Leviticus Chapter 20
Some punishments

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses

2 say- ing, “To the Israelites you shall say this:
Any man from the people of Israel or from among the aliens living in Israel who gives any of his children for the Molech sacrifice, shall be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him.

3 I shall set my face against that man and cut him off from among his people, for by giving his children to Molech he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.

4 And if the people of the land hide their eyes from what that man does and do not put him to death,

5 then I will set my face against them and against their family and cut them off from their people. I will do the same to all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molech.

6 I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists and prostitutes himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people.

7 Take the way of holiness so that you be holy for I am Yahweh, your God.

8 You shall keep my laws and practice them. I, Yahweh, your God am the one who makes you holy.

9 The man who curses his father or mother shall be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother. He himself shall account for his blood.

10 If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.

11 If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father, both of them shall be put to death. They themselves shall account for their blood.

12 If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death for they have committed incest. They them selves shall account for their blood.

13 When a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both have committed a detestable act and they shall be put to death. They themselves shall account for their blood.

14 It is wicked for a man to marry both a woman and her mother. He and they must be burned in the fire so that there may be no wickedness among you.

15 A man who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death and the animal killed.

16 If a woman approaches an animal to mate with it, kill the woman and the animal. They shall be put to death. They themselves shall account for their blood.

17 If a man takes his sister, the daughter of his father or his mother and they have sexual relations, it is a shameful thing and they shall be cut off before the eyes of their people. He has dis honored his sister and carries his guilt.

18 A man who lies with a woman during her monthly period and has intercourse with her has exposed the source of her flow and she has uncovered it. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

19 You shall not have intercourse with the sister of your father or mother, for that would dishonor a close relative. Both would be guilty.

20 The man who lies with his aunt dishonors his uncle. They will be guilty and die childless.

21 It is a wickedness for a man to take his brother’s wife. He has dishonored his brother and they will be childless.

22 Keep, therefore, all my decrees and laws and act according to them so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out of it.

23 You shall not follow the customs of the nations I shall drive out before you. I felt hatred for them for they did all these things.

24 Be cause of this I said to you: You will possess their land and it is I who give it to you as your possession, a land flowing with milk and honey.  
I, Yahweh, your God have set you apart from the nations.

25 You must therefore set the clean beast apart from the unclean, and the clean bird apart from the unclean and you shall not defile yourselves by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps along the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

26 You are to be holy for me as I am holy, Yahweh, your God, and I have set you apart from the nations to be mine.

27 Now a man or a woman who is a spiritist shall be put to death; he or she shall be stoned and they shall account for their own blood.”

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Comments Leviticus, Chapter 20

• 20.1 This chapter lists penalties corresponding to the previously listed faults. In some cases, human justice punishes. In others, people are threatened with God’s curse.

Chapters 21 and 22 deal with the responsibilities and privileges of the priests. All these details may seem too external and foreign to the authentic sanctity which the priestly office requires. But, in those days, these prescriptions were valuable teaching and they still teach us about the sacredness of serving the Lord.