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.
Parallel translations
- WEB that the land not vomit you out also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
- KJV That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
- BSB So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
- NKJV lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
- NASB so that the land will not vomit you out should you defile it, as it has vomited out the nation which was there before you.
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
If Israel defiles the land, it will vomit them out as it did the previous nations.
Overview
God warns that covenant privilege offers no immunity from judgment; Israel could be expelled just as the Canaanites were. This sober threat, later fulfilled in the exile, shows the seriousness of obedience. It reminds every generation that closeness to God brings greater accountability, not license to sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Lev 18:25The land was defiled: therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants.
- Rev 3:16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.
- Lev 20:22“‘You shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them; that the land, where I am bringing you to dwell, may not vomit you out.
- Ezek 36:17Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.
- Jer 9:19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, ‘How are we ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
- Ezek 36:13Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because they say to you, You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;
- Rom 8:22For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
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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 18:28 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.