Leviticus 20:4 kjv
And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:
Leviticus 20:4 nkjv
And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him,
Leviticus 20:4 niv
If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death,
Leviticus 20:4 esv
And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,
Leviticus 20:4 nlt
And if the people of the community ignore those who offer their children to Molech and refuse to execute them,
Leviticus 20 4 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Deut 12:31 | "You must not worship the Lord your God in their way...they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods." | Abhorrent pagan child sacrifice. |
| Deut 18:10 | "There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering..." | Explicit prohibition of child sacrifice. |
| 2 Kgs 16:3 | "He walked in the way of the kings of Israel...even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations." | Israelite kings engaging in child sacrifice. |
| 2 Kgs 17:17 | "They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire..." | Result of turning from God to idolatry. |
| 2 Kgs 21:6 | "And he made his son pass through the fire..." | Manasseh's egregious sins. |
| Jer 7:31 | "And they have built the high places of Topheth...to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire." | Child sacrifice linked to divine judgment on Judah. |
| Jer 32:35 | "They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech." | Molech worship as extreme idolatry. |
| Eze 16:20-21 | "You took your sons and your daughters...and you sacrificed them to them as food." | God's horror at covenant breaking and child sacrifice. |
| Ps 106:37-38 | "They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons...and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters." | Condemnation of child sacrifice, linking it to demonic worship. |
| Deut 13:12-18 | Laws concerning an apostate city, demanding collective action to destroy it. | Collective responsibility for rooting out evil. |
| Deut 21:1-9 | Ritual for unsolved murder, where the whole community makes atonement to cleanse guilt from the land. | Communal defilement and need for purification. |
| Josh 7:1, 10-13 | Achan's sin causing Israel's defeat, bringing guilt on the entire community until the sin is purged. | Single person's sin affects the entire community. |
| 1 Cor 5:1-2 | "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality...And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn and to remove the man who has done this thing from among you?" | New Testament principle of expelling unrepentant sin from the community. |
| 1 Cor 5:6-7 | "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven..." | Sin spreads like leaven if not dealt with. |
| 1 Cor 5:13 | "God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'" | Exhortation to remove unrighteousness from the church. |
| Rom 1:32 | "Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." | Guilt extended to those who approve of wicked deeds. |
| Deut 16:18-20 | Commandment for righteous judges to establish justice and remove evil. | Mandate for proper judicial process. |
| Prov 29:26 | "Many seek the ruler's favor, but justice comes from the LORD." | Human authority must align with divine justice. |
| Rom 13:3-4 | "For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good...for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain." | Government's role to punish evil. |
| Matt 23:23 | "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe...but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness." | Emphasis on justice as a primary commandment. |
| Lv 18:24-25 | "Do not defile yourselves...for by all these the nations whom I am driving out before you have defiled themselves...and the land became defiled, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants." | Unpunished sin defiles the land and leads to judgment. |
| Lv 26:14-17 | Consequences of disobedience to God's commandments, including plagues and defeat. | Warnings against failure to obey divine law. |
Leviticus 20 verses
Leviticus 20 4 Meaning
Leviticus 20:4 establishes a grave principle of corporate responsibility: if the Israelite community, "the people of the land," intentionally disregards or "hides their eyes" from an individual's horrifying act of sacrificing a child to Molech, and fails to carry out the commanded death penalty for this transgression, then the entire community becomes complicit in the sin. Their collective inaction and negligence in upholding God's justice leads to their own defilement and brings them under divine judgment alongside the perpetrator.
Leviticus 20 4 Context
Leviticus 20 is situated within the "Holiness Code" (chapters 17-26), a section emphasizing the requirements for Israel to live as a holy people set apart for Yahweh. Following chapter 19's general principles of holiness, chapter 20 specifically details severe penalties, often capital punishment, for actions that violate the covenant and defile the community. Verses 1-5 particularly address the heinous practice of offering children to Molech, stressing the defilement this act brings upon God's name, His sanctuary, and the land itself. Verse 4 extends the judgment from the individual perpetrator (as in verses 2-3) to the collective "people of the land" if they, through inaction or negligence, fail to uphold divine justice by punishing the offender. This highlights Israel's corporate responsibility in maintaining covenant purity and shows that communal apathy to grave sin is itself a serious transgression against God.
Leviticus 20 4 Word analysis
And if (
Wĕ-’im): This conjunction introduces a conditional clause, linking back to the previously stated prohibition and punishment. It signifies an alternative scenario or consequence based on a failure of collective responsibility.the people of the land (
‘am hā-’ā·rets): This Hebrew phrase refers to the collective body of citizens or the general populace of Israel, not just specific leaders or officials. It emphasizes that upholding God's laws is a shared, communal responsibility, underscoring the concept of corporate accountability within the covenant.do at all hide (
ha‘·lêm ta‘·lîmû): This is a powerful Hebrew idiomatic expression using the infinitive absolute before the verb ("to hide, they indeed hide" or "they absolutely hide"). It denotes not merely passive ignorance, but a deliberate, intentional act of overlooking, condoning, or pretending not to see a severe transgression. It implies willful negligence and complicity by omission.their eyes (
‘ê·nê·hem): This forms part of the idiom "to hide their eyes," meaning to turn a blind eye, refuse to acknowledge, or purposely ignore a situation that demands action.from the man: This refers to the perpetrator described in Leviticus 20:2, the one who gives his child to Molech.
when he gives any of his children to Molech: This re-states the specific, abhorrent crime mentioned in the preceding verses. Molech worship involved sacrificing children by fire, a practice God explicitly prohibited and considered an abomination, directly contrasting with His nature as a life-giver and demanding ultimate devotion. This act also defiled God's sanctuary and profaned His holy name (Lv 20:3).
and kill him not: This refers to the failure to carry out the divinely mandated capital punishment (stoning, as prescribed in Lv 20:2) for child sacrifice. This omission of justice means the community permits evil to remain unpunished among them, thus inviting God's judgment.
Words-group analysis:
- "And if the people of the land do at all hide their eyes": This phrase underlines the communal responsibility for maintaining the sanctity of the covenant. The deliberate failure of the populace to confront and act against a heinous sin is presented as a severe transgression itself, turning their inaction into active complicity and shared guilt. It suggests that upholding justice is a collective mandate, not just an individual or leadership duty.
- "from the man, when he gives any of his children to Molech, and kill him not": This clearly specifies both the monstrous crime being ignored and the corresponding failure of justice. The failure to execute the prescribed judgment for child sacrifice results in the unpurged defilement remaining within the community, thus incurring God's wrath upon the entire nation.
Leviticus 20 4 Bonus section
- The principle of corporate responsibility found in this verse echoes throughout the Old Testament, where the sin of an individual could bring repercussions upon the whole community if not properly addressed (e.g., Achan's sin in Joshua 7).
- This divine mandate for the community to act underscores God's deep abhorrence for human sacrifice, which was a pervasive and often culturally normalized practice in surrounding Canaanite societies. God demanded radical distinction from these practices for His people.
- The ultimate consequence of such collective negligence (God setting His face against that person and his family, and cutting him off from the people in Lv 20:5) reveals God's unyielding commitment to the holiness of His covenant community and land, even when human instruments of justice fail.
- This teaching carries spiritual implications for believers today, reminding us of the importance of addressing sin within the community of faith, not condoning it through silence or inaction (1 Cor 5).
Leviticus 20 4 Commentary
Leviticus 20:4 acts as a potent warning against communal apathy and the corrosive effect of judicial negligence within God's covenant people. The verse establishes that tolerating heinous sin like child sacrifice by turning a blind eye – signified by "hiding their eyes" – is not mere passivity but an active form of complicity. This communal failure to administer the prescribed divine justice means the entire nation shares the guilt, leading to collective defilement and drawing the severe hand of God's judgment upon themselves (Lv 20:5). It highlights that maintaining corporate holiness requires not just individual obedience, but also a collective zeal for justice and a willingness to confront and purge evil from their midst, reflecting God's absolute demand for holiness.