And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Parallel translations
- WEB I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like brass.
- BSB I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
- NKJV I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
- NASB I will also break down your pride of power; and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze.
- NLT I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God will break Israel's proud strength and make the sky like iron and soil like brass. Pride and drought follow continued rebellion.
Overview
Breaking 'the pride of your power' targets the self-reliance that idolatry breeds. A sky like iron and ground like bronze vividly picture withheld rain and barren land—the reversal of the promised fruitfulness. The judgment exposes the emptiness of trusting in human strength rather than the God who gives the increase.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Deut 28:23And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
- 1 Kgs 17:1And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
- Isa 25:11And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
- Luke 4:25But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
- 1 Sam 4:11And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
- Zeph 3:11In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.
- Jer 13:9Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
- Dan 4:37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
- Jer 14:1–6The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.
- Ezek 30:6Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.
- Isa 26:5For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
- Ezek 7:24Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
- 1 Sam 4:3And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.
- Isa 2:12For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 26:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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