Leviticus 26

Do Not Worship Idols

1 Do not make idols, carved images, or stone pillars for yourselves. Do not set up a stone to bow down to it. I am the Lord your God.

2 Keep My Sabbaths and respect My sanctuary. I am the Lord.

Blessings for Obedience

3 If you follow My laws and obey My commands.

4 I will send rain at the right time. The land will produce crops, and the trees will bear fruit.

5 You will still be threshing wheat when it is time to harvest grapes, and you will still be harvesting grapes when it is time to plant. You will have plenty of food and live in safety.

6 I will bring peace to the land. You will sleep without fear. I will remove wild animals, and no enemy will attack you.

7 You will chase down your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword.

8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand. Your enemies will fall before you.

9 I will look on you with favor, make you fruitful, increase your numbers, and keep My covenant with you.

10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you have to make room for the new one.

11 I will put My dwelling among you, and I will not reject you.

12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.

13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so you would no longer be slaves. I broke the chains off your neck so you could walk with your head held high.

Punishments for Disobedience

14 But if you do not listen to Me and do not follow My commands.

15 If you reject My laws and break My covenant.

16 Then I will bring terror on you. You will have disease and fever that will drain your strength. You will plant crops, but your enemies will eat them.

17 I will turn against you. Your enemies will defeat you. You will run even when no one is chasing you.

18 If you still will not listen, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.

19 I will break your pride and make the sky like iron and the ground like bronze.

20 Your work will be useless because the land will not produce crops, and the trees will not bear fruit.

More Punishment for Continued Disobedience

21 If you continue to resist Me, I will bring seven times more disasters on you.

22 I will send wild animals to attack you, kill your children, destroy your livestock, and make your roads empty.

23 If you still do not turn back to Me.

24 I will strike you seven times harder for your sins.

25 I will send war against you as punishment for breaking My covenant. If you gather in your cities, I will send disease among you, and your enemies will conquer you.

26 When I cut off your food supply, ten women will bake bread in one oven and ration it out. You will eat but never be satisfied.

Even More Severe Punishment

27 If you still refuse to listen and keep resisting Me.

28 I will punish you seven times more in My anger.

29 You will be so desperate that you will eat your own children.

30 I will destroy your shrines, cut down your idols, and scatter your dead bodies on the remains of your false gods.

31 I will make your cities desolate and destroy your places of worship. I will refuse to accept your sacrifices.

32 I will lay waste to the land so that even your enemies who live there will be shocked.

33 I will scatter you among the nations and send the sword after you. Your land will become empty, and your cities will be ruins.

The Land Will Get Its Rest

34 While you are in exile, the land will finally get the rest it never had during the Sabbaths you ignored.

35 It will rest as long as it remains empty, making up for the years you failed to let it rest.

36 I will make those of you left in exile so afraid that even the sound of a leaf blowing will make you run. You will flee as if you are running from a sword, even when no one is chasing you.

37 You will trip over each other as you run from an enemy that is not there. You will have no strength to stand against your enemies.

38 You will die in exile, and the land of your enemies will consume you.

39 Those who survive will waste away because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.

Hope If They Repent

40 But if they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, how they rebelled against Me and broke My covenant.

41 And if they humble themselves and accept their punishment.

42 Then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham, and I will remember the land.

43 The land was left empty so it could rest because they rejected My laws and disobeyed Me.

44 But even when they are in exile, I will not completely reject or destroy them. I will not break My covenant because I am the Lord their God.

45 For their sake, I will remember the covenant I made with their ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt to be their God. I am the Lord.

Final Instruction

46 These are the laws and commands the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.