“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am Yahweh your God.
Parallel Translations
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“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am Yahweh your God.
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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: I am the LORD your God.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Leviticus 18:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 6:7 I will take you to myself for a people. I will be your God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
- Leviticus 11:44 For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
- Ezekiel 20:5 Tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, ‘I am Yahweh your God;’
- Leviticus 20:7 “ ‘Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Yahweh your God.
- Genesis 17:7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.
- Exodus 20:2 “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Leviticus 18:4 You shall do my ordinances. You shall keep my statutes and walk in them. I am Yahweh your God.
- Leviticus 19:3-4 “ ‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God. “ ‘Don’t turn to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves. I am Yahweh your God.
- Leviticus 19:10 You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.
- Leviticus 19:34 The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
- Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
- Ezekiel 20:7 I said to them, ‘Each of you throw away the abominations of his eyes. Don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’
- Ezekiel 20:19-20 I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes, keep my ordinances, and do them. Make my Sabbaths holy. They shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 18:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and…
Lev 18:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
Ver. 2. I am the Lord your God.] Your Maker and Master.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Your Sovereign and Lawgiver. This is oft repeated here,…
Your Sovereign and Lawgiver. This is oft repeated here, because the things here forbidden were practised and allowed by the Gentiles, to whose custom he here opposeth Divine authority, and their obligation to obey his commands.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Speak unto the children of Israel,.... To the heads…
Speak unto the children of Israel,.... To the heads of their tribes, that they might deliver to them the following laws; or Moses is bid to publish them among them, either by word of mouth, or by writing, or both:
and say unto them, I am the Lord your God; with which they were to be introduced; showing the right he had to enact and enjoin such laws, since he was Jehovah, the Being of beings, and from whom they received their beings; their sovereign Lord and King, who had a right to rule over them, and command what he pleased; and also the obligation they lay under to him to regard them, and yield a cheerful obedience to them, since he was their God, not only that had made them, but had redeemed them out of Egypt; and who had made a covenant with them, and had taken special care of them, and had bestowed many wonderful favours on them; and for this purpose is this phrase often used in this chapter, and very frequently in the next. See Lev 18:2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Your God - Your sovereign, and lawgiver. This is…
Your God - Your sovereign, and lawgiver. This is often repeated because the things here forbidden were practiced and allowed by the gentiles, to whose custom he opposes divine authority and their obligation to obey his commands.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Lev 18:2. Your God — Your sovereign and lawgiver.…
Lev 18:2. Your God — Your sovereign and lawgiver. This is often repeated, because the things here forbidden were practised and allowed by the Gentiles, to whose custom he opposes divine authority and their obligation to obey his commands.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I am, the Lord your God - The frequent…
I am, the Lord your God - The frequent repetition of this formula in these parts of the Law may be intended to keep the Israelites in mind of their covenant with Yahweh in connection with the common affairs of life, in which they might be tempted to look at legal restrictions in a mere secular light.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain God, to whom the right of giving laws belongs.…
God, to whom the right of giving laws belongs. (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE VICES OF EGYPT AND CANAAN PROHIBITED, Lev_18:1-5.
THE VICES OF EGYPT AND CANAAN PROHIBITED, Lev_18:1-5.
2. I am the Lord — In giving commandments, the authority of the Lawgiver is made prominent. See Lev_11:44, note.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. Purity in remoter relationships.
2. Purity in remoter relationships.
The first Pentad: Relationships through marriage, Lev_18:16-19.
Read full note →
The second Pentad: Purity outside of the family, Lev_18:20-23.
To the exhortation concluding with ‘I am the Lord your God’ (Lev_18:30) he would add Lev_19:2 b, ‘Ye shall be holy,’ etc.
The arrangement in this ch. is better than in ch. 20, and the cases dealt with are more numerous. Ch. 20 contains no parallels to Lev_18:7; Lev_18:10; Lev_18:17 b, Lev_18:18, and has therefore been taken as representing an earlier code. On the other hand ch. 20, unlike ch. 18, mentions penalties for the offences, while such indications as it affords by the juxtaposition of ‘you’ in Lev_20:14 b, Lev_20:15 b, and ‘thou’ in Lev_20:16; Lev_20:19, and the duplicate clauses in Lev_18:10 suggest that whatever age may be ascribed to the code in ch. 20, as compared with that which appears in ch. 18, the former has at any rate been subjected to later editing.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) I am the Lord your God.—The Lord is…
(2) I am the Lord your God.—The Lord is their recognised and sole sovereign, the children of Israel are therefore bound to obey His precepts, and not be led astray by the customs or statutes which prevailed among the people whose country they are to possess. Moreover, as He is holy, the Israelites, by faithfully obeying His sacred laws, will attain to that holiness which will bring them in communion with Him in whose image they were created. This phrase, which is so emphatically repeated twice more in this chapter (Lev_18:4; Lev_18:30), has only been used once before in this book. (See Lev_11:44.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 18:2 Many Near Eastern treaties began with the name…
18:2 Many Near Eastern treaties began with the name and titles of the ruler who was drawing up the treaty. The phrase I am the Lord your God gives the name of the Great King, Yahweh (English the Lord), followed by his title, your God (see also Exod 20:2; Deut 5:6). These words were an abbreviated way to invoke Israel’s covenant with God and all that it implied. By reminding the people that they were the Lord’s, these words carried an authority that required a response (Lev 11:44; 18:4-5). Chapter 18 begins and ends (18:30) with these words, and they appear frequently throughout chs 19–26.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.