Leviticus 20

Punishments ordained, against some enormous sins; as against the offering of one’s children to Molech, v. 1, etc. against running after sooth-sayers, and Negro-mancers, (or Diabolical artists), 6. against cursers of father and mother, 9. against adultery, 10. against some incests, unnatural abominations, and unlawful copulations and marriages, 11. with an exhortation for the observing of God’s Commandments, 22. and among other things, of avoiding the customs of the Heathen, 23. of putting difference betwixt clean and unclean beasts, 24. of stoining the sooth-sayers, and Diabolical artists, 25.

1. Moreover the LORD spoke unto Moseh, saying:

2. Thou shalt likewise say unto the children of Israel: Every one [Heb. man, man, and below verse 9.] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers, sojourning in Israel, that shall have given of his seed unto Molech, [see above chapter 18. on verse 21] shall surely be put to death: [Heb. dying, be put top death, i.e. without mercy; so below verse 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, etc.] the people of the Land shall stone him with stones.

3. And I shall set my face against that man, [See above chapter 17. on verse 10. also below, verse 5, & c.] and shall extirpate him out of the midst of his people; [viz. by a special judgement, which I shall cause to light upon him, even in this life, incase he be not punished by the Magistrate; and so in the sequel] because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, [see above verse 2.] to pollute my Sanctuary, [by coming unto it, being defiled with such abominable sins. Compare above chapter 15. verse 31.] and to prophane (unhallow) my holy Name. [Heb. the Name of my Holiness. See above chapter 18. on verse 21.]

4. And if the people of the Land shall in any wise hide their eyes from that man, [Heb. shall have hiding, hid their eyes, i.e. shall of purpose and wittingly have past by such an heinous offence, without due animadversion and punishment] when he shall have given of his seed unto Molech, that they do not put him to death;

5. Then shall I set my face against that man, and against his family: [Or, generation, i.e. children and posterity, following the footsteps of his idolatry, as may be gathered by the words following. Compare Exodus 20:5.] and I shall extirpate him, and all those that go a whoring after him. [i.e. commit adolatry, and abandon the LORD (their true Husband, Hosea 2:18. 19. 2 Cor. 11. 4.) to cleave unto idols: which when it comes to pass, God is said to grow or be jealous, Exodus 20:5. Deuteronomy 5:9. see above chapter 17. on verse 7.] for to go a whoring after Molech; out of the midst of their people.

6. When there is a Soul, that shall have turned her self to the Sooth-sayers, [Of whom see above chapter 19. on verse 31.] and to Wizards, to go a whoring after them; then shall I set my face against that soul, and shall extirpate her out of the midst of her people.

7. Therefore hallow (or, sanctify) your selves, [see above chapter 11. on verse 44.] and be holy; for I am the LORD your God.

8. And keep my Institutions and do them: I am the LORD that halloweth you. [viz. by separating you from the rest of the world, for to justify you of grace, through the merits of the Messiah, and by my Spirit renewing you to an holy life. Thus this word is likewise to be taken, Ezekiel 37:28.]

9. When there is any [Heb. man, man] that shall have cursed his father, or his mother, the same shall surely be put to death: he hath cursed his father, or his mother; his blood [Heb. his bloods (in the plural)] is upon him. [i.e. he is himself the cause, and guilty of the shedding of his own blood. See the like phrase, Joshua 2:19. 2 Sam. 1. 16. and so in the sequel, verse 11. Item Matth. 27. 25. Acts 18:6. Otherwise his blood be upon him.]

10. A man likewise, that shall have committed adultery with any one’s wife, because he hath committed adultery with his neighbour’s wife, shall surely be put to death, the adulterer and the adulteress.

11. And a man shall have lain with his fathers wife, he hath uncovered his fathers shame; they both shall be surely put to death; their blood is upon them. [See above verse 9.]

12. Also when a man shall have lain by mankind, (or male) with wife-like copulation, [See above chapter 18. 22.] they both have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death: [viz. both of them, unless the one party had been forced and suffered violence. See Deuteronomy 22:25.] their blood is upon them.

