Portion 33 of 54 · Leviticus
בְּחֻקֹּתַי
Bechukotai
Blessing and its opposite, laid out plainly, and then a promise that even ruin is not the end.
Start by reading it
Leviticus 26:3–27:34
2 chapters. About 10 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Jeremiah 16:19–17:14
What happens
- 01
If you walk in my statutes: rain in season, harvests, peace, and God walking among you.
- 02
If you will not: a long, escalating description of what goes wrong.
- 03
And then — even in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away utterly.
- 04
The book closes with the value of vows, and things dedicated to God.
The thing most people walk past
The threats end in a promise
The hardest chapter in Leviticus does not finish with abandonment. 'I will remember my covenant.' Whatever else this book is doing, it refuses to write anybody off permanently.
One verse to carry
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people.
The whole book has been about how a holy God can live near ordinary people. This is the sentence it has been building towards.
A question to sit with
Why does the Bible put its most frightening chapter and its promise of return in the same breath?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.