20
Leviticus

Penalties for Unholiness

Leviticus 20:1-27
1And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2You shall also say to the sons of Israel: Any man among the sons of Israel or among the sojourner who sojourns in Israel who gives any of his seed to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stone. 3I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given of his seed to Molech, thereby defiling my sanctuary and profaning the name of my holiness. 4If the people of the land conceal their eyes from that man when he gives of his seed to Molech so that they do not put him to death, 5then I will set my face against that man and against his family and will cut him off, together with all who fornicate after him by fornicating after Molech, from among their people. 6As for the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to fornicate after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. 7You shall consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8You shall keep my statutes and carry them out; I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 9If anyone curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father and his mother; his blood is upon him. 10If a man commits adultery with the wife of another man, that is, if he commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed a perversion; their blood is upon them. 13If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14If a man takes a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, so that no wickedness remains in your midst. 15If a man gives his copulation to an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16If a woman approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 17If a man takes his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is shame. They shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people; he has uncovered his sister's nakedness and shall bear his iniquity. 18If a man lies with a woman who is sick and uncovers her nakedness, he has uncovered her fountain and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood, both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for that would be uncovering one's own flesh. They shall bear their iniquity. 20If a man lies with his aunt, he has uncovered his aunt's nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall remain childless. 22You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to dwell will not vomit you out. 23You shall not follow the statutes of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they have done all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24But I said to you, "You shall possess their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God who has separated you from the peoples. 25You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean, and you shall not make yourselves detestable with any animal or bird or anything that creeps on the land that I have set apart for you as unclean. 26You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. 27A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist among them shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stone; their blood shall be upon them.

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Cross-references

Study notes

Leviticus 20 attaches explicit penalties to the holiness requirements that precede it. The LORD declares he will set his face against those who offer children to Molech or consult mediums, cutting them off from the people, and extends the same judgment when the community fails to execute the required stoning. A series of death sentences addresses violations within the family and sexual boundaries, each assigning responsibility to the offenders themselves. The chapter returns repeatedly to the demand that the people consecrate themselves because the LORD sanctifies them and has separated them from the nations, warning that the land itself will reject those who follow the practices of the peoples being driven out.

What is Penalties for Unholiness about?

The LORD speaks to Moses and directs him to address the sons of Israel about specific penalties. Any man among them or any sojourner who gives his seed to Molech must be put to death by stoning from the people of the land. God states that he himself will set his face against that man and cut him off from his people because the act defiles the sanctuary and profanes the name of his holiness. If the people conceal their eyes and do not carry out the execution, God will set his face against the man, his family, and all who follow after Molech in the same way.

The same language of setting the face and cutting off applies to anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists. The instructions then call the people to consecrate themselves and keep the statutes, since the LORD is the one who sanctifies them. Death sentences are listed for cursing father or mother, adultery with a neighbor's wife, lying with a father's wife or daughter-in-law, lying with a male as with a woman, taking a woman and her mother, bestiality, and several other sexual violations involving close relatives. The land is described as ready to vomit out those who follow the statutes of the nations God is driving out.

These verses stand immediately after the holiness commands of chapter 19 and spell out the required response when those commands are broken.

Where does this passage sit in Leviticus?

Leviticus 19 ends by urging the people to keep every statute because the LORD brought them out of Egypt. Chapter 20 immediately supplies the penalties attached to those same statutes, beginning with the command to address the sons of Israel about Molech worship and moving without pause into sexual offenses that chapter 18 had already forbidden. The repeated phrases “set my face against” and “cut off from among his people” appear first for Molech, then for mediums, then again for the family violations that follow, binding the two halves of the chapter together.

The list of capital cases in verses 9–16 mirrors the order of prohibitions in chapter 18 yet adds the explicit sentence of death and the declaration that the offenders’ blood is upon them. After these individual judgments, verses 22–26 return to the land itself, repeating the warning that the land will vomit out its inhabitants if the statutes are ignored. This language echoes the close of chapter 18 and prepares for the priestly regulations that begin in chapter 21, where the same demand for holiness now applies to those who serve at the altar.

The chapter therefore closes by circling back to mediums and spiritists, restating the stoning penalty that opened the section. The final verse stands as a bracket, reminding readers that the call to consecration in verses 7–8 must be enforced by the community if the people are to remain distinct from the nations the LORD is driving out.

How is the passage structured?

The chapter opens with the LORD addressing Moses and issuing a command that Moses must relay to the sons of Israel. The first block of material (20:2-5) concentrates on the man who gives seed to Molech. It states the required communal stoning, then shifts to the LORD's own action of setting his face against the offender and cutting him off. A conditional clause follows: if the people of the land conceal their eyes, the LORD extends the same cutting off to the man's family and to all who fornicate after Molech.