13. And when a man shall have taken a wife and her mother, it is a vile deed: they shall burn him and the same with fire, [viz. if both of them did wittingly commit such an abominable action; at least the guilty was to die] that there may be no vile action in the midst of you.

14. Besides, if a man shall have lain with a beast, he shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

15. Thus, when a woman shall have approached to any beast, for to have to do with it, then you shall put to death the woman and that beast: [viz. for to take away the remembrance of such a heinous sin, and to terrify all people from following and falling in the like abomination] they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

16. And when a man shall have taken his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and seen her shame, and she shall have seen his shame, it is a stain (disgrace); [The Hebrew word doth ordinarily signify, kindness, or a good deed; but here, and Proverbs 14:34. the clean contrary, i.e. an evil, base, and disgraceful act, whereby God is most highly offended, the neighbour scandalized, and the guilty person made infamous. Thus also the word to bless, is taken sometimes for its contrary, to curse, 1 Kings 21:10.] therefore they shall be extirpated before the eyes of the children of their people: he hath uncovered the shame of his sister, he shall hear his iniquity. [thus also below verse 19. and 20. see above chapter 5. on verse 1.]

17. And when a man shall have lain by a woman having her sickness, [viz. he knowing that aforehand. Compare above chapter 15. the Annotations on verse 24.] and uncovered her shame, made bare her foundation, and she her self shall have uncovered her fountain, then they shall both be extirpated out of the midst of their people.

18. Withall thou shalt not uncover the shame of the sister thy mother, and of the sister of thy father, because he hath uncovered his near kin, they shall bear their iniquity.

19. Also when a man shall have lain with his Aunt, [i.e. here, the wife of his Uncle, who became his Aunt by marriage] he hath uncovered the shame of his Uncle; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. [i.e. (as some do hold) they shall be put to death; or, God shall curse their copulation, that they shall not be able to get, or keep any children, if so be the Magistrate do not punish them.]

20. And when a man shall have taken his brother’s wife; it is uncleanness: [Heb. Separation, i.e. a matter, which by reason of its impurity, ought to be cashiered and removed from among mankind: The Hebrew word is likewise used of the uncleanness of woman, having her sickness upon her, for the which she was to be separated from the society of men, above chapter 15, 19, 20, & c. The exception of this Law, see Deuteronomy 25:2.] he hath uncovered the shame of his brother: they shall be childless. [See the Annoatations on the former verse.]

21. Keep ye therefore all my Institutions, and all my Rights, and do the same, that Land, whither I bring you, for to dwell therein , do not spue you out. [See above chapter 18. on verse 25.]

22. And walk not in the Institution of the Nations, which I cast out before your face: for, all these things they did, therefore I have loathed them.

23. And I told you; ye should hereditarily possess their Land, and I will give you the same, that you may possess it hereditarily, a Land flowing with milk and honey; [See of this phrase, Exodus 3:8.] I am the LORD your God, that hath separated you from the Nations. [viz. that ye should be my own peculiar people, for to know and serve me here, and to live with me hereafter for ever. See below verse 28. Exodus 19:5. Deuteronomy 7:6.]

24. Therefore shall ye put difference betwixt clean and unclean beasts, and betwixt the unclean and the clean fowl: and ye shall not make your souls [See above chapter 11. on verse 43.] abominable, on he beasts, and on the fowl, and on any (thing) that creepeth upon the earth, which I have separated before you, that ye may hold it unclean.

25. And ye shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy: and I have separated you from the Nations, that ye should be mine.

26. Now when a man or woman shall have a sooth-saying spirit in them, or shall be a Diabolical artist, [See above chapter 19. on verse 31. as also in this chapter, above verse 6. where it is forbidden to ask advice of sooth-sayers: but here the punishment is set down, against the sooth-sayers, and the like Diabolical practitioners themselves] they shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones; their blood is upon them.

27. No text on verse.