What Does Leviticus 20:2 Mean?
And say to the children of Israel, whoever of the children of Israel, or of the sojourners who sojourn in Israel, gives any of his seed to Molech, shall surely die. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.THE KEY
The verse sets two transfers side by side: a person hands over their offspring to Molech, then the people of the land stone that person to death.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks a severe boundary: anyone among Israel, including a stranger living there, who gives offspring to Molech is sentenced to death. It assigns the stoning to the people of the land, holding the child’s handover and the community’s lethal response in the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It overturns the claim that devotion to a god makes a child available for sacrifice: the child’s life is not the giver’s to surrender.
THE ROOT
זַרְעוֹ
zarʿo
GROWS FROM
זרע
z-r-ʿ
To sow; seed or offspring
The verse says a person gives from his zeraʿ, a word that holds seed and offspring together. The threatened child is named through the language of what carries life forward, not as an abstract possession.
ALSO GROWS
zeraʿ: Seed, descendants, or offspring
זֶרַע
This is the word used for what the person gives to Molech, keeping the child and the continuation of life in the same image.
zāraʿ: To sow seed
זָרַע
The verb grows from the same root: the verse’s word for offspring carries the same seed-language as the act of sowing.
יִתֵּן
yitten
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place
“giveth” in this verse is yitten. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of giving or placing. The wording makes the act a transfer: offspring are handed over to Molech, and the giver is then subjected to the land’s lethal sentence.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: A gift or present
מַתָּנָה
This related noun shows the root’s sense of something given; here, the object of the transfer is a person’s offspring.
natan: To give, place, or set
נָתַן
The verb’s range makes the handover concrete: the offspring are placed under Molech’s claim.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names offering children to other gods as violence that stains the people and the land.
You shall not do so to the LORD your God, for every recoiling thing to the LORD, which he hates, they have done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burned in the fire to their gods.And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it rise up into my heart.They slaughtered their sons and their daughters to the demons. They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they slaughtered to the idols of Canaan, and the land was stained with blood.THE THREAD
Do not give any of your seed to pass through the fire to Molech, and do not pierce the nature of your God. I am the LORD.This verse repeats the same seed-word, זֶרַע (zeraʿ, seed or offspring), and the same give-word, נתן (natan, give or place). The shared wording reveals the act at the center of the command: a person places their offspring into Molech’s claim.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us