You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by 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.
- KJV Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
- BSB Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will 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 3:12The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”
- Rom 10:5For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
- Ezek 20:11I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them.
- Ezek 20:21“‘“But the children rebelled against me. They didn’t walk in my statutes, neither kept my ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall live in them. They profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
- Ezek 20:13“‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
- Luke 10:28He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
- Exod 6:2God spoke to Moses, and said to him, “I am Yahweh;
- Exod 6:6Therefore tell the children of Israel, ‘I am Yahweh, 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 an outstretched arm, and with great judgments:
- Exod 6:29Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “I am Yahweh. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to you.”
- Mal 3:6“For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
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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 18:5 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.