Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 26:16

"I also will do this unto you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it." — Leviticus 26:16 (ASV)

I also will do this unto you. —That is, He will do the same to them; He will repay them in the same way, and abhor them.

I will even appoint over you terror. —Better, and I will appoint, etc.; that is, God will visit them with terrible things, consisting of consumption and burning fever. These two diseases also occur together in Deuteronomy 28:22, the only other passage in the Bible where they are found.

The second of these, however, which is translated “burning ague” in the Authorized Version in this Leviticus passage, is rendered simply as “fever” in the Deuteronomy passage. The two passages should be rendered uniformly.

That shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart. —Better, that shall extinguish the eyes, and cause life to waste away. The rendering of the Authorized Version, “consume the eyes,” though giving the sense, is misleading, since it suggests that the verb “consume” is the same as the disease, “consumption,” mentioned in the preceding clause. For the phrase “extinguish the eye”—meaning the eye failing—see Job 11:20, Job 17:5, Job 31:16, and other similar passages; and for the whole phrase, compare Deuteronomy 28:65 and 1 Samuel 2:23.

And ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. —Besides these terrible diseases, the produce of the soil will be carried off by strangers. This produce is necessary for the sustenance of life and is meant to be abundant and secure from enemies when the Israelites obey the Divine commandments .

Similar threats in case of disobedience are found both in the Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 28:33, 51) and in the prophets (Jeremiah 5:17). The most striking parallel is the one in Micah: Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil (Micah 6:15). For the reverse state of things, see Isaiah 62:8 and Isaiah 65:22-23.