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24 “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways. 25 Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out. 26 You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.

27 “All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled. 28 So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now. 29 Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel. 30 So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord your God.”

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Warning against the Abominations of the Nations

24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations that I am about to drive out before you[a] have been defiled with all these things. 25 Therefore[b] the land has become unclean and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it,[c] so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants. 26 You yourselves must obey[d] my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner[e] in your midst, 27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations,[f] and the land has become unclean. 28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it[g] just as it has vomited out the nations[h] that were before you. 29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, that person who does them will be cut off from the midst of the people.[i] 30 You must obey my charge not to practice any of the abominable statutes[j] that have been done before you, so that you do not[k] defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.’”

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 18:24 tn Heb “which I am sending away (Piel participle of שָׁלַח [shalakh, “to send”]) from your faces.” The rendering here takes the participle as anticipatory of the coming conquest events.
  2. Leviticus 18:25 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.
  3. Leviticus 18:25 tn Heb “and I have visited its [punishment for] iniquity on it.” See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
  4. Leviticus 18:26 tn Heb “And you shall keep, you.” The latter emphatic personal pronoun “you” is left out of a few medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate.
  5. Leviticus 18:26 sn On the Hebrew ger (גֵּר) “resident foreigner” see notes at Exod 12:19 and Deut 29:11.
  6. Leviticus 18:27 tn Heb “for all these abominations the men of the land who were before you have done.”
  7. Leviticus 18:28 tn Heb “And the land will not vomit you out in your defiling it.”
  8. Leviticus 18:28 tc The MT reads the singular “nation” and is followed by ASV, NASB, NRSV; the LXX, Syriac, and Targum have the plural “nations” (cf. v. 24).
  9. Leviticus 18:29 sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.
  10. Leviticus 18:30 tn Heb “to not do from the statutes of the detestable acts.”
  11. Leviticus 18:30 tn Heb “and you will not.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.