Leviticus 20: The penalties, and a people set apart

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "Tell the Israelites also, 'Anyone of the Israelites, or of the foreigners living in Israel, who gives any of his children to Molech is surely to be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him with stones.

Good to know: On Molech, see the note on Leviticus 18:21. Chapter 18 gave the rule, and this chapter gives the penalty.

In plain English: I myself will set my face against that man and cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, making my sanctuary unclean and profaning my holy name.

In plain English: If the people of the land look the other way (literally: hide their eyes) when that man gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,

In plain English: then I myself will set my face against that man and his family. I will cut him off from among their people, him and all who follow him in chasing after Molech like a prostitute.

In plain English: The person who turns to mediums and to those who call up spirits, chasing after them like a prostitute: I will set my face against that person and cut him off from among his people.

In plain English: So make yourselves holy, and be holy, because I am Yahweh your God.

In plain English: You are to keep my rules and do them. I am Yahweh, who makes you holy.

In plain English: Anyone who curses his father or his mother is surely to be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood will be on himself.

The Hebrew words: "His blood shall be upon himself" is literally "his blood is on him". The phrase comes again in verses 11, 12, 13, 16 and 27. Readers take it to mean that the guilt for his death is his own.

Good to know: Exodus 21:17 gives the same law. In Matthew 15:4 Jesus quotes it.

In plain English: If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, with his neighbor's wife, both the man and the woman who commit adultery are surely to be put to death.

In plain English: If a man has sexual relations with his father's wife, he has dishonored his father (literally: uncovered his father's nakedness). Both of them are surely to be put to death. Their blood will be on themselves.

In plain English: If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them are surely to be put to death. They have done a perversion (literally: a mixing). Their blood will be on themselves.

In plain English: If a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable (or: an abomination). They are surely to be put to death. Their blood will be on themselves.

The Hebrew words: This verse uses the same Hebrew words as Leviticus 18:22: "a male" (zakar), "the lyings of a woman" (mishkevei ishah) and to'evah, which this Bible gives here as "abomination". It adds "both of them" and the death penalty. See the note on 18:22.

Church tradition: As with 18:22, Jewish and Christian traditions have read this verse in different ways, and readers today disagree on what it covers and how it applies. Leviticus 20 gives the rule and the penalty in the words above.

In plain English: If a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness. He and they are to be burned with fire, so that there is no wickedness among you.

In plain English: If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is surely to be put to death, and you are to kill the animal.

In plain English: If a woman goes near any animal to mate with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They are surely to be put to death. Their blood will be on them.

In plain English: If a man takes his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and they see each other naked, it is a disgrace. They are to be cut off in the sight of their people. He has had sexual relations with his sister, and he will carry his guilt.

The Hebrew word: "A shameful thing" is chesed. Elsewhere this word usually means kindness. The dictionary gives it as "kindness", and "rarely (by opposition) reproof".

How it is translated: This Bible says "kindness" in 200 of the 241 verses that use the word. Only here does it say "shameful".

In plain English: If a man lies with a woman during her monthly period and has sexual relations with her, he has laid bare 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.

In plain English: You are not to have sexual relations with your mother's sister or your father's sister, because that is laying bare a close relative. They will carry their guilt.

In plain English: If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has dishonored his uncle (literally: uncovered his uncle's nakedness). They will carry their sin. They will die childless.

In plain English: If a man takes his brother's wife, it is an impurity. He has dishonored his brother (literally: uncovered his brother's nakedness). They will be childless.

The Hebrew word: "An impurity" is niddah, the same word used for a woman's monthly period in Leviticus 18:19 and 15:19.

Good to know: On the brother's wife, see the note on Leviticus 18:16.

In plain English: So you are to keep all my rules and all my rulings, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live does not vomit you out.

In plain English: You are not to live by the customs of the nation I am driving out before you, because they did all these things, and so I came to hate them.

In plain English: But I have said to you, "You will take their land as your own, and I will give it to you to own, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am Yahweh your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.

In plain English: So you are to make a difference between clean and unclean animals, and between unclean and clean birds. You are not to make yourselves detestable by any animal or bird, or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have set apart from you as unclean.

Good to know: The list of clean and unclean animals is in Leviticus 11.

In plain English: You are to be holy to me, because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have set you apart from the peoples to be mine.

In plain English: A man or a woman who is a medium or who calls up spirits is surely to be put to death. They are to be stoned with stones. Their blood will be on themselves.'"

Good to know: On mediums and those who call up spirits, see the note on Leviticus 19:31.