^26:1“ ‘You must not make for yourselves idols,¹ so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before² it, for I am the Lord your God. ^26:2You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence³ my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

The Benefits of Obedience

^26:3“ ‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments,⁴^26:4I will give you your rains in their time so that⁵ the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.⁶^26:5Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes,⁷ and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so⁸ you will eat your bread until you are satisfied,⁹ and you will live securely in your land. ^26:6I will grant peace in the land so that¹⁰ you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you.¹¹ I will remove harmful animals¹² from the land, and no sword of war¹³ will pass through your land. ^26:7You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword.¹⁴^26:8Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. ^26:9I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain¹⁵ my covenant with you. ^26:10You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year¹⁶ and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new.¹⁷

Read in Logos

Leviticus 26:3–4: ...If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

Footnotes

1 For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on . It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
2 Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], , and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ).
3 Heb “and my sanctuary you shall fear.” Cf. “respect”; “honor.”
4 Heb “and my commandments you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8; 25:18, etc.).
5 Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
6 Heb “the tree of the field will give its fruit.” As a collective singular this has been translated as plural.
7 Heb “will reach for you the vintage season.”
8 Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
9 Heb “to satisfaction”; , , “to the full.”
10 Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
11 Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
12 Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).
13 Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.
14 Heb “to the sword.”
15 Heb “cause to arise,” but probably used here for the Lord’s intention of confirming or maintaining the covenant commitment made at Sinai. Cf. “establish”; “will confirm”; “carry out”; “will keep.”
16 Heb “old [produce] growing old.”
17 Heb “and old from the presence of new you will bring out.”