You are to practice My judgments and keep My statutes by walking in them. I am the LORD your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall do my ordinances, and you shall keep my statutes, and walk in them: I am Yahweh your God.
- KJV Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
- NKJV You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God.
- NASB You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the Lord your God.
- NLT You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for 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
Israel is to do God's ordinances and keep his statutes, because he is their God.
Overview
Obedience here is framed positively as walking in God's ways, not merely avoiding evil. The grounding clause 'I am Yahweh your God' makes obedience a matter of loyal relationship. Keeping God's commands is presented as the natural and fitting response of a redeemed people to their Redeemer.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lev 18:2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God.
- Ezek 20:19I am the LORD your God; walk in My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them.
- Deut 6:1These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,
- John 15:14You are My friends if you do what I command you.
- Ezek 36:27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
- Lev 20:22You 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.
- Ps 119:4You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently.
- Lev 19:37You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and follow them. I am the LORD.”
- Lev 18:26But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you.
- Luke 1:6Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
- Ps 105:45that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!
- Ezek 37:24My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep and observe My statutes.
- Deut 4:1–2Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
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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 18:4 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.