What is Leviticus 27:29 talking about? And why are we talking about this verse? Let’s examine and expose the Truth of God in God’s Word.

First, what does Leviticus 27:29 say?

“‘No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; they are to be put to death.”

The false accusation: mockers claim a) God is sanctioning human sacrifice, and b) God is unfair by sentencing a person to death who has devoted themselves to the Lord.

The truth in context: This verse is not referencing a devotee of the Lord, rather it is a person to whom the Lord has devoted to the sentence of death. This is anyone who has had the sentence of death due to being found guilty of certain sins against the Lord. Verses taken out of context lead to wholly different understandings and dangerous assumptions.

Is this verse commanding human sacrifice?

No, this verse — and others like it — are neither commanding nor condoning human sacrifice.

And, no, Jephthah’s daughter was not sacrificed unto death. Her sacrifice was never to marry.

Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac to God as a test, and was told beforehand that Isaac would live. Isaac had to live because God said He would fulfill His promise through Isaac, and Abraham believed the Lord.

All of these saints knew the character of God, that He was not like the pagans who demanded human sacrifice.

God required animal sacrifices, and only to teach His people that a sacrifice was required for the forgiveness of sin. But note, he never asked them to sacrifice a human. Those animal sacrifices were pointing to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who voluntarily went to the Cross to die and pay the price for our sins.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A brutal, but beautiful, truth

Jesus was the once-for-all sacrifice for all of humanity and all sin. God didn’t ask anyone else be a human sacrifice, and no one else could’ve done what He accomplished.

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What is Numbers 5:19-21 talking about? And why are we talking about this verse? Let’s examine and expose the Truth of God in God’s Word.

First, what does Numbers 5:19-21 say?

“Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— here the priest is to put the woman under this curse —“may the LORD cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell.“

The false accusation: mockers claim a) God is sanctioning abortion, and/or b) is unjust in punishing the child for the sins of the adulterers.

The truth in context: This passage actually points to a curse of infertility for violating the marriage covenant — the consequences of a wife’s adultery, not a sanctioned miscarriage or elective abortion. Even if divine miscarriage, God alone has the power to give and take life.

Is this about abortion or miscarriage?

This verse is dealing with the consequences of a wife having adulterous sexual relations with another man — an affair, and concealing it from her husband. But atheists and pro-abortionists try to use it to accuse God and claim abortion is condoned by God.

Nowhere in these verses is elective abortion by a mother or father condoned. Furthermore, it is not clear that this is a miscarriage, since only a few translations use the word miscarry. The context better fits a curse of infertility or barrenness for having despised God’s laws and the holy covenant of marriage between a husband and wife.

The vast majority of translations (ESV, NKJV, KJV, NASB, Young’s Literal, etc.) say nothing of miscarriage. Only the NIV (and lesser recognized REB, and NEB) use miscarriage language, which is not explicit in the Hebrew text.

Translations suggesting “infertility”

ESV — the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your body swell.

NLT — he makes you infertile, causing your womb to shrivel and your abdomen to swell

CSB — he makes your womb shrivel and your belly swell.

KJV — the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell

NKJV — the LORD makes your thigh rot and your belly swell

MSG — he makes your womb shrivel and your belly swell.

NASB — the LORD’S making your thigh shriveled and your belly swollen

NET — the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell

AMP — the LORD makes your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell

GNV — the Lord cause thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell

HCSB — when He makes your thigh^[a] shrivel and your belly swell. (a. Possibly a euphemism for the reproductive organs)

YLT — Jehovah’s giving thy thigh to fall, and thy belly to swell,

WYC — the Lord make thine hip to wax rotten, and thy womb (to) swell, and be it broken (as in infertile)

Translations suggesting “miscarriage”

NIV — he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell.

CEB — the LORD induces a miscarriage and your womb discharges

VOICE — because you will have a miscarriage[a] and your belly will swell (a. Literally, thigh to fall away)

What if the penalty is actually miscarriage?

But even if this text is referring to a miscarriage, it is a judgment from God — a consequence of sin, and God has the right to take any life He chooses. The difference between abortion and a divinely decreed premature birth is significant. We do not have the right to take innocent life, even the life of the pre-born babies. But God has every right, since He is the Creator of all things, and Judge over all.

Furthermore, the baby, taken early, would not have his or her mother’s sin on themselves. God would take care of and nurture the baby in Heaven.

Children have been taken to God early as a punishment to the parents. In King David’s case, when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and even murdered her husband, Uriah, to cover up his crime, the Lord’s judgment included taking the life of the child:

2 Samuel 12:13-15

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die.”
After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.

This proves that children — even children born out of wedlock — are blessings to the Lord and the parents. God warns over and over that blessings follow and overtake those who walk with Him in humility, but curses will follow and overtake those who show utter contempt for the Lord.

Hope after habitual sin

It is important to remember that, while David lost the blessing of seeing his son grow up, he was forgiven by the Lord. You, too, can be forgiven by God through the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Simply confess your sins, draw near to Him, ask to be forgiven and the Lord will forgive you, completely!

Look at this wonderful promise:

1 John 1:9 – 2:2
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

What is the goal?

Sometimes a question about this verse is innocent and well-meaning, where a new Christian wants to understand God’s character against the backdrop of a permissive culture. Tough, heart to understand verses present themselves to believers, and it is natural to wrestle with them, but with the knowledge of God’s sovereignty and goodness guiding our desire to know the answer.

