x4 Y 1-6. Molech and witchcraft.
Z 7. Sanctification.
A 8. Charge as to obedience.
B 9. Death penalty: criminal connections.
B 10-21. Death penalty: criminal connections.
A 22-25. Charge as to obedience.
Z 26. Sanctification.
Y 27. Witchcraft.
1490 B.C.
Leviticus 20)
1 And the LORD (Yahaveh) spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Again (see Lev. 18:21. This is so serious that it must be repeated. There, only a command; here, the penalty), you shall say to the children of Israel, 'Whosoever he be of the sons of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that gives any of his seed to Molech (the king-idol. See 18:21, where this law follows that on incest; while here it precedes it); he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
3 And I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he has given of his seed to Molech, to defile My sanctuary, and to profane My holy (= set apart, see Ex. 3:5) name.
4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from that man, when he gives of his seed to Molech, and kill him not:
5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family (cp. Ezek. 18:2, and note the contrast. Jer. 31:29), and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their People.
6 And the soul that turns after such as have familiar spirits (see 19:31), and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set My face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his People.
7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be you holy: for I am the LORD your God (Elohim).
8 And you shall keep My statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you. (Yahaveh Mekadishkem, one of the Yahaveh titles.)
9 For every one that curses his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood (blood put for guilt, and guilt put for penalty) shall be upon him.
10 And the man that commits adultery with another man's wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
11 And the man that lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness (having sex, not "looking at" his naked body as some believe in Genesis with Ham. See 18:8): both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.
13 If a man also lie with mankind (a male. See 18:22), as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
14 And if a man take a wife and her mother (see 18:17), it is a disgraceful thing (or reproachable. See Prov. 14:34): they shall be burnt up with fire (i.e. in judgment), both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
15 And if a man lie with a beast (see 18:23), he shall surely be put to death: and you shall slay the beast.
16 And if a woman approach to any beast, and lie down thereto, you shall kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
17 And if a man shall take his sister (see 18:9), his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness (see v.11, figure of speech for sleeping [having sex] with); it is a disgraceful thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people (a special penalty is attached to this disgraceful thing): he has uncovered his sister's nakedness (i.e. had sex with her); he shall bear his perverseness.
18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness (see 15:24; 18:19), and shall uncover her nakedness; he has discovered her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
19 And you shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, nor of your father's sister: for he uncovers his near kin: they shall bear their perverseness.
20 And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their penalty; they shall die childless.
21 And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.
22 You shall therefore keep all My statutes, and all My judgments, and do them: that the land, where I bring you to dwell therein, spue (cp. 18:28, where it is rendered "vomit") you not out.
23 And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nations (it was this that brought down the judgment of extermination. No other remedy would do. These nations were descended from the nephinim, who like those whose were destroyed in the Flood were "after that" [Gen. 6:4] to be destroyed by the sword of Israel), which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
24 But I have said to you, You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land that flows with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.
25 You shall therefore put separation between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and you shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
26 And you shall be holy unto Me: for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine.
27 A man also or woman that has a familiar spirit (see 19:31), or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.' "