You shall keep my statutes, and do them. I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.
Parallel translations
- KJV And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.
- BSB And you shall keep My statutes and practice them. I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
- NKJV And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
- NASB So you shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
- NLT Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy.
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 and do God's statutes, for it is the Lord who sanctifies them. God Himself makes His people holy.
Overview
Obedience is commanded, yet the verse roots holiness in God's own sanctifying work: 'I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.' Israel does not make itself holy by effort alone; God sets them apart and enables their obedience. This anticipates the gospel reality that believers are sanctified by God in Christ, called to live out what He has made them (1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 2:12-13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Exod 31:13“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.
- Jas 1:22But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
- 1 Th 5:23May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Lev 19:37“‘You shall observe all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them. I am Yahweh.’”
- Lev 21:8You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
- 2 Th 2:13But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth;
- Matt 5:19Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Matt 12:50For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
- Matt 7:24“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.
- Rev 22:14Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.
- Ezek 20:12Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.
- Ezek 37:28The nations shall know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary shall be among them forever more.
- 1 Cor 1:30Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
- John 13:17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
- Lev 18:4–5You shall do my ordinances, and you shall keep my statutes, and walk in them: I am Yahweh your God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 20:8 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.