For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled.
Parallel translations
- WEB (for the men of the land that were before you had done all these abominations, and the land became defiled);
- KJV (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
- NKJV (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled),
- NASB (for the people of the land who were there before you did all these abominations, and the land has become defiled),
- NLT “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.
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 previous inhabitants committed all these abominations and defiled the land.
Overview
This parenthetical explanation reinforces why Israel must avoid such sins: they were precisely what brought judgment on the Canaanites. It establishes a clear historical and moral cause for the conquest. The verse underscores that God's patience with sin has limits and that persistent wickedness invites judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ezek 22:11One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.
- Deut 25:16For everyone who behaves dishonestly in regard to these things is detestable to the LORD your God.
- Deut 20:18so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.
- Deut 23:18You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.
- Deut 27:15‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- 2 Kgs 16:3Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- 2 Kgs 21:2And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- 1 Kgs 14:24There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- 2 Chr 36:14Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
- Lev 18:24Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves.
- Ezek 16:50Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them, as you have seen.
- Hos 9:10I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to Shame; so they became as detestable as the thing they loved.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 18:27 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.