“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am Yahweh your God.
Parallel translations
- KJV Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
- BSB “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God.
- NKJV “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God.
- NASB “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God.
- NLT “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God.
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
God identifies himself as 'Yahweh your God,' the basis for the commands that follow.
Overview
The repeated self-declaration roots Israel's obedience in their covenant relationship with the Lord. Morality is not arbitrary rule-keeping but a response to who God is and what he has done in redeeming them. This refrain, woven throughout the chapter, reminds Israel that their conduct must reflect the holy God who claims them as his own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 6:7and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
- Lev 11:44For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
- Ezek 20:5and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, ‘I am Yahweh your God;’
- Lev 20:7“‘Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Yahweh your God.
- Ezek 20:19–20I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them;
- Lev 19:3–4“‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
- Exod 20:2“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Lev 19:34The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
- Lev 18:4You shall do my ordinances, and you shall keep my statutes, and walk in them: I am Yahweh your God.
- Gen 17:7I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.
- Ezek 20:7I said to them, ‘Each of you throw away the abominations of his eyes, and don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’
- Ps 33:12Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
- Lev 19:10You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.
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 18:2 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.