Leviticus 17:7
And they shall no more sacrifice their victims to devils, with whom they have committed fornication. It shall be an ordinance for ever to them and to their posterity.
Open Leviticus 17:7 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et nequaquam ultra immolabunt hostias suas dæmonibus, cum quibus fornicati sunt. Legitimum sempiternum erit illis et posteris eorum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ οὐ θύσουσιν ἔτι τὰς θυσίας αὐτῶν τοῖς ματαίοις, οἷς αὐτοὶ ἐκπορνεύουσιν ὀπίσω αὐτῶν· νόμιμον αἰώνιον ἔσται ὑμῖν εἰς τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְלֹא יִזְבְּח֥וּ עוֹד֙ אֶת זִבְחֵיהֶ֔ם לַשְּׂעִירִ֕ם אֲשֶׁ֛ר הֵ֥ם זֹנִ֖ים אַחֲרֵיהֶ֑ם חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָ֛ם תִּֽהְיֶה זֹּ֥את לָהֶ֖ם לְדֹרֹתָֽם
Haydock's commentary
Devils. Hebrew sehirim: which some translate goats, (the hairy ones,) satyrs, &c. The Egyptians adored the goat, (which they represented like the god Pan) particularly in the territory of Mendes, near which the Hebrews had dwelt. Its worship was very abominable and obscene. (Strabo xvii.) (Calmet)
Ezechiel (xvi. 22,) intimates, that the Hebrews were given to idolatry in Egypt. They had also recently adored the calf. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian An Answer to the Jews, Of Sacrifices
So, again, we show that sacrifices of earthly oblations and of spiritual sacrifices were predicted; and, moreover, that from the beginning the earthly were foreshown, in the person of Cain, to be those of the “elder son,” that is, of Israel; and the opposite sacrifices demonstrated to be those of the “younger son,” Abel, that is, of our people. For the elder, Cain, offered gifts to God from the fruit of the earth; but the younger son, Abel, from the fruit of his ewes. “God had respect unto Abel, and unto his gifts; but unto Cain and unto his gifts He had not respect. And God said unto Cain, Why is thy countenance fallen? hast thou not, if thou offerest indeed aright, but dost not divide aright, sinned? Hold thy peace. For unto thee shalt thy conversion be and he shall lord it over thee. …