Rewards for Obeying God

26 “‘Don’t make idols for yourselves or set up ·statues [carved images] or ·memorials [pillars]. Don’t put stone statues in your land to bow down to, because I am the Lord your God [19:4; Ex. 20:4–6; Deut. 5:8–10].

² “‘·Remember [Keep; Guard] my Sabbaths, and ·respect [fear] my ·Holy Place [sanctuary; 19:3, 30; 23:3; Ex. 20:8–14; Deut. 5:12–15]. I am the Lord.

³ “‘If you ·remember [keep; guard] my ·laws [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and commands and obey them, ⁴ I will give you rains at the right season [Deut. 11:14]; the land will produce crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will continue until it is time to plant. Then you will have plenty to eat and live ·safely [securely] in your land. ⁶ I will give peace to your country; you will lie down ·in peace, and no one will make you afraid [^Land not be afraid]. I will keep ·harmful [dangerous] animals out of your country, and ·armies [^Lthe sword] will not pass through it.

⁷ “‘You will ·chase [pursue] your enemies and ·defeat them, killing them with your [^Lthey will fall before you by the] sword. ⁸ Five of you will ·chase [pursue] a hundred men; a hundred of you will ·chase [pursue] ten thousand men [Deut. 32:30; Josh. 23:10; Is. 30:17]. ·You will defeat your enemies and kill them with your [^LThey will fall before you by the] sword.

⁹ “‘Then I will ·show kindness to [^Lturn toward] you and ·let you have many children [^LI will make you fruitful and multiply you]; I will ·keep my agreement [establish my covenant/treaty] with you. ¹⁰ You will ·have enough crops to last for more than a year [old grain long stored]. When you harvest the new crops, you will have to throw out the old ones to make room for them. ¹¹ Also I will place my ·Holy Tent [sanctuary] among you, and I will not ·turn away from [^Labhor] you. ¹² I will walk with you and be your God, and you will be my people. ¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. I broke the ·heavy weights that were on your shoulders [bars of your yoke] and let you walk ·proudly [erect; standing tall] again.

Punishment for Not Obeying God

¹⁴ “‘But if you do not ·obey [keep; guard] me and ·keep [obey] all my commands, ¹⁵ and if you ·turn away from [disdain] my ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements] and ·hate [abhor] my ·laws [regulations], refusing to obey all my commands, you have broken our ·agreement [covenant; treaty]. ¹⁶ As a result, I will do this to you: I will ·cause terrible things to happen to [bring dread/terror on] you. I will cause you to have disease and fever that will destroy your eyes and slowly kill you. You will not have success when you plant your seed, and your enemy will eat your crops. ¹⁷ I will ·be [^Lset my face] against you, and your enemies will defeat you. These people who hate you will ·rule [exercise dominion] over you, and you will run away even when no one is ·chasing [pursuing] you.

¹⁸ “‘If after all this you still do not ·obey [listen to] me, I will ·punish [discipline] you seven times more for your sins. ¹⁹ I will break your great pride, and I will make the sky like iron and the earth like bronze [^Cthere would be no rain]. ²⁰ ·You will work hard, but it will not help [^LYour strength will be for no purpose]. Your land will not grow any crops, and your trees will not give their fruit.

²¹ “‘If you still turn against me and refuse to ·obey [listen to] me, I will ·beat [strike] you seven times harder. The more you sin, the more you will be punished. ²² I will send wild animals to attack you, and they will ·take your children away from you and destroy [^Lbereave you and cut off] your cattle. They will make you so few in number the roads will be empty.

²³ “‘If you don’t learn your lesson after all these things, and if you still turn against me, ²⁴ I will also turn against you. I will ·punish [strike] you seven more times for your sins. ²⁵ You broke my agreement, and I will ·punish [^Lhave my revenge against] you. I will bring ·armies [^Lthe sword] against you, and if you go into your cities for safety, I will cause ·diseases [plagues] to spread among you so that ·your enemy will defeat you [^Lyou will be given into the enemy’s hand]. ²⁶ ·There will be very little bread to eat; [^LWhen I break your staff of bread,] ten women will ·be able to cook all [bake] your bread in one oven. They will measure [^Lby weight] each piece of bread, and you will eat, but you will ·still be hungry [^Lnot be satisfied].

