Bible Strands
Leviticus 19:2
“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Moses directly (v. 1), who is to deliver the command to the entire congregation of Israel at Sinai, immediately after the sacrificial and tabernacle regulations of chapters 1–18.
The words — קָדֹשׁ (qadosh), "holy," appears twice in the Hebrew, binding the command and its ground to the same root word.
The thread — The identical logic recurs in Leviticus 11:44 and 20:7, and resurfaces in the New Testament at 1 Peter 1:15, where the call to holiness is again grounded in the character of the one who calls.
Why it lands — Holiness is presented not as a moral effort to reach God's standard but as a reflection of what God already is; the reader is asked to align with a reality, not to produce a quality.
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 all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Leviticus 20:7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
- 1 Peter 1:15 But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,
- 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
- Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
- Leviticus 20:26 You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
- Exodus 19:6 And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”
- Leviticus 21:8 You are to regard him as holy, since he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, because I the LORD am holy—I who set you apart.
- Isaiah 6:3 And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”