Leviticus 20
BSASBGod sets the penalties for the sins listed in chapter 18: child sacrifice to Molech, contact with the dead, and sexual sin. These were laws for Israel as a holy nation living in the land under God’s own rule. The chapter’s heart is the call to be set apart for the LORD, who is holy and who makes His people holy.
Leviticus 20:1
God speaks to Moses again, as He does all through Leviticus. The words that follow are not human opinion but the covenant LORD’s own instruction to His people. He is the God who rescued them and now tells them how to live.
BSA: LORD (“Yehovah, The covenant Name of God”): This is God’s personal covenant name, so the laws come from the God who has bound Himself to Israel.
Leviticus 20:2
Giving children to Molech meant offering them in a pagan, fire-linked rite. God forbids it absolutely, for native Israelites and foreign residents alike. The whole community, not just a judge, was to carry out the penalty. Here God shows how precious children are to Him.
BSA: Molech (“the idol of the Ammonites, a false god”): Molech was a foreign god whose worship Israel must never copy. stone (“kill him by throwing stones, as a form of capital punishment”): Stoning was a public act in which the community itself took part in removing the evil.
See also: Leviticus 18:21.
Leviticus 20:3
God Himself takes a stand against the offender. Child sacrifice did more than harm a family. It polluted the place where God dwelt among His people and disgraced His name. Sin against others is never only a human matter.
BSA: face (“presence, countenance”): God’s face is usually a source of blessing, so His face turned against someone is a terrible thing. profaned (“desecrated, dishonored”): God’s holy name was treated as common, as if He were no different from the idols.
Hebrew: כָּרַת (karat, H3772) — “to cut, cut off.” The phrase ‘cut off’ uses the verb for cutting. It describes being severed from the people and the covenant community, whether by God’s judgment or by removal.
Leviticus 20:4-5
If the community looks away and does nothing, God Himself will act, and the guilty man’s family and followers will share the consequences. Ignoring open evil makes a community share in it. Those who copy the offender are judged with him.
BSA: hide (“conceal, ignore”): The picture is of people choosing not to see, which is a decision and not an accident. prostituting (“fornicating, idolizing”): Idolatry is pictured as unfaithfulness, like a spouse running after other lovers.
Hebrew: זנה (zanah, H2181) — “to act as a prostitute.” The Bible often uses this word for idolatry. Israel was bound to the LORD like a bride, so worshiping another god was betrayal.
Leviticus 20:6
Seeking guidance from mediums and spiritists is also treated as unfaithfulness. God’s people were to listen to Him alone. Turning to the dead or to spirits for secret knowledge meant looking for answers somewhere other than their covenant God.
BSA: prostitute (“commit spiritual adultery, fornicate”): Occult practice is likened to adultery against the LORD.
See also: Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Isaiah 8:19.
Leviticus 20:7-8
The chapter turns from penalties to the purpose behind them. Israel is to set itself apart and obey, but the holiness is not self-made. The LORD Himself is the one who makes them holy. His commands and His grace work together.
BSA: Consecrate (“set apart, sanctify”): The people are to give themselves over to God as His own. sanctifies (“consecrates, sets apart as holy”): God is the one doing the setting apart, so holiness is first His gift and then their response.
Hebrew: קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, H6918) — “holy, set apart.” The word means belonging to God and set apart for His purposes, not only being morally clean.
See also: 1 Peter 1:15-16.
Leviticus 20:9
To curse a parent is more than rude words. It means treating them as worthless and throwing off the honor God commands. In Israel, the family was the base of society and of the passing on of faith, so this sin struck at the whole community’s foundation.
Hebrew: יְקַלֵּל (yeqallel, H7043) — “treats as light, curses.” The root means ’to be light.’ To curse a parent is to treat them as having no weight, the opposite of honoring them, which carries the idea of giving weight.
See also: Exodus 21:17; Ephesians 6:2.
Leviticus 20:10
Adultery breaks the marriage covenant and wrongs a neighbor. The penalty applies equally to both guilty parties. God treats the marriage bond as sacred, and faithfulness within it as a public good that protects the whole community.
