What Does Leviticus 18:2 Mean in the King James?

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 18:2 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Before any instruction follows, the speaker names himself as the LORD your God.

THE MEANING

Here, the verse meets you with a claim of relationship: the one speaking is named as the LORD, your God. What follows is spoken from that declared belonging, not from an unnamed authority. The name carries a sense of living presence.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that the voice behind the instruction is distant and impersonal; the verse calls the speaker “your God.”

THE ROOT

יהוה

YHWH

GROWS FROM

היה

h-y-h

Be, become, or come to be; ⁨יהוה⁩ (YHWH) is often connected with this root, though its precise etymology is debated.

English “LORD” preserves the title but conceals the personal name ⁨יהוה⁩ (YHWH), often connected with ⁨היה⁩ (hayah, “be” or “become”). The name’s echo of living presence stands beside “your God,” making the verse’s claim both about who speaks and about relationship.

ALSO GROWS

hayah: Be, become, or come to be.

הָיָה

This verb supplies the being-language often associated with the divine name.

ehyeh: I am or I will be.

אֶהְיֶה

This first-person form appears in Exodus 3:14, where the name is opened through a declaration of presence.

THE PATTERN

Instruction is grounded in the speaker’s declared identity and relationship.

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exodus 20:2 · KJVThe command that follows is grounded in the speaker naming himself and recalling deliverance.

Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.

Leviticus 19:2 · KJVThe call is anchored in the speaker’s own named character.

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:16 · KJVThe call to holiness again rests on the identity of the one speaking.

THE THREAD

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Exodus 3:14 · KJV

Exodus gives a first-person echo of the being-language often connected with ⁨יהוה⁩ (YHWH). Leviticus speaks that name as a present relationship: the one who says “I AM” is also named here as “your God.”

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