Leviticus 26:33

Lev 26:33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

Ver. 33. And I will scatter you.] As chaff. Compare Psa 44:11 Zec 7:14. Therefore "fan you, fan you, O nation, not to be desired before the day pass as the chaff," &c. {Zep 2:1-2} {See Trapp on "Zep 2:1"} {See Trapp on "Zep 2:2"}

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.

Signifying that no enemy can come without God’s sending.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I will scatter you among the heathen, &c.--as was done when the elite of the nation were removed into Assyria and placed in various parts of the kingdom.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(33) And I will scatter you among the heathen.—They will not even be permitted to tarry among the ruins of their favoured places, but God Himself, who brings about the desolation, will disperse the surviving inhabitants far and wide.

And will draw out a sword after you.—To show how complete this dispersion is to be, God is represented with a drawn sword in His hand pursuing them and scattering them, so that both their land and every city in it should be denuded of them, and that there should be no possibility of any of them turning back. Thus the sword which God promised should not go through their land (see Lev_26:6) if they walk according to the Divine commandments, will now be wielded by Himself to bring about their utter dispersion from the land. A similar appalling scene is described by Jeremiah: “I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers hare known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them” (Jer_9:16, with Jer_42:16-18; Eze_12:14).

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

33. will draw out the sword] For this expression, as implying the hot pursuit of fugitives, see Eze_5:2; Eze_5:12; Eze_12:14.

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.

Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths,.... The sabbatical years, or seventh year sabbaths, when, according to the law in the preceding chapter, it was to rest from tillage, Lev 25:2,

as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; so long it should lie uncultivated, at least in part, there not being a sufficient number left to till it in general, or as it should be; this was the case during the seventy years' captivity in Babylon:

even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths; or complete them, as Aben Ezra, which is a bitter sarcasm upon them for their neglect of observance of the law concerning the sabbatical years; but now the land should have its sabbaths of rest whether they would or not; and it seems as if it was on account of this sin, as well as others, that they were carried captive; and it is remarkable, if what Maimonides (x) says is right, that it was at the going out or end of a sabbatical year, that the first temple was destroyed, and the Jews carried captive, and endured a seventy years' captivity; which some say was because they had neglected seventy sabbatical years; see Ch2 36:21.

(x) Hilchot Shemitah Vejobel, c. 10. sect. 3.

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

The sword shall follow you into strange lands, and you shall have no rest there.

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

33. I will scatter you — This admonitory prophecy looks beyond the captivity of Israel in Babylon, its first fulfilment, to that world-wide dispersion which began at the destruction of Jerusalem and continues to this day, a miracle of national life perpetuated in spite of all opposing forces and destructive agencies, a people “scattered and peeled,” dwelling in every nation, yet resisting absorption and assimilation. “THE DISPERSION” was the general title applied to those Jews who remained in foreign countries after the return from Babylon, during the period of the second temple. Most of them were in bondage, and shut out from the full privileges of the chosen race. Joh_7:35; Jas_1:1, notes. There are legends pointing to settlements of Jews in Arabia, Ethiopia and Abyssinia. At the beginning of the Christian era the “dispersion” was divided into three great sections — the Babylonian, the Syrian, and the Egyptian. For the breadth of the dispersion, see Act_2:9-11, note. Its influence on the rapid promulgation of Christianity can scarcely be overrated. The course of apostolic preaching follows, in a regular progress, the line of Jewish settlements. Thus the wickedness of Israel was overruled for the furtherance of the Gospel.

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

After you - The sword shall follow you into strange lands, and you shall have no rest there.

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

ואתכם אזרה בגוים AND I WILL SCATTER YOU AMONG THE NATIONS — This again was a harsh measure; because when the inhabitants of a country go into exile in one and the same place they have the opportunity to see each other and so find consolation for their bad lot. Israel, however, was scattered as though by a winnowing fan — as when a man winnows barley with a fan — when not even one grain of them adheres to the other (not even two grains remain in the same place; cf. Jeremiah 25:7) (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 6).

והריקתי — (lit., I shall empty out) — This term may be used for drawing the sword because when one draws the sword the scabbard becomes empty (cf. Rashi on Ex 15:9). A Midrashic explanation (referring the word והריקתי to the sword itself not to the scabbard) is the sword once drawn to pursue you will not soon return unto the scabbard — as a man pours out water and it can never return to the vessel that once contained it (i. e. I will, as it were, empty out the scabbard — pour forth the sword from it, and it shall never return, but always follow you) (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 7).

והיתה ארצכם שממה AND YOUR LAND WILL BE (REMAIN) DESOLATE — This implies that you will not soon return unto it, and on that account עריכם יהיו חריבה YOUR CITIES WILL BE WASTE, i. e. they will seem to you waste; for when a man is exiled from his house, or from his vineyard, or from his city, knowing that he is ultimately to return to it, it appears to him as though his vineyard or his house were not waste. —Thus is it explained in Torat Cohanim (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 7 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.