Leviticus 26:3-12

The Benefits of Obedience

26:3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, ¹  26:4 I will give you your rains in their time so that ²  the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. ³  26:5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, ⁴  and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so ⁵  you will eat your bread until you are satisfied, ⁶  and you will live securely in your land. 26:6 I will grant peace in the land so that ⁷  you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. ⁸  I will remove harmful animals ⁹  from the land, and no sword of war ¹⁰  will pass through your land. 26:7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. ¹¹  26:8 Five 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. 26:9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain ¹²  my covenant with you. 26:10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year ¹³  and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new. ¹⁴ 

26:11 “‘I will put my tabernacle ¹⁵  in your midst and I will not abhor you. ¹⁶  26:12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people.

Deuteronomy 12:10

12:10 When you do go across the Jordan River ¹⁷  and settle in the land he ¹⁸  is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety. ¹⁹ 

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ²⁰  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ²¹  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. 28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance ²²  if you obey the Lord your God: 28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. ²³  28:4 Your children ²⁴  will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 28:6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ²⁵  28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack ²⁶  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction ²⁷  but flee from you in seven different directions. 28:8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he ²⁸  is giving you. 28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments ²⁹  and obey him. ³⁰  28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, ³¹  and they will respect you. 28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, ³²  the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he ³³  promised your ancestors ³⁴  he would give you. 28:12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; ³⁵  you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 28:13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his ³⁶  commandments which I am urging ³⁷  you today to be careful to do. 28:14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving ³⁸  you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship ³⁹  them.

Deuteronomy 33:12

Blessing on Benjamin

33:12 Of Benjamin he said:

The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him;

he protects him all the time,

and the Lord ⁴⁰  places him on his chest. ⁴¹ 

Deuteronomy 33:28

33:28 Israel lives in safety,

the fountain of Jacob is quite secure, ⁴² 

in a land of grain and new wine;

indeed, its heavens ⁴³  rain down dew. ⁴⁴ 

Psalms 4:8

4:8 I will lie down and sleep peacefully, ⁴⁵ 

for you, Lord, make me safe and secure. ⁴⁶ 

Proverbs 1:33

1:33 But the one who listens ⁴⁷  to me will live in security, ⁴⁸ 

and will be at ease ⁴⁹  from the dread of harm.

Jeremiah 7:3-7

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁵⁰  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ⁵¹  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ⁵²  7:4 Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, ⁵³  “We are safe! ⁵⁴  The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!” ⁵⁵  7:5 You must change ⁵⁶  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ⁵⁷  7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. ⁵⁸  Stop killing innocent people ⁵⁹  in this land. Stop paying allegiance to ⁶⁰  other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. ⁶¹  7:7 If you stop doing these things, ⁶²  I will allow you to continue to live in this land ⁶³  which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession. ⁶⁴ 

Jeremiah 23:6

23:6 Under his rule ⁶⁵  Judah will enjoy safety ⁶⁶ 

and Israel will live in security. ⁶⁷ 

This is the name he will go by:

‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’ ⁶⁸ 

Jeremiah 25:5

25:5 He said through them, ⁶⁹  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ⁷⁰  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. ⁷¹ 

Jeremiah 33:16

33:16 Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety ⁷²  and Jerusalem ⁷³  will live in security. At that time Jerusalem will be called “The Lord has provided us with justice.” ⁷⁴ 

Ezekiel 33:24-26

33:24 “Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.’ ⁷⁵  33:25 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, ⁷⁶  pray to ⁷⁷  your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess ⁷⁸  the land? 33:26 You rely ⁷⁹  on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’

Ezekiel 33:29

33:29 Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ ⁸⁰ 

Ezekiel 34:25-28

34:25 “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and will rid the land of wild beasts, so that they can live securely ⁸¹  in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods. ⁸²  34:26 I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing. ⁸³  34:27 The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the earth will yield its crops. They will live securely on their land; they will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 34:28 They will no longer be prey for the nations and the wild beasts will not devour them. They will live securely and no one will make them afraid.

Ezekiel 36:24-28

36:24 “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. 36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ⁸⁴  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ⁸⁵  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ⁸⁶  36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; ⁸⁷  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes ⁸⁸  and carefully observe my regulations. ⁸⁹  36:28 Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. ⁹⁰ 

[26:3]  ¹ tn 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 GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8; 25:18, etc.).

[26:4]  ² tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:4]  ³ tn Heb “the tree of the field will give its fruit.” As a collective singular this has been translated as plural.

[26:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “will reach for you the vintage season.”

[26:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV, NASB “to the full.”

[26:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[26:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).

[26:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.

[26:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to the sword.”

[26:9]  ¹² tn Heb “cause to arise,” but probably used here for the Lord’s intention of confirming or maintaining the covenant commitment made at Sinai. Cf. KJV “establish”; NASB “will confirm”; NAB “carry out”; NIV “will keep.”

[26:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “old [produce] growing old.”

[26:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and old from the presence of new you will bring out.”

[26:11]  ¹⁵ tn LXX codexes Vaticanus and Alexandrinus have “my covenant” rather than “my tabernacle.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “my dwelling.”

[26:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and my soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] will not abhor you.”

[12:10]  ¹⁷ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[12:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

[12:10]  ¹⁹ tn In the Hebrew text vv. 10-11 are one long, complex sentence. For stylistic reasons the translation divides this into two sentences.

[28:1]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[28:2]  ²² tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”

[28:3]  ²³ tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.

[28:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:6]  ²⁵ sn Come in…go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.

[28:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).

[28:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).

[28:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.

[28:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[28:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).

[28:11]  ³² tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”

[28:11]  ³³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).

