Leviticus 18
18
1And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am Jehovah your God. 3After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their statutes. 4Mine ordinances shall ye do, and my statutes shall ye keep, to walk therein: I am Jehovah your God. 5Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and mine ordinances; which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am Jehovah.
6None of you shall approach to any that are near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am Jehovah. 7The nakedness of thy father, even the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. 8The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover; it is thy father’s nakedness. 9The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or the daughter of thy mother, whether born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover. 10The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness. 11The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. 12Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman. 13Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman. 14Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt. 15Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter-in-law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. 16Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness. 17Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter; thou shalt not take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; they are near kinswomen: it is wickedness. 18And thou shalt not take a wife to her sister, to be a rival to her, to uncover her nakedness, besides the other in her life-time.
19And thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness. 20And thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbor’s wife, to defile thyself with her. 21And thou shalt not give any of thy seed to make them pass through the fire to Molech; neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am Jehovah. 22Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 23And thou shalt not lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith; neither shall any woman stand before a beast, to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
24Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out from before you; 25and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land vomiteth out her inhabitants. 26Ye therefore shall keep my statutes and mine ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the home-born, nor the stranger that sojourneth among you 27(for all these abominations have the men of the land done, that were before you, and the land is defiled); 28that the land vomit not you out also, when ye defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29For whosoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30Therefore shall ye keep my charge, that ye practise not any of these abominable customs, which were practised before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am Jehovah your God.
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Leviticus 18: ASV
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Leviticus 18
18
Laws Concerning Sexual Behavior. 1The Lord said to Moses: 2Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I, the Lord, am your God.#I, the Lord, am your God: this declaration appears frequently elsewhere throughout chaps. 17–26, sometimes with a statement of God’s holiness or his sanctifying activity. It emphasizes the importance of the laws and the relationship of the divine lawgiver to the people. 3You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you once lived, nor shall you do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; do not conform to their customs.#Lv 20:22–23. 4My decrees you shall carry out, and my statutes you shall take care to follow. I, the Lord, am your God. 5Keep, then, my statutes and decrees, for the person who carries them out will find life#Find life: in Dt 30:15–20 Moses sets before the people life and death. The alternatives are set out in detail in Lv 26 and Dt 28. Cf. Ez 20:11, 13, 21. through them. I am the Lord.#Ez 20:11, 13, 21; Gal 3:12.
6#These laws deal with illicit sexual behavior. Lv 20:10–21 reiterates most of these cases, with penalties. Cf. also Dt 27:15–26; Ez 22:7–12. The ordering of the cases in Lv 18 seems to be: blood relatives (vv. 6–13), those related by marriage (vv. 14–18), then other cases (vv. 19–23). None of you shall approach a close relative#Close relative: this refers to a blood relative and includes those not specifically mentioned in the list, such as one’s own daughter and a full sister. Have sexual intercourse: lit., “to uncover nakedness.” to have sexual intercourse. I am the Lord. 7#Cf. the story of Reuben lying with Bilhah, his father’s concubine and Rachel’s maid (Gn 35:22; 49:4). You shall not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother.#Lv 20:11; Dt 23:1; 27:20; 1 Cor 5:1. She is your own mother; you shall not have intercourse with her. 8You shall not have intercourse with your father’s wife, for that would be a disgrace to your father. 9You shall not have intercourse with your sister,#18:9, 11] Cf. actual or possible marriage to a half sister in Gn 20:12 and 2 Sm 13:13. #Lv 20:17; Dt 27:22. your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in your own household or born elsewhere. 10You shall not have intercourse with your son’s daughter or with your daughter’s daughter,#Daughter incest is found in the story of Lot (Gn 19:30–38). for that would be a disgrace to you. 11You shall not have intercourse with the daughter whom your father’s wife bore to him in his household,#Lv 20:17. since she, too, is your sister. 12You shall not have intercourse with your father’s sister,#Lv 20:19. since she is your father’s relative. 13You shall not have intercourse with your mother’s sister, since she is your mother’s relative. 14You shall not disgrace your father’s brother by having sexual relations with his wife,#Lv 20:20. since she, too, is your aunt. 15You shall not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law;#Judah had intercourse with his daughter-in-law Tamar (Gn 38), but did not know her true identity until her pregnancy was discovered. #Lv 20:12. she is your son’s wife; you shall not have intercourse with her. 16You shall not have intercourse with your brother’s wife;#This refers to cohabiting with one’s sister-in-law not only while the brother is alive, but also after he is dead. Dt 25:5–10 allows for the marriage to the wife of a brother when that brother died without a male heir. Cf. Gn 38:6–14. It was the violation of this law of Leviticus which aroused the wrath of John the Baptist against Herod Antipas (Mt 14:4; Mk 6:18). #Lv 20:21; Dt 25:5–10; Mt 14:3–4; Mk 6:18. that would be a disgrace to your brother. 17You shall not have intercourse with a woman and also with her daughter, nor shall you marry and have intercourse with her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter;#Lv 20:14; Dt 27:23. they are related to her. This would be shameful. 18While your wife is still living you shall not marry her sister as her rival and have intercourse with her.#Gn 29:27–28.
19You shall not approach a woman to have intercourse with her while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.#Lv 15:24, 33; 20:18; Ez 18:6; 22:10. 20You shall not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife,#Adultery in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East is intercourse between a married or betrothed woman and any male. In the Bible it is generally punishable by the death of both individuals (20:10; cf. Dt 22:22–27). Intercourse with an unmarried or unbetrothed woman is not prohibited but carries responsibilities and fines (cf. Ex 22:15–16; Dt 22:28–29). Cf. Lv 19:20–22. #Lv 20:10; Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18; 22:22; Mt 5:27–30; Jn 8:4–5. defiling yourself with her. 21#Lv 20:2–5; Dt 18:10; 1 Kgs 11:7; 2 Kgs 16:3. You shall not offer any of your offspring for immolation to Molech,#Immolation to Molech: the reference is to the custom of sacrificing children to the god Molech. Cf. Ez 16:20–21; 20:26, 31; 23:37. See note on Lv 20:1–5. thus profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord. 22You shall not lie with a male as with a woman;#Lv 20:13; Gn 19:4–11; Jgs 19:22–30; Rom 1:27; 1 Cor 6:9. such a thing is an abomination. 23You shall not have sexual relations with an animal, defiling yourself with it; nor shall a woman set herself in front of an animal to mate with it; that is perverse.#Lv 20:15–16; Ex 22:18; Dt 27:21.
24Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, because by them the nations whom I am driving out of your way have defiled themselves. 25And so the land has become defiled, and I have punished it for its wickedness, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants.#Lv 20:22. 26You, however, must keep my statutes and decrees, avoiding all these abominations, both the natives and the aliens resident among you— 27because the previous inhabitants did all these abominations and the land became defiled; 28otherwise the land will vomit you out also for having defiled it, just as it vomited out the nations before you. 29For whoever does any of these abominations shall be cut off from the people. 30Heed my charge, then, not to observe the abominable customs that have been observed before your time, and thus become impure by them.#Lv 20:23; Dt 18:9. I, the Lord, am your God.
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