Leviticus 20:2-6

20:2 “You are to say to the Israelites, ‘Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in Israel ¹  who gives any of his children ²  to Molech ³  must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. ⁴  20:3 I myself will set my face ⁵  against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people, ⁶  because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. ⁷  20:4 If, however, the people of the land shut their eyes ⁸  to that man ⁹  when he gives some of his children to Molech so that they do not put him to death, 20:5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, ¹⁰  to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. ¹¹ 

Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums ¹² 

20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits ¹³  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face ¹⁴  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

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¹ tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”

² tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.

³ tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.

⁴ tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning (see instead סָקַל, saqal), but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (רָגָם, ragam; see HALOT 1187 s.v. רגם qal.a, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 136).

⁵ tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”

⁶ sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.

⁷ tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”

⁸ tn Heb “And if shutting [infinitive absolute] they shut [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

⁹ tn Heb “from that man” (so ASV); NASB “disregard that man.”

¹⁰ tn The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that this is not a reference to literal prostitution, but figuratively compares idolatry to prostitution.

¹¹ tn Heb “to commit harlotry after Molech.” The translation employs “worshiping” here for clarity (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.

¹² sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.

¹³ tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.

¹⁴ tn Heb “I will give my faces.”