Leviticus 26:15 Meaning and Explanation
“And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Serious unfaithfulness rarely begins with one isolated outward act. This verse traces a deeper movement of the heart, from contempt for God's instruction to a refusal to live by it. It helps us see why the covenant warnings that follow are not arbitrary penalties. They address a people turning away from the God who delivered them, dwelt among them, and gave them a way of life.
Leviticus 26:15 describes covenant breaking as a settled rejection of God's revealed way: despising his statutes, abhorring his judgments, refusing his commandments, and thereby violating the covenant he made with Israel.
The Context of Leviticus 26:15
Leviticus 26 concludes the collection of laws given at Sinai. Verses 1-13 set Sabbath, sanctuary, freedom from Egypt, obedience, fruitful land, peace, and God's dwelling among Israel within the covenant relationship. Verse 14 begins the warning section for refusal to hearken. Verse 15 expands that refusal by naming attitudes and actions that break the covenant. Verse 16 then begins the announced consequences. Much later in the chapter, verses 40-45 describe confession, humility, God's remembrance of the patriarchal covenant, and his refusal to destroy Israel utterly.
What Does Leviticus 26:15 Mean?
The verse moves from inward scorn to outward breach. To "despise" God's statutes is to treat them as beneath regard. For the soul to "abhor" his judgments is to recoil from the righteous decisions and ordinances God has given. These attitudes lead "so that ye will not do all my commandments." The final phrase identifies the issue plainly: "that ye break my covenant." God's commandments are not presented as detached demands. They belong to a covenant in which the LORD has already said, "I am the LORD your God," brought Israel from Egypt, and promised to walk among them. Refusing his instruction therefore denies the relationship his grace established.
The chapter's earlier promises explain the gravity of this language. Israel's life in the land, its worship, its rest, and its security were all to be received within fellowship with the LORD. Covenant faithfulness included concrete practices, including reverence for the sanctuary and keeping the Sabbaths. Verse 15 does not say that every human failure instantly ends the covenant. The chapter itself provides a path of confession and humility after sin. Its concern is a continuing posture that hates God's judgments and will not obey them. Such a posture tears at the bond of trust and loyalty that covenant life requires.
The chapter later returns to almost the same words when it explains Israel's exile: they had despised God's judgments and their soul had abhorred his statutes. Yet that return is joined to a striking promise that God will remember his covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. Scripture thus holds together the real evil of rejecting God's ways and the enduring mercy of the covenant God. In the wider biblical witness, Christ speaks of the new covenant in his blood and calls his disciples to abide in his love through keeping his commandments. His work does not make faithfulness irrelevant; it opens and sustains a faithful people in relationship with God.
Bible Verses Related to Leviticus 26:15
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?”
- Deuteronomy 31:16-17
“Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.”
- 2 Kings 17:13-15
“If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, 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.”
- Leviticus 26:40-45
“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”
- John 15:9-10
Where Leviticus 26:15 Echoes in Scripture
Leviticus 26:43 deliberately echoes this verse near the chapter's end. There the same rejection of God's judgments and statutes explains why the land lay desolate. The repetition shows that the later suffering is connected to the covenant breach named here. Yet the surrounding verses also lead toward confession, humility, and God's remembrance of his covenant, so the echo belongs within a chapter that refuses to let judgment have the final word.
How to Apply Leviticus 26:15 Today
This verse invites honest attention to the direction of our hearts. We may examine whether God's instruction is becoming burdensome because it exposes a desire we want to protect, or whether we receive it as the wise word of the God who seeks our good. When we recognize resistance, the chapter points toward confession and humility rather than concealment. It also calls communities to take shared covenant life seriously: worship, rest, justice, obedience, and reverence for what God has made holy shape a people over time. Returning to God can begin with naming the particular command or judgment we have treated lightly.
Reflection & Prayer
Where have we been tempted to regard God's instruction with impatience, contempt, or avoidance? Let us ask God to show us the difference between a passing struggle and a heart settling into refusal. Suggested prayer: "Lord, give us humble hearts toward your word. Bring our desires and actions back into faithful fellowship with thee."