BSA: neighbor (“friend, close associate”): The wronged man is someone close, which shows adultery is a betrayal of trust.
See also: Exodus 20:14; Hebrews 13:4.
Leviticus 20:11
Sleeping with one’s father’s wife, most naturally understood as a stepmother, violates the father’s marriage. To ‘uncover nakedness’ is the Bible’s way of speaking of sexual intimacy that belongs only to someone else. Here it dishonors the father.
BSA: nakedness (“shame, private parts”): The phrase points to exposing what should be covered and protected within marriage. blood (“their responsibility, on their own heads”): The guilty bear the responsibility for their own deaths.
See also: Leviticus 18:8.
Leviticus 20:12
A father-in-law sleeping with his son’s wife confuses family roles and wrecks two relationships at once. The text calls it perverse, a muddling of what God made distinct. Family is meant to be a place of safety, not exploitation.
Hebrew: תֶּבֶל (tevel, H8397) — “confusion, a mixing up.” The word suggests a wrong mixing of things that ought to stay separate, here the roles of father-in-law and son’s wife.
See also: Leviticus 18:15.
Leviticus 20:13
This verse forbids sexual relations between two men and calls the act an abomination. Within Israel’s covenant law, the penalty was death. Christians understand differently how Israel’s civil penalties apply today, but the text plainly treats the act itself as a serious offense against God’s design.
BSA: abomination (“a disgusting thing, something detestable”): The word marks something God finds deeply repulsive and utterly out of keeping with His people.
Hebrew: תּוֹעֵבָה (toevah, H8441) — “abomination, detestable thing.” The Old Testament uses this strong word for things God cannot tolerate among His people, such as idolatry and injustice.
See also: Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:26-27.
Leviticus 20:14
Marrying a woman and her mother brings three people into one tangled relationship and breaks the boundaries of family. The harsh penalty of burning shows how seriously the law took the wickedness. The goal given is a community free of such evil.
BSA: depraved (“wickedness, evil plan, zimmah”): The word describes planned and shameful evil, not a small failing.
Hebrew: זִמָּה (zimmah, H2154) — “wickedness, lewd scheme.” The word often carries the sense of deliberate, shameful sexual wrongdoing and is used for acts that disgrace a community.
See also: Leviticus 18:17.
Leviticus 20:15-16
Sex with animals is forbidden for both men and women, and the animal is also put to death. This blurs the line God drew between people, made in His image, and animals. The animal’s death underlines how the act defiled the community.
BSA: animal (“beast, livestock”): The word points to ordinary domestic creatures, showing how close to everyday life the temptation could be.
See also: Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 18:23.
Leviticus 20:17
Marriage to a sister or half-sister is forbidden. The law calls it a disgrace and says the couple must be cut off in public view. Close family are to be protected from sexual use, and the family circle is to be a place of safety.
BSA: disgrace (“shame, wicked thing”): The word marks the act as bringing public shame on the whole family. iniquity (“moral evil, sin”): The guilty person must carry the weight of his own wrongdoing.
Hebrew: חֶסֶד (chesed, H2617) — “disgrace, shame (a different use of the word for steadfast love).” This word usually means loyal love, but here it has a sharp sense of disgrace. Hebrew uses the same sounds for opposite ideas.
See also: Leviticus 18:9.
Leviticus 20:18
Sexual relations during a woman’s monthly period are forbidden, and both are held responsible. This ties into Israel’s laws about ritual cleanness and the respect due to the body and its life-giving functions. Both partners share the responsibility.
BSA: source (“fountain, origin”): The word picks up the picture of life’s flow, showing how the law treats the blood as sacred.
See also: Leviticus 15:24; Leviticus 18:19.
Leviticus 20:19
Relations with an aunt on either side of the family are forbidden. She is close kin, so the act exposes one’s own flesh and blood. Both bear the guilt. The family is again guarded as a place where such lines must not be crossed.
