Leviticus 20
20
Penalties for Various Sins. 1#The term Molech may refer to a deity, perhaps with an underworld association, and the activity forbidden here may be connected with divination. Cf. Dt 18:10; 2 Kgs 17:17; 21:6. In the kingdom of Judah the cult appears to have been practiced in the Valley of Hinnom, just outside Jerusalem on the west and south (2 Kgs 23:10; Jer 32:35). The Lord said to Moses: 2Tell the Israelites: Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives offspring to Molech shall be put to death.#Lv 18:21; Dt 12:31; 18:10; 2 Kgs 16:3; 17:17; 21:6; 23:10; Jer 32:35. The people of the land shall stone that person. 3#Ez 23:39. I myself will turn against and cut off#Lv 7:20. that individual from among the people; for in the giving of offspring to Molech, my sanctuary was defiled#Lv 15:31. and my holy name was profaned. 4If the people of the land condone the giving of offspring to Molech, by failing to put the wrongdoer to death, 5I myself will turn against that individual and his or her family, and I will cut off from their people both the wrongdoer and all who follow this person by prostituting themselves with Molech.
6Should anyone turn to ghosts and spirits and prostitute oneself with them,#Lv 19:31. I will turn against that person and cut such a one off from among the people. 7Sanctify yourselves, then, and be holy; for I, the Lord, your God,#Lv 11:44. am holy. 8Be careful, therefore, to observe my statutes. I, the Lord, make you holy.
9Anyone who curses father or mother shall be put to death;#Curses father or mother…put to death: this is more than a simple expletive uttered in anger against one’s parents. See note on Ex 21:17. #Lv 19:3; Ex 21:17; Dt 21:18–21; Prv 20:20; Mt 15:4; Mk 7:10. and having cursed father or mother, such a one will bear the bloodguilt.#Bloodguilt: these penalties, beginning with cursing one’s parents, reflect the concerns of a patriarchal society that the breakdown of one’s relations with one’s parents can lead to the breakdown of all other familial relationships, resulting in the breakdown of society. 10#See 18:6–23 and notes there. It appears that the inclusion of various penalties in 20:10–21 accounts for the different order of the cases here compared to the order found in 18:6–23. The reason why the offenses in 20:10–21 carry different penalties, however, is not clear. Perhaps the cases in vv. 17–21 were considered slightly less serious, being condemned but not criminally prosecuted. If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife,#Lv 18:20. both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. 11If a man disgraces his father by lying with his father’s wife,#Lv 18:8. the two of them shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them. 12If a man lies with his daughter-in-law,#Lv 18:15. both of them shall be put to death; they have done what is perverse; their bloodguilt is upon them. 13If a man lies with a male as with a woman,#Lv 18:22. they have committed an abomination; the two of them shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them. 14If a man marries a woman and her mother also,#Lv 18:17. that is shameful conduct; the man and the two women as well shall be burned to death, so that shamefulness may not be found among you. 15If a man has sexual relations with an animal,#Lv 18:23. the man shall be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16If a woman goes up to any animal to mate with it,#Lv 18:23. you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall both be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them. 17If a man marries his sister,#Lv 18:9. his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have intercourse with each other, that is disgraceful; they shall be publicly cut off#Cut off: see note on 7:20. from the people; the man shall bear the penalty of having had intercourse with his own sister. 18If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and has intercourse with her, he has laid bare the source of her flow and she has uncovered it.#Lv 18:19. The two of them shall be cut off from the people. 19You shall not have intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister,#Lv 18:12–13. because that dishonors one’s own flesh; they shall bear their penalty. 20If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he disgraces his uncle;#Lv 18:14. they shall bear the penalty; they shall die childless. 21If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is severe defilement and he has disgraced his brother;#Lv 18:16. they shall be childless.
22Be careful to observe all my statutes and all my decrees; otherwise the land where I am bringing you to dwell will vomit you out.#Lv 18:25, 28. 23Do not conform, therefore, to the customs of the nations#Lv 18:30. whom I am driving out of your way, because all these things that they have done have filled me with disgust for them. 24But to you I have said:#Ex 3:8, 17. You shall take possession of their land. I am giving it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I, the Lord, am your God, who have set you apart from other peoples. 25#Lv 11:2–47; Dt 14:4–20. You, too, must set apart, then, the clean animals from the unclean, and the clean birds from the unclean, so that you do not make yourselves detestable through any beast or bird or any creature which creeps on the ground that I have set apart for you as unclean. 26To me, therefore, you shall be holy; for I, the Lord, am holy,#Lv 11:44. and I have set you apart from other peoples to be my own.
27A man or a woman who acts as a medium or clairvoyant#Lv 19:31; Ex 22:17; Dt 18:11. shall be put to death. They shall be stoned to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.
Currently Selected:
Leviticus 20: NABRE
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Leviticus 20
20
Punishment for Child Sacrifice
1The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Say to the people of Israel, #See ch. 18:21Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3#See ch. 17:10 I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary #ch. 19:30; Ezek. 5:11; 23:38, 39 unclean and #See ch. 18:21to profane my holy name. 4And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not #Deut. 17:2, 3, 5put him to death, 5then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in #See Ex. 34:15whoring after Molech.
6“If #See ch. 19:31 a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, #See ch. 17:10I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. 7#See ch. 11:44Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8#See ch. 18:4 Keep my statutes and do them; #ch. 21:8, 15, 23; 22:32; Ex. 31:13; Ezek. 37:28I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 9For #See Ex. 21:17 anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; #ver. 11, 12, 13, 16, 27; [2 Sam. 1:16; 1 Kgs. 2:32, 33, 37]his blood is upon him.
Punishments for Sexual Immorality
10“If a #ch. 18:20; Deut. 22:22; John 8:4, 5man commits adultery with the wife of#20:10 Hebrew repeats if a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11#See ch. 18:8If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12#ch. 18:15 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed #ch. 18:23perversion; their blood is upon them. 13#See ch. 18:22If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14#ch. 18:17; Deut. 27:23If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. 15#ch. 18:23; Ex. 22:19; Deut. 27:21If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16#[See ver. 15 above]If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
17 # ch. 18:9; Deut. 27:22 “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18#ch. 18:19; [ch. 15:24]If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19#ch. 18:12, 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked #ch. 18:6one’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20#ch. 18:14If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21#ch. 18:16If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity.#20:21 Literally menstrual impurity He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.
You Shall Be Holy
22 # See ch. 18:4 “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not #ch. 18:25, 28vomit you out. 23#ch. 18:3, 24, 30; Deut. 9:5And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24But #Ex. 3:17; 6:8 I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land #See Ex. 3:8 flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, #Ex. 33:16; 1 Kgs. 8:53; [Ex. 19:5; Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 1 Kgs. 8:53]who has separated you from the peoples. 25#See ch. 11:2-47; Deut. 14:4-20You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26#Ex. 19:6 You shall be holy to me, #ver. 7; See ch. 11:44for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
27 # See ch. 19:31 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be #ver. 2 stoned with stones; #ver. 9their blood shall be upon them.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Sign up to receive news and updates about the ESV: