Leviticus 20:24

24 Forsooth I spake to you, Wield ye their land, that I shall give to you into heritage, that land flowing with milk and honey; I am your Lord God, that parted you from other peoples. (But I said to you, Take ye their land, that I shall give to you for an inheritance, that land flowing with milk and honey; I am the Lord your God, who separated you from other peoples.)

Leviticus 20:24 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 20:24

But I have said unto you, ye shall inherit the land
Promised it unto them, as he had to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also to them; or he had said the above things unto them, that they, observing them, might possess the land of Canaan, and continue therein, which is the sense of the Targum of Jonathan: the Jews say, that the right of inheritance belonged to them, from Shem the son of Noah, whose portion it was, and which they gather from Melchizedek being king of Salem, whom they take to be Shem; and they say, the Canaanites only dwelt in it to make it better, till they should come and inherit it: and I will give it unto you to possess it;
in whose gift it was, and who had a right to dispose of it; and could give them a good title to it, and secure them in the possession of it: a land that floweth with milk and honey;
abounding with all good things, with all the comforts of life, with everything both for necessity and delight; see ( Exodus 3:8 ) ; I [am] the Lord your God, which have separated you from [other]
people;
had chosen them above all people, to be a special and peculiar people to him; had distinguished them by his favours, and had given them particular laws and ordinances, to observe and walk according to them, different from all other nations, which it became them carefully to regard.

Leviticus 20:24 In-Context

22 Keep ye my laws and my dooms, and do ye those, lest the land, into which ye shall enter and dwell in, cast out vilely also you (also vilely throw you out).
23 Do not ye go in the lawful things, that is, in worshipping and in the manner of living of them, of the nations, which I shall cast out before you, for they did all these things, and I had abomination of them. (Do not ye follow the laws, and the customs, of the nations which I shall throw out before you, for they did all these things, and I found them abominable.)
24 Forsooth I spake to you, Wield ye their land, that I shall give to you into heritage, that land flowing with milk and honey; I am your Lord God, that parted you from other peoples. (But I said to you, Take ye their land, that I shall give to you for an inheritance, that land flowing with milk and honey; I am the Lord your God, who separated you from other peoples.)
25 Therefore also ye part a clean beast from an unclean, and a clean bird from an unclean, lest ye defoul your souls in beasts, and in birds, and in all things that be moved in earth, and which things I showed to you to be defouled. (And so ye shall separate a clean beast from an unclean one, and a clean bird from an unclean one, lest ye defile your souls with beasts, and birds, and with all the things that move upon the earth, and which things I showed you to be defiled, or unclean.)
26 Ye shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I separated you from other peoples, (so) that ye shall be mine.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.