God’s Word Translation
Leviticus 17:7
7The people must stop sacrificing to goat idols and chasing after them as though they were prostitutes. This is a permanent law for the people and for future generations.
Leviticus 17:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.
- New International Version (NIV)They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.’
- English Standard Version (ESV)So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
- New King James Version (NKJV)They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.” ’
Context of Leviticus 17:7
5⌞This means⌟ that the people of Israel must take the sacrifices they have been making in the open fields and bring them to the Lord. They must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The people will sacrifice them as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6The priest will pour the blood against the Lord’s altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He will burn the fat as a soothing aroma to the Lord. The people must stop sacrificing to goat idols and chasing after them as though they were prostitutes. This is a permanent law for the people and for future generations. 8“Tell them: If Israelites or foreigners make burnt offerings or sacrifices 9but do not bring them to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer them to the Lord, they must be excluded from the people.
Read all of Leviticus 17Leviticus 17:7 word by word
וְלֹא־יִזְבְּח֥וּ עוֹד֙ אֶת־זִבְחֵיהֶ֔ם לַשְּׂעִירִ֕ם אֲשֶׁ֛ר הֵ֥ם זֹנִ֖ים אַחֲרֵיהֶ֑ם חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָ֛ם תִּֽהְיֶה־זֹּ֥את לָהֶ֖ם לְדֹרֹתָֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And they shall no more offerזָבַחzâbach · to sacrificeH2076
- their sacrificesזֶ֫בַחzebach · sacrificeH2077
- unto devilsשָׂעִירώâ‛îyr ώâ‛ir · satyrH8163
- afterאַחַר'achar · afterH310
- whom they have gone a whoringזָנָהzânâh · to fornicateH2181
- This shall be a statuteחֻקָּהchûqqâh · statuteH2708
- for everעוֹלָם‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm · forever: enduringH5769
- unto them throughout their generationsדּוֹרdôr dôr · generationH1755
Cross-references for Leviticus 17:7
- Deuteronomy 32:17They sacrificed to demons that are not God, to gods they never heard of. These were new gods, who came from nearby, gods your ancestors never worshiped.
- 2 Chronicles 11:15Instead, Jeroboam appointed ⌞his own⌟ priests for the illegal worship sites and the goat and calf statues he had made as idols.
- Psalms 106:37They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.
- John 12:31“This world is being judged now. The ruler of this world will be thrown out now.
- John 14:30The ruler of this world has no power over me. But he’s coming, so I won’t talk with you much longer.
- 1 Corinthians 10:20Hardly! What I am saying is that these sacrifices which people make are made to demons and not to God. I don’t want you to be partners with demons.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. As a result, they don’t see the light of the Good News about Christ’s glory. It is Christ who is God’s image.
- Ephesians 2:2You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God.
- Revelation 9:20The people who survived these plagues still did not turn to me and change the way they were thinking and acting. If they had, they would have stopped worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.
- Leviticus 20:5I will condemn them and their families. I will exclude them from the people. I will exclude from the people everyone who chases after Molech as if he were a prostitute.
- Exodus 34:15Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in that land. When they chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes and sacrifice to them, they may invite you to eat the meat from their sacrifices with them.
- Deuteronomy 31:16The Lord said to Moses, “Soon you are going to lie down in death with your ancestors. When these people enter the land and are living among the foreigners there, they will chase after foreign gods as though they were prostitutes. They will abandon me and reject the promise I made to them.
- Jeremiah 3:1A saying: If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, her first husband shouldn’t go back to her again. The land would become thoroughly polluted. “You have acted like a prostitute who has many lovers. And now you want to come back to me!” declares the Lord.
- Ezekiel 23:8She continued the prostitution that she started in Egypt. When she was young, men went to bed with her, caressed her breasts, and treated her like a prostitute.
- Revelation 17:1One of the seven angels who held the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of that notorious prostitute who sits on raging waters.
Commentaries on Leviticus 17:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7They shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils - They shall not sacrifice לשעירים lasseirim, to the hairy ones, to goats. The famous heathen god, Pan, was represented as having the posteriors, horns, and ears of a goat; and the Mendesians, a people of Egypt, had a deity which they worshipped under this form. Herodotus says that all goats were worshipped in Egypt, but the he-goat particularly. It appears also that the different ape and monkey…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3-7Verses 3-7 Every domesticated animal that was slain for food was a sort of peace-offering Leviticus 17:5. This law could only be kept as long as the children of Israel dwelt in their camp in the wilderness. The restriction was removed before they settled in the holy land, where their numbers and diffusion over the country would have rendered its strict observance impossible. See Deuteronomy 12:15-16, Deuteronomy 12:20-24. Leviticus 17:4 Blood shall be…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7have prostituted themselves (Hebrew zanah, which means "commit fornication"): Israel must worship only the Lord (Exodus 20:3). Israel's covenant with the LORD was like a marriage (see Hosea 1:2). Worshiping other gods was like spiritual adultery. Many Canaanite religions were fertility cults. This verb refers to prostitution at Canaanite pagan worship shrines. They believed these acts would make the land fertile through magic rites involving sexual…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils--literally, "goats." The prohibition evidently alludes to the worship of the hirei-footed kind, such as Pan, Faunus, and Saturn, whose recognized symbol was a goat. This was a form of idolatry enthusiastically practised by the Egyptians, particularly in the nome or province of Mendes. Pan was supposed especially to preside over mountainous and desert regions, and it was while they were in the…Read the comment
Topics related to Leviticus 17:7
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Leviticus 17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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