Leviticus 26:39

And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(39) And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity.—Better, But those that remain of you shall pine away because of their iniquity, that is, those who will survive the terrible doom described under the five warnings, will pine away with grief, reflecting upon their sins which have brought upon them these tribulations.

And also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.—Better, and also on account of the iniquity of their fathers with them shall they pine away, that is, they shall pine away on account of their ancestral sins, which they repeat and reproduce. Hence the ancient Chaldee Versions render it, “And also on account of the evil sins of their fathers, which they hold fast in their hands, shall they pine away.” It may, however, also be rendered, “And also on account of the iniquities of their fathers which are with them;” that is, which they must bear and expiate. (See Exodus 20:5.)

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 26:39. Shall pine away — Shall languish out the remainder of their days in bitter grief, and sad reflections upon the miseries which their own and their fathers’ complicated guilt has brought upon them; and hereby shall be consumed and melt away.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

26:14-39 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Iniquity - The meaning here is, in the punishment of their iniquity, and, in the next clause, in the punishment of the iniquity (as in Leviticus 26:41, Leviticus 26:43) of their fathers. In the next verse the same Hebrew word is properly represented by "iniquity." Our translators have in several places put one of the English words in the text and the other in the margin (Genesis 4:13; Genesis 19:15; 2 Kings 7:9; Psalm 69:27, etc.). The language of Scripture does not make that trenchant division between sin and punishment which we are accustomed to do. Sin is its own punishment, having in itself, from its very commencement, the germ of death. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" James 1:15; Romans 2:5; Romans 5:12.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

38. the land of your enemies shall eat you up, &c.—On the removal of the ten tribes into captivity, they never returned, and all traces of them were lost.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Shall pine away, be consumed and melt away by degrees, through diseases, oppressions, griefs, and manifold miseries.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands,.... Such as were not taken off by any public calamity, as the sword or pestilence should gradually diminish and melt away like wax before the fire, and die in and for their iniquities in an enemy's country, see Ezekiel 24:23,

and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them; or for the iniquities of their evil fathers, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; they treading in their steps, and doing the same evil deeds, whereby they filled up the measure of their fathers' sins, and brought upon them deserved punishment. Matthew 23:32.

Geneva Study Bible

And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with {t} them.

(t) In that, as they are blameworthy of their fathers faults, they shall be punished as well as their fathers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

39. in the iniquities of their fathers] in the guilt to which their fathers have contributed.

with them] meaning either, as they have done, or, as holding fast by their fathers’ iniquities.

Leviticus 26:39

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But those who still remained under this oppression would pine away in their iniquities (ימּקּוּ, lit., to rot, moulder away), and "also in the iniquities of their fathers with them." אתּם refers to עונות, "which are with them," which they carry with them and must atone for (see at Exodus 20:5),