Leviticus 20:1-5, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Leviticus 20:1-5
Molech child-giving brings communal and divine judgment
Giving offspring to Molech is treated as public bloodshed
Any of Israel or of the strangers who gives of his seed unto Molech is to be put to death; the people of the land are to stone him. God also sets his face against that man and cuts him off, because he has defiled the sanctuary and profaned the holy name.
The act in view is offering a child to Molech. The law names that as grave harm, not as a metaphor for ordinary parenting or for later religious disagreement.
A community that hides its eyes is also judged
If the people hide their eyes from the man when he gives his seed to Molech and do not kill him, God still sets his face against that man and his family, and against all who go a whoring after him, to cut them off.
Refusal to notice child destruction is itself condemned. That communal charge is not a warrant for mobs, religious vigilantism, or accusations without evidence. Protecting children requires truth, process, and refusal of spectacle.
How this should shape us
Defend children from being used in anyone's worship, ideology, or household power. Do not look away from credible harm, and do not let horror at child sacrifice become an excuse for unaccountable violence.
Teach it back
Explain Leviticus 20:1-5 in your own words. Include its ritual, legal, narrative, or calendar movement; one source-supported detail; one uncertainty; and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree over Priestly and Holiness composition, legal scope, ancient enforcement, kinship structures, sexual acts and rationales, moral versus ritual categories, resident-outside status, and how Jews and Christians should reason from these texts today. Material alternatives are stated without pretending the ethical stakes disappear.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Leviticus 20:1-5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 20:1-5
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 20:1-5
Supports: Open critical orientation to Day of Atonement, holiness, social law, calendar, land, release, covenant, and final valuations.
Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 2,' complete guide sections on Leviticus 16, the Holiness Code, love of neighbor, festivals, land, covenant, and vows, applied to Leviticus 20:1-5
Supports: One prominent contextual reading of the male-male prohibitions, preserved as a material interpretation rather than declared consensus.
Nissinen, 'It's About Masculinity, Not Homosexuality,' complete article sections on Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Hebrew wording, ancient masculinity, and reception limits
Supports: A different critical model that treats Torah as legally polyphonic; it preserves denominational and compositional disagreement rather than deciding contemporary ethics by concealment.
Frankel, 'Male Homosexual Intercourse Is Prohibited - In One Part of the Torah,' complete source-critical comparison of Leviticus 18, 20, Priestly texts, and Deuteronomy
Supports: Primary Jewish reception evidence showing later legal restriction and disagreement around capital punishment; it does not erase Leviticus's penalties.
Mishnah Makkot 1:10, complete unit in Hebrew and English on a Sanhedrin executing once in seven or seventy years and the preserved rabbinic disagreement
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Leviticus 20:1-5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Leviticus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 20:1-5
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Leviticus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2025-12-31
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 20:1-5
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Leviticus Part 2: Day of Atonement, Holiness Code, and Love of Neighbor
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Open critical orientation to Day of Atonement, holiness, social law, calendar, land, release, covenant, and final valuations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 2,' complete guide sections on Leviticus 16, the Holiness Code, love of neighbor, festivals, land, covenant, and vows, applied to Leviticus 20:1-5
Open source ↗modern scholarly open ancient sexuality study
It's About Masculinity, Not Homosexuality
Martti Nissinen
TheTorah.com, 2024
Supports: One prominent contextual reading of the male-male prohibitions, preserved as a material interpretation rather than declared consensus.
Exact location: Nissinen, 'It's About Masculinity, Not Homosexuality,' complete article sections on Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Hebrew wording, ancient masculinity, and reception limits
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open polyphonic reading
Male Homosexual Intercourse Is Prohibited - In One Part of the Torah
David Frankel
TheTorah.com, 2017
Supports: A different critical model that treats Torah as legally polyphonic; it preserves denominational and compositional disagreement rather than deciding contemporary ethics by concealment.
Exact location: Frankel, 'Male Homosexual Intercourse Is Prohibited - In One Part of the Torah,' complete source-critical comparison of Leviticus 18, 20, Priestly texts, and Deuteronomy
Open source ↗primary rabbinic legal reception text
Mishnah Makkot 1:10
Mishnah; digital Hebrew and English presentation by Sefaria
Sefaria, early rabbinic text; current digital presentation
Supports: Primary Jewish reception evidence showing later legal restriction and disagreement around capital punishment; it does not erase Leviticus's penalties.
Exact location: Mishnah Makkot 1:10, complete unit in Hebrew and English on a Sanhedrin executing once in seven or seventy years and the preserved rabbinic disagreement
Open source ↗modern christian scholarly handbook chapter abstract
Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism
Philip Church
The Oxford Handbook of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Exact location: Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Open source ↗