Verse 6 adds a parallel case for anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists, again using the language of setting the face and cutting off. At this point the address changes. Verses 7-8 issue two direct imperatives to the hearers: consecrate yourselves and keep the statutes, because the LORD sanctifies them. The text then moves into a long series of conditional sentences (20:9-21) that specify penalties for cursing parents, adultery, various incestuous relations, bestiality, and marriage to a brother's wife. Each case names the act, declares the consequence, and often assigns responsibility with the phrase their blood is upon them or they shall bear their iniquity. The punishments vary: most call for death, yet some result in childlessness or bearing iniquity without specifying execution.

After the final case in verse 21, the address turns again. Verses 22-26 command the people to keep the statutes so the land will not vomit them out, contrast their conduct with the nations being driven out, and restate the LORD's separation of Israel. The chapter closes by returning to the medium or spiritist, now requiring stoning by the community and repeating the blood-upon-them formula (20:27). The movement therefore alternates between divine initiative against specific offenses, direct commands to holiness, and a catalog of human violations before ending where it began with the penalty for consulting spirits.

What is the historical background?

Molech appears in the instructions as the recipient of children offered by fire. Ancient Near Eastern sources outside the Bible associate similar names with a deity linked to child sacrifice in the region of Canaan and Phoenicia, though direct archaeological confirmation of the precise rite remains limited. The text treats the practice as a direct affront to the sanctuary and the holiness of the LORD’s name, requiring communal stoning by the people of the land rather than priestly execution.

The sojourner who lives among the sons of Israel receives the same penalty as an Israelite for this act. In the social structure reflected here, resident foreigners shared certain legal obligations with the native population while remaining distinct in other respects; the law extends the prohibition uniformly to prevent the defilement from spreading.

Consulting mediums and spiritists receives parallel language of divine opposition and cutting off. Such figures operated in many ancient societies as intermediaries with the dead or with local spirits, often for guidance or divination. The statutes place these consultations in the same category as Molech worship, indicating they violated the exclusive claim of the LORD on Israel’s allegiance.

Penalties for various sexual unions within the extended family—death, burning, or childlessness—align with a broader ancient concern for household order and inheritance lines. The repeated phrase “their blood is upon them” signals that the offenders bear responsibility for their own execution, a formula that removes any claim of unjust treatment.

The command to distinguish clean from unclean animals and to avoid the statutes of the surrounding nations rests on the assumption that the land itself reacts to moral and ritual pollution. The image of the land vomiting out its inhabitants draws on agricultural experience in the region, where soil exhaustion or invasion could be interpreted as the territory rejecting those who defile it. Israel’s separation from other peoples is presented as the basis for these distinctions rather than a later development.

What does this passage teach about God?

The LORD states that he himself will set his face against the man who gives any of his seed to Molech and will cut him off from among his people. This direct divine action follows because the act defiles the sanctuary and profanes the name of his holiness. The same language of setting the face and cutting off applies when the people fail to stone the offender, extending the judgment to the man's family and to all who fornicate after Molech. God therefore treats the concealment of such an act as participation in the offense itself.

The instructions tie these penalties to the people's identity. They must consecrate themselves and be holy because the LORD is their God, and they must keep his statutes because he is the one who sanctifies them. Holiness is presented as both a gift already given and a requirement that shapes daily conduct. Turning to mediums and spiritists receives the same sentence of being cut off, showing that any search for guidance outside the LORD counts as fornicating after other powers.

The land itself participates in the judgment. If the people keep the statutes and judgments, the land where the LORD brings them to dwell will not vomit them out. If they follow the statutes of the nations being driven out, the LORD says he abhorred those nations for doing all these things. The promise of possessing a land flowing with milk and honey rests on the prior claim that the LORD has separated them from the peoples to be his own.

The listed penalties for cursing parents, adultery, incestuous relations, and bestiality all end with the declaration that the blood is upon the offenders or that they shall bear their iniquity. These outcomes follow from the acts themselves rather than from separate divine decrees. The closing requirement to distinguish clean from unclean animals reinforces the same separation already enacted by God, so that the people remain his and do not make themselves detestable with what he has set apart as unclean.

What are the interpretive difficulties?

Leviticus 20 lists capital penalties for acts already prohibited in chapter 18, yet the two chapters do not simply repeat one another. The earlier chapter states the boundaries; this one specifies execution by stoning or burning and adds the divine declaration that the LORD will set his face against the offender and cut him off. Readers must decide how these two forms of judgment relate when the community fails to act. Verses 4 and 5 make the failure itself an occasion for further cutting off, extending the consequence to the man’s family and to those who follow the same practice.

The phrase “gives any of his seed to Molech” appears without further definition. The text does not clarify whether the reference is limited to a particular ritual or includes any form of child dedication that ends in death. Because the penalty is stated in absolute terms, later interpreters have differed over whether the law intends only public, formal acts or reaches private conduct as well. The same silence surrounds the treatment of mediums and spiritists in verse 6 and again in verse 27. The command to stone them stands beside the earlier instruction that anyone who turns to such persons will be cut off, leaving open how the two sanctions are coordinated when both the practitioner and the client are present.

