1 Yee shall make you no Idoles nor grauen Image, neither reare you vp a standing image, neither shall yee set vp any Image of stone in your land, to bow downe vnto it: For I am the Lord your God.
2 Ye shal keepe my Sabbaths, and reuerence my Sanctuary: I am the Lord.
3 ¶ If ye walke in my Statutes, and keepe my Commandements, and doe them;
4 Then I will giue you raine in due season, and the land shall yeeld her increase, and the trees of the field shall yeeld their fruit.
5 And your threshing shall reach vnto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach vnto the sowing time: and yee shal eat your bread to the full, and dwel in your land safely.
6 And I wil giue peace in the land, and ye shall lye downe, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid euill beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword goe through your land.
7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 And fiue of you shal chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 For I wil haue respect vnto you, and make you fruitfull, and multiply you, & establish my couenant with you.
10 And yee shall eate old store, and bring forth the old, because of the new.
11 And I will set my Tabernacle amongst you: and my soule shall not abhorre you.
12 And I will walke among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
13 I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that yee should not be their bondmen, & I haue broken the bandes of your yoke, and made you go vpright.
14 ¶ But if ye will not hearken vnto me, and will not doe all these Commandements:
15 And if ye shall despise my Statutes, or if your soule abhorre my Iudgements, so that ye wil not doe all my Commandements, but that yee breake my Couenant:
16 I also will doe this vnto you, I will euen appoint ouer you terrour, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seede in vaine, for your enemies shall eate it.
17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slaine before your enemies: they that hate you shall reigne ouer you, and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken vnto me, then I will punish you seuen times more for your sinnes.
19 And I will breake the pride of your power, and I will make your heauen as yron, and your earth as brasse:
20 And your strength shall be spent in vaine: for your land shall not yeeld her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yeeld their fruits.
21 ¶ And if ye walke contrary vnto me, and will not hearken vnto mee, I will bring seuen times moe plagues vpon you, according to your sinnes.
22 I will also send wilde beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattell, and make you few in number, and your high wayes shall be desolate.
23 And if ye will not be reformed by these things, but will walke contrary vnto me:
24 Then will I also walke contrary vnto you, and will punish you yet seuen times for your sinnes.
25 And I will bring a sword vpon you, that shall auenge the quarell of my couenant: and when yee are gathered together within your cities, I wil send the pestilence among you, and ye shalbe deliuered into the hand of the enemie.
26 And when I haue broken the staffe of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one ouen, and they shall deliuer you your bread againe by weight: and ye shall eate, and not bee satisfied.
27 And if ye wil not for all this hearken vnto me, but walke contrary vnto mee,
28 Then I wil walke contrary vnto you also in fury, and I, euen I will chastise you seuen times for your sinnes.
29 And ye shal eate the flesh of your sonnes, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eate.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut downe your images, and cast your carkeises vpon the carkeises of your idoles, and my soule shall abhorre you.
31 And I wil make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries vnto desolation, and I will not smell the sauour of your sweet odours.
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwel therein, shall be astonished at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
34 Then shall the lande enioy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and yee be in your enemies land, euen then shall the land rest, and enioy her Sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate, it shall rest: because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt vpon it.
36 And vpon them that are left aliue of you, I will send a faintnesse into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a shaken leafe shall chase them, and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword: and they shall fall, when none pursueth.
37 And they shall fall one vpon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and yee shall haue no power to stand before your enemies.
38 And yee shall perish among the Heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eate you vp.
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquitie in your enemies lands, and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
40 If they shall confesse the iniquitie of their fathers, with their trespasse which they trespassed against me, and that also they haue walked contrary vnto me:
41 And that I also haue walked contrary vnto them, and haue brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their vncircumcised hearts bee humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquitie:
42 Then will I remember my couenant with Iacob, and also my couenant with Isaac, and also my couenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land.
43 The land also shalbe left of them, and shall enioy her Sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquitie: because, euen because they despised my Iudgements, and because their soule abhorred my Statutes
44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhorre them, to destroy them vtterly, and to breake my couenant with them: for I am the Lord their God.
45 But I wil for their sakes remember the couenant of their Ancestours, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.
46 These are the Statutes, and Iudgements, and Lawes which the Lord made betweene him and the children of Israel, in mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses.
Promises upon keeping the precepts. (1-13) Threatenings against disobedience. (14-39) God promises to remember those that repent. (40-46)1-13 This chapter contains a general enforcement of all the laws given by Moses; by promises of reward in case of obedience, on the one hand; and threatenings of punishment for disobedience, on the other. While Israel maintained a national regard to God's worship, sabbaths, and sanctuary, and did not turn aside to idolatry, the Lord engaged to continue to them temporal mercies and religious advantages. These great and precious promises, though they relate chiefly to the life which now is, were typical of the spiritual blessings made sure by the covenant of grace to all believers, through Christ. 1. Plenty and abundance of the fruits of the earth. Every good and perfect gift must be expected from above, from the Father of lights. 2. Peace under the Divine protection. Those dwell in safety, that dwell in God. 3. Victory and success in their wars. It is all one with the Lord to save by many or by few. 4. The increase of their people. The gospel church shall be fruitful. 5. The favour of God, which is the fountain of all Good. 6. Tokens of his presence in and by his ordinances. The way to have God's ordinances fixed among us, is to cleave closely to them. 7. The grace of the covenant. All covenant blessings are summed up in the covenant relation, I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and they are all grounded upon their redemption. Having purchased them, God would own them, and never cast them off till they cast him off.
14-39 After God has set the blessing before them which would make them a happy people if they would be obedient, he here sets the curse before them, the evils which would make them miserable, if they were disobedient. Two things would bring ruin. 1. A contempt of God's commandments. They that reject the precept, will come at last to renounce the covenant. 2. A contempt of his corrections. If they will not learn obedience by the things they suffer, God himself would be against them; and this is the root and cause of all their misery. And also, The whole creation would be at war with them. All God's sore judgments would be sent against them. The threatenings here are very particular, they were prophecies, and He that foresaw all their rebellions, knew they would prove so. TEMPORAL judgments are threatened. Those who will not be parted from their sins by the commands of God, shall be parted from them by judgments. Those wedded to their lusts, will have enough of them. SPIRITUAL judgments are threatened, which should seize the mind. They should find no acceptance with God. A guilty conscience would be their continual terror. It is righteous with God to leave those to despair of pardon, who presume to sin; and it is owing to free grace, if we are not left to pine away in the iniquity we were born in, and have lived in.
40-46 Among the Israelites, persons were not always prosperous or afflicted according to their obedience or disobedience. But national prosperity was the effect of national obedience, and national judgments were brought on by national wickedness. Israel was under a peculiar covenant. National wickedness will end in the ruin of any people, especially where the word of God and the light of the gospel are enjoyed. Sooner or later, sin will be the ruin, as well as the reproach, of every people. Oh that, being humbled for our sins, we might avert the rising storm before it bursts upon us! God grant that we may, in this our day, consider the things which belong to our eternal peace.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.