Leviticus 18:24

24 'Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these 1the nations which I am casting out before * you have become defiled.

Leviticus 18:24 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 18:24

Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things
In incestuous copulations and marriages, in adultery, corporeal and spiritual, and bestiality: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you;
that is, the seven nations of the land of Canaan, which God was about to eject out of their land to make room for the Israelites, and that on account of the above shocking vices which abounded among them; so that in some sense the land they dwelt upon was defiled by them, and called for vengeance on them, as even loathing its inhabitants, as afterwards suggested.

Leviticus 18:24 In-Context

22 'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
23 'Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
24 'Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.
25 'For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.
26 'But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you

Cross References 1

  • 1. Leviticus 18:3; Deuteronomy 18:12
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.