You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for 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.
- BSB You are to practice My judgments and keep My statutes by walking in them. 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.
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 children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am Yahweh your God.
- Ezek 20:19I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them;
- Deut 6:1Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it;
- John 15:14You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
- Ezek 36:27I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.
- 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.
- Ps 119:4You have commanded your precepts, that we should fully obey them.
- Lev 19:37“‘You shall observe all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them. I am Yahweh.’”
- Lev 18:26You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you;
- Luke 1:6They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
- Ps 105:45that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise Yah!
- Ezek 37:24My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.
- Deut 4:1–2Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives 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.