Bible Strands
Leviticus 18:2
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord commands Moses to address the Israelites immediately before listing prohibited conduct.
The words — The imperative דַּבֵּר (dabber) means "speak," and the declaration אֲנִי יְהוָה (ani Yahweh) literally states "I [am] Yahweh."
The thread — This formula of divine authority and covenant relationship appears in Exodus 6:7, Leviticus 11:44, and Ezekiel 20:5.
Why it lands — The passage requires compliance with the forthcoming laws by anchoring them in the speaker’s identity as Israel’s God.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God.
Cross-references
- Exodus 6:7 I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
- Leviticus 11:44 For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
- Ezekiel 20:5 and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. With an uplifted hand I said to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.’
- Leviticus 20:7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
- Genesis 17:7 I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
- Exodus 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Leviticus 18:4 You are to practice My judgments and keep My statutes by walking in them. I am the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 19:3 Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 19:10 You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 19:34 You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.