You shall consecrate him, therefore, because he offers the food of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy.
Parallel translations
- WEB You 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.
- KJV Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.
- BSB You are to regard him as holy, since he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, because I the LORD am holy—I who set you apart.
- NKJV Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy.
- NLT You must treat them as holy because they offer up food to your God. You must consider them holy because I, the Lord, am holy, and I make 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
The people are to regard the priest as holy because he offers the bread of God, for the Lord who sanctifies is holy. Reverence for the priest reflects reverence for God.
Overview
Israel was to honor the priest's set-apart status, recognizing that his holiness derived from the holy God who consecrated him. The ground is again 'I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.' Holiness originates in God and is conferred on those He calls, a truth fully realized in Christ, through whom believers are sanctified and brought near.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lev 20:7–8“‘Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Yahweh your God.
- Lev 19:2“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
- Lev 11:44–45For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
- Lev 21:6They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
- Heb 7:26For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- John 17:19For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
- John 10:36do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
- Exod 28:41You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office.
- Exod 29:43–44There I will meet with the children of Israel; and the place shall be sanctified by my glory.
- Exod 29:1“This is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to me in the priest’s office: take one young bull and two rams without defect,
- Exod 19:10Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,
- Heb 10:29How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
- Exod 19:14Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 21:8 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.