Leviticus 26:31
in Leviticus 26I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will make your cities a waste, and will bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.
KJV
And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
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This verse in Leviticus 26
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd yours emphatically, not mine, for I disown and abhor it, and all the services you do in it, because you have defiled it. I will not smell - Not own or accept them. Your sweet odours - Either of the incense, or of your sacrifices, which when offered with faith and obedience, are sweet and acceptable to me.
This site's exposition
I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars
on Leviticus 26:30-31
Verse 30 heaps the worshippers' bodies on the remains of their idols, so dead god and dead man lie in one heap. The words "My soul will despise you" at the end of verse 30 answer the promise made at verse 11.
This site's exposition
I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma
John Wesley marks the pronoun in your sanctuaries. God disowns them as defiled, and in Wesley's reading their pleasing aroma was sweet to Him only when offered with faith and obedience. Matthew Henry takes the plural to include the places they met every Sabbath as well as the tabernacle.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
First, Their cities should be waste, forsaken, uninhabited, and all the buildings destroyed; those that escaped the desolations of war should fall to decay of themselves. Secondly, Their sanctuaries should be a desolation, that is, their synagogues where they met for religious worship every sabbath, as well as their tabernacle where they met thrice a year.
I will make your cities waste,....
Though the judgments of God upon them did not separate them and their sins, yet they extorted incense from them; but in vain--even their incense was an abomination, Isa. i.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
But it is realized to a far greater extent now. bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours--the tabernacle and temple, as is evident from the tenor of the subsequent clause, in which God announces that He will not accept or regard their sacrifices.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנָתַתִּ֤י | venatati | and I will make | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עָֽרֵיכֶם֙ | ʾareikhem | cities your | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| חָרְבָּ֔ה | charbah | a waste place | H2723 → | |
| וַהֲשִׁמּוֹתִ֖י | vahashimoti | and I will devastate | H8074 → | 86 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִקְדְּשֵׁיכֶ֑ם | mikdesheikhem | sanctuaries your | H4720 → | 75 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אָרִ֔יחַ | ʾariach | I will smell | H7306 → | |
| בְּרֵ֖יחַ | bereiach | <in> [the] odor of | H7381 → | 58 times |
| נִיחֹֽחֲכֶֽם׃ | nichochakhem | soothing your | H5207 → | 43 times |
וְנָתַתִּ֤יand I will make
venatatiH5414 →2011 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עָֽרֵיכֶם֙cities your
ʾareikhemH5892 →1090 times
חָרְבָּ֔הa waste place
charbahH2723 →
וַהֲשִׁמּוֹתִ֖יand I will devastate
vahashimotiH8074 →86 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִקְדְּשֵׁיכֶ֑םsanctuaries your
mikdesheikhemH4720 →75 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
אָרִ֔יחַI will smell
ʾariachH7306 →
בְּרֵ֖יחַ<in> [the] odor of
bereiachH7381 →58 times
נִיחֹֽחֲכֶֽם׃soothing your
nichochakhemH5207 →43 times
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
Hebrews 10:26If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,
it leads to
- 2 Peter 2:20–22
If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse…
- Hebrews 6:4–6
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
- John 9:41
“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
- Luke 12:47
That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows.
- Matthew 12:43–45
When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.
- 2 Peter 2:20–22
Through
Genesis 8:21When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth.…
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 2:15
For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
- Ephesians 5:2
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- 2 Corinthians 2:15
Through
Ezekiel 9:6Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders…
it leads to
- Revelation 9:4
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
- Revelation 9:4
Where this verse is studied
About Leviticus
This page draws on 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.