Several penalties end not with death but with childlessness or bearing iniquity. Incest with an aunt, marriage to a brother’s wife, and relations during menstruation receive these lighter stated outcomes. The chapter offers no explicit rationale for the difference, so the distinction between capital and non-capital cases remains a matter of inference from the wording itself. Likewise, the requirement that the people consecrate themselves and keep the statutes appears both before and after the list of penalties. The repetition frames the specific rules yet does not indicate whether the call to holiness functions as motivation, summary, or independent obligation.

The closing reference to the land vomiting out its inhabitants echoes language from chapter 18 but adds the explicit claim that the LORD has separated Israel from the peoples to be his own. This assertion stands without elaboration on how separation is maintained once the people enter the land. The text therefore leaves unresolved the precise mechanism by which divine holiness and human obedience interact across generations.

Movement by movement

Molech Worship and Its Penalty20:1-5

The command requires the people of the land to stone any man, whether native or sojourner, who gives any of his seed to Molech. That public execution stands first, yet the LORD immediately declares his own direct response: he will set his face against the offender and cut him off from his people. The reason given is twofold and specific—the act defiles the sanctuary and profanes the name of his holiness. A further clause addresses concealment: if the people of the land turn their eyes away and fail to carry out the stoning, the LORD extends the same action of setting his face against the man, his family, and everyone who follows him in fornicating after Molech, cutting all of them off together. The wording therefore links communal inaction with shared participation in the offense, so that the penalty reaches beyond the individual who offers the child. This opening movement anchors the chapter by showing both the required human response and the LORD’s independent judgment when that response is withheld.

Mediums and the Command to Holiness20:6-8

The LORD declares that he will set his face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to fornicate after them and will cut him off from among his people. This language repeats the action already announced against the man who gives seed to Molech, now applied to anyone who seeks out these practitioners. The offense receives no separate communal penalty in these verses; instead the LORD himself acts to remove the offender. The next two verses address the sons of Israel directly. They must consecrate themselves and be holy because the LORD is their God. They must keep his statutes and carry them out because he is the LORD who sanctifies them. The two statements of divine identity frame the prohibition: the God who cuts off the one who fornicates after mediums is the same God who sets his people apart and requires them to live in that separation. The command to keep statutes therefore stands as the concrete form that holiness takes when the people face the same practices that provoked the LORD to cut others off.

Death Penalties for Family and Sexual Violations20:9-16

Cursing a father or mother draws the sentence of death, with the explicit statement that the offender’s blood rests on himself. The same penalty falls on a man and the wife of his neighbor when they commit adultery. A man who lies with his father’s wife uncovers his father’s nakedness, so both parties must die and their blood rests on them. The same outcome meets a man who lies with his daughter-in-law; the act is called a perversion. When a man lies with a male as with a woman, both have committed an abomination and must be put to death, their blood upon them. Taking a woman and her mother is labeled wickedness and requires burning rather than stoning, removing the wickedness from the midst. Bestiality by a man demands that both he and the animal be killed; when a woman approaches an animal, both she and the animal are put to death and their blood rests on them. These sentences attach execution directly to the acts already named in the earlier statutes, using the repeated formula of blood resting on the guilty to mark communal responsibility for carrying out the penalty.

Further Prohibitions and Their Consequences20:17-21

A man who takes his sister, whether daughter of his father or his mother, and sees her nakedness while she sees his, meets the label of shame and faces cutting off in the sight of the sons of their people, with the man required to bear his iniquity for uncovering his sister's nakedness. The same removal from the people falls on both partners when a man lies with a woman who is sick and uncovers her fountain of blood. The prohibition against uncovering the nakedness of a mother's sister or father's sister rests on the claim that such an act uncovers one's own flesh, so those involved simply bear their iniquity. When a man lies with his aunt he uncovers her nakedness, and the text states that they bear their sin and shall die childless. Taking a brother's wife counts as impurity that uncovers the brother's nakedness, with the result that the couple remains childless. These outcomes attach directly to the acts without calling for communal stoning or burning, leaving the LORD's own declaration of removal or childlessness as the stated consequence.

Exhortation to Keep Statutes and Remain Separate20:22-27

The land itself will reject those who fail to keep the statutes, as the command states that keeping them prevents the land from vomiting the people out where the LORD is bringing them to dwell. The same verses forbid following the statutes of the nation being driven out, since those nations practiced all the forbidden acts and the LORD abhorred them on that account. In place of those ways the LORD recalls his promise to give the land flowing with milk and honey and declares that he has separated the people from the other peoples. That separation requires a practical distinction between clean and unclean animals, birds, and creeping things so that the people do not make themselves detestable with anything the LORD has set apart as unclean. The holiness the LORD requires rests on his own holiness and on the fact that he has set the people apart to belong to him. The closing rule returns to the earlier language of execution by stoning, now applied to any man or woman who serves as a medium or spiritist, with their blood declared to be upon them.

Notes accompany the Anselm Project Bible, an AI translation from the original languages. Tap any verse above for the committee's word-level decisions.

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