Leviticus 18:3 You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you. You must not walk in their customs.

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◄ Leviticus 18:3 ►

New International Version
You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.

New Living Translation
So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.

English Standard Version
You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.

Berean Standard Bible
You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you. You must not walk in their customs.

King James Bible
After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

New King James Version
According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances.

New American Standard Bible
You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.

NASB 1995
‘You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.

NASB 1977
‘You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.

Legacy Standard Bible
You shall not do according to what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do according to what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.

Amplified Bible
You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, and you shall not do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes (practices, customs).

Christian Standard Bible
Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs.

American Standard Version
After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their statutes.

Contemporary English Version
So don't follow the customs of Egypt where you used to live or those of Canaan where I am bringing you.

English Revised Version
After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their statutes.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
You used to live in Egypt. Don't live the way the Egyptians do. I am bringing you to Canaan. Don't live the way the Canaanites do. Never live by their standards.

Good News Translation
Do not follow the practices of the people of Egypt, where you once lived, or of the people in the land of Canaan, where I am now taking you.

International Standard Version
You are not to do what you used to do in the land of Egypt where you lived. You are not to do what Canaan does, where I'm about to bring you, so that you live according to their statutes.

Majority Standard Bible
You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you. You must not walk in their customs.

NET Bible
You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes.

New Heart English Bible
You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived: and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; neither shall you walk in their statutes.

Webster's Bible Translation
After the doings of the land of Egypt in which ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

World English Bible
You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived. You shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
you do not do according to the work of the land of Egypt in which you have dwelt, and you do not do according to the work of the land of Canaan to where I am bringing you in, and you do not walk in their statutes.

Young's Literal Translation
according to the work of the land of Egypt in which ye have dwelt ye do not, and according to the work of the land of Canaan whither I am bringing you in, ye do not, and in their statutes ye walk not.

Smith's Literal Translation
According to the doings of the land of Egypt where ye dwelt in it, ye shall not do: and according to the doings of the land of Canaan where I brought you there, ye shall not do: and in their laws ye shall not go.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you, nor shall you walk in their ordinances.

Catholic Public Domain Version
You shall not act according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you have lived; nor shall you behave according to the habit of the region of Canaan, into which I will lead you; neither shall you walk in their ordinances.

New American Bible
You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you once lived, nor shall you do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; do not conform to their customs.

New Revised Standard Version
You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
You shall not do according to the doings of the land of Egypt wherein you dwelt, neither shall you do according to the doings of the land of Canaan whither I bring you; neither shall you walk in their ordinances.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
According to the works of the land of Egypt in which you dwelt, you will not do, and you shall not do according to the works of the land of Canaan where I have brought you and you shall not walk in their laws.

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their statutes.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Ye shall not do according to the devices of Egypt, in which ye dwelt: and according to the devices of the land of Chanaan, into which I bring you, ye shall not do; and ye shall not walk in their ordinances.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Unlawful Sexual Relations
…2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you. You must not walk in their customs. 4You are to practice My judgments and keep My statutes by walking in them. I am the LORD your God.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Exodus 23:24
You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

Deuteronomy 12:30-31
be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.” / You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

Ezekiel 20:7-8
And I said to them: ‘Each of you must throw away the abominations before his eyes, and you must not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’ / But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 10:2
This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them.

2 Kings 17:15
They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

Psalm 106:35
but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.

Deuteronomy 18:9
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? / What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? / What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” ...

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Ephesians 4:17-20
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. / They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. / Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more. ...

1 Peter 1:14-16
As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. / But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, / for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. / For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. / The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Colossians 3:5-7
Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. / Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. / When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.

Galatians 5:19-21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; / idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, / and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, / nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. / And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Treasury of Scripture

After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein you dwelled, shall you not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, where I bring you, shall you not do: neither shall you walk in their ordinances.

the doings

Psalm 106:35
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.

Ezekiel 20:7,8
Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God…

Ezekiel 23:8
Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.

and after

Leviticus 20:23
And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.

Exodus 23:24
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

Deuteronomy 12:4
Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.

