What Does Leviticus 26:16 Mean?
I also will do this to you. I will visit upon you the sudden fright, the wasting, and the burning fever, that run your eyes out and melt away the living soul. You shall sow your seed into emptiness, and your enemies shall eat it.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.THE KEY
The seed carries the future, but here it is planted only to be eaten before that future can feed you.
THE MEANING
The verse’s voice appoints terror, wasting sickness, and burning fever over you; they consume your eyes and bring sorrow to your heart. You sow your seed, yet your enemies eat it before it becomes provision.
THE ROOT
זֶרַע
zeraʿ
GROWS FROM
זרע
z-r-ʿ
To sow; to produce seed.
“sow” in this verse is zeraʿ. The Hebrew verb for sowing and the noun for seed share the root זרע, binding the act of planting to what is planted. זֶרַע can also mean offspring or descendants, so the loss reaches beyond a failed crop: the word carries the sense of a future that is cut off before it can sustain you.
ALSO GROWS
zāraʿ: To sow or plant seed.
זָרַע
This is the act in the verse: you put the seed into the ground, but the effort does not secure a harvest.
zeraʿ: Seed, offspring, or descendants.
זֶרַע
The same root names both what is planted and the future it can carry, deepening the loss when enemies eat the yield.
THE PATTERN
Sowing does not secure a harvest when what is planted is consumed before it can sustain life.
You shall bring out much seed into the field, and gather but little in; for the locust shall devour it.You have sown much and brought in little. You eat, but you are not filled. You drink, but you do not drink your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And the one who earns wages earns them into a pierced pouch.And as he sowed, some seed fell beside the road, and the winged ones of the air came and ate it down.THE THREAD
You have sown much and brought in little. You eat, but you are not filled. You drink, but you do not drink your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And the one who earns wages earns them into a pierced pouch.Both verses use זרע (z-r-ʿ): zāraʿ means “to sow,” and zeraʿ means “seed” or “offspring,” binding the planting to what is planted. Leviticus names enemies as the eaters; Haggai shows the same failure of yield reaching food, clothing, and wages.
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