Leviticus 26:14-46

The Consequences of Disobedience

26:14 “‘If, however, ¹  you do not obey me and keep ²  all these commandments – 26:15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep ³  all my commandments and you break my covenant – 26:16 I for my part ⁴  will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. ⁵  You will sow your seed in vain because ⁶  your enemies will eat it. ⁷  26:17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.

26:18 “‘If, in spite of all these things, ⁸  you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins. ⁹  26:19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 26:20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land ¹⁰  will not produce their fruit.

26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me ¹¹  and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction ¹²  seven times according to your sins. 26:22 I will send the wild animals ¹³  against you and they will bereave you of your children, ¹⁴  annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population ¹⁵  so that your roads will become deserted.

26:23 “‘If in spite of these things ¹⁶  you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, ¹⁷  26:24 I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you ¹⁸  seven times on account of your sins. 26:25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. ¹⁹  Although ²⁰  you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. ²¹  26:26 When I break off your supply of bread, ²²  ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, ²³  and you will eat and not be satisfied.

26:27 “‘If in spite of this ²⁴  you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me, ²⁵  26:28 I will walk in hostile rage against you ²⁶  and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. 26:29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. ²⁷  26:30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, ²⁸  and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. ²⁹  I will abhor you. ³⁰  26:31 I will lay your cities waste ³¹  and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. 26:32 I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword ³²  after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

26:34 “‘Then the land will make up for ³³  its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 26:35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have ³⁴  on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.

26:36 “‘As for ³⁵  the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer. 26:37 They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though ³⁶  there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand ³⁷  for you before your enemies. 26:38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you.

Restoration through Confession and Repentance

26:39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of ³⁸  their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ ³⁹  iniquities which are with them. 26:40 However, when ⁴⁰  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ⁴¹  by which they also walked ⁴²  in hostility against me ⁴³  26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and ⁴⁴  then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for ⁴⁵  their iniquity, 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, ⁴⁶  and I will remember the land. 26:43 The land will be abandoned by them ⁴⁷  in order that it may make up for ⁴⁸  its Sabbaths while it is made desolate ⁴⁹  without them, ⁵⁰  and they will make up for their iniquity because ⁵¹  they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred ⁵²  my statutes. 26:44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 26:45 I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors ⁵³  whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

Summary Colophon

26:46 These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established ⁵⁴  between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through ⁵⁵  Moses.

Deuteronomy 28:15-68

Curses as Reversal of Blessings

28:15 “But if you ignore ⁵⁶  the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: ⁵⁷  28:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 28:17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 28:18 Your children ⁵⁸  will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. ⁵⁹ 

Curses by Disease and Drought

28:20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you ⁶⁰  in everything you undertake ⁶¹  until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. ⁶²  28:21 The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases ⁶³  until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. 28:22 He ⁶⁴  will afflict you with weakness, ⁶⁵  fever, inflammation, infection, ⁶⁶  sword, ⁶⁷  blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 28:23 The ⁶⁸  sky ⁶⁹  above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 28:24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

Curses by Defeat and Deportation

28:25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror ⁷⁰  to all the kingdoms of the earth. 28:26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. 28:27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. 28:28 The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind. ⁷¹  28:29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; ⁷²  you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. 28:30 You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape ⁷³  her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. 28:31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you. 28:32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it. ⁷⁴  28:33 As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. 28:34 You will go insane from seeing all this. 28:35 The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils – from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 28:36 The Lord will force you and your king ⁷⁵  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there. 28:37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.

The Curse of Reversed Status

28:38 “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. 28:39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. 28:40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe. ⁷⁶  28:41 You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity. 28:42 Whirring locusts ⁷⁷  will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil. 28:43 The foreigners ⁷⁸  who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower. 28:44 They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!