[28:12]  ³⁵ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

[28:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”

[28:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”

[28:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “in order to serve.”

[33:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “between his shoulders.” This suggests the scene in John 13:23 with Jesus and the Beloved Disciple.

[33:28]  ⁴² tn Heb “all alone.” The idea is that such vital resources as water will some day no longer need protection because God will provide security.

[33:28]  ⁴³ tn Or “skies.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[33:28]  ⁴⁴ tn Or perhaps “drizzle, showers.” See note at Deut 32:2.

[4:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “in peace at the same time I will lie down and sleep.”

[4:8]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “for you, Lord, solitarily, securely make me dwell.” The translation understands לְבָדָד (lÿvadad) as modifying the verb; the Lord keeps enemies away from the psalmist so that he is safe and secure. Another option is to take לְבָדָד with what precedes and translate, “you alone, Lord, make me secure.”

[1:33]  ⁴⁷ tn The participle is used substantivally here: “whoever listens” will enjoy the benefits of the instruction.

[1:33]  ⁴⁸ tn The noun בֶּטַח (betakh, “security”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner: “in security.” The phrase refers to living in a permanent settled condition without fear of danger (e.g., Deut 33:12; Ps 16:9). It is the antithesis of the dread of disaster facing the fool and the simple.

[1:33]  ⁴⁹ tn The verb שַׁאֲנַן (sha’anan) is a Palel perfect of שָׁאַן (sha’an) which means “to be at ease; to rest securely” (BDB 983 s.v. שָׁאַן). Elsewhere it parallels the verb “to be undisturbed” (Jer 30:10), so it means “to rest undisturbed and quiet.” The reduplicated Palel stem stresses the intensity of the idea. The perfect tense functions in the so-called “prophetic perfect” sense, emphasizing the certainty of this blessing for the wise.

[7:3]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

[7:3]  ⁵¹ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

[7:3]  ⁵² tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

[7:4]  ⁵³ tn Heb “Stop trusting in lying words which say.”

[7:4]  ⁵⁴ tn The words “We are safe!” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:4]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these (i.e., these buildings).” Elsewhere triple repetition seems to mark a kind of emphasis (cf. Isa 6:3; Jer 22:29; Ezek 21:27 [32 HT]). The triple repetition that follows seems to be Jeremiah’s way of mocking the (false) sense of security that people had in the invincibility of Jerusalem because God dwelt in the temple. They appeared to be treating the temple as some kind of magical charm. A similar feeling had grown up around the ark in the time of the judges (cf. 1 Sam 3:3) and the temple and city of Jerusalem in Micah’s day (cf. Mic 3:11). It is reflected also in some of the Psalms (cf., e.g., Ps 46, especially v. 5).

[7:5]  ⁵⁶ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[7:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[7:6]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

[7:6]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

[7:6]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:6]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

[7:7]  ⁶² tn The translation uses imperatives in vv. 5-6 followed by the phrase, “If you do all this,” to avoid the long and complex sentence structure of the Hebrew sentence which has a series of conditional clauses in vv. 5-6 followed by a main clause in v. 7.

[7:7]  ⁶³ tn Heb “live in this place, in this land.”

[7:7]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “gave to your fathers [with reference to] from ancient times even unto forever.”

[23:6]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “In his days [= during the time he rules].”

[23:6]  ⁶⁶ tn Parallelism and context (cf. v. 4) suggest this nuance for the word often translated “be saved.” For this nuance elsewhere see Ps 119:117; Prov 28:18 for the verb (יָשַׁע [yasha’] in the Niphal); and Ps 12:6; Job 5:4, 11 for the related noun (יֶשַׁע, yesha’).

[23:6]  ⁶⁷ sn It should be noted that this brief oracle of deliverance implies the reunification of Israel and Judah under the future Davidic ruler. Jeremiah has already spoken about this reunification earlier in 3:18 and will have more to say about it in 30:3; 31:27, 31. This same ideal was espoused in the prophecies of Hosea (1:10-11 [2:1-2 HT]), Isaiah (11:1-4, 10-12), and Ezekiel (37:15-28) all of which have messianic and eschatological significance.

[23:6]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “his name will be called ‘The Lord our righteousness’.”

[25:5]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “saying.” The infinitive goes back to “he sent”; i.e., “he sent, saying.”

[25:5]  ⁷⁰ 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]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “gave to you and your fathers with reference to from ancient times even unto forever.” See the same idiom in 7:7.

[33:16]  ⁷² tn For the translation of this term in this context see the parallel context in 23:6 and consult the translator’s note there.

[33:16]  ⁷³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[33:16]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “And this is what will be called to it: ‘The Lord our righteousness.’”

[33:24]  ⁷⁵ sn Outside of its seven occurrences in Ezekiel the term translated “possession” appears only in Exod 6:8 and Deut 33:4.

[33:25]  ⁷⁶ sn This practice was a violation of Levitical law (see Lev 19:26).

[33:25]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “lift up your eyes.”

[33:25]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “Will you possess?”

[33:26]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “stand.”

[33:29]  ⁸⁰ sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.

[34:25]  ⁸¹ tn The phrase “live securely” occurs in Ezek 28:26; 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26 as an expression of freedom from fear. It is a promised blessing resulting from obedience (see Lev 26:5-6).

[34:25]  ⁸² sn The woods were typically considered to be places of danger (Ps 104:20-21; Jer 5:6).

[34:26]  ⁸³ tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).

[36:25]  ⁸⁴ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

[36:26]  ⁸⁵ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

[36:26]  ⁸⁶ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

[36:27]  ⁸⁷ tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

[36:27]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.

[36:27]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

[36:28]  ⁹⁰ sn This promise reflects the ancient covenantal ideal (see Exod 6:7).