Lev 18:24-28 | NETfull | STEP | “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you have been defiled with all these things.

Leviticus 18:24-28

Warning against the Abominations of the Nations

24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you ^{▼▼ Heb “which I am sending away (Piel participle of שָׁלַח [shalakh, “to send”]) from your faces.” The rendering here takes the participle as anticipatory of the coming conquest events.} have been defiled with all these things. 25 Therefore ^{▼▼ Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.} the land has become unclean and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, ^{▼▼ Heb “and I have visited its [punishment for] iniquity on it.” See the note on Lev 17:16 above.} so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants. 26 You yourselves must obey ^{▼▼ Heb “And you shall keep, you.” The latter emphatic personal pronoun “you” is left out of a few medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate.} my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, ^{▼▼ Heb “the native and the sojourner”; NIV “The native-born and the aliens”; NAB “whether natives or resident aliens.”} 27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, ^{▼▼ Heb “for all these abominations the men of the land who were before you have done.”} and the land has become unclean. 28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it ^{▼▼ Heb “And the land will not vomit you out in your defiling it.”} just as it has vomited out the nations ^{▼▼ The MT reads the singular “nation” and is followed by ASV, NASB, NRSV; the LXX, Syriac, and Targum have the plural “nations” (cf. v. 24).} that were before you.