The big picture
Earlier commands named acts Israel must refuse. God now tells Moses, the people's leader, the penalties attached to several of them. Israel, the people set apart for God, must not hide child sacrifice, banned sexual acts, or practices that seek spirits. Some offences bring death; others bring removal or loss of descendants. The warnings also concern the land ahead, where the people must not repeat the conduct of those being driven out.
In this chapter
- The Community Must Not Hide Child Sacrifice Leviticus 20:1-8
Anyone giving a child to Molech, the god connected with child sacrifice, must be stoned to death by the people.
- Several Offences Carry the Death Penalty Leviticus 20:9-16
The law orders death for cursing one's parents, adultery, and specified sexual acts within the family.
- Other Acts Bring Exclusion or Childlessness Leviticus 20:17-21
Sex with a sister or half-sister brings public removal and guilt.
- The Land Is Not an Exemption Leviticus 20:22-27
God warns the people to obey so the land does not expel them.
Central truth
Severe penalties make clear that Israel must confront banned practices and cannot keep the land while copying its predecessors.
Scripture beside the summary
Leviticus · King James Version · 27Leviticus 20:1-8
The Community Must Not Hide Child Sacrifice
Anyone giving a child to Molech, the god connected with child sacrifice, must be stoned to death by the people. This applies to foreigners as well as native Israelites. God says the act defiles his holy place and dishonours his name. If the people looks away, he will oppose the offender and those who follow the practice. He also condemns seeking spirits and wizards. The people must keep his commands, because he is the God who sets them apart.
In everyday life
A child-protection officer brings a serious concern to a club committee, and one member asks to leave it out of the minutes. Another insists that the report be recorded and addressed. Silence would protect the adults avoiding duty. Israel's law concerns child sacrifice and divine judgment, not a club's reporting procedure.
Notice
Leviticus 20:4 God addresses the people who knowingly look away. Responsibility is not confined to the person committing the act while the surrounding people claims innocence.
Leviticus 20:1-8
King James Version1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
3And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.
4And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:
5Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.
6And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, 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.
7Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
8And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.
Leviticus 20:9-16
Several Offences Carry the Death Penalty
The law orders death for cursing one's parents, adultery, and specified sexual acts within the family. It also orders death for sex between males and for sexual acts with animals. Taking a woman and her mother brings burning for those involved. The penalties are severe and are stated as public law for this people. The repeated words about blood place duty on the offenders. The book does not offer these rules as a private right to punish a disliked neighbour.
In everyday life
A law student sits with an old penal code and slowly copies its list of capital offences. She marks where the punishments exceed anything she expected, refusing to replace the wording with vague language. Reading requires facing its severity. The biblical commands claim God's authority, not merely the authority of an old court.
Notice
Leviticus 20:10 Both partners in adultery receive the stated death penalty. The verse assigns duty to the married woman and her partner, rather than naming only one.
Leviticus 20:9-16
King James Version9For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
10And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
11And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
12And 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.
13If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
14And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
15And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.
16And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Leviticus 20:17-21
Other Acts Bring Exclusion or Childlessness
Sex with a sister or half-sister brings public removal and guilt. Intercourse during menstrual bleeding also brings removal for both partners. Relations with an aunt are banned, and taking an uncle's wife or a brother's wife carries a warning of childlessness. These penalties differ from the death sentences listed earlier, though the acts remain condemned. The law addresses specific family ties and bodily conditions rather than leaving people to decide that consent alone makes every relationship permitted.
In everyday life
A family counsellor pauses a meeting when relatives insist that agreement between two adults settles every obligation. She points to the existing relationships and people affected outside the room. A private decision can have wider consequences. The counsellor cannot impose the removal from the community or childlessness named in these laws.
Notice
Leviticus 20:21 Childlessness is named as the consequence in this case. The chapter does not assign one identical penalty to every banned relationship it lists.
Leviticus 20:17-21
King James Version17And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
18And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
19And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity.
20And if a man shall lie with his uncle’s wife, he hath uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.
21And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.
Leviticus 20:22-27
The Land Is Not an Exemption
God warns the people to obey so the land does not expel them. He is driving out nations whose conduct he rejects and giving Israel a fruitful place to live. That gift calls for a distinct way of life, including the rules about clean and unclean animals. They belong to him because he has set them apart. The chapter closes by requiring death by stoning for people who practise as spirit mediums or wizards. Sacred belonging carries serious obligations.
In everyday life
A land-trust member accepts a plot with clear conditions for its care and reads them aloud before taking possession. Previous misuse does not become acceptable because a new tenant now holds the keys. The gift includes duties that remain binding. God's warning includes national expulsion and death penalties, not a land-use agreement alone.
Notice
Leviticus 20:26 Separation makes these people belong to God. Their distinct conduct is tied to belonging to him, not presented as permission to despise other peoples.
Leviticus 20:22-27
King James Version22Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.
23And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
24But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.
25Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
26And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
27A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Leviticus 20:1 begins with “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,”
Where the chapter turns
Leviticus 20:5 forms a natural hinge: “Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with…”
The final note
Leviticus 20:27 leaves the reader with “A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words death, people, surely, nakedness, blood, wife help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- hide their eyes
- Deliberately refuse to notice or act against wrongdoing.
- familiar spirits
- Spirits that people claim to consult through a medium.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