BSA: kin (“flesh, relatives by blood”): The Hebrew speaks of ‘flesh,’ so close relatives are almost part of one’s own body.
See also: Leviticus 18:12-13.
Leviticus 20:20
Sleeping with an uncle’s wife dishonors the uncle. The penalty is described as bearing their sin and dying without children. Their family line would end, which was a grave loss for an Israelite. The wrong is against a relative who trusted them.
BSA: nakedness (“shame, exposure”): The phrase again shows that what belongs to the uncle’s marriage has been exposed and taken. childless (“without kids, bare, destitute of children”): In Israel, having no children meant the loss of a family name and future.
See also: Leviticus 18:14.
Leviticus 20:21
Taking one’s brother’s wife is called an act of impurity and a dishonor to the brother. The punishment is childlessness. Deuteronomy 25:5-10 gives a separate case in which a brother who has died childless leaves a widow, so this verse deals with a different situation.
BSA: impurity (“uncleanness, moral corruption”): The sin leaves a moral stain, much like a defilement that must be dealt with.
Hebrew: נִדָּה (niddah, H5079) — “impurity, uncleanness.” This word is also used for the uncleanness of monthly impurity, so it carries the sense of something that separates a person from God’s holy presence.
See also: Leviticus 18:16; Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
Leviticus 20:22
Keeping God’s laws is tied to remaining in the land He gives. The land is pictured as a living thing that cannot stomach such evil and will expel those who commit it. Obedience is how Israel stays in the place of blessing.
BSA: vomit (“spue out, reject”): The picture is of a stomach rejecting what is poisonous, showing the land itself cannot bear such sin.
Hebrew: תָּקִיא (taqi’, H6958) — “will vomit out.” The vivid verb means to spit out violently. The land is pictured as sickened by the people’s sin.
See also: Leviticus 18:28.
Leviticus 20:23
God warns Israel not to copy the customs of the nations He is driving out. Those nations are not being removed because of their nationality but because of their evil practices. Israel will face the same judgment if it follows them.
BSA: abhorred (“loathed, detested”): God’s response to such sin is deep, active disgust, not mild disapproval.
See also: Leviticus 18:24-25.
Leviticus 20:24
God reminds them of His promise: the land will be theirs as a gift. It is rich and good, flowing with milk and honey. The same God who gives it has also set Israel apart from the other peoples, so the gift comes with a calling.
BSA: inheritance (“a gift, a heritage”): The land is received as a gift from the Father, not earned. apart (“separated, distinguished”): God has marked Israel out from the other peoples for His own purposes.
Hebrew: הִבְדַּלְתִּי (hivdalti, H914) — “I have separated.” The verb means to divide or distinguish. It is used in creation for dividing light from darkness, so God’s setting apart of Israel is a deliberate act.
See also: Exodus 3:8.
Leviticus 20:25
The food laws are a daily reminder of the larger calling. Israel was to tell clean from unclean in what it ate, so that the distinction between God’s people and others stayed in front of them at every meal.
BSA: distinguish (“make a separation, set apart”): Telling clean from unclean trains the people in the habit of living as those set apart.
See also: Leviticus 11:1-47.
Leviticus 20:26
This is the center of the chapter. God is holy, and so His people are to be holy. They are His own, chosen from the nations. Holiness here is a life that matches the character of the God to whom they belong.
BSA: holy (“separate from sin, uniquely divine”): God’s holiness means He is utterly unlike anything else, and His people are called to reflect that. own (“possessed, beloved”): Israel is not only set apart from others but claimed by God as His treasured possession.
See also: 1 Peter 1:16; Exodus 19:5-6.
Leviticus 20:27
The chapter closes where it began, with the occult. A medium or spiritist, man or woman, is under the death penalty. Israel’s God was the one to consult. Seeking the dead or spirits meant turning away from Him, whose word was enough for His people.
BSA: medium (“one who consults the dead, spiritist”): The word describes someone who claims to reach the dead, which God forbids as a rival to His own word.
See also: Deuteronomy 18:11; Isaiah 8:19.