Leviticus 26:20 (DBY)

Passage

and your strength shall be spent in vain, and your land shall not yield its produce; and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.

Nearby Context

Leviticus 26:18 And if for this ye hearken not unto me, I will punish you sevenfold more for your sins,

Leviticus 26:19 and I will break the arrogance of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as bronze,

Leviticus 26:20 and your strength shall be spent in vain, and your land shall not yield its produce; and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.

Leviticus 26:21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring sevenfold more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Leviticus 26:22 And I will send the beasts of the field among you, that they may rob you of your children, and cut off your cattle, and make you few in number; and your streets shall be desolate.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "strength", "shall", "spent", "vain", "land", "yield", and "produce". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "strength" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "and I will break the arrogance of..." into verse 21's "And if ye walk contrary unto me...", so "strength" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Leviticus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "strength" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.