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Leviticus 20

God commands Israel to belong to him in holiness, attaching severe consequences to practices that defile his people and sanctuary.

YHWH tells Moses to give Israel laws carrying severe penalties, beginning with giving children to Molech and seeking mediums. The commands address worship, family relationships, and sexual conduct, with punishments including death, being cut off, and childlessness. God also warns against concealing child sacrifice. These laws concern Israel’s life in the land God is giving them. The closing commands connect holiness with belonging to God and maintaining the distinctions he has established.

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2“Moreover, you shall tell the children of Israel, ‘Anyone of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone that person with stones.
3I also will set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given of his offspring to Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.
4If the people of the land all hide their eyes from that person when he gives of his offspring to Molech, and don’t put him to death,
5then I will set my face against that man and against his family, and will cut him off, and all who play the prostitute after him to play the prostitute with Molech, from among their people.
6“‘The person that turns to those who are mediums and wizards, to play the prostitute after them, I will even set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people.
7“‘Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God.
8You shall keep my statutes, and do them. I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
9“‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon himself.
10“‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
11“‘The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves.
12“‘If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed a perversion. Their blood shall be upon themselves.
13“‘If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves.
14“‘If a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you.
15“‘If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; and you shall kill the animal.
16“‘If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
17“‘If a man takes his sister—his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter—and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a shameful thing. They shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his iniquity.
18“‘If a man lies with a woman having her monthly period, and uncovers her nakedness, he has made her fountain naked, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
19“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, nor of your father’s sister, for he has made his close relative naked. They shall bear their iniquity.
20If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin. They shall die childless.
21“‘If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.
22“‘You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out.
23You shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
24But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
25“‘You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean. You shall not make yourselves abominable by animal, or by bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have separated from you as unclean for you.
26You shall be holy to me, for I, the LORD, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine.
27“‘A man or a woman that is a medium or is a wizard shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones. Their blood shall be upon themselves.’”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Leviticus 20:7This command grounds Israel’s holiness in their relationship with YHWH, who also declares that he sanctifies them.
Leviticus 20:10The adultery law assigns the same death penalty to both participants, placing marital faithfulness within Israel’s covenant obligations.
Leviticus 20:13This verse prohibits intercourse between males and assigns death within Israel’s covenant law, alongside other penalties for forbidden sexual acts.
Where this chapter reaches

Exodus and Deuteronomy share commands against corrupt worship and dishonoring parents, while Ezekiel shares the condemnation of child sacrifice as defilement of God’s sanctuary. 1 Peter shares the call to holiness grounded in God’s own holiness and the identity of a people belonging to him.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does God’s warning against hiding child sacrifice show about the community’s responsibility?

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How do the commands to be holy relate to God’s declaration that he sanctifies Israel?

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Questions people ask about Leviticus 20

Why does Leviticus 20 prescribe the death penalty?

These penalties belong to the covenant law God gave Israel for its communal life. The chapter connects the offenses with defiling God’s sanctuary, profaning his name, and following practices for which other nations face judgment. It distinguishes punishments carried out by the people from consequences God himself will impose.

What does Leviticus 20:13 mean?

Verse 13 prohibits sexual intercourse between males and assigns death as its penalty within Israel’s covenant law. Its wording does not limit the prohibition to prostitution or abuse. The verse addresses an act; it does not discuss modern categories of sexual orientation. It gives readers no authority to harm anyone.

What does being cut off mean in Leviticus 20?

Being cut off means losing one’s place among God’s people under judgment. The chapter sometimes names God as the one who acts, while elsewhere it leaves the means unstated. Whether a particular occurrence means exclusion, death through divine judgment, or another form of removal is not always specified.

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Leviticus · 27 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).