What Does Leviticus 26:28 Mean in the King James?
Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
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 rare Hebrew word behind “contrary” is often linked to encounter, so the verse depicts not merely opposing paths but a meeting that has turned hostile.
THE MEANING
When you persist in resistance, the encounter turns to fury: the speaker declares, “I, even I,” will chastise you sevenfold for your missing. The verse ties that punishment to your acts and leaves its severity exposed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that this opposition is random: it identifies the people’s missing as its cause and emphasizes that the speaker himself brings the chastisement.
THE ROOT
קֶרִי
qerî
GROWS FROM
קרה
To meet, encounter, or happen; this is a possible derivation of the rare word.
The rare noun translated “contrary” is often connected to a root meaning encounter or happen, though the derivation is uncertain. That possibility makes the image more than opposing directions: the meeting itself has become hostile.
ALSO GROWS
qārâ: To meet or happen.
קָרָה
This possible root link gives “contrary” the added sense of an encounter taking a hostile turn.
miqreh: An event or occurrence.
מִקְרֶה
This related word keeps the sense of something that happens or is encountered, sharpening the passage’s image of a charged meeting.
וְיִסַּרְתִּי
ve-yissartî
GROWS FROM
יסר
To discipline, correct, or chastise.
“chastise” in this verse is ve-yissartî. The verb for chastising shares its root with words for discipline and instruction. That connection reveals correction inside the word, while the verse’s sevenfold punishment keeps the force severe.
ALSO GROWS
mūsār: Discipline or instruction.
מוּסָר
This branch shows that the root can name correction that teaches, even as this verse describes it as punitive.
yissûrîm: Chastisements or afflictions.
יִסּוּרִים
This branch makes the painful force of the verse’s discipline explicit.
חַטֹּאתֵיכֶם
ḥaṭṭōtêkhem
GROWS FROM
חטא
To miss or go wrong.
The root retains the sense of missing or going wrong beneath the English “sins.” This does not shrink the charge: the verse directly names these acts as the cause of the chastisement.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēṭʾ: A miss, offense, or sin.
חֵטְא
It preserves the root’s image of going wrong beneath the verse’s more familiar moral term.
ḥaṭṭāʾt: Sin; in ritual contexts, a sin offering.
חַטָּאת
The same root connects the act of missing with the term for an offering associated with that missing.
THE PATTERN
The path repeatedly chosen becomes the source and shape of its consequence.
And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.THE THREAD
Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.This verse uses the same rare word translated “contrary,” so 26:28 deepens an already announced image of a reciprocal walk. It adds fury and “I, even I,” making the escalation explicit.
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