Leviticus 18:26

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you;

World English Bible · Public Domain

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הָֽאֶזְרָ֔ח

ʼezrâch

H249

“the · native”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 17× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 12:19

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H2224 (in the sense of springing up)

TWOT: 580b

a native (one rising from the soil) - of man, native Israelites - of tree, native (to Israel)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

15: words
14: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is הָֽאֶזְרָ֔ח native H249 — appearing just 17 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הָֽאֶזְרָ֔ח native H249 occurs in 17 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
7 nouns
2 pronouns
3 particles

Verb forms

וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֣ם Qal · Sequential Perfect
תַעֲשׂ֔וּ Qal · Imperfect
הַגָּ֥ר Qal · Participle Active

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 30 words from the Hebrew and 30 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 15 Hebrew tokens and 27 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 18:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 18:5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances; which if a man does, he shall live in them: I am Yahweh.
Leviticus 17:8 "You shall say to them, 'Any man there is of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice,
Leviticus 17:10 "'Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
Leviticus 18:30 Therefore you shall keep my charge, that you do not practice any of these abominable customs, which were practiced before you, and that you do not defile yourselves with them: I am Yahweh your God.'"
Deuteronomy 4:1–2 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you.
Deuteronomy 4:40 You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh your God gives you, forever.
Deuteronomy 12:32 Whatever thing I command you, that shall you observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Psalms 105:44–45 He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession,

Luke 8:15 That in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Luke 11:28 But he said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it."
John 14:15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:21–23 One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him."
John 15:14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Leviticus 18:26 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֣ם אַתֶּ֗ם אֶת חֻקֹּתַי֙ וְאֶת מִשְׁפָּטַ֔י וְלֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֔וּ מִכֹּ֥ל הַתּוֹעֵבֹ֖ת הָאֵ֑לֶּה הָֽאֶזְרָ֔ח וְהַגֵּ֖ר הַגָּ֥ר בְּתוֹכְכֶֽם

You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 18:26 Septuagint · lemma form

καί φυλάσσω πᾶς ὁ νόμιμος ἐγώ καί πᾶς ὁ πρόσταγμα ἐγώ καί οὐ ποιέω ἀπό πᾶς ὁ βδέλυγμα οὗτος ὁ ἐγχώριος καί ὁ προςγίγνομαι προσήλυτος ἐν σύ

And you⌃ shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and you⌃ shall do none of these abominations; neither the native, nor the stranger that joins himself with you:

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְתִטְרוּן אַתּוּן יָת קְיָמַי וְיָת דִינַי וְלָא תַעְבְּדוּן מִכֹּל תּוֹעֶבְתָּא הָאִלֵין יַצִיבָא וְגִיוֹרָא דְיִתְגַיְרוּן בֵּינֵיכוֹן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְתִיטְרוּן אַתּוּן כְנִישְׁתָּא דְיִשְרָאֵל יַת קְיָימַי וְיַת סִדְרֵי דִינַי וְלָא תַעַבְדוּן חֲדָא מִכָּל תּוֹעֶבְיָא הָאִילֵין יַצִיבַיָא וְגִיוֹרַיָא דִי יִתְגַיְירוּן בֵּינֵיכוֹן

But you, O congregation of Israel, observe My statutes, and the order of My judgments, and commit not one of these abominations, neither (you who are) native born, or the strangers who sojourn among you.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Leviticus 18:26 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Lev 18:26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit [any] of these abominations; [neither] any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:

Ver. 26. Ye shall therefore keep.] Unless ye be ambitious of a like destruction. {Luk 13:3}

Ye shall therefore keep my statutes.] Or else, it will be a horrible shame to you to live in my good land, and not to live by my good laws.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Lev 18:26. Nor any stranger — In nation or religion, of what kind soever. For though they might not force them to submit to their religion, yet they might restrain them from the public contempt of the Jewish laws, and from the violation of natural laws, which, besides the offence against God and nature, were matters of evil example to the Israelites themselves.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) Ye shall therefore keep my statutes.—As the perpetration of the above named abominations entailed such disastrous consequences both to the land and to its inhabitants, the strict observance of the Divine statutes is enjoined upon all alike, whether they be Israelites by race or strangers who took up their abode amongst them and joined the Jewish community. (See Lev_17:9.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments,.... Before observed to them, whether of a ceremonial nature, and enjoined them according to his sovereign will and pleasure; or of a moral nature, and founded in justice and equity, and so worthy of their regard, and obligatory upon them; as well as in their own nature they recommended themselves to their regard, as being the reverse of those loathsome and abominable things before dehorted from:

and shall not commit any of these abominations; such as incest, adultery, idolatry, and bestiality, which are in themselves abominable things, execrable to God, and to be detested by men:

neither any of your own nation; that belonged to any of their own tribes, or should be born to them in the land of Canaan when they came thither, and were properly natives of it:

nor any stranger that sojourneth among you; any proselyte, and especially a proselyte of righteousness, who conformed to the Jewish religion, and had laid himself under obligation to do everything that was binding upon an Israelite.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Nor any stranger, in nation or religion, of what kind soever. For though they might not force them to submit to their religion, yet they might restrain them from the public contempt of the Jewish laws, and from the violation of natural laws, which besides the offence against God and nature, were matters of evil example and consequence to the Israelites themselves.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

26. The stranger in all his moral conduct must be coerced into obedience. In his speculative religious beliefs he was left free. This was three thousand years before Roger Williams. In Deu_14:21 the alien was left more at liberty in eating, and the Hebrew in selling to him the flesh of the animal that died of itself.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Nor any stranger - In nation or religion, of what kind soever. For though they might not force them to submit to their religion, yet they might restrain them from the publick contempt of the Jewish laws, and from the violation of natural laws, which, besides the offense against God and nature, were matters of evil example to the Israelites themselves.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

any of these detestable things

"any of these disgusting things"

this is the wickedness

This refers to "these detestable things."

Therefore be careful

"Therefore be careful to obey me"

so that the land does not vomit you up ... as it vomited out the people

Yahweh forcibly removing the people from the land is spoken of as if the land were a person who vomited the people out. See how you translated this metaphor in Leviticus 18:25. AT: "so that I do forcibly remove you from the land ... as I forcibly removed the people" (See: Metaphor and Personification)

translationWords

command

decree

alien

defile

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Leviticus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 15 words (14 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼezrâch (“native”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “native” (ʼezrâch) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Exodus 12:19, which shares the word «native», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֣ם» is a Qal Sequential Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 15 Hebrew ↔ 27 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 23 words in this verse.
14 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 15 words in this verse.