Leviticus 26:35 kjv
As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
Leviticus 26:35 nkjv
As long as it lies desolate it shall rest? for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.
Leviticus 26:35 niv
All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
Leviticus 26:35 esv
As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.
Leviticus 26:35 nlt
As long as the land lies in ruins, it will enjoy the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it.
Leviticus 26 35 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Lev 25:2-7 | "When you come into the land... the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord." | Law of the Sabbatical Year explained. |
| Lev 25:23 | "The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me." | God's ultimate ownership of the land. |
| Lev 26:34 | "Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate... because you did not enjoy them when you lived in it." | Immediate preceding verse, re-emphasizing land's rest. |
| Lev 26:33 | "I will scatter you among the nations; I will draw out a sword after you..." | Prediction of scattering and exile. |
| Exod 23:10-11 | "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest..." | Explicit command for the land's fallow year. |
| Exod 20:8-11 | "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." | Command for weekly human Sabbath, principles extended to land. |
| Deut 28:15 | "But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God... all these curses shall come upon you..." | General curses for covenant disobedience. |
| Deut 28:64-68 | "The Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other..." | Prophecy of dispersion due to sin. |
| 2 Kgs 25:21 | "So Judah was carried away into exile from its land." | Historical account of the deportation to Babylon. |
| 2 Chr 36:20-21 | "And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon... until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years." | Direct fulfillment, linking 70-year exile to missed Sabbaths. |
| Isa 1:7 | "Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence..." | Prophetic description of the land's devastation. |
| Jer 25:11-12 | "And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." | Jeremiah's prophecy of 70-year desolation and exile. |
| Jer 29:10 | "For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you..." | Prophecy confirming the duration of the exile. |
| Lam 1:3 | "Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude..." | Lament over the effects of exile and land's state. |
| Ezek 22:3-5 | "A city that sheds blood... a land that defiles itself by its uncleanness." | Spiritual defilement as a cause for judgment and desolation. |
| Dan 9:2 | "I, Daniel, understood by the books... that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem." | Daniel's understanding of exile based on Jeremiah's prophecy. |
| Neh 9:30 | "Many years You gave them rest through Your Spirit by Your prophets; Yet they would not listen..." | Recalls Israel's persistent disobedience leading to judgment. |
| Psa 24:1 | "The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein." | Underlines God's absolute dominion over creation. |
| Psa 79:1 | "O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled..." | Prayer of lament over the desolate land and sanctuary. |
| Isa 6:11-12 | "Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered: "Until cities are waste without inhabitant... and the land is utterly desolate." | Prophecy detailing the extent of the desolation. |
| Rom 8:19-22 | "For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits... For the creation was subjected to futility..." | Creation itself longs for restoration, echoing land's "rest." |
| Heb 4:9-11 | "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God... Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest..." | Broader theological principle of divine rest, spiritual fulfillment. |
Leviticus 26 verses
Leviticus 26 35 Meaning
Leviticus 26:35 declares that the period of Israel's exile and the land's subsequent desolation would serve as a forced sabbath for the land. It means that the land would finally experience the rest it was due, precisely for the duration and as compensation for the sabbatical years its inhabitants failed to observe while living there. This divine judgment highlights God's justice and sovereignty, ensuring that His ordained cycles for creation are ultimately honored, even if it requires severe consequences for human disobedience.
Leviticus 26 35 Context
Leviticus 26 serves as the concluding covenant stipulation section of the book, outlining blessings for obedience and severe curses for disobedience. This specific verse (v. 35) is part of a detailed list of consequences that Israel would face if they violated God's covenant, particularly emphasizing the repercussions related to their neglect of the Sabbatical Year laws laid out in Leviticus 25. The immediate context of Leviticus 26:34-35 explicitly states that the land would be given its "enjoyment of Sabbaths" during the time Israel was exiled and the land lay desolate. This prophetic judgment ultimately found its historical fulfillment during the Babylonian Exile (586-539 BC), when the people of Judah were deported, and the land lay waste for approximately seventy years, a period understood to correspond directly to the unobserved sabbatical years (2 Chr 36:20-21). This period served as a divine means for the land to receive the rest it was due, illustrating God's precise and just enforcement of His covenant.
