Leviticus 26:25

Lev 26:25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of [my] covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

Ver. 25. I will bring a sword.] God "makes peace and creates evil," i.e., war. called evil per antonomasiam. Whencesoever the sword comes, it is "bathed in heaven." {Isa 34:5}

The quarrel of my covenant.] For breach whereof Jerusalem is long since laid waste, those seven golden candlesticks are broken in pieces. Bohemia lies still a bleeding, which was the seat of the first open and authorised Reformation. And what may we think will become of us all, who, "like men have transgressed the covenant," {Hos 6:7} or as Junius reads it, not tanquam homines, but tanquam hominis, &c. We have made no more of breaking covenant, than if therein we had had to do with dust and ashes like ourselves, and not with the great God; who is therefore whetting his sword, and furbishing it for slaughter. Quod Deus avertat!

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 26:25. To avenge the quarrel of my covenant — That is, my quarrel with you for your breach of your covenant made with me. When you are gathered — Hebrews And ye shall be gathered into your cities, &c.; that is, you shall not dare to abide in the country, but shall be forced to flee from the sword of your enemies into your fortified towns, and leave your villages a prey to them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(25) That shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant.—Better, that shall avenge my covenant, that is, the sword, which shall avenge the breach of the Divine covenant; a war, which will devastate them because of their rebellion against the covenant God. Hence the Chaldee Versions render it, “that shall avenge on you the vengeance for that ye have transgressed against the words of the law.”

And when ye are gathered together within your cities.—When, completely defeated in the battlefield, the Israelites escape from the avenging sword into their fortified cities, they will then become a prey to pestilence, so that the surviving remnant will prefer to deliver themselves over into the hands of the relentless enemy. (Comp. Jer_21:6-9; Eze_5:12; Eze_7:15.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. execute the vengeance of the covenant] exact retribution from you for disregarding My covenant with you.

ye shall be gathered together within your cities] for shelter. Cp. Jer_4:5; Jer_35:11.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when I have broken the staff of your bread,.... Brought a famine, at least a scarcity of provisions upon them, deprived them of bread, the staff of life, by which it is supported; or however made it very scarce among them, so that they had hardly a sufficiency to sustain nature, and perhaps the blessing of nourishment withheld from that; see Isa 3:1,

ten women shall bake your bread in one oven; for want of wood, according to Jarchi; or rather through scarcity of bread corn, they should have so little to bake every week, that one oven would be sufficient for ten families, which in a time of plenty each made use of one for themselves; and so Aben Ezra says, it was a custom in Israel for every family to bake in an oven by themselves, which they ate the whole week. Ten is a certain number for an uncertain, and denotes many, as in Zac 8:23. Making and baking bread was the work of women in the eastern countries, as we find it was particularly among the Persians (n), and continues to this day among the Moors and Arabs (o):

and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; there being not enough for everyone to eat what they pleased, but were obliged to a rationed allowance, therefore everyone in the family should have their share delivered to him by weight; see Eze 4:16,

and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied; not having enough to eat to satisfaction; or what they did eat, God would withhold a blessing from it for their nourishment, the reverse of Lev 26:5.

(n) Herodot. Polymnia, sive. l. 4. c. 187. (o) Shaw's Travels, p. 241. Ed. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The quarrel of my covenant, i.e. my quarrel with you for your breach of your faith and covenant made with me.