28:45 All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given ⁷⁹  you. 28:46 These curses ⁸⁰  will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants. ⁸¹ 

The Curse of Military Siege

28:47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty ⁸²  you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They ⁸³  will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you. 28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ⁸⁴  as the eagle flies, ⁸⁵  a nation whose language you will not understand, 28:50 a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young. 28:51 They ⁸⁶  will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, ⁸⁷  or lambs of your flocks ⁸⁸  until they have destroyed you. 28:52 They will besiege all of your villages ⁸⁹  until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you. 28:53 You will then eat your own offspring, ⁹⁰  the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege ⁹¹  by which your enemies will constrict you. 28:54 The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children. 28:55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict ⁹²  you in your villages. 28:56 Likewise, the most ⁹³  tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, ⁹⁴  will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 28:57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth ⁹⁵  and her newborn children ⁹⁶  (since she has nothing else), ⁹⁷  because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.

The Curse of Covenant Termination

28:58 “If you refuse to obey ⁹⁸  all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 28:59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses. 28:60 He will infect you with all the diseases of Egypt ⁹⁹  that you dreaded, and they will persistently afflict you. ¹⁰⁰  28:61 Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments, ¹⁰¹  until you have perished. 28:62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, ¹⁰²  because you will have disobeyed ¹⁰³  the Lord your God. 28:63 This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he ¹⁰⁴  will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess. 28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone. 28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair. 28:66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next. ¹⁰⁵  28:67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ because of the things you will fear and the things you will see. 28:68 Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

Deuteronomy 30:17-18

30:17 However, if you ¹⁰⁶  turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods, 30:18 I declare to you this very day that you will certainly ¹⁰⁷  perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. ¹⁰⁸ 

Psalms 81:11-12

81:11 But my people did not obey me; ¹⁰⁹ 

Israel did not submit to me. ¹¹⁰ 

81:12 I gave them over to their stubborn desires; ¹¹¹ 

they did what seemed right to them. ¹¹² 

Isaiah 30:8-13

30:8 Now go, write it ¹¹³  down on a tablet in their presence, ¹¹⁴ 

inscribe it on a scroll,

so that it might be preserved for a future time

as an enduring witness. ¹¹⁵ 

30:9 For these are rebellious people –

they are lying children,

children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. ¹¹⁶ 

30:10 They ¹¹⁷  say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”

and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! ¹¹⁸ 

Tell us nice things,

relate deceptive messages. ¹¹⁹ 

30:11 Turn aside from the way,

stray off the path. ¹²⁰ 

Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.” ¹²¹ 

30:12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You have rejected this message; ¹²² 

you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, ¹²³ 

and rely on that kind of behavior. ¹²⁴ 

30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.

You will be like a high wall

that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;

it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. ¹²⁵ 

Jeremiah 6:16-20

6:16 The Lord said to his people: ¹²⁶ 

“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ¹²⁷ 

Ask where the old, reliable paths ¹²⁸  are.

Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ¹²⁹  and follow it.

If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”

But they said, “We will not follow it!”

6:17 The Lord said, ¹³⁰ 

“I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, ¹³¹  saying:

‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!’” ¹³² 

But they said, “We will not pay attention!”

6:18 So the Lord said, ¹³³ 

“Hear, you nations!

Be witnesses and take note of what will happen to these people. ¹³⁴ 

6:19 Hear this, you peoples of the earth: ¹³⁵ 

‘Take note! ¹³⁶  I am about to bring disaster on these people.

It will come as punishment for their scheming. ¹³⁷ 

For they have paid no attention to what I have said, ¹³⁸ 

and they have rejected my law.

6:20 I take no delight ¹³⁹  when they offer up to me ¹⁴⁰ 

frankincense that comes from Sheba

or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.

I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.

I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ ¹⁴¹ 

Jeremiah 13:17

13:17 But if you will not pay attention to this warning, ¹⁴² 

I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride.

I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears ¹⁴³ 

because you, the Lord’s flock, ¹⁴⁴  will be carried ¹⁴⁵  into exile.”

