And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall not walk in the customs of the nation, which I am casting out before you: for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
- BSB You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
- NKJV And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.
- NASB Furthermore, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I am going to drive out before you, because they did all these things; therefore I have felt disgust for them.
- NLT Do not live according to the customs of the people I am driving out before you. It is because they do these shameful things that I detest them.
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 not follow the customs of the nations God is driving out, whose practices He abhorred. God's people are to reject the world's corrupt ways.
Overview
The Canaanites were being dispossessed precisely because of the abominations just described. God 'abhorred them' for these sins, showing that His judgment is righteous and not arbitrary. Israel is warned not to adopt the very practices that brought destruction, a timeless call for God's people to be distinct from the surrounding culture (Rom. 12:2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Deut 9:5Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- Lev 18:24Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
- Lev 18:3After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
- Lev 18:30Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.
- Deut 12:30–31Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
- Lev 18:27(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
- Zech 11:8Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
- Jer 10:1–2Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
- Ps 78:59When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
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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 20:23 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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