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23 You shall not follow the statutes (laws, practices, customs) of the nation which I am driving out before you; for they did all these things, and therefore I have loathed them. 24 But I have said to you, “You are to inherit and take possession of their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land [of plenty] [a]flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples (pagan nations). 25 You are therefore to make a distinction between the [ceremonially] clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that crawls on the ground, which I have set apart from you as unclean.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 20:24 This phrase referred to the abundant fertility of the land of Canaan. Milk (typically that of goats and sheep) was associated with abundance; “honey” referred mainly to syrups made from dates or grapes and was the epitome of sweetness. Bees’ honey was very rare and was considered the choicest of foods.

23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations(A) I am going to drive out before you.(B) Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.(C) 24 But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.”(D) I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations.(E)

25 “‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds.(F) Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those that I have set apart as unclean for you.

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