Bible Strands
Leviticus 20:8
And you shall keep My statutes and practice them. I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to the Israelites through Moses, positioned between a command to consecrate themselves and a decree on cursing parents. The address establishes covenant boundaries for the assembled community.
The words — חֻקֹּתַי (chu.ko.ta/i) literally means "my statutes," and מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽם (me.kadish./Khem) translates to "sets apart as holy you." These lexical items frame the command as a divine requirement for ritual separation.
The thread — The text explicitly commands keeping statutes and attributes sanctification to God, echoing Exodus 31:13 where Sabbath keeping serves as a covenant sign, James 1:22 which demands active practice of the word, and 1 Thessalonians 5:23 where God is asked to sanctify completely. These passages track the movement from legal observance to divine empowerment.
Why it lands — The verse requires strict adherence to prescribed laws while locating the power for holiness in God alone. Readers must comply with the statutes and recognize that sanctification is initiated by the speaker, not manufactured by human effort.
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 keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you.
Cross-references
- Exodus 31:13 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, for this will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
- James 1:22 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Leviticus 19:37 You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and follow them. I am the LORD.”
- 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.
- Matthew 5:19 So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
- Matthew 12:50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth.
- Revelation 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.