Leviticus 26 35 Word analysis
- All the days (כֹּל יְמֵי - kol yemei): Emphasizes the entire, continuous duration of the period described. It signals that this "rest" is not partial or fleeting, but a complete fulfillment over the full span of desolation.
- that it lies desolate (הָשַּׁמָּה - hāššammāh): Derived from the verb שָׁמֵם (šāmam), meaning "to be desolate, deserted, laid waste." This is a strong term indicating utter emptiness, abandonment, and ruin. It refers to a state of being unproductive and uninhabited due to judgment, not merely fallowness.
- it shall have rest (תִּשְׁבֹּת - tišbbōṯ): From the root שָׁבַת (šābaṯ), "to cease, desist, rest, celebrate Sabbath." This is the core concept of the verse. The verb is in the feminine singular, directly attributing this rest to "the land" (ארץ - 'eretz, fem.). It's an active cessation, divinely enforced.
- days it did not have rest (אֵת יְמֵיכֶם ... לֹא שָׁבָתָה - 'et y'meyeḵem ... lō' šāḇāṯāh): A precise accounting. This refers to the specific number of years during Israel's residency when the land was not allowed to keep its sabbath. The repeated root (šābaṯ) highlights the direct link between past disobedience and future consequence.
- in your sabbaths (שַׁבְּתֹתֵיכֶם - šabbəṯōṯêḵem): The plural form of "sabbath," specifically denoting the many Sabbatical Years that were disregarded. The possessive "your" (‑êḵem) assigns culpability directly to the Israelites for their neglect of these mandated periods of rest.
- when you lived in it (בְּשִׁבְתְּכֶם עָלֶיהָ - bəšiḇtəḵem 'alehā): Literally "in your dwelling upon it." This phrase contextualizes the duration of the land's prior labor and directly connects Israel's physical presence and stewardship (or lack thereof) to the accumulation of missed sabbatical rests. It emphasizes that while they prospered on the land, they failed its divine charge.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
- "All the days that it lies desolate it shall have rest": This segment announces a divine reversal. The very state of abandonment and desolation (a curse for the people) becomes the mechanism through which the land's sacred "right" to rest is finally fulfilled, emphasizing God's control even over judgment.
- "days it did not have rest in your sabbaths, when you lived in it": This phrase meticulously specifies the reason for the land's desolate rest. It's a direct, punitive measure, directly proportionate to the Israelites' long-standing neglect of the Sabbatical years during their residency, making the divine justice both specific and tangible.
Leviticus 26 35 Bonus section
- The land's "rest" here is a complex outcome: it is both a divinely imposed punishment for Israel and an act of cosmic restoration for creation itself. The land, which "groaned" under the burden of neglect, finds its period of relief through the consequence experienced by its disobedient tenants.
- This verse provides crucial context for later biblical narratives, particularly the exilic accounts in 2 Chronicles, Jeremiah, and Daniel. It helps the reader understand the why behind the severe judgment of the exile, tying it directly to the specific transgression of neglecting the Sabbatical laws.
- The principle of accountability extending to the land serves as a reminder that God's dominion is total, and humanity's role is one of faithful stewardship, not absolute ownership or exploitation. Even natural cycles and resources are under His sovereign authority and ordained rhythm.
- The detailed explanation in this chapter underscores the high stakes of covenant obedience. The promised land, a gift from God, was also entrusted with divine instructions, the disregard of which would lead to its reclamation by God, symbolized by its forced "Sabbath."
Leviticus 26 35 Commentary
Leviticus 26:35 articulates a profound truth about God's covenant with Israel: it extends even to the land itself, emphasizing His ultimate ownership and the ordered nature of His creation. The failure of Israel to observe the Sabbatical Years demonstrated not just a ritualistic oversight, but a fundamental lack of faith in God's provision and a self-serving disregard for His divine law concerning their stewardship. By working the land continuously, they denied it its ordained rest, treating it purely as their economic possession. Therefore, the consequence of their exile was a just retribution for this accumulated sin. The land would be forcibly fallow, recovering the Sabbaths denied to it, as seen in the 70 years of Babylonian exile. This underscores that God's justice is meticulously precise, a reckoning not only for the people but for the entire creation subjected to their actions, ensuring that divine order is ultimately restored.