Limitless Word
Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
Leviticus 18:25 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB The land was defiled: therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants.
  • KJV And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
  • NKJV For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants.
  • NASB For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has vomited out its inhabitants.
  • NLT Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The land itself was defiled, so God punished it and it vomited out its inhabitants.

Overview

The vivid image of the land vomiting out its people portrays moral corruption as so polluting that creation itself rejects it. God's judgment on the Canaanites was the consequence of their persistent sin. This sobering picture warns that no people, however privileged, can sin without consequence before the holy Judge of all the earth.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Lev 18:28So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
  • Jer 2:7I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land, and made My inheritance detestable.
  • Lev 20:22–23You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
  • Jer 9:9Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
  • Ps 106:38They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.
  • Num 35:33–34Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
  • Jer 5:29Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
  • Jer 14:10This is what the LORD says about this people: “Truly they love to wander; they have not restrained their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; He will now remember their guilt and call their sins to account.”
  • Jer 23:2Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD.
  • Jer 16:18And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”
  • Jer 5:9Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
  • Deut 18:12For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.
  • Isa 26:21For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.
  • Hos 2:13I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.
  • Ezek 36:17–18“Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. Their behavior before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman’s impurity.
  • Ps 89:32I will attend to their transgression with the rod, and to their iniquity with stripes.
  • Isa 24:5The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.
  • Hos 8:13Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.
  • Hos 9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.
  • Deut 9:5It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
  • Rom 8:22We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Leviticus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Leviticus 18:25YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on LeviticusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.

How Leviticus 18:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.