Leviticus 26:31

Translations

Modern

I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.

Traditional

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

Literal

And I will lay waste your cities and bring to desolation your sanctuaries, and I will not smell your pleasing. aromas

Latin

…in tantum ut urbes vestras redigam in solitudinem, et deserta faciam sanctuaria vestra, nec recipiam ultra odorem suavissimum.

Original

Hebrew

English

I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.

Notes

Leviticus 26:14–39

God punishes his people to change their behavior and restore their relationship with him. He acts like a perfectly righteous and loving parent would with a disobedient child. The punishments, meant to stop rebellious behavior, gradually increase. This gives Israel a chance to repent at any time (Leviticus 26:18–28). Even when Israel faced exile from the land in 722 and 586 BC, God was working to restore them (see, for example, Isaiah 40–66; Jeremiah 29:10; Amos 9:11–15).

Leviticus 26:3–39

These blessings and curses are similar to a key part of ancient Near Eastern treaties between a suzerain (a powerful king) and a vassal (a lesser king). In these treaties, the suzerain king promised to protect the vassal king and his land. In return, the vassal swore loyalty to the suzerain.

Blessings and curses followed, with curses usually being longer (compare Leviticus 26:3–13 with 26:14–39; see also Deuteronomy 27:15–28:68). These treaties often called upon gods as witnesses and enforcers. Yet, in God's covenant with Israel, God was one of the treaty parties, with Israel as the other. Since God could not swear by anyone greater, he swore by himself (see Hebrews 6:13; Genesis 22:16).

Theme notes and profiles

Ancient Law Codes Blessing Counsel from Others Curses and Blessings God’s Covenants God’s Judgment of His People Making Sense of the Exile Oppression of God’s People Promised Land Retribution The Dangers of Sin The Land True Success

Related verses

Nehemiah 2:3
…and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
Ezekiel 9:6
Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.
Amos 5:21–23
“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
Psalm 74:3–8
Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
Lamentations 1:10
The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
Genesis 8:21
When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
Lamentations 2:7
The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.
Hebrews 10:26
If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,
Isaiah 1:11–14
“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
2 Kings 25:4–10
Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
Jeremiah 4:7
A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.
Jeremiah 9:11
“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

Leviticus 26:31

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