Jeremiah 25:4-9

25:4 Over and over again ¹⁴⁶  the Lord has sent ¹⁴⁷  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ¹⁴⁸  25:5 He said through them, ¹⁴⁹  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ¹⁵⁰  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ¹⁵¹  25:6 Do not pay allegiance to ¹⁵²  other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. ¹⁵³  Then I will not cause you any harm.’ 25:7 So, now the Lord says, ¹⁵⁴  ‘You have not listened to me. But ¹⁵⁵  you have made me angry by the things that you have done. ¹⁵⁶  Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

25:8 “Therefore, the Lord who rules over all ¹⁵⁷  says, ‘You have not listened to what I said. ¹⁵⁸  25:9 So I, the Lord, affirm that ¹⁵⁹  I will send for all the peoples of the north ¹⁶⁰  and my servant, ¹⁶¹  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy ¹⁶²  this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it ¹⁶³  and make them everlasting ruins. ¹⁶⁴  I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn. ¹⁶⁵ 

Jeremiah 34:17

34:17 So I, the Lord, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. ¹⁶⁶  Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom ¹⁶⁷  to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁶⁸  I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you. ¹⁶⁹ 

Ezekiel 3:7

3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ¹⁷⁰  because they are not willing to listen to me, ¹⁷¹  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ¹⁷² 

Zechariah 1:3-6

1:3 Therefore say to the people: ¹⁷³  The Lord who rules over all ¹⁷⁴  says, “Turn ¹⁷⁵  to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will turn to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. 1:4 “Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the Lord. 1:5 “As for your ancestors, where are they? And did the prophets live forever? 1:6 But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? ¹⁷⁶  Then they paid attention ¹⁷⁷  and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

Zechariah 7:11-14

7:11 “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear. 7:12 Indeed, they made their heart as hard as diamond, ¹⁷⁸  so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the Lord who rules over all had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord who rules over all had poured out great wrath.

7:13 “‘It then came about that just as I ¹⁷⁹  cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,’ the Lord Lord who rules over all had said. 7:14 ‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ¹⁸⁰  land a waste.”

[26:14]  ¹ tn Heb “And if.”

[26:14]  ² tn Heb “and do not do.”

[26:15]  ³ tn Heb “to not do.”

[26:16]  ⁴ tn Or “I also” (see HALOT 76 s.v. אַף 6.b).

[26:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “soul.” These expressions may refer either to the physical effects of consumption and fever as the rendering in the text suggests (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452, 454, “diminishing eyesight and loss of appetite”), or perhaps the more psychological effects, “which exhausts the eyes” because of anxious hope “and causes depression” (Heb “causes soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] to pine away”), e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 185.

[26:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have causal force here.

[26:16]  ⁷ tn That is, “your enemies will eat” the produce that grows from the sown seed.

[26:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “And if until these.”

[26:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will add to discipline you seven [times] on your sins.”

[26:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the tree of the land will not give its fruit.” The collective singular has been translated as a plural. Tg. Onq., some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “the field” as in v. 4, rather than “the land.”

[26:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.

[26:21]  ¹² tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”

[26:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “the animal of the field.” This collective singular has been translated as a plural. The expression “animal of the field” refers to a wild (i.e., nondomesticated) animal.

[26:22]  ¹⁴ tn The words “of your children” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[26:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and diminish you.”

[26:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And if in these.”

[26:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in vv. 24 and 27.

[26:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and I myself will also strike you.”

[26:25]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “vengeance of covenant”; cf. NAB “the avenger of my covenant.”

[26:25]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has a concessive force in this context.

[26:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “in hand of enemy,” but Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. have “in the hands of your enemies” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 454).

[26:26]  ²² tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).

[26:26]  ²³ tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”

[26:27]  ²⁴ tn Heb “And if in this.”

[26:27]  ²⁵ tn Heb “with me.”

[26:28]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in rage of hostility with you”; NASB “with wrathful hostility”; NRSV “I will continue hostile to you in fury”; CEV “I’ll get really furious.”

[26:29]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.” The phrase “you will eat” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:30]  ²⁸ sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”

[26:30]  ²⁹ tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.

[26:30]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”

[26:31]  ³¹ tn Heb “And I will give your cities a waste”; NLT “make your cities desolate.”

[26:33]  ³² tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).