Into the hand of the enemy; because those few that shall be left of the pestilence will be unable to defend you in your cities or strong holds.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25. Avenge the quarrel of my covenant — Literally, avenging the covenant of vengeance. The R.V., “Execute the vengeance of the covenant.” This was a punishment inflicted for breaking the covenant, and it was graduated, in severity, to the richness of covenant blessings forfeited by apostasy. “It may be reverently said that God does not deal carelessly with his own covenants. He does not throw them away, and take no further heed of their operation. In the sense of looking after his word and observing its issues he may be described in Old Testament language as a ‘jealous God.’” — Joseph Parker. The Abrahamic covenant is here personified as a friend of God claiming vindication against the neglect and abuse of godless men. Sin changes the covenant of grace into the covenant of vengeance, and the love of the Saviour into “the wrath of the Lamb.” Rev_6:16.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The quarrel of my covenant - That is, my quarrel with you for your breach of your covenant made with me.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

He would bring over them "the sword avenging (i.e., executing) the covenant vengeance." The "covenant vengeance" was punishment inflicted for a breach of the covenant, the severity of which corresponded to the greatness of the covenant blessings forfeited by a faithless apostasy. If they retreated to their towns (fortified places) from the sword of the enemy, the Lord would send a plague over them there, and give those who were spared by the plague into the power of the foe. He would also "break in pieces the staff of bread," and compel them by the force of famine to submit to the foe. The means of sustenance should become so scarce, that ten women could bake their bread in a single oven, whereas in ordinary times every woman would require an oven for herself; and they would have to eat the bread which they brought home by weight, i.e., not as much as every one pleased, but in rations weighed out so scantily, that those who ate would not be satisfied, and would only be able to sustain their life in the most miserable way. Calamities such as these burst upon Israel and Judah more than once when their fortified towns were besieged, particularly in the later times of the kings, e.g., upon Samaria in the reign of Joram (Kg2 6:25.), and upon Jerusalem through the invasions of the Chaldeans (cf. Isa 3:1; Jer 14:18; Eze 4:16; Eze 5:12).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

I will bring a sword on you

Here the word "sword" represents an army or an attack from an army. AT: "I will bring an enemy army against you" or "I will cause an enemy army to attack you" (See: Metonymy)

that will execute vengeance

"that will punish you"

for breaking the covenant

"for disobeying the covenant" or "because you disobey the covenant"

You will be gathered together

This can be stated in active form. AT: "You will gather together" or "You will hide" (See: Active or Passive)

you will be delivered into the hand of your enemy

Here "into the hand" means "into the control" and refers to defeat by their enemy. This can be stated in active form. AT: "I will deliver you into the hand of your enemy" or "I will allow your enemy to control you" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)

When I cut off your food supply

Destroying the food that people have stored or stopping people from being able to get it is spoken of as cutting off the supply of food. AT: "When I destroy the food you have stored" or "When I stop you from being able to get food" (See: Metaphor)

ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven

This implies that there will be so little flour that one small oven will be able to hold all the bread that many women can put into it.

they will distribute your bread by weight

This means there will be so little food that they will have to measure how much each person gets.

translationWords

avenge

covenant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

נקם ברית [AND I WILL BRING UPON YOU A SWORD AVENGING] THE VENGEANCE OF THE COVENANT — Scripture speaks of “the vengeance of the covenant” because there is vengeance which is not mentioned in “The Covenant” (i. e. in this chapter of Scripture) being in the manner of other acts of vengeance (i. e. like the barbarous acts of revenge that are customary among other peoples, but which are not threatened in the Torah), and such a one was the blinding of the eyes of king Zedekiah (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 1; cf. 2 Kings 25:7). Another explanation of נקם ברית is that it means vengeance for My covenant which you have transgressed. Wherever “bringing of the sword” is mentioned in Scripture it signifies a war waged by the enemies’ armies.

ונאספתם AND YE SHALL GATHER YOURSELVES from outside (from the open country) WITHIN YOUR CITIES on account of the state of siege (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 1).

ושלחתי דבר בתוככם AND I WILL SEND THE PESTILENCE AMONG YOU, and through the pestilence it will happen, ונתתם ביד THAT YOU WILL BE GIVEN INTO THE HAND of the enemies who besiege you. This is because no corpse was permitted to remain in Jerusalem over night, and therefore when they would carry the corpse out of the city to bury it they would be given (they would fall) into the hands of their enemies (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 1).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.