Leviticus 20

Leviticus 20

Leviticus 20:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 20:2 “Say to the people of Israel, any one of the people of Israel or of the foreign guests who are temporary residents in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molech will surely be put to death. The people of the land will stone him with stones.

Leviticus 20:3 I myself will set my face against that man and will eliminate him from among his people, because he has sacrificed one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary contaminated and to profane my sacred name.

Leviticus 20:4 And if the people of the land do in any way close their eyes to that man when he sacrifices one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,

Leviticus 20:5 then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will eliminate them from among their people, him and all who follow him in lusting after Molech.

Leviticus 20:6 “If a throat turns to mediums and necromancers, lusting after them, I will set my face against that throat and will eliminate him from among his people.

Leviticus 20:7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be sacred, because I am Yahveh your God.

Leviticus 20:8 Keep my prescriptions and do them; I am Yahveh who sanctifies you.

Leviticus 20:9 Because anyone who curses his father or his mother will surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

Leviticus 20:10 “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress will surely be put to death.

Leviticus 20:11 If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them will surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Leviticus 20:12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them will surely be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they will surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Leviticus 20:14 If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is an immoral act; he and they will be burned with fire, that there may be no immorality among you.

Leviticus 20:15 If a man lies with an animal, he will surely be put to death, and you will kill the animal.

Leviticus 20:16 If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you will kill the woman and the animal; they will surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Leviticus 20:17 “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they will be eliminated in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he will be responsible for his violation.

Leviticus 20:18 If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them will be eliminated from among their people.

Leviticus 20:19 You will not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, because that is to make naked one’s relative; they will be responsible for their violation.

Leviticus 20:20 If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they will be responsible for their failure; they will die destitute.

Leviticus 20:21 If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they will be destitute.

Leviticus 20:22 “You will therefore keep all my prescriptions and all my judgments and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to stay may not vomit you out.

Leviticus 20:23 And you will not walk in the prescriptions of the nation that I am driving out from your face, because they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

Leviticus 20:24 But I have said to you, ‘You will inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am Yahveh your God, who has divided you from the peoples.

Leviticus 20:25 You will therefore separate the pure animal from the contaminated, and the contaminated bird from the pure. You will not make your throats taboo by animal or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have divided for you to consider contaminated.

Leviticus 20:26 You will be sacred to me, because I Yahveh am sacred and have divided you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

Leviticus 20:27 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer will surely be put to death. They will be stoned with stones; their blood will be upon them.”

Leviticus 20 quotes:

“In the Bible’s warnings about the wrong use of sexual desire (outside of marriage), it speaks of sexual intercourse as though it were “uncovering the nakedness” of a person (cf Leviticus 18). Leviticus 20:11, in dealing with incest, says, “The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death.” The words “imcover the nakedness” are not simply references to nudity, but are primarily statements dealing with sexual intercourse outside of Imarriage.”

Hocking, D. L. (1990). The moral catastrophe. Harvest House Publishers. p. 119.

“Having sexual relations with an animal (bestiality) is a sin condemned in strong language here and in other places in Scripture. One of the laws given by God shortly after the giving of the Ten Commandments said, “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death” (Exodus 22:19). The same penalty is demanded in Leviticus 20:15,16. Later after the Israelites had settled in the land of Canaan one of the curses to be spoken by the people assembled on Mount Ebal was “Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal” (Deuteronomy 27:21).”

Lenz, Mark J. Leviticus. Northwestern Pub. House, 1988. p. 164.

“In Leviticus 19, the Ten Commandments are applied to various areas of life; in Leviticus 20, the penalties are stated that must be imposed on those who disobey His commandments. God expected His people to take His law seriously and to apply the penalties obediently and without favoritism.”

Wiersbe, Warren W. Leviticus : Becoming “Set Apart” for God. First edition, David C Cook, 2015. p. 81.