Leviticus 18
18
Laws on Immoral Relations
1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God. 3You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, and you shall not do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes (practices, customs). 4You are to follow My judgments (precepts, ordinances) and keep My statutes and live by them. I am the Lord your God. 5So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which, if a person keeps them, he shall live; I am the Lord.
6‘#This passage (vv 6-18) states incestuous prohibitions.No one shall approach any blood relative of his #This Hebrew euphemism for sexual relations occurs in each verse in the passage.to uncover nakedness (have intimate relations). I am the Lord. 7You shall not uncover the #The father’s nakedness is a reference to his wife in her role as his sexual partner, i.e. the nakedness that belongs to him alone by virtue of their marriage (cf 1 Cor 7:4). Otherwise, the literal meaning would refer to intimate relations with the father himself, including homosexuality. The text itself states that this is not the meaning, especially in 20:11a (The man who lies...has uncovered his father’s nakedness).nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness. 8You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, either the daughter of your father or of your mother, whether born at home or born elsewhere. 10You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; their nakedness you shall not uncover, for they are your own nakedness [that is, your own descendants]. 11You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter; born to your father, she is your sister. 12You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s blood relative. 13You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s blood relative. 14You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother’s wife; you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You shall not uncover her nakedness. 16You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover their nakedness (have intimate relations with them); they are [her] blood relatives; it is an outrageous offense. 18You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.
19‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity and ceremonial uncleanness. 20You shall not have intimate relations with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her. 21You shall not give any of your children to offer them [by fire as a sacrifice] to Molech [the god of the Ammonites], nor shall you profane the name of your God [by honoring idols as gods]. I am the Lord. 22You shall not lie [intimately] with a male as one lies with a female; it is repulsive. 23You shall not have intimate relations with any animal to be defiled with it; nor shall a woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
24‘Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. 25For the land has become defiled; therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. 26But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments (precepts) and shall not commit any of these repulsive acts, neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives temporarily among you 27(for all these repulsive acts have been done by the men who lived in the land before you, and the land has become defiled); 28[do none of these things] so that the land will not vomit you out, should you defile it, as it has vomited out the nation which has been before you. 29For whoever commits any of these repulsive acts, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people [excluding them from the atonement made for them]. 30So keep My command: do not practice any of the repulsive customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves by them; I am the Lord your God.’ ”
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Leviticus 18
18
Unlawful Sexual Relations
1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, #ch. 11:44; 19:4; 20:7; Ex. 6:6, 7I am the Lord your God. 3#Ezek. 20:7, 8; 23:8 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and #Ex. 23:24; Deut. 12:30, 31you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4#ver. 26; ch. 19:19, 37; 20:8, 22; 25:18; Deut. 4:1, 6; 5:1; 6:1; 12:1; Ezek. 20:19 You shall follow my rules#18:4 Or my just decrees; also verse 5 and keep my statutes and walk in them. #[See ver. 2 above]I am the Lord your God. 5#[See ver. 4 above] You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; #Ezek. 20:11, 13, 21; Cited Rom. 10:5; Gal. 3:12; [Luke 10:28]if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
6“None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7#For ver. 7-16, see ch. 20:11-21You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8#Deut. 22:30; 27:20; 1 Cor. 5:1; [Gen. 49:4; Amos 2:7]You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9#[2 Sam. 13:12; Ezek. 22:11]You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. 12You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. 13You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. 14You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15#[Gen. 38:26; Ezek. 22:11]You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16#[Gen. 38:8; Deut. 25:5; Matt. 22:24; Mark 12:19; Luke 20:28]You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18And you shall not take a woman as a #[1 Sam. 1:6] rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness #[Gen. 31:50]while her sister is still alive.
19 # [ch. 15:24; 20:18; Ezek. 18:6; 22:10] “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20#See Ex. 20:14And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21You shall not give any of your children to #ch. 20:2-5; Deut. 18:10 offer them#18:21 Hebrew to make them pass through [the fire] to #[1 Kgs. 11:7, 33; Acts 7:43] Molech, and so #ch. 19:12; 20:3; 21:6; 22:2, 32; Ezek. 36:20, 22; Mal. 1:12profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22#ch. 20:13; [Gen. 19:5; Judg. 19:22; Rom. 1:27; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; 1 Tim. 1:9, 10]You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23#ch. 20:15, 16; Ex. 22:19 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is #ch. 20:12perversion.
24 # ver. 30; [Matt. 15:19, 20; Mark 7:21-23] “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, #ch. 20:23; [Deut. 18:12]for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25and the #Num. 35:34; Jer. 2:7; Ezek. 36:17 land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land #ch. 20:22vomited out its inhabitants. 26But #See ver. 4, 5 you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the #See ch. 16:29native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27(for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30#ch. 22:9 So keep my charge never to practice #ver. 3, 26; ch. 20:23; Deut. 18:9 any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: #See ver. 2I am the Lord your God.”
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