Leviticus 18:25
in Leviticus 18Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land vomiteth out her inhabitants.
KJV
And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
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This verse in Leviticus 18
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants - This is a very nervous prosopopoeia or personification; a figure by which any part of inanimate nature may be represented as possessing the passions and reason of man. Here the land is represented as an intelligent being, with a deep and refined sense of moral good and evil: information concerning the abominations of the people is brought to this personified land, with which it is so deeply affected that a nausea is produced, and it vomits out its abominable and accursed inhabitants.
This site's exposition
Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things
on Leviticus 18:24-25
The ground of the conquest is stated here, and it is the conduct of the nations rather than the merit of Israel. Genesis 15:16 had held Abraham's descendants back four hundred years on the reckoning that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full, and Deuteronomy 9:5 says plainly that Israel enters for the wickedness of those nations. Adam Clarke calls verse 25 a personification, the land given a sense of moral good and evil so sharp that it sickens and throws its people up. The verse says the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants, which puts the eviction on the ground's own reaction to what was done on it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
When we observe how ill sin looks in others we should use this as an argument with ourselves with the utmost care and caution to preserve our purity. For these and the like sins the Canaanites were to be destroyed; these filled the measure of the Amorites' iniquity ( Gen. xv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And the land is defiled,....
Note, The tremendous judgments of God, executed on those that are daringly profane and atheistical, are intended as warnings to those who profess religion to take heed of every thing that has the least appearance of, or tendency towards, profaneness or atheism. Even the ruin of the Canaanites is an admonition to the Israelites not to do like them.
5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the L ORD . After divers ceremonial institutions, God here returns to the enforcement of moral precepts. The former are still of use to us as types, the latter still binding as laws.
It is also rendered unwholesome to the inhabitants, who are hereby infected with sin and exposed to plagues and it is really nauseous and loathsome to all good men in it, as the wickedness of Sodom was to the soul of righteous Lot.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it; and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants--The Canaanites, as enormous and incorrigible sinners, were to be exterminated; and this extermination was manifestly a judicial punishment inflicted by a ruler whose laws had been grossly and perseveringly outraged.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתִּטְמָ֣א | vatitma' | and it became unclean | H2930 → | 162 times |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וָאֶפְקֹ֥ד | vaefkod | and I visited | H6485 → | 303 times |
| עֲוֹנָ֖הּ | ʾavonah | iniquity its | H5771 → | 233 times |
| עָלֶ֑יהָ | ʾaleiha | on it | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| וַתָּקִ֥א | vataki' | and it vomited up | H6958 → | 8 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יֹשְׁבֶֽיהָ׃ | yosheveiha | inhabitants its | H3427 → | 1079 times |
וַתִּטְמָ֣אand it became unclean
vatitma'H2930 →162 times
הָאָ֔רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
וָאֶפְקֹ֥דand I visited
vaefkodH6485 →303 times
עֲוֹנָ֖הּiniquity its
ʾavonahH5771 →233 times
עָלֶ֑יהָon it
ʾaleihaH5921 →5755 times
וַתָּקִ֥אand it vomited up
vataki'H6958 →8 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יֹשְׁבֶֽיהָ׃inhabitants its
yosheveihaH3427 →1079 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 2:7I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land, and made My inheritance detestable.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 8:7–9
For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;
- Jeremiah 16:18
And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”
- Numbers 13:27
And they gave this account to Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit!
- Deuteronomy 8:7–9
Through
Leviticus 18:28So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 36:17
“Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. Their behavior before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman’s impurity.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 20:22
You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
- Ezekiel 36:17
Through
Psalms 106:38They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.
it leads to
- Numbers 35:33
Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the…
- Numbers 35:33
Through
Jeremiah 9:9Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 5:9
Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
- Jeremiah 5:29
Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
- Jeremiah 5:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.