ‘If you still refuse to listen to me and still turn against me,28 I will show my great anger; I will punish you seven more times for your sins.29 You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters.30 I will destroy your places where gods are worshiped and cut down your incense altars. I will pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols. I will hate you.31 I will destroy your cities and make your holy places empty, and I will not smell the pleasing smell of your offerings.32 I will make the land empty so that your enemies who come to live in it will be shocked at it.33 I will scatter you among the nations, and I will pull out my sword and destroy you. Your land will become empty, your cities a waste.34 When you are taken to your enemy’s country, your land will finally get its rest. It will enjoy its time of rest all the time it lies empty.

35 During the time the land is empty, it will have the rest you should have given it while you lived in it.
36 “ ‘Those of you who are left alive will lose their courage in the land of their enemies. They will be frightened by the sound of a leaf being blown by the wind. They will run as if someone were chasing them with a sword, and they will fall even when no one is chasing them.37 They will fall over each other, as if someone were chasing them with a sword, even though no one is chasing them. You will not be strong enough to stand up against your enemies.38 You will die among other nations and disappear in your enemies’ countries.

39 So those who are left alive will rot away in their enemies’ countries because of their sins. They will also rot away because of their ancestors’ sins.

There Is Always Hope

40 “ ‘But maybe the people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors; maybe they will admit they turned against me and sinned against me,41 which made me turn against them and send them into the land of their enemies. If these disobedient people are sorry for what they did and accept punishment for their sin,42 I will remember my agreement with Jacob, my agreement with Isaac, and my agreement with Abraham, and I will remember the land.43 The land will be left empty by its people, and it will enjoy its time of rest as it lies bare without them. Then those who are left alive will accept the punishment for their sins. They will learn that they were punished because they hated my laws and refused to obey my rules.44 But even though this is true, I will not turn away from them when they are in the land of their enemies. I will not hate them so much that I completely destroy them and break my agreement with them, because I am the Lord their God.

45 For their good I will remember the agreement with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt so I could become their God; the other nations saw these things. I am the Lord.’ ”
46 These are the laws, rules, and teachings the Lord made between himself and the Israelites through Moses at Mount Sinai.

Leviticus 26

1 Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am Jehovah your God.2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am Jehovah.

3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;4 then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.8 And 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 And I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you.10 And ye shall eat old store long kept, and ye shall bring forth the old because of the new.11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.13 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright.

14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;15 and if ye shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhor mine ordinances, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant;16 I also will do this unto you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; 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 smitten before your enemies: they that hate you shall rule over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.18 And if ye will not yet for these things hearken unto me, then I will chastise 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 its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

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 And I will send the beast of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your ways shall become desolate.23 And if by these things ye will not be reformed unto me, but will walk contrary unto me;24 then will I also walk contrary unto you; and I will smite you, even I, seven times for your sins.25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant; and ye shall be gathered together within your cities: and I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall 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: 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 in wrath; and I also 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 sun-images, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul shall abhor you.31 And I will make your cities a waste, and will bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.32 And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein shall be astonished at it.33 And you will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you: and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

34 Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy its sabbaths.35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it had not in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.36 And as for them that are left of you, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies: and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one fleeth from the sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.37 And they shall stumble one upon another, as it were before the sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.38 And ye shall perish among the nations, 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 And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto me,41 I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart 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 by them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected mine ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes.44 And 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 Jehovah 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 nations, that I might be their God: I am Jehovah.

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