Leviticus 26:21

Summary

Leviticus 26:21 continues a conditional warning: if the people persist in walking against God with qeri ("contrariness", H7147) and refuse to listen, the consequence will be a sevenfold intensification of affliction. The verse ties the severity of the punishment directly to the ongoing pattern of the people's sins.

Key words

• qeri ("contrariness", H7147) — a rare noun, here functioning almost adverbially with the preceding verb "walk," describing the manner of the people's conduct as one of opposition rather than a specific action.
• to'vu ("you will be willing", H0014) — qal imperfect, expressing an ongoing refusal or unwillingness, paired with the negation lo' ("not", H3808) to state a persistent state, not a single event.
• lishmoa' ("to listen", H8085G) — infinitive construct with the preposition li ("to", H9005), forming the object of the unwillingness: the people are unwilling "to listen."
• yasafti ("I will add", H3254G) — qal sequential perfect, first person, marking the consequence that follows logically and sequentially from the conditional clause introduced by 'im ("if", H0518A).
• chattotekhem ("your sins", H2403B) — feminine plural construct with the pronominal suffix khem ("your", H9026), indicating a plurality of accumulated offenses that determine the measure of the affliction, expressed via the number sheva' ("sevenfold", H7651).

What the text says

The verse opens with the conjunction ve'im ("and if", H9002 + H0518A), introducing a conditional protasis built on two verbs in the imperfect: telekhu ("you will walk", H1980I) and to'vu ("you will be willing", H0014). Both imperfects express continued or repeated action rather than a single occurrence, reinforcing that the condition concerns a sustained disposition — walking "with me" ('immi, H5973A + H9030) in qeri, and refusing "to listen to me" (lishmoa' li, H8085G + H9005 + H9030). The repetition of the first-person suffix -i ("me") in both 'immi and li keeps the relational focus on the addressee's response toward the speaker.

The apodosis begins with ve-yasafti ("and I will add", H9001 + H3254G), a sequential (waw-consecutive) perfect that marks the logical and temporal continuation from the protasis: the addition of a makkah ("blow", H4347) is the direct outcome of the condition just stated. The numeral sheva' ("sevenfold", H7651) modifies this "blow," and the phrase ke-chattotekhem ("according to your sins", H9004 + H2403B + H9026) supplies the measure — the intensification corresponds proportionally to the plural, accumulated chattot ("sins") of the addressees, expressed through the construct chain with the second-person plural suffix.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders qeri ("contrariness", H7147) with plágioi ("crooked/oblique ones"), an adjective describing the people themselves rather than a noun describing their manner of walking as in the Hebrew. The LXX also adds meta tauta ("after these things"), a temporal phrase not present in the Hebrew text. The Vulgate renders qeri as ex adverso ("from the opposite side"), a prepositional phrase corresponding more closely to the adverbial sense of the Hebrew noun than the LXX's adjectival rendering.