Leviticus 26

New International Version

Reward for Obedience

26 “‘Do not make idols^(A) or set up an image^(B) or a sacred stone^(C) for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone^(D) in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

²“‘Observe my Sabbaths^(E) and have reverence for my sanctuary.^(F) I am the Lord.

³“‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey^(G) my commands, ⁴I will send you rain^(H) in its season,^(I) and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.^(J) ⁵Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want^(K) and live in safety in your land.^(L)

⁶“‘I will grant peace in the land,^(M) and you will lie down^(N) and no one will make you afraid.^(O) I will remove wild beasts^(P) from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷You will pursue your enemies,^(Q) and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸Five^(R) of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.^(S)

⁹“‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers,^(T) and I will keep my covenant^(U) with you. ¹⁰You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.^(V) ¹¹I will put my dwelling place^[a]^(W) among you, and I will not abhor you.^(X) ¹²I will walk^(Y) among you and be your God,^(Z) and you will be my people.^(AA) ¹³I am the Lord your God,^(AB) who brought you out of Egypt^(AC) so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke^(AD) and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Punishment for Disobedience

¹⁴“‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,^(AE) ¹⁵and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws^(AF) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,^(AG) ¹⁶then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever^(AH) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.^(AI) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.^(AJ) ¹⁷I will set my face^(AK) against you so that you will be defeated^(AL) by your enemies;^(AM) those who hate you will rule over you,^(AN) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.^(AO)

¹⁸“‘If after all this you will not listen to me,^(AP) I will punish^(AQ) you for your sins seven times over.^(AR) ¹⁹I will break down your stubborn pride^(AS) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.^(AT) ²⁰Your strength will be spent in vain,^(AU) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.^(AV)

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

²³“‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction^(BB) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁴I myself will be hostile^(BC) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. ²⁵And I will bring the sword^(BD) on you to avenge^(BE) the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague^(BF) among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. ²⁶When I cut off your supply of bread,^(BG) 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^(BH) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁸then in my anger^(BI) I will be hostile^(BJ) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.^(BK) ²⁹You will eat^(BL) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.^(BM) ³⁰I will destroy your high places,^(BN) cut down your incense altars^(BO) and pile your dead bodies^[b] on the lifeless forms of your idols,^(BP) and I will abhor^(BQ) you. ³¹I will turn your cities into ruins^(BR) and lay waste^(BS) your sanctuaries,^(BT) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.^(BU) ³²I myself will lay waste the land,^(BV) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.^(BW) ³³I will scatter^(BX) you among the nations^(BY) and will draw out my sword^(BZ) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,^(CA) and your cities will lie in ruins.^(CB) ³⁴Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate^(CC) and you are in the country of your enemies;^(CD) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest^(CE) 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^(CF) will put them to flight.^(CG) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.^(CH) ³⁷They will stumble over one another^(CI) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.^(CJ) ³⁸You will perish^(CK) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.^(CL) ³⁹Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’^(CM) sins they will waste away.^(CN)

⁴⁰“‘But if they will confess^(CO) their sins^(CP) and the sins of their ancestors^(CQ)—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, ⁴¹which made me hostile^(CR) toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts^(CS) are humbled^(CT) and they pay^(CU) for their sin, ⁴²I will remember my covenant with Jacob^(CV) and my covenant with Isaac^(CW) and my covenant with Abraham,^(CX) and I will remember the land. ⁴³For the land will be deserted^(CY) by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected^(CZ) my laws and abhorred my decrees.^(DA) ⁴⁴Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies,^(DB) I will not reject them or abhor^(DC) them so as to destroy them completely,^(DD) breaking my covenant^(DE) with them. I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵But for their sake I will remember^(DF) the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt^(DG) in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

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

Footnotes

Leviticus 26:11 Or my tabernacle
Leviticus 26:30 Or your funeral offerings

Psalm 79

New International Version

Psalm 79

A psalm of Asaph.

¹O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;^(A)
    they have defiled^(B) your holy temple,
    they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.^(C)
²They have left the dead bodies of your servants
    as food for the birds of the sky,^(D)
    the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.^(E)
³They have poured out blood like water
    all around Jerusalem,
    and there is no one to bury^(F) the dead.^(G)
⁴We are objects of contempt to our neighbors,
    of scorn^(H) and derision to those around us.^(I)

⁵How long,^(J) Lord? Will you be angry^(K) forever?
    How long will your jealousy burn like fire?^(L)
⁶Pour out your wrath^(M) on the nations
    that do not acknowledge^(N) you,
on the kingdoms
    that do not call on your name;^(O)
⁷for they have devoured^(P) Jacob
    and devastated his homeland.

⁸Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;^(Q)
    may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
    for we are in desperate need.^(R)
⁹Help us,^(S) God our Savior,
    for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
    for your name’s sake.^(T)
¹⁰Why should the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”^(U)

Before our eyes, make known among the nations
    that you avenge^(V) the outpoured blood^(W) of your servants.
¹¹May the groans of the prisoners come before you;
    with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.
¹²Pay back into the laps^(X) of our neighbors seven times^(Y)
    the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.
¹³Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,^(Z)
    will praise you forever;^(AA)
from generation to generation
    we will proclaim your praise.

Ephesians 5

New International Version

5 ¹Follow God’s example,^(A) therefore, as dearly loved children^(B) ²and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us^(C) and gave himself up for us^(D) as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.^(E)

³But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality,^(F) or of any kind of impurity, or of greed,^(G) because these are improper for God’s holy people. ⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk^(H) or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.^(I) ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater^(J)—has any inheritance^(K) in the kingdom of Christ and of God.^[a]^(L) ⁶Let no one deceive you^(M) with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath^(N) comes on those who are disobedient.^(O) ⁷Therefore do not be partners with them.

⁸For you were once^(P) darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light^(Q) ⁹(for the fruit^(R) of the light consists in all goodness,^(S) righteousness and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord.^(T) ¹¹Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness,^(U) but rather expose them. ¹²It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light^(V) becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,^(W)
rise from the dead,^(X)
and Christ will shine on you.”^(Y)

¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live^(Z)—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity,^(AA) because the days are evil.^(AB) ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.^(AC) ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine,^(AD) which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,^(AE) ¹⁹speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.^(AF) Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks^(AG) to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Instructions for Christian Households^(AH)

²¹Submit to one another^(AI) out of reverence for Christ.

²²Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands^(AJ) as you do to the Lord.^(AK) ²³For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church,^(AL) his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands^(AM) in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives,^(AN) just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her^(AO) ²⁶to make her holy,^(AP) cleansing^[b] her by the washing^(AQ) with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself^(AR) as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.^(AS) ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives^(AT) as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰for we are members of his body.^(AU) ³¹“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^[c]^(AV) ³²This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³However, each one of you also must love his wife^(AW) as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.