“You must keep all my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice; otherwise the land to which I am bringing you as your new home will vomit you out.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘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.
- KJV Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.
- BSB You 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.
- NKJV ‘You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out.
- NASB ‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
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 must keep all God's statutes so the land will not vomit them out. Persistent disobedience leads to expulsion from the promised land.
Overview
The vivid image of the land 'vomiting out' its inhabitants warns that holiness is the condition for dwelling in God's gift. Just as the Canaanites were cast out for their sin, Israel too would be removed if they imitated such practices. This sobering principle, fulfilled in the later exile, shows that covenant blessing is bound to covenant faithfulness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Lev 18:25–28The land was defiled: therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants.
- 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.
- Ps 119:160All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever. SIN AND SHIN
- Ps 119:145I have called with my whole heart. Answer me, Yahweh! I will keep your statutes.
- Ps 105:45that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise Yah!
- Ps 119:20My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.
- Ps 119:80Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be disappointed. KAF
- Lev 18:4–5You shall do my ordinances, and you shall keep my statutes, and walk in them: I am Yahweh your God.
- Isa 26:8–9Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, have we waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.
- Ps 119:171Let my lips utter praise, for you teach me your statutes.
- Exod 21:1“Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
- Deut 28:25–26Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Ps 19:8–11Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.
- Lev 26:33I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
- Deut 4:45These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,
- Deut 5:1Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.”
- Ps 119:175Let my soul live, that I may praise you. Let your ordinances help me.
- Lev 19:37“‘You shall observe all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them. I am Yahweh.’”
- Ps 119:164Seven times a day, I praise you, because of your righteous ordinances.
- Ps 119:106I have sworn, and have confirmed it, that I will obey your righteous ordinances.
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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 20:22 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
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