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Leviticus 18

1. Unlawful marriages and unlawful lusts

Berean Study Bible

You must not follow
The Hebrew root for "follow" is "עָשָׂה" (asah), which means to do, make, or act. This command is a direct instruction from God, emphasizing the importance of obedience and the active choice to reject certain behaviors. In the context of ancient Israel, this was a call to holiness and separation from the surrounding nations. The Israelites were to be distinct, reflecting God's character rather than conforming to the world around them.

the practices of the land of Egypt
The term "practices" comes from the Hebrew "מַעֲשֶׂה" (ma'aseh), referring to deeds or actions. Egypt, where the Israelites had lived for centuries, was known for its idolatry and moral corruption. Historically, Egypt was a powerful and influential civilization, but its religious and cultural practices were contrary to the ways of Yahweh. This phrase serves as a reminder of the past bondage and the spiritual darkness from which God had delivered His people.

where you used to live
This phrase highlights the Israelites' past residency in Egypt, a place of both physical and spiritual bondage. It serves as a reminder of their former life and the transformation God intended for them. Theologically, it underscores the concept of redemption and the call to leave behind the old life of sin and embrace a new identity in God.

or follow the practices of the land of Canaan
Canaan was the land promised to the Israelites, yet it was inhabited by nations with detestable practices, including idolatry and immorality. The Hebrew word for "practices" here is the same as before, "מַעֲשֶׂה" (ma'aseh). This warning is prophetic, as God knew the temptations that lay ahead. The Canaanites' practices were an abomination to God, and Israel was to avoid them to maintain purity and fulfill their covenant relationship with Him.

to which I am bringing you
This phrase emphasizes God's sovereignty and His active role in guiding His people. The journey to Canaan was not just a physical relocation but a spiritual pilgrimage. It was a journey towards the fulfillment of God's promises. Historically, this reflects the transition from slavery to freedom, from a pagan environment to a land where they could worship Yahweh freely.

You must not walk in their customs
The Hebrew word for "walk" is "הָלַךְ" (halak), which means to go, walk, or live. This metaphorical use of "walk" implies a way of life or conduct. "Customs" comes from the Hebrew "חֻקָּה" (chuqqah), meaning statutes or ordinances. This command is a call to live according to God's laws rather than adopting the cultural norms of surrounding nations. It is a timeless principle for God's people to be in the world but not of it, maintaining a distinct identity rooted in divine truth.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) After the doings of the land of Egypt.--During their sojourn in Egypt the Israelites became familiar with the practices which obtained in the land of their bondage, and as they adopted some of them (see Leviticus 17:7), they are here solemnly warned to eschew those which are especially proscribed in the sequel.

And after the doings of the land of Canaan. The danger of imitating the customs which they had for centuries witnessed in the land they quitted, was greatly increased by the fact that these licentious practices obtained in worse forms in the land which they were to inherit. It is therefore against the past and the future that they are here warned.

Neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. As some of "the doings" referred to may have been simple custom, not based upon the law of the country where they obtained, the Lawgiver here emphatically condemns the acts which were legalised, declaring them to have no authority whatever. (See Leviticus 18:30.)

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

You shall not follow
תַעֲשׂ֑וּ (ṯa·‘ă·śū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 6213: To do, make

the practices
כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֧ה (kə·ma·‘ă·śêh)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4639: An action, a transaction, activity, a product, property

of the land
אֶֽרֶץ־ (’e·reṣ-)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of Egypt,
מִצְרַ֛יִם (miṣ·ra·yim)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4714: Egypt -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their country in Northwest Africa

where
אֲשֶׁ֥ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

you used to live,
יְשַׁבְתֶּם־ (yə·šaḇ·tem-)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 3427: To sit down, to dwell, to remain, to settle, to marry

[or]
תַעֲשׂ֔וּ (ṯa·‘ă·śū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 6213: To do, make

the practices
וּכְמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה (ū·ḵə·ma·‘ă·śêh)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4639: An action, a transaction, activity, a product, property

of the land
אֶֽרֶץ־ (’e·reṣ-)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of Canaan,
כְּנַ֡עַן (kə·na·‘an)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3667: Canaan -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their land West of the Jordan

where
אֲשֶׁ֣ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

I
אֲנִי֩ (’ă·nî)
Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

am bringing you.
מֵבִ֨יא (mê·ḇî)
Verb - Hifil - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

You must not
לֹ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

walk
תֵלֵֽכוּ׃ (ṯê·lê·ḵū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

in their customs.
וּבְחֻקֹּתֵיהֶ֖ם (ū·ḇə·ḥuq·qō·ṯê·hem)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 2708: Something prescribed, an enactment, statute

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OT Law: Leviticus 18:3 You shall not do as they do (Le Lv Lev.)