« | Leviticus 26 | » |
1 "You shall make for yourselves no idols and erect no graven image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land, to bow down to them; for I am the LORD your God.
2 You shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
3 "If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,
4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 And your threshing shall last to the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last to the time for sowing; and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land securely.
6 And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; and I will remove evil beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.
7 And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 And I will have regard for you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and will confirm my covenant with you.
10 And you shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.
11 And I will make my abode among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
14 "But if you will not hearken to me, and will not do all these commandments,
15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,
16 I will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it;
17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be smitten before your enemies; those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.
18 And if in spite of this you will not hearken to me, then I will chastise you again sevenfold for your sins,
19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like brass;
20 and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
21 "Then if you walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring more plagues upon you, sevenfold as many as your sins.
22 And I will let loose the wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number, so that your ways shall become desolate.
23 "And if by this discipline you are not turned to me, but walk contrary to me,
24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will smite you sevenfold for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant; and if you gather within your cities I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and shall deliver your bread again by weight; and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.
27 "And if in spite of this you will not hearken to me, but walk contrary to me,
28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and chastise you myself sevenfold for your sins.
29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you.
31 And I will lay your cities waste, and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing odors.
32 And I will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be astonished at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
34 "Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its sabbaths.
35 As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest which it had not in your sabbaths when you dwelt upon it.
36 And as for those of you that are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues.
37 They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 And those of you that are left shall pine away in your enemies' lands because of their iniquity; and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away like them.
40 "But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery which they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,
41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity;
42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
43 But the land shall be left by them, and enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes.
44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God;
45 but I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD."
46 These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the LORD made between him and the people of Israel on Mount Sinai by Moses.
The Revised Standard Version (RSV)
The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is a widely respected English translation of the Bible that was first published in 1952 by the National Council of Churches. It was developed as a revision of the American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901, with the primary aim of providing a more accurate and readable text while retaining the literary qualities of its predecessor. The RSV sought to modernize the language of the ASV without sacrificing its faithfulness to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts, making it a significant milestone in the history of English Bible translations.
One of the key features of the RSV is its commitment to formal equivalence, or a word-for-word translation approach. This method ensures that the translation closely mirrors the structure and wording of the original texts, allowing readers to engage more directly with the biblical languages. The translators of the RSV were guided by the latest biblical scholarship of their time, and they endeavored to produce a text that was both accurate and elegant. This combination of precision and literary quality has made the RSV a popular choice for both academic study and liturgical use.
The RSV also stands out for its ecumenical appeal. It was one of the first translations to be accepted across a wide range of Christian denominations, including Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox traditions. This broad acceptance was partly due to the inclusive approach of the translation committee, which included scholars from various religious backgrounds. The RSV’s ecumenical nature helped it gain widespread usage in churches, seminaries, and universities, fostering a greater sense of unity among different Christian communities.
Despite its many strengths, the RSV has faced some criticism over the years. Some conservative scholars and readers have expressed concerns about certain translation choices, arguing that they reflect modernist theological perspectives. Additionally, the RSV’s use of archaic language in certain passages has been a point of contention for those seeking a more contemporary rendering of the Bible. Nonetheless, the Revised Standard Version remains a highly respected and influential translation, valued for its accuracy, literary excellence, and broad ecumenical acceptance. It continues to serve as a foundation for later revisions and translations, such as the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) and the English Standard Version (ESV).