Leviticus 20

The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2"Say this also to the people of Israel: any Israelite, or any foreigner living in Israel, who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him with stones.

2Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

Note"Molech" is the name attached to a rite in which children were burned; ancient and modern readers differ over whether it names a god, a title of one, or the offering itself. The "foreigner living in Israel" translates a word for a settled resident outsider rather than a passing traveler; such a person was bound by many of the same laws as Israelites. "The people of the land" is the ordinary local population, acting here as the body that carries out the sentence.

3I will set my face against that man, and I will cut him off from his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, making my sanctuary unclean and treating my holy name as common.

3And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.

Note"Set my face against" is a Hebrew idiom for turning on someone in open hostility. "Cut him off from his people" is a fixed legal formula whose exact force was already disputed in antiquity: it may mean execution, expulsion from the community, or the ending of a person's family line. The "sanctuary" is the tent-shrine at the center of the camp.

4And if the people of the land in any way look the other way when that man gives one of his children to Molech, and they do not put him to death,

4And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:

5then I will set my face against that man and against his family. I will cut him off from among their people, and everyone else who follows him in being unfaithful to me with Molech.

5Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.

NoteThe King James "go a whoring after" reflects a Hebrew idiom: the worship of other gods is regularly described with the vocabulary of sexual unfaithfulness, because the bond between God and Israel is pictured as a marriage.

6And if anyone turns to mediums or to spiritists, being unfaithful to me by following them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from his people.

6And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

NoteThe King James words are "familiar spirits" and "wizards." The first refers to consulting the spirits of the dead; the second is literally "a knowing one," someone credited with knowledge got from spirits. In 1611 "wizard" meant a wise or knowing man, not a magician of the fairy-tale kind.

7So set yourselves apart and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.

7Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.

Note"Set apart" and "holy" render a single Hebrew root whose base sense is separation, removed from ordinary use and reserved for God. It is not in the first place a word about moral character.

8You are to keep my rules and do them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.

8And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.

9Anyone who curses his father or his mother must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is on his own head.

9For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

NoteThe Hebrew verb behind "curses" covers a range from calling down harm on someone to treating them with contempt and publicly repudiating them; it is not limited to bad language. "His blood is on his own head" is a legal formula: the death is the offender's own doing, and no blood-guilt attaches to those who carry out the sentence.

10If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, that is, with the wife of his neighbor, both the man and the woman must be put to death.

10And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

NoteIn this legal system adultery is defined by the woman's marital status, sexual relations with a woman married to another man. Both parties are held liable.

11If a man has sexual relations with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them must be put to death; their blood is on their own heads.

11And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Note"His father's wife" means a stepmother, not the man's own mother, who is covered by a separate rule. "Uncover someone's nakedness" is the standard Hebrew idiom for sexual relations; the phrasing here treats the act as an offense against the father as well as against the woman.

12If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have done a perverse thing; their blood is on their own heads.

12And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.

Note"A perverse thing" (King James "confusion") translates a rare Hebrew word whose sense is mixing together things that belong in separate categories.

13If a man has sexual relations with a man the way he does with a woman, both of them have done a detestable thing. They must be put to death; their blood is on their own heads.

13If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Note"A detestable thing" translates the Hebrew word rendered "abomination" in the King James, a general term for what is regarded as offensive or taboo, used in the law both of ritual violations and of moral ones.

14If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. He and they are to be burned with fire, so that there is no such wickedness among you.

14And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.

NoteThe Hebrew does not make clear whether burning is the means of execution or the disposal of the bodies after death by another means; both readings are old. "Marries both a woman and her mother" describes taking both as wives, which was possible in a society where a man could have more than one wife.

15If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death, and you are to kill the animal too.

15And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.

16If a woman goes up to any animal and lies down with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their blood is on their own heads.

16And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

17If a man takes his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and he sees her nakedness and she sees his, it is a shameful thing. They are to be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness; he must carry the guilt for it.

17And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.

Note"Takes" here means marries. "Sees her nakedness," like "uncovers her nakedness," is an idiom for sexual relations. "In the sight of their people" means publicly, before the community.

18If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly bleeding and uncovers her nakedness, he has uncovered the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them are to be cut off from among their people.

18And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

NoteElsewhere the law treats a woman's monthly bleeding as a state of ritual uncleanness lasting seven days, which passed to anyone and anything she touched; the offense here is knowingly entering that state. "Source" translates a word for a spring or well, applied to the flow of blood.

19You must not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or your father's sister, because that uncovers a close relative. Those who do it must carry the guilt for it.

19And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity.

Note"Close relative" translates a Hebrew word meaning literally "flesh," used of blood relatives within the near family. An aunt on either side is the man's own blood; an uncle's wife, in the next verse, is related only by marriage, hence the different penalties.

20If a man has sexual relations with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness. They will carry their sin; they will die childless.

20And if a man shall lie with his uncle’s wife, he hath uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.

Note"Die childless" translates a Hebrew word meaning stripped or bereft of offspring. It may mean the couple would have no children, or that children of such a union would not be reckoned to them. Note that no court penalty is named here, unlike in the earlier verses.

21If a man takes his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they will be childless.

21And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

Note"An unclean thing" translates the same Hebrew word used for the impurity of a woman's monthly bleeding, here as a strong term for defilement. This rule sits alongside a separate custom, set out elsewhere in the law, requiring a man to marry his dead brother's widow if the brother had left no son.

22So you are to keep all my rules and all my decisions and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live does not vomit you out.

22Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.

Note"Vomit you out" pictures the land itself as a body that grows sick and expels what it cannot hold, the same image used earlier of the peoples who lived there before.

23You must not live by the customs of the nation that I am driving out ahead of you, because they did all these things, and I turned away from them in disgust.

23And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.

Note"The nation that I am driving out" refers to the peoples already living in Canaan, the land Israel is being brought into.

24But I have said to you, You will inherit their land, and I will give it to you to own, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from other peoples.

24But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.

Note"A land flowing with milk and honey" is a stock phrase for rich country: milk from flocks and herds grazing good pasture, and honey either from wild bees or the thick sweet syrup boiled down from dates and grapes.

25So you are to make a difference between clean animals and unclean ones, and between unclean birds and clean ones. Do not make yourselves detestable with any animal or bird or anything that crawls on the ground, which I have set apart from you as unclean.

25Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

Note"Clean" and "unclean" are classifications of which creatures may be eaten and which may not, set out in detail earlier in the book. They concern ritual fitness, not dirt, health, or morality.

26You are to be holy to me, because I the LORD am holy, and I have separated you from other peoples so that you would be mine.

26And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

27A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned with stones; their blood is on their own heads."

27A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

NoteVerse 6 addressed people who consult mediums and spiritists; this verse addresses the practitioners themselves. The King James "wizard" means a knowing one, someone claiming knowledge obtained from spirits.