[26:34]  ³³ tn There are two Hebrew roots רָצָה (ratsah), one meaning “to be pleased with; to take pleasure” (HALOT 1280-81 s.v. רצה; cf. “enjoy” in NASB, NIV, NRSV, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452), and the other meaning “to restore” (HALOT 1281-82 s.v. II רצה; cf. NAB “retrieve” and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 189).

[26:35]  ³⁴ tn Heb “it shall rest which it did not rest.”

[26:36]  ³⁵ tn Heb “And.”

[26:37]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is used in a concessive sense here.

[26:37]  ³⁷ tn The term rendered “to stand up” is a noun, not an infinitive. It occurs only here and appears to designate someone who would take a powerful stand for them against their enemies.

[26:39]  ³⁸ tn Heb “in” (so KJV, ASV; also later in this verse).

[26:39]  ³⁹ tn Heb “fathers’” (also in the following verse).

[26:40]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

[26:40]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

[26:40]  ⁴² tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

[26:40]  ⁴³ tn Heb “with me.”

[26:41]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”

[26:41]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.

[26:42]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:43]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).

[26:43]  ⁴⁸ tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.

[26:43]  ⁴⁹ tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).

[26:43]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “from them.”

[26:43]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).

[26:43]  ⁵² tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”

[26:45]  ⁵³ tn Heb “covenant of former ones.”

[26:46]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “gave” (so NLT); KJV, ASV, NCV “made.”

[26:46]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “by the hand of” (so KJV).

[28:15]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”

[28:15]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”

[28:18]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:19]  ⁵⁹ sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.

[28:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”

[28:20]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”

[28:20]  ⁶² tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.

[28:21]  ⁶³ tn Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”

[28:22]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “The Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:22]  ⁶⁵ tn Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”).

[28:22]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.”

[28:22]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:23]  ⁶⁸ tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”

[28:23]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[28:25]  ⁷⁰ tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”).

[28:28]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “heart” (so KJV, NASB).

[28:29]  ⁷² tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”

[28:30]  ⁷³ tc For MT reading שָׁגַל (shagal, “ravish; violate”), the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate presume the less violent שָׁכַב (shakhav, “lie with”). The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of the MT.

[28:32]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; NCV “there will be nothing you can do.”

[28:36]  ⁷⁵ tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”

[28:40]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.

[28:42]  ⁷⁷ tn The Hebrew term denotes some sort of buzzing or whirring insect; some have understood this to be a type of locust (KJV, NIV, CEV), but other insects have also been suggested: “buzzing insects” (NAB); “the cricket” (NASB); “the cicada” (NRSV).

[28:43]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “the foreigner.” This is a collective singular and has therefore been translated as plural; this includes the pronouns in the following verse, which are also singular in the Hebrew text.

[28:45]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “commanded”; NAB, NIV, TEV “he gave you.”

[28:46]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:46]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[28:48]  ⁸² tn Heb “lack of everything.”

[28:48]  ⁸³ tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).

[28:49]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

[28:49]  ⁸⁵ tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

[28:51]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52).

[28:51]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “increase of herds.”

[28:51]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “growth of flocks.”

[28:52]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57.

[28:53]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NRSV); NASB “the offspring of your own body.”

[28:53]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “siege and stress.”

[28:55]  ⁹² tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”

[28:56]  ⁹³ tc The LXX adds σφόδρα (sfodra, “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54.

[28:56]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”

[28:57]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”

[28:57]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”

[28:57]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.”

[28:58]  ⁹⁸ tn Heb “If you are not careful to do.”

[28:60]  ⁹⁹ sn These are the plagues the Lord inflicted on the Egyptians prior to the exodus which, though they did not fall upon the Israelites, must have caused great terror (cf. Exod 15:26).

[28:60]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “will cling to you” (so NIV); NLT “will claim you.”

[28:61]  ¹⁰¹ tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) can refer either (1) to the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, (2) to the book of Deuteronomy or even (3) only to this curse section of the covenant text. “Scroll” better reflects the actual document, since “book” conveys the notion of a bound book with pages to the modern English reader. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the book of this law”; NIV, NLT “this Book of the Law”; TEV “this book of God’s laws and teachings.”

