Leviticus 18:2
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“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Here is, I. A general law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen (Lev 18:1-5). II. Particular laws, 1. Against incest (Lev 18:6-18). 2. Against beastly lusts, and barbarous idolatries (Lev 18:19-23). III. The enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites (Lev 18:24-30).
Open source ↗18:2 Many Near Eastern treaties began with the name and titles of the ruler who was drawing up the treaty. The phrase I am the Lord your God gives the name of the Great King, Yahweh (English the Lord), followed by his title, your God (see also Exod 20:2; Deut 5:6). These words were an abbreviated way to invoke Israel’s covenant with God and all that it implied. By reminding the people that they were the Lord’s, these words carried an authority that required a response (Lev 11:44; 18:4-5). Chapter 18 begins and ends (18:30) with these words, and they appear frequently throughout chs 19–26.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. With an uplifted hand I said to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.’
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance!
You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
You are to practice My judgments and keep My statutes by walking in them. I am the LORD your God.
I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.