Leviticus 20:26 (KJV)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Leviticus 20:24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.

Leviticus 20:25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

Leviticus 20:26 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.

Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "holy", "lord", "severed", "other", "people", and "should". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "holy", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 25's "Ye shall therefore put difference between clean..." into verse 27's "A man also or woman that hath...", so "shall" and "holy" belong inside that flow. In Leviticus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "holy" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.