[28:62]  ¹⁰² tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[28:62]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “have not listened to the voice of.”

[28:63]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:66]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Heb “you will not be confident in your life.” The phrase “from one day to the next” is implied by the following verse.

[30:17]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “your heart,” as a metonymy for the person.

[30:18]  ¹⁰⁷ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “certainly.”

[30:18]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “to go there to possess it.”

[81:11]  ¹⁰⁹ tn Heb “did not listen to my voice.”

[81:11]  ¹¹⁰ tn The Hebrew expression אָבָה לִי (’avah liy) means “submit to me” (see Deut 13:8).

[81:12]  ¹¹¹ tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”

[81:12]  ¹¹² tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).

[30:8]  ¹¹³ tn The referent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix is uncertain. Perhaps it refers to the preceding message, which accuses the people of rejecting the Lord’s help in favor of an alliance with Egypt.

[30:8]  ¹¹⁴ tn Heb “with them.” On the use of the preposition here, see BDB 86 s.v. II אֵת.

[30:8]  ¹¹⁵ sn Recording the message will enable the prophet to use it in the future as evidence that God warned his people of impending judgment and clearly spelled out the nation’s guilt. An official record of the message will also serve as proof of the prophet’s authority as God’s spokesman.

[30:9]  ¹¹⁶ tn Or perhaps, “instruction” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NCV, TEV “teachings.”

[30:10]  ¹¹⁷ tn Heb “who” (so NASB, NRSV). A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:10]  ¹¹⁸ tn Heb “Do not see for us right things.”

[30:10]  ¹¹⁹ tn Heb “Tell us smooth things, see deceptive things.”

[30:11]  ¹²⁰ sn The imagery refers to the way or path of truth, as revealed by God to the prophet.

[30:11]  ¹²¹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[30:12]  ¹²² tn The sentence actually begins with the word “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.

[30:12]  ¹²³ tn Heb “and you trust in oppression and cunning.”

[30:12]  ¹²⁴ tn Heb “and you lean on it”; NAB “and depend on it.”

[30:13]  ¹²⁵ tn The verse reads literally, “So this sin will become for you like a breach ready to fall, bulging on a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly, in a flash.” Their sin produces guilt and will result in judgment. Like a wall that collapses their fall will be swift and sudden.

[6:16]  ¹²⁶ tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[6:16]  ¹²⁷ tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”

[6:16]  ¹²⁸ tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the Lord set out in ancient times (cf. Deut 32:7).

[6:16]  ¹²⁹ tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”

[6:17]  ¹³⁰ tn These words are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[6:17]  ¹³¹ tn Heb “I appointed watchmen over you.”

[6:17]  ¹³² tn Heb “Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet.” The word “warning” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[6:18]  ¹³³ tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the flow of the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:18]  ¹³⁴ tn Heb “Know, congregation [or witness], what in [or against] them.” The meaning of this line is somewhat uncertain. The meaning of the noun of address in the second line (“witness,” rendered as an imperative in the translation, “Be witnesses”) is greatly debated. It is often taken as “congregation” but the lexicons and commentaries generally question the validity of reading that word since it is nowhere else applied to the nations. BDB 417 s.v. עֵדָה 3 says that the text is dubious. HALOT 747 s.v. I עֵדָה, 4 emends the text to דֵּעָה (de’ah). Several modern English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, God’s Word) take it as the feminine singular noun “witness” (cf. BDB 729 s.v. II עֵדָה) and understand it as a collective. This solution is also proposed by J. A. Thompson (Jeremiah [NICOT], 259, n. 3) and appears to make the best sense in the context. The end of the line is very elliptical but is generally taken as either, “what I will do with/to them,” or “what is coming against them” (= “what will happen to them”) on the basis of the following context.

[6:19]  ¹³⁵ tn Heb “earth.”

[6:19]  ¹³⁶ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:19]  ¹³⁷ tn Heb “disaster on these people, the fruit of their schemes.”

