Leviticus 18:3
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.
Open Leviticus 18:3 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- juxta consuetudinem terræ Ægypti, in qua habitastis, non facietis : et juxta morem regionis Chanaan, ad quam ego introducturus sum vos, non agetis, nec in legitimis eorum ambulabitis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- κατὰ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἐν ᾗ κατοικήσατε ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ, οὐ ποιηθήσεται· καὶ κατὰ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα γῆς Χανάαν, εἰς ἣν ἐγὼ εἰσάγω ὑμᾶς ἐκεῖ, οὐ ποιήσετε, καὶ τοῖς νομίμοις αὐτῶν οὐ πορεύσεσθε.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֧ה אֶֽרֶץ מִצְרַ֛יִם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יְשַׁבְתֶּם בָּ֖הּ לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ וּכְמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה אֶֽרֶץ כְּנַ֡עַן אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲנִי֩ מֵבִ֨יא אֶתְכֶ֥ם שָׁ֨מָּה֙ לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֔וּ וּבְחֻקֹּתֵיהֶ֖ם לֹ֥א תֵלֵֽכוּ
Haydock's commentary
Ordinances respecting marriages, divine worship, &c. (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
Clement of Alexandria The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Chapter X. To What the Philosopher Applies Himself
These three things, therefore, our philosopher attaches himself to: first, speculation; second, the performance of the precepts; third, the forming of good men; which, concurring, form the Gnostic. Whichever of these is wanting, the elements of knowledge limp. Whence the Scripture divinely says, “And the Lord spake to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, I am the Lord your God. According to the customs of the land of Egypt, in which ye have dwelt, ye shall not do; and according to the customs of Canaan, into which I bring you, ye shall not do; and in their usages ye shall not walk. Ye shall perform My judgments, and keep My precepts, and walk in them: I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep all My commandments, and do them. He that doeth them shall live in them. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CV
17. The following verses, which are sung in praise of Him when Allelujah is chanted, show how He used this hatred of theirs, both for the trial of His own people, and for the glory of His Name, which is profitable for us. “He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen him ” ( ver. 26 ). “Whom He had chosen,” would be sufficient; but there is no difficulty in the addition of “him.” It is a phrase of Scripture, as, “The land in which they shall dwell in it:” a phrase which the divine pages are full of.
St Basil The Letters, To Diodorus
3. It is written, he says, in Leviticus “Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time .” From this it is plain, he argues, that it is lawful to take her when the wife is dead. To this my first answer shall be, that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law; otherwise we shall be subject to circumcision, the sabbath, abstinence from meats. For we certainly must not, when we find anything which falls in with our pleasures, subject ourselves to the yoke of slavery to the law; and then, if anything in the law seems hard, have recourse to the freedom which is in Christ. We have been asked if it is written that one may be taken to wife after her sister. Let us say what is safe and true, that it is not written. …