Leviticus 26:22
in Leviticus 26I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will send the beast of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your ways shall become desolate.
KJV
I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
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This verse in Leviticus 26
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I will also send wild beasts among you--This was one of the four judgments threatened (Eze 14:21; see also 2Ki 2:4). your highways shall be desolate--Trade and commerce will be destroyed--freedom and safety will be gone--neither stranger nor native will be found on the roads (Isa 33:8).
This site's exposition
And if ye walk contrary unto me
on Leviticus 26:21-22
Walk contrary is the chapter's own phrase for the breach, and it runs both directions. It is used of Israel at verses 21, 23, 27 and 40, and of God at verses 24, 28 and 41, so the answer is described in the same words as the offence. The beasts that were driven out at verse 6 come back, and the high ways lie desolate because nobody will travel them.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
All sinners walk contrary to God, to his truths, laws, and counsels; but those especially that are incorrigible under his judgments. The design of the rod is to humble them, and soften them, and bring them to repentance; but, instead of this, their hearts are more hardened and exasperated against God, and in their distress they trespass yet more against him, 2 Chron. xxviii.
), as we read of two bears that in an instant killed forty-two children, 2 Kings ii. This is one of the four sore judgments threatened Ezek. xiv. 21 , which plainly refers to this chapter.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
I will also send wild beasts among you,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I will also send wild beasts among you - God fulfilled these threatenings at different times.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהִשְׁלַחְתִּ֨י | vehishlachti | and I will send | H7971 → | 845 times |
| בָכֶ֜ם | vakhem | among <the> you | ||
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| חַיַּ֤ת | chaiyat | [the] animal[s] of | H2416 → | 498 times |
| הַשָּׂדֶה֙ | hasadeh | the field | H7704 → | 334 times |
| וְשִׁכְּלָ֣ה | veshikelah | and it will make childless | H7921 → | |
| אֶתְכֶ֔ם | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וְהִכְרִ֙יתָה֙ | vehikhritah | and it will cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּהֶמְתְּכֶ֔ם | behemtekhem | livestock your | H929 → | 190 times |
| וְהִמְעִ֖יטָה | vehimitah | and it will diminish | H4591 → | 22 times |
| אֶתְכֶ֑ם | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וְנָשַׁ֖מּוּ | venashamu | and they will be desolate | H8074 → | 86 times |
| דַּרְכֵיכֶֽם׃ | darkheikhem | roads your | H1870 → |
וְהִשְׁלַחְתִּ֨יand I will send
vehishlachtiH7971 →845 times
בָכֶ֜םamong <the> you
vakhem
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
חַיַּ֤ת[the] animal[s] of
chaiyatH2416 →498 times
הַשָּׂדֶה֙the field
hasadehH7704 →334 times
וְשִׁכְּלָ֣הand it will make childless
veshikelahH7921 →
אֶתְכֶ֔ם<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
וְהִכְרִ֙יתָה֙and it will cut off
vehikhritahH3772 →288 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּהֶמְתְּכֶ֔םlivestock your
behemtekhemH929 →190 times
וְהִמְעִ֖יטָהand it will diminish
vehimitahH4591 →22 times
אֶתְכֶ֑ם<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
וְנָשַׁ֖מּוּand they will be desolate
venashamuH8074 →86 times
דַּרְכֵיכֶֽם׃roads your
darkheikhemH1870 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 14:15Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:17
I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 5:17
Through
Ezekiel 5:17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 38:22
I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
- Ezekiel 38:22
Through
Zechariah 7:14But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 23:19
Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.
- Deuteronomy 28:64
Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you…
- Deuteronomy 28:33
A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.
- Jeremiah 5:15
Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose…
- Jeremiah 23:19
Through
Judges 5:6In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways.
it leads to
- Judges 3:31
After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.
- Isaiah 33:8
The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded.
- Judges 3:31
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Leviticus

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Andrew Bonar, A Commentary on Leviticus; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
