Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Israel as a summary command within the Holiness Code (Lev 17–26), bracketed by the clean/unclean distinction (v. 25) and the death penalty for spiritists (v. 27).
The words — קָדוֹשׁ (qā dôš, H6918) appears twice: once as the divine predicate ("I am holy") and once as the demand on Israel ("you will be holy"), making the word the hinge of the verse.
The thread — Leviticus 20:7 states the same formula a few verses earlier; 1 Peter 1:15 carries the logic into the New Testament ("He who called you is holy, so be holy").
Why it lands — Holiness here is not a moral achievement but a relational status: Israel is set apart (ʾavdal) to belong to God, and the command is to live in a way consistent with that identity.
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
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 1:15 But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,
- Leviticus 20:7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 20:24 But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance—a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.
- Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
- Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
- Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- Deuteronomy 26:18 And today the LORD has proclaimed that you are His people and treasured possession as He promised, that you are to keep all His commandments,
- Deuteronomy 14:2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
- 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.”
- Revelation 4:8 And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”