[6:19]  ¹³⁸ tn Heb “my word.”

[6:20]  ¹³⁹ tn Heb “To what purpose is it to me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[6:20]  ¹⁴⁰ tn The words “when they offer up to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the following context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ¹⁴¹ tn Heb “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” “The shift from “your” to “their” is an example of the figure of speech (apostrophe) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to addressing him/her directly. Though common in Hebrew style, it is not common in English. The shift to the third person in the translation is an accommodation to English style.

[13:17]  ¹⁴² tn Heb “If you will not listen to it.” For the use of the feminine singular pronoun to refer to the idea(s) expressed in the preceding verse(s), see GKC 440-41 §135.p.

[13:17]  ¹⁴³ tn Heb “Tearing [my eye] will tear and my eye will run down [= flow] with tears.”

[13:17]  ¹⁴⁴ tn Heb “because the Lord’s flock will…” The pronoun “you” is supplied in the translation to avoid the shift in English from the second person address at the beginning to the third person affirmation at the end. It also helps explain the metaphor of the people of Israel as God’s flock for some readers who may be unfamiliar with that metaphor.

[13:17]  ¹⁴⁵ tn The verb is once again in the form of “as good as done” (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).

[25:4]  ¹⁴⁶ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:4]  ¹⁴⁷ tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

[25:4]  ¹⁴⁸ tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).

[25:5]  ¹⁴⁹ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ¹⁵⁰ tn Heb “Turn [masc. pl.] each person from his wicked way and from the evil of your [masc. pl.] doings.” See the same demand in 23:22.

[25:5]  ¹⁵¹ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

[25:6]  ¹⁵² tn Heb “follow after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for this idiom.

[25:6]  ¹⁵³ tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.

[25:7]  ¹⁵⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:7]  ¹⁵⁵ tn This is a rather clear case where the Hebrew particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) introduces a consequence and not a purpose, contrary to the dictum of BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן note 1. They have not listened to him in order to make him angry but with the result that they have made him angry by going their own way. Jeremiah appears to use this particle for result rather than purpose on several other occasions (see, e.g., 7:18, 19; 27:10, 15; 32:29).

[25:7]  ¹⁵⁶ tn Heb “make me angry with the work of your hands.” The term “work of your own hands” is often interpreted as a reference to idolatry as is clearly the case in Isa 2:8; 37:19. However, the parallelism in 25:14 and the context in 32:30 show that it is more general and refers to what they have done. That is likely the meaning here as well.

[25:8]  ¹⁵⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[25:8]  ¹⁵⁸ tn Heb “You have not listened to my words.”

[25:9]  ¹⁵⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[25:9]  ¹⁶⁰ sn The many allusions to trouble coming from the north are now clarified: it is the armies of Babylon which included within it contingents from many nations. See 1:14, 15; 4:6; 6:1, 22; 10:22; 13:20 for earlier allusions.

[25:9]  ¹⁶¹ sn Nebuchadnezzar is called the Lord’s servant also in Jer 27:6; 43:10. He was the Lord’s servant in that he was the agent used by the Lord to punish his disobedient people. Assyria was earlier referred to as the Lord’s “rod” (Isa 10:5-6) and Cyrus is called his “shepherd” and his “anointed” (Isa 44:28; 45:1). P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, and J. F. Drinkard (Jeremiah 1-25 [WBC], 364) make the interesting observation that the terms here are very similar to the terms in v. 4. The people of Judah ignored the servants, the prophets, he sent to turn them away from evil. So he will send other servants whom they cannot ignore.

[25:9]  ¹⁶² tn The word used here was used in the early years of Israel’s conquest for the action of killing all the men, women, and children in the cities of Canaan, destroying all their livestock, and burning their cities down. This policy was intended to prevent Israel from being corrupted by paganism (Deut 7:2; 20:17-18; Josh 6:18, 21). It was to be extended to any city that led Israel away from worshiping God (Deut 13:15) and any Israelite who brought an idol into his house (Deut 7:26). Here the policy is being directed against Judah as well as against her neighbors because of her persistent failure to heed God’s warnings through the prophets. For further usage of this term in application to foreign nations in the book of Jeremiah see 50:21, 26; 51:3.

