Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances; which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am Yahweh.
- BSB Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the LORD.
- NKJV You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
- NASB So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which, if a person follows them, then he will live by them; I am the Lord.
- NLT If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.
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
Whoever keeps God's statutes will live by them, a promise of life through obedience.
Overview
This verse holds out life as the fruit of faithful obedience, a principle later cited by Paul to illustrate the law's demand for perfect righteousness. It expresses the goodness of God's commands as the path of true flourishing. Yet the New Testament shows that no sinner keeps the law perfectly, driving us to Christ, who alone fulfilled it and gives life to those who trust him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gal 3:12And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
- Rom 10:5For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
- Ezek 20:11And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
- Ezek 20:21Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
- Ezek 20:13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
- Luke 10:28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
- Exod 6:2And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:
- Exod 6:6Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
- Exod 6:29That the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee.
- Mal 3:6For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
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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 18:5 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.