The Law · Chapter 20 of 27
Leviticus 20
God prescribes penalties for the sins named earlier, especially giving children to Molech, consulting mediums, and forbidden sexual unions. He calls Israel to sanctify themselves and be holy, for he is the LORD who sanctifies them. The chapter closes by urging the people to separate clean from unclean and to be holy because God has severed them from other peoples to be his own.
What happens in Leviticus 20
The LORD commands that anyone who gives his children to Molech be put to death, and that if the people hide their eyes from it, God himself will set his face against that man and his family. Those who turn to mediums and wizards will be cut off. God calls the people to sanctify themselves and be holy, for he is the LORD who sanctifies them. Penalties follow for cursing parents, adultery, incest, homosexual acts, and bestiality, many carrying the death sentence or being cut off.
God then gives the reason: Israel must keep his statutes so the land does not vomit them out as it did the nations he is casting out. He has separated them from other peoples and calls them to put a difference between clean and unclean. They shall be holy, for the LORD is holy and has severed them to be his own.
Leviticus 20 in context
This chapter revisits the prohibitions of chapter 18 and attaches consequences, functioning as the enforcement counterpart to the Holiness Code. Molech worship, which involved child sacrifice, and occult practices are treated as ultimate betrayals of the covenant.
The severity reflects a nation being formed as God's holy people in the midst of cultures that normalized these acts. The recurring emphasis is separation: Israel is set apart to belong wholly to God.
Main themes of Leviticus 20
Leviticus 20 (KJV)
1And 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. 9For 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. 17And 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. 22Ye 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.
Verses to carry from Leviticus 20
“Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.”Leviticus 20:7
“And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.”Leviticus 20:8
“And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.”Leviticus 20:26
Thematic connection
How Leviticus 20 points to Jesus
This chapter presses two truths together: God commands sanctify yourselves, and God declares I am the LORD which sanctify you. The New Testament resolves the tension in Christ. Paul writes that Jesus was made unto us sanctification, and that the church is sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. What Israel could only pursue imperfectly, Christ supplies. Peter applies the very language of a people severed to be God's own to the church, calling believers a holy nation, a peculiar people, that they may show forth God's praises.
The death penalties of this chapter also declare the wages of sin, penalties Christ absorbed at the cross so that the guilty might instead be made holy. In him, God both sanctifies his people and calls them to live out the holiness he has given.
Questions about Leviticus 20
How can God command sanctify yourselves and also say I am the LORD which sanctify you?
Both are true at once. Holiness is God's gift and the believer's pursuit. He sets his people apart and makes them holy, and precisely because of that they are to live it out. The command never means earning acceptance by effort; it means becoming in practice what God has already declared them to be. In Christ this is fully resolved, for he is made our sanctification.
Why are the penalties in this chapter so severe?
Because the sins strike at the heart of the covenant: worshiping Molech by sacrificing children, consulting the dead, and corrupting the family. These acts destroyed the vulnerable and defiled the people God was forming for himself. The severity marks how gravely God regards the protection of children and the household. Christ later bore such penalties himself, that mercy might reach even the guilty.
Reflection
God's word to Israel was tender under the severity: you are severed to be mine. Holiness is not first about rules but about belonging to God. And he does not leave you to manufacture it; he says I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Receive your holiness as his gift before you labor to live it.
A prayer from Leviticus 20
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