Bible Strands
Leviticus 26:33
But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Israel through Moses during the covenant stipulations in the wilderness. He pronounces the penalties that will follow if the people break their agreement.
The words — The Hebrew verb אֱזָרֶה ('e.za.reh) translates literally as "I will scatter," and חָרֶב (Cha.rev) means "a sword." The text states these actions will occur while the land lies desolate and cities are ruined.
The thread — This scattering motif recurs in Deuteronomy 4:27, Ezekiel 20:23, and Zechariah 7:14 as a recurring covenant curse. Each passage ties national exile to divine judgment for covenant unfaithfulness.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant violation carries irreversible national consequences. It requires the reader to take the stated warnings seriously rather than dismiss them as metaphorical.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 4:27 Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
- Ezekiel 20:23 However, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands.
- Zechariah 7:14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”
- Deuteronomy 28:64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
- Ezekiel 22:15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness.
- Psalms 44:11 You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.
- Jeremiah 9:16 I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
- Lamentations 4:15 “Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”
- Ezekiel 12:14 And I will scatter to every wind all the attendants around him and all his troops, and I will draw a sword to chase after them.
- Luke 21:24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.