Daily Bread

Punishment for Disobedience

¹⁴ “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,^{(A) 15} and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws^(B) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,^{(C) 16} then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever^(D) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.^(E) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.^{(F) 17} I will set my face^(G) against you so that you will be defeated^(H) by your enemies;^(I) those who hate you will rule over you,^(J) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.^(K)

¹⁸ “‘If after all this you will not listen to me,^(L) I will punish^(M) you for your sins seven times over.^{(N) 19} I will break down your stubborn pride^(O) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.^{(P) 20} Your strength will be spent in vain,^(Q) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.^(R)

²¹ “‘If you remain hostile^(S) toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over,^(T) as your sins deserve. ²² I will send wild animals^(U) against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few^(V) in number that your roads will be deserted.^(W)

²³ “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction^(X) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁴ I myself will be hostile^(Y) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. ²⁵ And I will bring the sword^(Z) on you to avenge^(AA) the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague^(AB) among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. ²⁶ When I cut off your supply of bread,^(AC) ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

²⁷ “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me^(AD) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁸ then in my anger^(AE) I will be hostile^(AF) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.^{(AG) 29} You will eat^(AH) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.^{(AI) 30} I will destroy your high places,^(AJ) cut down your incense altars^(AK) and pile your dead bodies^[a] on the lifeless forms of your idols,^(AL) and I will abhor^(AM) you. ³¹ I will turn your cities into ruins^(AN) and lay waste^(AO) your sanctuaries,^(AP) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.^{(AQ) 32} I myself will lay waste the land,^(AR) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.^{(AS) 33} I will scatter^(AT) you among the nations^(AU) and will draw out my sword^(AV) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,^(AW) and your cities will lie in ruins.^{(AX) 34} Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate^(AY) and you are in the country of your enemies;^(AZ) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵ All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest^(BA) it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

³⁶ “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf^(BB) will put them to flight.^(BC) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.^{(BD) 37} They will stumble over one another^(BE) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.^{(BF) 38} You will perish^(BG) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.^{(BH) 39} Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’^(BI) sins they will waste away.^(BJ)

⁴⁰ “‘But if they will confess^(BK) their sins^(BL) and the sins of their ancestors^(BM)—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, ⁴¹ which made me hostile^(BN) toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts^(BO) are humbled^(BP) and they pay^(BQ) for their sin, ⁴² I will remember my covenant with Jacob^(BR) and my covenant with Isaac^(BS) and my covenant with Abraham,^(BT) and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be deserted^(BU) by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected^(BV) my laws and abhorred my decrees.^{(BW) 44} Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies,^(BX) I will not reject them or abhor^(BY) them so as to destroy them completely,^(BZ) breaking my covenant^(CA) with them. I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember^(CB) the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt^(CC) in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

⁴⁶ These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai^(CD) between himself and the Israelites through Moses.^(CE)