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.
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Leviticus 20: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Leviticus 20
20
Molech Worship and Spiritism
1Then#Or “And” Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2“And to the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” you shall say, ‘If there is anyone#Literally “a man a man” from the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” or#Or “and” from the alien who is dwelling in Israel, who gives any of#Literally “from” his offspring to Molech, he must surely be put to death; the people of the land must stone him with stones.#Hebrew “the stone” 3And I myself will set my face against that man, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given some of#Literally “from” his offspring to Molech, so that he makes my sanctuary unclean#Literally “to make unclean my sanctuary” and profanes#Hebrew “to profane” my holy name.#Literally “the name of my holiness” 4And if the people of the land ever shut their eyes from#Or “disregard” that man at his giving some of#Literally “from” his offspring to Molech, not putting him to death, 5then#Or “and” I myself will set my face against that man and against his clan, and I will cut him off and all those from the midst of their people who prostitute after Molech. 6As for#Or “And” the person who turns to the mediums and the soothsayers to prostitute after them, I will set#Hebrew “and I will set” my face against that person, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people.
7“ ‘And you shall consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy, because I am Yahweh your God. 8And you shall keep my statutes, and you shall do them; I am Yahweh who consecrates you.
Family and Sexual Offenses
9“ ‘If there is anyone#Literally “a man a man” who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father and his mother—his blood is upon him.
10“ ‘As for#Or “And” a man who commits adultery with a man’s wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death. 11As for#Or “And” a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death—their blood is on them. 12As for#Or “And” a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed a perversion—their blood is on them.
13“ ‘As for#Or “And” the man who lies with a male as lying with a woman, they have committed a detestable thing; they shall surely be put to death—their blood is on them.
14“ ‘As for#Or “And” a man who marries a woman and her mother, that is depravity; they shall burn him and them, so that it shall not become depravity in the midst of you all.
15“ ‘As for#Or “And” a man who has sexual relations#Literally “he gives his lying down” with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 16As for#Or “And” a woman who approaches any animal to copulate with it, you shall kill#Or “and you shall kill” the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death—their blood is on them.
17“ ‘As for#Or “And” a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and he sees her nakedness and she herself sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off before#Literally “in” the eyes of their people;#Literally “the sons/children of their people” he has exposed his sister’s nakedness—he must bear his guilt. 18As for#Or “And” a man who lies with a menstruating woman, he exposes#Or “and he exposes” her nakedness—her source he exposes and she herself reveals her blood’s source—both of them shall be cut off from the midst of their people. 19And you shall not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister, and you shall not expose your father’s sister, because such a person#Hebrew “he” has dishonored his close relative—they must bear their guilt. 20As for#Or “And” a man who lies with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness—they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21As for#Or “And” a man who marries his brother’s wife, it is an abomination; he has exposed his brother’s nakedness—they shall be childless.
You Shall Be Holy
22“ ‘And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations, and you shall do them, so that#Or “and” the land, to which I am bringing you to inhabit it, shall not vomit you out. 23And you shall not follow the statutes of the nation that I am driving out from before you,#Literally “from your faces” because they did all these things, and I detested them. 24So#Or “And” I said to you, “You yourselves shall take possession of their land, and I myself shall give it to you to possess it—a land flowing with milk and honey”; I am Yahweh your God, who has set you apart#Literally “I have set you apart” from the nations. 25And you shall distinguish between the clean and the unclean animal and between the unclean and the clean bird; and you shall not defile yourselves with the animal or#Or “and” with the bird or#Or “and” with anything that moves along the ground that I have set apart for you as unclean.#Literally “to make unclean” 26And you shall be holy for me, because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have singled you out from the nations to be mine.
27“ ‘And a man or a woman, if a spirit of the dead or a spirit of divination is in them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones#Hebrew “the stone”—their blood is on them.’ ”
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