Leviticus 18:2
in Leviticus 18“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am Jehovah your God.
KJV
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God.
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This verse in Leviticus 18
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I am, the Lord your God - The frequent repetition of this formula in these parts of the Law may be intended to keep the Israelites in mind of their covenant with Yahweh in connection with the common affairs of life, in which they might be tempted to look at legal restrictions in a mere secular light.
This site's exposition
Then the LORD said to Moses
on Leviticus 18:1-3
Verse 3 forbids by name the doings of Egypt behind them and Canaan in front of them, before a single rule is given. It calls those nations' practices their ordinances, the same word the book uses for what God appoints.
This site's exposition
I am the LORD your God
Albert Barnes explains why this sentence recurs through the chapter. It keeps the covenant in view in the ordinary affairs of life, where the rules might seem merely civil. John Wesley reads it as God's authority set against the custom of the nations.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Your God - Your sovereign, and lawgiver. This is often repeated because the things here forbidden were practiced and allowed by the gentiles, to whose custom he opposes divine authority and their obligation to obey his commands.
Speak unto the children of Israel,....
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| דַּבֵּר֙ | daber | speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ | veamarta | and you will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲלֵהֶ֑ם | ʾalehem | to them | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֲנִ֖י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | [am] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
דַּבֵּר֙speak
daberH1696 →1141 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וְאָמַרְתָּ֖and you will say
veamartaH559 →5305 times
אֲלֵהֶ֑םto them
ʾalehemH413 →5510 times
אֲנִ֖יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָ֥ה[am] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃God your
ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 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
Leviticus 20:7Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:2
“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 11:44
For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
- Ephesians 1:4
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
- Leviticus 19:2
Through
Leviticus 11:44For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 1:15–16
But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 20:2
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Leviticus 20:7
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
- 1 Peter 1:15–16
Through
Genesis 17:7I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
it leads to
- Romans 9:7–9
Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
- Acts 2:39
This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
- Romans 9:7–9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Leviticus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.