Leviticus 18:30
in Leviticus 18You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore shall ye keep my charge, that ye practise not any of these abominable customs, which were practised before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am Jehovah your God.
KJV
Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.
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This verse in Leviticus 18
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
anyone who commits any of these abominations
on Leviticus 18:29-30
The penalty is to be cut off from among his people. The Mishnah, compiled about 200 AD, opens tractate Kerithot by counting thirty-six transgressions with this penalty, most of them from this chapter.
This site's exposition
You must keep My charge
Matthew Henry reads the charge as a guard. Admitting one sinful custom, he warns, opens the way to many, so steady keeping of God's ordinances is the best protection. Adam Clarke says one who goes no farther than what is written is unlikely to take up a false creed.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance,....
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 of pernicious consequence to admit and allow of any one sinful custom, because one will make way for many, Uno absurdo dato, mille sequuntur--Admit but a single absurdity, you invite a thousand. The way of sin is downhill. A close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from the infection of gross sin.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Shall ye keep mine ordinance - The only way to be preserved from all false worship is seriously to consider and devoutly to observe the ordinances of the true religion. He who in the things of God goes no farther than he can say, Thus it is written, and thus it behoves me to do, is never likely to receive a false creed, nor perform a superstitious act of worship. 1. How true is that word, The law of the Lord is Perfect!
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֣ם | ushemartem | and you will keep | H8104 → | 468 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִשְׁמַרְתִּ֗י | mishmarti | duty my | H4931 → | 78 times |
| לְבִלְתִּ֨י | levilti | to not | H1115 → | 112 times |
| עֲשׂ֜וֹת | asot | to do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| מֵחֻקּ֤וֹת | mechukot | any of [the] customs of | H2708 → | 104 times |
| הַתּֽוֹעֵבֹת֙ | hatoevot | the abominations | H8441 → | 117 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| נַעֲשׂ֣וּ | naasu | they have been done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם | lifneikhem | <to> before you | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִֽטַּמְּא֖וּ | titameu | you will make yourselves unclean | H2930 → | 162 times |
| בָּהֶ֑ם | bahem | by <the> them | ||
| אֲנִ֖י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | [am] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ פ | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֣םand you will keep
ushemartemH8104 →468 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִשְׁמַרְתִּ֗יduty my
mishmartiH4931 →78 times
לְבִלְתִּ֨יto not
leviltiH1115 →112 times
עֲשׂ֜וֹתto do
asotH6213 →2628 times
מֵחֻקּ֤וֹתany of [the] customs of
mechukotH2708 →104 times
הַתּֽוֹעֵבֹת֙the abominations
hatoevotH8441 →117 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
נַעֲשׂ֣וּthey have been done
naasuH6213 →2628 times
לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם<to> before you
lifneikhemH6440 →2123 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
תִֽטַּמְּא֖וּyou will make yourselves unclean
titameuH2930 →162 times
בָּהֶ֑םby <the> them
bahem
אֲנִ֖יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָ֥ה[am] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ פGod 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 20:23You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
it leads to
- Leviticus 18:24
Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves.
- Deuteronomy 9:5
It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving…
- Leviticus 18:3
You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you.…
- Deuteronomy 12:30–31
be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
- Leviticus 18:27
For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled.
- Leviticus 18:24
Through
Leviticus 22:9The priests must keep My charge, lest they bear the guilt and die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
it leads to
- Exodus 28:43
Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. This…
- Numbers 18:22
No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.
- Numbers 18:32
Once you have presented the best part of it, you will not incur guilt because of it. But you must not defile the sacred offerings of the Israelites, or else you will die.’”
- Exodus 28:43
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.