Other times, it is the spirit of antiChrist rising up against Christ, His Word, and the Church with something like “God is evil and unloving… what do you say about Lev. 27:29?”. Or when defending the lives of the unborn and repudiating the abortion acceptance cult following today — which is cheering the elective act of murdering children inside the womb, someone will point to verses like Numbers 5:19-21 and say, “See, even God isn’t against abortion!”.

Steal, Kill, and Destroy

John 10:10
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The enemies of God war against the Church using two strategies:

1. to deny the goodness of God, and
2. to deny the truth of God’s Word, the Bible.

The first premise is to insult or curse God, calling Him evil and unloving. This is an “in-your-face” attack, and often used to try to destroy a Christian’s faith by sowing doubt.

The second premise is to twist the scriptures or character of God, claiming God is permissive of sin or actually approves of sin (though they are packaging the behavior as not sinful), to try to deceive Christian’s into accepting sinful behavior while still claiming to be a Christian.

Both premises are false and in error. And you will see that God is neither evil, nor sinful, nor unloving, nor unjust. He is, however, very conditionally angry at times (the Bible uses the word “wrathful” – an overflow of fuming wrath) toward certain humans for specific and just reasons.

The Promise and Fulfillment of Love

It is precisely because of God’s love that his anger and justice are so fierce and swift. A loving God will not indefinitely allow evil to go unpunished. Yet, in the meantime, He has made a way to escape His wrath and just condemnation we all deserve. You can be fully pardoned of your sin, fully forgiven, and fully accepted by your Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross.

He must punish sin, and the soul that sins dies†. But the good news (the gospel) is that Jesus Christ died in your place on the Cross, taking your sin upon Himself. Therefore, God can fully forgive you since Jesus paid the price for those sins in full!

Praise Him! Proclaim Jesus is Lord and Savior. And begin to follow Him, and you will have eternal life!

The Power of His Promises

To my fellow brothers and sisters: Jesus Christ is faithful to establish you who cling to Him and hope in Him. Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy, deceptively designed to steal, kill, and destroy your faith and future with the Lord. Stay faithful! Study to show yourself approved. And keep yourselves in the love of Christ, Who has promised this:

Jude 1:24-25
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

† Deut. 14:16, Ezek. 18:4, 20

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What is Deuteronomy 22:22 talking about? And why are we talking about this verse? Let’s examine and expose the Truth of God in God’s Word.

First, what does Deuteronomy 22:22 say?

“If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.”

The false accusation: mockers claim a) God is evil for sentencing adulterers to death just for having sexual relations, and/or b) God is unjust by sentencing a woman to death, who they erroneously claim has been raped.

The truth in context: The woman in this verse was not raped. She showed utter contempt for God’s laws and for her husband and their marital covenant. The penalty for willfully breaking God’s laws is death. Rape is actually addressed in verse 23, mercifully sparing women who have been raped, while punishing the rapist.

Is this really a woman being raped?

This verse is dealing with a mutually consensual man having adulterous sexual relations with a married woman — an affair. Now, this verse alone does not give enough context, and that is often the problem: verses taken out of context lead to wholly different understandings and dangerous assumptions.

The surrounding context is dealing with sexual immorality according to God’s laws, and shows that there are multiple scenarios such as:

1. v22 — a mutually consensual adulterous affair (cheating, infidelity). This is the reason both are sentenced to death: they both willingly broke God’s law, sinning against God and sinning against the woman’s husband.
2. v23 — accommodations and justice from rape. The wife could have said no to the affair, and if the man forced himself on her, she would’ve been found innocent if she yelled and resisted to sexual assault. In this case, only the man would’ve been sentenced to death, according to God’s law.
3. v18-20 — virginity / fornication. In v18, if the man claims his new wife is not a virgin but was lying, he is punished. If the woman is lying and actually had sex before being married, she is sentenced to death.

Why is this is even an issue, though?

Why do some raise this verse as an objection to the Bible or to believing in God?

Because of sin, rebellion against Christ, and a desire by some to do what is pleasing in their own eyes. Frankly, we live is such a debauched culture, where affairs, pre-marital sex, and all other manner of sexual immorality are not only accepted but applauded, that it’s hard to imagine that these activities bring a death sentence from God. But that is the truth. Sexual immorality is a dire sin, and is very displeasing to God. And without Christ, the person who has even once committed adultery, even in their heart, has sinned and will face eternal judgment from Christ.

Sexual Immorality is Forbidden Forever

If you think this is just Old Testament, listen to the apostle Paul:

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Hope for the Sexually Immoral

Does that seem unfair or harsh to you? The fact is that the wages of sin is death. That is precisely why Jesus had to die on the Cross for our sins. Because everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we could only be spared from death by a substitutionary death — the death of a perfectly obedient Savior.

The Lord Jesus Christ died for you to save you!

But isn’t God merciful and gracious, you might ask? Of course! God gives grace, though, to the humble, to those who confess and forsake their sin (repent) and start following Jesus. For those who continue in their sin as though it’s not serious, will receive wrath and indignation from a Holy God.

Living for the Lord is to glorify your body, glorify your sexual life, and glorify your relationships — to please the Lord and live according to His original plan of Creation. Begin living for Him in all your ways and thoughts, especially in the area of sexuality. God is very pro-sex, but only within a marriage between a man and woman.

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