Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am Yahweh 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 ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
- Lev 11:44For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- Ezek 20:5And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;
- Lev 20:7Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
- Ezek 20:19–20I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
- Lev 19:3–4Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
- Exod 20:2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Lev 19:34But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
- Lev 18:4Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
- Gen 17:7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
- Ezek 20:7Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
- Ps 33:12Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
- Lev 19:10And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 18:2 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.