properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
statutes
חֻקֹּתַי֙chu.ko.Tai
H2708
an enactment · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
judgments
מִשְׁפָּטַ֔יmish.pa.Tai
H4941
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
which
אֲשֶׁ֨ר'a.Sher
H834
who · relative particle
man
הָאָדָ֖םha.'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
do
יַעֲשֶׂ֥הya.'a.Seh
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
live
חָיַיchâyay
H2425
to live
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Galatians 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Ezekiel 20:11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
Romans 10:5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
Ezekiel 20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a ma…
Ezekiel 20:21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, h…
Luke 10:28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
Exodus 6:2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:
Exodus 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid y…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Leviticus 18:1-5
After divers ceremonial institutions, God here returns to the enforcement of moral precepts. The former are still of use to us as types, the latter still binding as laws. We have here, 1. The sacred authority by which these laws are enacted: I am the Lord your God (Lev 18:1, Lev 18:4, Lev 18:30), and I am the Lord, Lev 18:5, Lev 18:6, Lev 18:21. "The Lord, who has a right to rule all; your God, who has a peculiar right to rule you." Jehovah is the fountain of being, and therefore the fountain of power, whose we are, whom we are bound to serve, and who is able to punish all disobedience. "Your God to whom you have consented, in whom you are happy, to whom you lie under the highest obligations…
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them--A special blessing was promised to the Israelites on condition of their obedience to the divine law; and this promise was remarkably verified at particular eras of their history, when pure and undefiled religion prevailed among them, in the public prosperity and domestic happiness enjoyed by them as a people. Obedience to the divine law always, indeed, ensures temporal advantages; and this, doubtless, was the primary meaning of the words, "which if a man do, he shall live in them." But that they had a higher reference to spiritual life is evident from the application made of them by our Lord (Luk…
The doings of the land of Egypt - the land of Canaan - The worshipping of demons, beasts, etc., as mentioned in the preceding chapter, Lev 17:7, and the abominations mentioned in this chapter from Lev 18:21-23.
John Gill on Leviticus 18:5
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments,.... The same as before; these they were to keep in their minds and memories, and to observe them and do them:
which if a man do he shall live in them; live a long life in the land of Canaan, in great happiness and prosperity, see Deuteronomy 30:20; for as for eternal life, that was never intended to be had, nor was it possible it could be had and enjoyed by obedience to the law, which fallen man is unable to keep; but is what was graciously promised and provided the covenant of grace, before the world was, to come through Christ, as a free gift to all that believe in him, see Galatians 3:11; though some Jewish writers interpret this of…
The Church Fathers
"The man who carries out the law will find life through it." Scripture did not say he will find life through it, in the sense that through the law he will live in heaven, but he will find life through it to the extent that what he merits, he reaps in the present world.
For the law promises those who practice it not the rewards of the heavenly kingdom but the consolations of this life when it says, "The one who does these things shall live in them." But the Lord says to his disciples, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
The righteousness of the law is proposed in these terms,-that whosoever shall do it shall live in it; and the purpose is, that when each has discovered his own weakness, he may not by his own strength, nor by the letter of the law (which cannot be done), but by faith, conciliating the Justifier, attain, and do, and live in it. For the work in which he who does it shall live, is not done except by one who is justified. His justification, however, is obtained by faith; and concerning faith it is written, "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring down Christ therefrom;) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is (says he), the word of faith which we preach: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." As far as he is saved, so far is he righteous.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Justification Before God · Under law: Requires perfect obedience — Under law: Requires perfect obedience
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Leviticus 18:5
5. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.
5. Custodite statuta mea, et judicia mea, quae homo si faciat, rivet in ipsis.
5. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes. Although Moses introduces this passage, where he exhorts the Israelites to cultivate chastity in respect to marriage, and not to fall into the incestuous pollutions of the Gentiles, yet, as it is a remarkable one, and contains general instruction, from whence Paul derives his definition of the righteousness of the Law, (Romans 10:5,) it seems to me to come in very appropriately here, inasmuch as it sanctions and confirms the Law by the promise…
Holiness of the Marriage Relation. - The prohibition of incest and similar sensual abominations is introduced with a general warning as to the licentious customs of the Egyptians and Canaanites, and an exhortation to walk in the judgments and ordinances of Jehovah (Lev 18:2-5), and is brought to a close with a threatening allusion to the consequences of all such defilements (Lev 18:24-30).
Lev 18:1-4
By the words, "I am Jehovah your God," which are placed at the head and repeated at the close (Lev 18:30), the observance of the command is enforced upon the people as a covenant obligation, and urged upon them most strongly by the promise, that through the observance of the ordinances and judgm…
regulations . . . decrees: The Bible anticipated that the courts would need to interpret the laws that God had provided to apply them to different circumstances. Such interpretations became case laws; the body of these court decisions was called mishpatim in Hebrew (cp. “decrees” in 10:11). • Paul alludes to these verses in Rom 10:5 and Gal 3:12, where he contrasts the “way of faith” with the “way of law.”
Rashi on Leviticus 18:5
'ושמרתם את חקתי וגו YE SHALL THEREFORE KEEP MY ORDINANCES — [This is not a mere repetition of v. 4 but is intended] to include other details of the laws mentioned in this chapter which Scripture does not expressly mention. Another explanation is: Scripture makes this repetition in order to attach the commands of “observing" (שמירה) and "performing" (עשיה) to the חוקים, and the commands of שמירה and עשיה to the משפטים, for in v. 4 it uses the term עשיה only in connection with the משפטים, and that of שמירה only with reference to the חוקים (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 8 10).
וחי בהם means, THAT HE SHALL LIVE THROUGH THEM in the world to come (eternal life). For if you say it means that he sha…
