Leviticus 18:4

4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 18:4 in Other Translations

KJV
4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
ESV
4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God.
NLT
4 You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the LORD your God.
MSG
4 Obey my laws and live by my decrees. I am your God.
CSB
4 You are to practice My ordinances and you are to keep My statutes by following them; I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 18:4 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 18:4

Ye shall do my judgments
Which are just and right, and according to the rules of justice and equity; these are things, as Jarchi observes, which are said in the law with judgment, or are laws framed with the highest reason, even by the judgment of God himself, whose judgment is always according to truth: Aben Ezra thinks, these are the judicial laws in ( Exodus 21:1-23:33 ) ; but though they may include them, they have more particular respect to the following laws: and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein:
which he had ordained and appointed of his own will and pleasure, which Jarchi calls the decree of the king, or which he decreed and determined as a king, having absolute power over his subjects to enact and enjoin what he pleased; wherefore some think these refer to ceremonial laws, which depended upon the will of the lawgiver, and were not founded in any natural sense or reason, wherefore it follows: I [am] the Lord your God:
who had a right to make what laws he pleased, being their Sovereign, and which they in gratitude as well as in justice ought to obey, he being their God, their covenant God, who had done great and good things for them.

Leviticus 18:4 In-Context

2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God.
3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.
4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God.
5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.
6 “ ‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.

Cross References 3

  • 1. S Genesis 26:5
  • 2. Deuteronomy 4:1; 1 Kings 11:11; Jeremiah 44:10,23; Ezekiel 11:12
  • 3. ver 2
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