What Does Leviticus 20:26 Mean?
And you shall be set apart to me, for I, the LORD, am set apart, and I have separated you from the peoples, that you shall be mine.
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
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.THE KEY
Holiness and separation are one movement here: you are set apart because you belong to the One who is set apart.
THE MEANING
Your identity is tied to God’s own set-apart nature and to God’s act of distinguishing you as his. The verse locates holiness in belonging: you are set apart unto the LORD, who is set apart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being set apart begins with self-invention: the verse grounds it in God’s act of distinguishing you for belonging.
THE ROOT
קְדֹשִׁים
qedoshim
GROWS FROM
קדש
Q-D-Sh
set apart, consecrate
The same root names both the LORD’s character and the people’s status, so the verse locates their set-apartness in belonging to the One who is set apart. Its family also names qodesh (what is set apart) and miqdash (a sanctuary), extending the idea from identity to a space marked for God.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: set-apartness; something set apart
קֹדֶשׁ
This noun shows the root naming a status or designation, not simply an inner feeling.
miqdash: sanctuary; sacred place
מִקְדָּשׁ
The same root names a space marked for God, illuminating the verse’s claim that this people is marked as God’s own.
וָאַבְדִּל
va'avdil
GROWS FROM
בדל
B-D-L
divide, separate, distinguish
“separated you” in this verse is va'avdil. The verse does not leave being set apart abstract: it says God has distinguished you from other peoples so that you may belong to him. This root can also describe separating light from darkness, so distinction here is an act that marks what belongs where.
ALSO GROWS
vayavdel: and he separated
וַיַּבְדֵּל
In Genesis 1:4 this same verb marks the distinction between light and darkness; here it marks the people as belonging to God.
lehavdil: to distinguish; to separate
לְהַבְדִּיל
In Leviticus 10:10 this verb names distinguishing between the set-apart and the common; here distinction names the people’s belonging.
THE PATTERN
Set-apartness takes its shape from God’s own character and becomes a belonging visible in the people God claims.
Now therefore, if you will truly hear and respond to my voice, and guard my covenant, then you shall be my own treasure from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.but as the one who called you is set apart, you also become set apart in all your walk.THE THREAD
For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. Therefore be set apart, for I am set apart.Both verses use the Hebrew root קדש (Q-D-Sh) for the LORD’s set-apart nature and the people’s set-apart identity. This verse adds that being brought out precedes being named holy and belonging to God.
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