Leviticus 26:33 (LSB)

Passage

You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.

Nearby Context

Leviticus 26:31 And I will give your cities over as a waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas.

Leviticus 26:32 And I will make the land desolate, so that your enemies who inhabit it will themselves feel desolate because of it.

Leviticus 26:33 You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.

Leviticus 26:34 ‘Then the land will make up for its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, and you will be in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and make up for its sabbaths.

Leviticus 26:35 All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "however", "scatter", "nations", "draw", "sword", "after", "land", and "becomes". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "however" and "scatter", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 32's "And I will make the land desolate..." into verse 34's "Then the land will make up for...", so "however" and "scatter" 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 "however" and "scatter" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.