“The priests must follow my instructions carefully. Otherwise they will be punished for their sin and will die for violating my instructions. I am the Lord who makes them holy.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘They shall therefore follow my requirements, lest they bear sin for it, and die therein, if they profane it. I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.
- KJV They shall therefore keep mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and die therefore, if they profane it: I the LORD do sanctify them.
- BSB The priests must keep My charge, lest they bear the guilt and die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
- NKJV ‘They shall therefore keep My ordinance, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby, if they profane it: I the Lord sanctify them.
- NASB They shall therefore perform their duty to Me, so that they do not bear sin because of it and die by it because they profane it; I am the Lord who sanctifies 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
Priests must keep these requirements carefully, or they will bear guilt and die for profaning the holy things; it is Yahweh who sanctifies them.
Overview
The warning of death shows how seriously God regards the holiness of His worship and His ministers. Yet the same verse names God as the one 'who sanctifies them,' so holiness is both demanded and granted by Him. This tension between holy demand and gracious provision finds its resolution in Christ, who both fulfills the law's requirement and sanctifies His people (Hebrews 10:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Exod 28:43They shall be on Aaron, and on his sons, when they go in to the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place; that they don’t bear iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute forever to him and to his offspring after him.
- Num 18:32You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best. You shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.’”
- Num 18:22Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.
- Lev 16:2and Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother, not to come at all times into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; lest he die: for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.
- Lev 10:1–2Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them.
- Lev 22:16and so cause them to bear the iniquity that brings guilt, when they eat their holy things; for I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.’”
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 22:9 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.