²⁷ “‘If you still refuse to ·listen to [obey] me and still turn against me, ²⁸ I will ·show [^Lturn against you with] my great anger; I will ·punish [discipline] you seven more times for your sins. ²⁹ You will eat the ·bodies [flesh] of your sons and [^Lthe flesh of your] daughters [Deut. 28:53–57; Is. 49:26; Jer. 19:9; Ezek. 5:10]. ³⁰ I will destroy your ·places where gods are worshiped [^Lhigh places] and cut down your incense altars. I will pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols [2 Kin. 23:14–16]. I will ·hate [abhor] you. ³¹ I will ·destroy your cities [make your cities a ruin] and make your holy places ·empty [desolate], and I will not smell the pleasing smell of your offerings. ³² I will make the land ·empty [desolate] so that your enemies who come to live in it will be shocked at it. ³³ I will scatter you among the nations, and I will pull out my sword and destroy you. Your land will become empty, your cities a ·waste [ruin]. ³⁴ When you are taken to your enemy’s country, your land will finally get its ·rest [sabbath; 25:1–7]. It will enjoy its ·time of rest [sabbath] all the time it lies empty. ³⁵ During the time the land is empty, it will have the ·rest [sabbath] you should have given it while you lived in it [2 Chr. 36:21].

³⁶ “‘Those of you who are left alive will ·lose their courage [^Lplace despondency in their hearts] in the land of their enemies. ·They will be frightened by the sound of a leaf being blown by the wind [^LThe sound of a driven leaf will make them flee]. They will ·run [flee] as if someone were chasing them with a sword, and they will fall even when no one is ·chasing [pursuing] them. ³⁷ They will fall over ·each other [^Ltheir brother/kinsman], as if ·someone were chasing them with [^Lbefore] a sword, even though no one is ·chasing [pursuing] them. You will not be strong enough to stand up against your enemies. ³⁸ You will ·die [perish] among other nations and ·disappear in your enemies’ countries [^Lthe land of your enemies will consume you]. ³⁹ So those who are left alive will ·rot [or pine] away in their enemies’ countries because of their sins. They will also ·rot [or pine] away because of their ·ancestors’ [fathers’] sins.

There Is Always Hope

⁴⁰ “‘But maybe the people will confess their sins and the sins of their ·ancestors [fathers]; maybe they will admit they turned against me and ·sinned [committed treachery] against me, ⁴¹ which made me turn against them and send them into the land of their enemies. If ·these disobedient people [^Ltheir uncircumcised hearts; Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 4:4] are ·sorry for what they did [^Lhumbled] and accept punishment for their sin, ⁴² I will remember my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Jacob [Gen. 35:9–15], my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Isaac [Gen. 26:24], and my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with Abraham [Gen 12:1–3; 15; 17], and I will remember the land. ⁴³ The land will be ·left empty by its people [^Lforsaken/abandoned of them], and it will enjoy its ·time of rest [sabbath; 25:1–7] as it lies ·bare [desolate] without them. Then those who are left alive will accept the punishment for their sins. They will learn that they were punished because they ·hated [disdained] my ·laws [regulations] and ·refused to obey [abhorred] my ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements]. ⁴⁴ But even though this is true, I will not ·turn away from [disdain] them when they are in the land of their enemies. I will not ·hate [abhor] them so much that I completely destroy them and break my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with them, because I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ For their good I will remember the ·agreement with their ancestors [^Lformer covenant/treaty], whom I brought out of the land of Egypt [^Cthe covenant with Moses; Ex. 19–24] so I could become their God; the other nations saw these things. I am the Lord.’”

⁴⁶ These are the ·laws [statutes; ordinances; requirements], ·rules [regulations], and ·teachings [laws; instructions] the Lord made between himself and the Israelites through Moses at Mount Sinai.