Leviticus 26:19 · Bible study
Leviticus 26:19 Commentary: Breaking the Pride of Power
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
God breaks human pride through drought and famine in this covenantal curse. The reversed imagery of iron heaven and bronze earth conveys total judgment.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God warns that covenant unfaithfulness will result in the removal of agricultural blessings, breaking the pride people place in their own resources.
- Key words: shabar (to break), gaʾon (pride/majesty), ʿoz (strength/power), barzel (iron), nechushah (bronze).
- Main debate: Whether 'pride of your power' refers specifically to the sanctuary (Jewish tradition) or more broadly to national strength (most Christian commentators).
- Theological theme: Divine discipline that targets human self-reliance, using the natural order to call people back to dependence on God.
- Best use: A sobering text on the consequences of persistent sin, preached with the lens of covenant grace and the hope of repentance.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
WEB World English Bible 2000
I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like bronze.
KJV King James Version 1769
And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And I will break the pride of your power: and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass;
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
and I have broken the pride of your strength, and have made your heavens as iron, and your earth as brass;
Darby Darby Bible 1890
and I will break the arrogance of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as bronze,
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And I will break the pride of your stubbornness: and I will make to you the heaven above as iron, and the earth as brass.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y quebrantaré la soberbia de vuestra fortaleza, y tornaré vuestro cielo como hierro, y vuestra tierra como metal:
E quebrarei a soberba de vossa força, e voltarei vosso céu como ferro, e vossa terra como bronze:
Je briserai l’ orgueil de votre force, je rendrai votre ciel comme du fer, et votre terre comme de l’ airain.
daß ich euren Stolz und eure Halsstarrigkeit breche; und will euren Himmel wie Eisen und eure Erde wie Erz machen.
Want Ik zal de hovaardigheid uwer kracht verbreken, en zal uw hemel als ijzer maken, en uw aarde als koper.
Spezzerò la superbia della vostra forza, farò che il vostro cielo sia come di ferro, e la vostra terra come di rame.
I zetrę pychę mocy waszej, i uczynię niebo nad wami jako żelazo, a ziemię waszę jako miedź;
и сломлю гордое упорство ваше, и небо ваше сделаю, как железо, и землю вашу, как медь;
我必斷絕 你們因勢力 而有的驕傲，又要使 覆你們的天 如鐵， 載你們的地 如銅。
And the pride of your strength will be broken, and I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass;
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Leviticus 26:19
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions read this verse as a severe covenantal curse targeting the root of human self-reliance. The Hebrew verb shabar (to break) appears in the Qal perfect consecutive, describing a decisive, future act from God's perspective. The phrase 'pride of your power' (geʾon ʿuzzekhem) appears elsewhere only in Ezekiel, always for the fall of arrogant nations (Cambridge Bible). Keil & Delitzsch note that it includes everything a nation rests its might on, land fertility, military strength, political alliances. Gill records the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi interpreting this as the sanctuary, the object of Israel's boast. The following image, sky like iron, earth like bronze, reverses the order of Deuteronomy 28:23, where sky is bronze and earth iron; here neither rain nor growth can come, shutting off life from above and below. All agree this is not arbitrary wrath but measured discipline to humble and restore. As Lange's Commentary frames it, the passage calls the people to repentance through the felt absence of God's provision.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The verse describes a severe judgment of drought and famine as a consequence of covenantal unfaithfulness, with the purpose of humbling the people and calling them to repentance.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning of 'pride of your power' | It refers to whatever the Israelites placed their confidence in instead of God, whether military might, land fertility, or religious institutions. | Jewish tradition (Targum, Jarchi) identifies it specifically with the sanctuary (Temple), while most Christian commentators see it as national strength and prosperity in general. |
| Reversal of metaphors from Deuteronomy 28:23 | Both verses describe a curse of drought and agricultural failure through the same metals (iron and bronze). | Deuteronomy 28:23 has sky as bronze and earth as iron; Leviticus 26:19 reverses the order. Some see this as simply variatio, others as intensifying: showing that the curse blocks provision from both directions, preventing rain and preventing growth. |
| The severity of the curse in relation to repentance | All traditions agree that the curse is disciplinary, not vengeful, and that it forms part of a larger call to turn back to God. | Some Reformed traditions emphasize the hopelessness of human ability to repent without divine grace; others stress the human responsibility to respond to discipline. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Leviticus 26 stands at the close of the legal code, presenting blessings for obedience and escalating curses for covenant breaking. This verse sits in the second stage of the curses: if persistent disobedience continues after initial judgments (terror, disease, military defeat), God 'adds a sevenfold chastisement' (Keil & Delitzsch). The specific curse of drought was a direct attack on the land-based economy of ancient Israel, where survival depended on seasonal rains and fertile soil. The reversal from Deuteronomy 28:23, where sky is bronze and earth iron, is striking; here the sky is iron (hard, refusing to release water) and the earth is bronze (hard, unable to receive seed). Some Jewish exegetes, as recorded by Gill, connected the 'pride of your power' to the sanctuary (the Temple in Jerusalem), which the people trusted in despite their disobedience; the destruction of that sanctuary would crush their confidence. Others see a broader reference to national strength and prosperity. In the Ancient Near East, treaty curses often invoked the gods to turn the heavens to copper and the earth to iron (similar language appears in Assyrian vassal treaties). Israel's covenant with Yahweh framed these natural disasters as direct divine action, not impersonal fate. The severity escalates through Leviticus 26, moving from drought to wild animals, war, pestilence, and finally exile, each step designed to bring the people to confess their guilt.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Leviticus 26:19. The phrase 'pride of your power' is consistent across the Masoretic Text and ancient versions (LXX, Targum, Vulgate). The reversal of metals with Deuteronomy 28:23 appears to be an intentional feature of the Masoretic text, not a scribal error.
