Leviticus 26:40

Hebrew Bible

38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you. 39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ iniquities which are with them. 40 However, when they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquities which they committed by trespassing against me, by which they also walked in hostility against me 41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for their iniquities, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

Psalm 106:6

Hebrew Bible

4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people. Pay attention to me, when you deliver, 5 so I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, rejoice along with your nation, and boast along with the people who belong to you. 6 We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong, we have done evil. 7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds. They failed to remember your many acts of loyal love, and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea. 8 Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation that he might reveal his power.

 Notes and References

"... Leviticus 26:40-45: Herewith H sets a precedent for all subsequent confessions: “We have sinned with [not “like”] our ancestors” (Psalm 106:6); “... for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a mockery among all who are around us” (Daniel 9:16); as well as the verse from Qumran literature (CD 20:28-29). This view, an offshoot of the doctrine of collective responsibility - a cardinal plank in the structure of priestly theology - is vehemently rejected by Jeremiah for the future (Jeremiah 31:29) and by Ezekiel for the present (Ezekiel 18, especially verses 2-3, 30-33). Thus, Ezekiel, following the lead of Jeremiah, doffs once more his priestly vestments to drape himself in the prophetic mantle of repentance, which denies both sacrifices and collective responsibility as requisites for divine expiation ..."

Milgrom, Jacob Leviticus 23-27: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (pp. 2330-2331) Doubleday, 2001

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