Bible Strands
Leviticus 26:38
You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will consume you.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the covenant community of Israel during the wilderness instructions, outlining the consequences of breaking the stipulations.
The words — The Hebrew verb אֲבַדְתֶּם ('a.vad.Tem) means "you will perish," while אָכְלָה ('a.khe.Lah) literally means "it will consume," describing the land itself as an active agent of destruction.
The thread — This exile motif recurs in Deuteronomy 4:26, Deuteronomy 28:48, and Deuteronomy 28:68, and frames the immediate context of Leviticus 26:37 and Leviticus 26:39.
Why it lands — It demands recognition that covenant failure results in tangible displacement and that the environment itself becomes hostile to the disobedient.
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 ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 4:26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
- Deuteronomy 28:48 you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
- Deuteronomy 28:68 The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
- Isaiah 27:13 And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 42:17 So all who resolve to go to Egypt to reside there will die by sword and famine and plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring upon them.’
- Jeremiah 42:22 Now therefore, know for sure that by sword and famine and plague you will die in the place where you desire to go to reside.”
- Jeremiah 44:12 And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to reside there; they will meet their end. They will all fall by the sword or be consumed by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine; and they will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and reproach.
- Jeremiah 44:27 I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine, until they are finished off.