Reception History
Jewish interpreters such as the Targum of Jonathan and Rabbi David Kimchi (Radaq) saw this verse as referring to the destruction of the Temple, which they considered the ultimate 'pride of your power.' In Christian tradition, the verse has been read as a typological warning against trusting in worldly prosperity; early church fathers like Cyril of Alexandria connected it to the hardening of the heart under judgment. During the Reformation, commentators like Calvin and Luther used the passage to teach that God sometimes uses nature itself to discipline a wayward people. In modern liturgical use, Leviticus 26:19 rarely appears as a reading outside penitential seasons, but it continues to inform Christian reflection on the consequences of collective sin and the mercy that underlies even severe discipline.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- God confronts human pride at its source. The 'pride of your power' is any human institution, resource, or achievement that becomes the ground of security and boasting.
- The created order becomes an instrument of discipline. Sky and earth, normally sources of life, are turned against the people as symbols of God's withheld blessing.
- Exhausted strength leads to repentance. The curse is not final; it is a call to turn back, as the surrounding context shows with repeated 'if you will not listen.'
Five-point outline
- The target: Pride of power, military, economic, religious, anything that takes God's place.
- The means: A reversed creation, the sky as iron (no rain) and earth as bronze (no growth).
- The result: Strength spent in vain (v.20), fuel for futility.
- The progression: Part of a sevenfold escalation that increases until the people repent or are exiled.
- The mercy hidden in judgment: God is not destroying but disciplining, leaving room for return.
Illustration hooks
- A farmer who loses an entire harvest to drought and must face his trust in self-sufficiency rather than God's provision.
- A business owner whose success collapses, revealing how much of his identity was tied to his company.
- A community that experiences a natural disaster, forcing them to ask whether they had forgotten their dependence on God.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Is every drought or hardship a direct punishment from God?
- How do I know if my 'pride of power' is something God wants to break?
- Does this verse apply to Christians today, or was it only for Old Testament Israel?
Leading a Discussion
This verse stands in the covenant curses of Leviticus 26, where God warns of escalating consequences for persistent disobedience. The imagery of iron sky and bronze earth communicates total agricultural collapse, and with it, the shattering of human confidence in strength and resources. As you discuss, focus on how the passage reveals both the seriousness of pride and the hope of restoration embedded in the larger covenant framework.
Discussion questions
- What stands out to you about the phrase 'I will break the pride of your power'? What kinds of 'power' do people pride themselves in today?
- Why do you think the curse targets the sky and the earth? What does this say about the source of life and provision?
- Compare Leviticus 26:19 with Deuteronomy 28:23. The order of the metals is reversed here. What might that reversal emphasize?
- The Hebrew verb for 'break' (shabar) is used elsewhere for shattering pottery or breaking bones. How does that intensity shape your understanding of God's discipline?
- Some Jewish interpreters see 'pride of your power' as the sanctuary (the Temple). What happens when God’s people put trust in religious institutions rather than in God himself?
- How does the progression of curses in Leviticus 26 (from agricultural drought to exile) show both justice and patience?
- In what areas of your life could you be relying on 'strength' instead of on God? How might this passage invite you to a different posture?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Deuteronomy 28:23 | Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. |
| I Samuel 4:3 | When the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let’s get the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of Shiloh and bring it to us, that it may come among us and save us out of the hand of our enemies.” |
| I Samuel 4:11 | God’s ark was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. |
| I Kings 17:1 | Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” |
| Isaiah 2:12 | For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and arrogant, and for all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low— |
| Isaiah 25:11 | He will spread out his hands in the middle of it, like one who swims spreads out hands to swim, but his pride will be humbled together with the craft of his hands. |
| Isaiah 26:5 | For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust. |
| Jeremiah 13:9 | “Yahweh says, ‘In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
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What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Cambridge Bible Schools notes that the phrase "the pride of your power" appears only here and in Ezekiel, where it consistently refers to national downfall. In Ezekiel it describes the fall of Israel, the destruction of Jerusalem, and is even applied to Egypt.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note emphasizes that God specifically targets human pride by making the sky like iron and the ground like brass—hard, unyielding, and unable to provide rain or crops. This judgment reverses the natural order that normally supports life.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill interprets the pride of your power as the people's misplaced confidence, whether in the sanctuary, their fruitful land, or their military strength. He notes that God would shatter all of this, then describes heaven becoming like iron, withholding rain, and earth like brass, unable to produce crops, bringing inevitable famine.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB emphasizes that the metaphor of an iron sky and brass ground is the strongest possible image of extended famine. No other figure could better convey the severity and duration of a drought where heaven refuses rain and earth yields nothing.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch see the number seven as the key: it signals God's chastisement reaching its full, perfect measure. The target of this judgment is national pride that rests on the land's fruitfulness, so God makes the sky like iron and the earth like brass, cutting off all rain.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange stresses that these promises and warnings address the whole nation of Israel as a single body, not individuals. He argues the prophecy of curse and eventual restoration flows naturally from Moses' knowledge of the people and of God's justice and mercy, not from later historical events.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry sees the escalating punishments as a deliberate progression aimed at reformation, not mere revenge. Each new wave of judgment is designed to break stubborn resistance and drive the people back to obedience, with the severity rising until they finally heed God's call.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley explains that the pride of your power refers not only to military strength but also to the kingdom and even the ark and sanctuary — everything Israel was proud of. The judgment to make heaven as iron means God will withhold rain so the earth yields no fruit.