[25:9]  ¹⁶³ tn Heb “will utterly destroy them.” The referent (this land, its inhabitants, and the nations surrounding it) has been specified in the translation for clarity, since the previous “them” referred to Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.

[25:9]  ¹⁶⁴ sn The Hebrew word translated “everlasting” is the word often translated “eternal.” However, it sometimes has a more limited time reference. For example it refers to the lifetime of a person who became a “lasting slave” to another person (see Exod 21:6; Deut 15:17). It is also used to refer to the long life wished for a king (1 Kgs 1:31; Neh 2:3). The time frame here is to be qualified at least with reference to Judah and Jerusalem as seventy years (see 29:10-14 and compare v. 12).

[25:9]  ¹⁶⁵ tn Heb “I will make them an object of horror and a hissing and everlasting ruins.” The sentence has been broken up to separate the last object from the first two which are of slightly different connotation, i.e., they denote the reaction to the latter.

[34:17]  ¹⁶⁶ tn The Hebrew text has a compound object, the two terms of which have been synonyms in vv. 14, 15. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 189) make the interesting observation that these two terms (Heb “brother” and “neighbor”) emphasize the relationships that should have taken precedence over their being viewed as mere slaves.

[34:17]  ¹⁶⁷ sn This is, of course, a metaphorical and ironical use of the term “to grant freedom to.” It is, however, a typical statement of the concept of talionic justice which is quite often operative in God’s judgments in the OT (cf., e.g., Obad 15).

[34:17]  ¹⁶⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[34:17]  ¹⁶⁹ sn Compare Jer 15:4; 24:9; 29:18.

[3:7]  ¹⁷⁰ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

[3:7]  ¹⁷¹ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

[3:7]  ¹⁷² tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”

[1:3]  ¹⁷³ tn Heb “to them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ¹⁷⁴ sn The epithet Lord who rules over all occurs frequently as a divine title throughout Zechariah (53 times total). This name (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, yÿhvah tsÿva’ot), traditionally translated “Lord of hosts” (so KJV, NAB, NASB; cf. NIV, NLT “Lord Almighty”; NCV, CEV “Lord All-Powerful”), emphasizes the majestic sovereignty of the Lord, an especially important concept in the postexilic world of great human empires and rulers. For a thorough study of the divine title, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 123-57.

[1:3]  ¹⁷⁵ tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv) is common in covenant contexts. To turn from the Lord is to break the covenant and to turn to him (i.e., to repent) is to renew the covenant relationship (cf. 2 Kgs 17:13).

[1:6]  ¹⁷⁶ tc BHS suggests אֶתְכֶם (’etkhem, “you”) for the MT אֲבֹתֵיכֶם (’avotekhem, “your fathers”) to harmonize with v. 4. In v. 4 the ancestors would not turn but in v. 6 they appear to have done so. The subject in v. 6, however, is to be construed as Zechariah’s own listeners.

[1:6]  ¹⁷⁷ tn Heb “they turned” (so ASV). Many English versions have “they repented” here; cf. CEV “they turned back to me.”

[7:12]  ¹⁷⁸ tn The Hebrew term שָׁמִיר (shamir) means literally “hardness” and since it is said in Ezek 3:9 to be harder than flint, many scholars suggest that it refers to diamond. It is unlikely that diamond was known to ancient Israel, however, so probably a hard stone like emery or corundum is in view. The translation nevertheless uses “diamond” because in modern times it has become proverbial for its hardness. A number of English versions use “flint” here (e.g., NASB, NIV).

[7:13]  ¹⁷⁹ tn Heb “he.” Since the third person pronoun refers to the Lord, it has been translated as a first person pronoun (“I”) to accommodate English style, which typically does not exhibit switches between persons of pronouns in the same immediate context as Hebrew does.

[7:14]  ¹⁸⁰ tn Or “desirable”; traditionally “pleasant” (so many English versions; cf. TEV “This good land”).