Leviticus 18:28

So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God speaks to Israel through Moses, issuing statutes just before they enter Canaan. The warning immediately follows a catalog of prohibited practices and addresses the nation's prospective tenure in the territory.

The words — The Hebrew verb תָקִיא (ta.Ki') translates literally to "it will vomit up," depicting the land's mechanical expulsion of its people. It stands parallel to קָאָה (ka.'Ah), "it vomited up," to link Israel's potential fate with the prior inhabitants' removal.

The thread — The land's vomiting imagery appears in Leviticus 18:25 and Leviticus 20:22 as the direct consequence of defilement. The same verb structure reappears in Revelation 3:16 to describe divine rejection of spiritual indifference.

Why it lands — The text states that defiling the land triggers automatic expulsion, mirroring the fate of the nations before Israel. This requires readers to treat the preceding statutes as non-negotiable conditions for remaining in the territory.

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

וְלֹֽא־ve./lo'-and/ not תָקִ֤יאta.Ki'it will vomit up הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ha./'A.retzthe/ land אֶתְכֶ֔ם'et./Khem<obj.>/ you בְּטַֽמַּאֲכֶ֖םbe./ta.ma.'a./Khemwhen/ make unclean/ you אֹתָ֑הּ'o.Ta/h<obj.>/ it כַּאֲשֶׁ֥רka./'a.Sherjust/ as קָאָ֛הka.'Ahit vomited up אֶת־'et-<obj.>הַגּ֖וֹיha./Goythe/ nation אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhich לִפְנֵיכֶֽם׃li/f.nei./Khem[was] <to>/ before/ you

King James Version

That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

Cross-references

Leviticus 18:25 Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
Leviticus 20:22 You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
Revelation 3:16 So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth!
Ezekiel 36:17 “Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. Their behavior before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman’s impurity.
Jeremiah 9:19 For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’”
Ezekiel 36:13 For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because people say to you, ‘You devour men and deprive your nation of its children,’
Romans 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.