What Does Leviticus 26:19 Mean in the King James?

And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

Leviticus 26:19 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The power you boast in cannot command the conditions that keep you alive.

THE MEANING

God breaks the pride of your power and makes the heaven above you iron and the earth beneath you brass. The world that should give rain and yield life becomes hard and unresponsive, leaving your strength unable to command what sustains you.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that strength makes you master of what sustains you: the heaven and earth are not yours to command, and the verse says God can close them against you.

THE ROOT

וְשָׁבַרְתִּי

ve-shāvar-tî

GROWS FROM

שבר

To break, shatter, or fracture.

“break” in this verse is ve-shāvar-tî. The action is not mere reduction: ⁨שֶׁבֶר⁩ (shever) names a fracture or ruin, while ⁨נִשְׁבָּר⁩ (nishbar) names what stands broken. The verse does not say proud strength is trimmed; it says its assumed firmness is shattered.

ALSO GROWS

shever: Fracture, breakage, or ruin.

שֶׁבֶר

This noun makes the break concrete: the pride of power meets a fracture in what it assumed was firm.

nishbar: Broken or shattered.

נִשְׁבָּר

This form shows the resulting state: what seemed strong can stand broken.

THE PATTERN

The strength that exalts itself is brought low by God.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18 · KJVPride precedes a fall, echoing the breaking of power that has become its own boast.

For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Isaiah 2:12 · KJVWhat lifts itself up is brought low, the same reversal named in this verse.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

Luke 1:52 · KJVThe mighty are brought down, showing that human power does not hold the final position.

THE THREAD

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.

Psalm 37:17 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨שבר⁩ (sh-b-r, to break) appears in both verses: here it names the breaking of proud power, and there the breaking of arms. The psalm sets that broken strength beside the LORD who upholds.

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