Leviticus 20
20
Molech Worship and Spiritism
1The Lord spoke to Moses: 2“Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or alien residing in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech # 20:2 Lv 18:21; Dt 18:10; 2Kg 23:10; Ac 7:43 must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him. # 20:2 Lv 24:14; Nm 15:35–36; Dt 17:2–7; 21:21; Jos 7:25 3I will turn # 20:3 Lit will set my face, also in vv. 5,6 against that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary # 20:3 Ex 15:17 and profaning my holy name. # 20:3 Lv 18:21; 19:12; 22:2,32; Jr 34:16; Ezk 36:20; 39:7; Am 2:7 4But if the people of the country look the other way when that man # 20:4 Lit country ever close their eyes from that man when he gives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, 5then I will turn against that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow # 20:5 Lit prostitute themselves with him in prostituting # 20:5 Dt 22:21 themselves with Molech.
6“Whoever turns to mediums # 20:6 Or spirits of the dead,# 20:6 Lv 19:31; 20:27; Dt 18:11; 1Sm 28:3,7–9; 2Kg 21:6; 23:24; 1Ch 10:13; 2Ch 33:6; Is 8:19; 19:3; 29:4 or spiritists # 20:6 Or familiar spirits and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn against that person and cut him off from his people. 7Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sets you apart.
Family and Sexual Offenses
9“If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. # 20:9 Ex 21:17; Dt 21:18–21; 27:16; Pr 20:20; 30:11; Mt 15:4; Mk 7:10 He has cursed his father or mother; his death is his own fault. # 20:9 Lit his blood on him
10“If a man commits adultery # 20:10 Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18; 22:22; 31:16; Pr 6:32; Mal 3:5; Mt 5:27–28,32; 19:9,18 with a married woman — if he commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife — both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 11If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his father. # 20:11 Lit has uncovered his father’s nakedness,# 20:11 Lv 18:8; Dt 22:30; 27:20; 1Co 5:1 Both of them must be put to death; their death is their own fault. # 20:11 Lit their blood on them, also in vv. 12,13,16,27 12If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, # 20:12 Gn 38:16; Lv 18:15; Ezk 22:11 both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their death is their own fault. 13If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, # 20:13 Gn 19:5 they have both committed a detestable act. # 20:13 Gn 46:34 They must be put to death; their death is their own fault. 14If a man marries # 20:14 Lit takes, also in vv. 17,21 a woman and her mother, # 20:14 Lv 18:17 it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned, # 20:14 Gn 38:24; Lv 18:22; 21:9; Jdg 14:15; Rv 17:16 so that there will be no depravity among you. 15If a man has sexual intercourse with # 20:15 Lit man gives his emission to an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal. 16If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. # 20:15–16 Ex 22:19 They must be put to death; their death is their own fault. 17If a man marries his sister, # 20:17 Lv 18:13 whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have sexual relations, # 20:17 Lit and he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness,# 20:17 Lv 18:9 it is a disgrace. # 20:17 Lv 19:29 They are to be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his iniquity. 18If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. # 20:18 Lv 18:19 Both of them are to be cut off from their people. 19You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, # 20:19 Ex 6:20; Lv 18:12–13 for it is exposing one’s own blood relative; both people will bear their iniquity. 20If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his uncle; # 20:20 Lit has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness,# 20:20 Lv 18:14 they will bear their guilt and die childless. 21If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity. # 20:21 Mk 6:18 He has violated the intimacy that belongs to his brother; # 20:21 Lit has uncovered his brother’s nakedness,# 20:21 Lv 18:16 they will be childless.
Holiness in the Land
22“You are to keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out. # 20:22 Lv 18:25 23You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them. # 20:23 Ex 23:24; Lv 18:3 24And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. # 20:24 Ex 3:8; 13:5; Nm 14:8; 16:13–14 I am the Lord your God who set you apart from the peoples. 25Therefore you are to distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. Do not become contaminated # 20:25 Dt 7:26 by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you. # 20:25 Lv 11:1–47 26You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be mine. # 20:26 Ex 19:5–6; Lv 11:44–45; Is 1:4; 6:3
27“A man or a woman who is # 20:27 Lit is in them a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their death is their own fault.”
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Leviticus 20: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Leviticus 20
20
Penalties for disobeying God's laws
1The LORD told Moses 2to say to the community of Israel:
Death by stoning is the penalty for any citizens or foreigners in the country who sacrifice their children to the god Molech. 3They have disgraced both the place where I am worshipped and my holy name, and so I will turn against them and no longer let them belong to my people. 4Some of you may let them get away with human sacrifice, 5but not me. If any of you worship Molech, I will turn against you and your entire family, and I will no longer let you belong to my people.
6I will be your enemy if you go to someone who claims to speak with the dead, and I will destroy you from among my people. 7Dedicate yourselves to me and be holy because I am the LORD your God. 8I have chosen you as my people, and I expect you to obey my laws.
9If you curse your father or mother, you will be put to death, and it will be your own fault.#Ex 21.17; Mt 15.4; Mk 7.10.
10If any of you men have sex with another man's wife, both you and the woman will be put to death.#Ex 20.14; Lv 18.20; Dt 5.18.
11Having sex with one of your father's wives disgraces him. So both you and the woman will be put to death, just as you deserve.#Lv 18.8; Dt 22.30; 27.20. 12It isn't natural to have sex with your daughter-in-law, and both of you will be put to death, just as you deserve.#Lv 18.15. 13It's disgusting for men to have sex with one another, and those who do will be put to death, just as they deserve.#Lv 18.22. 14It isn't natural for a man to marry both a mother and her daughter, and so all three of them will be burnt to death.#Lv 18.17; Dt 27.23. 15-16If any of you have sex with an animal, both you and the animal will be put to death, just as you deserve.#Ex 22.19; Lv 18.23; Dt 27.21.
17If you marry one of your sisters, you will be punished, and the two of you will be disgraced by being openly forced out of the community.#Lv 18.9; Dt 27.22. 18If you have sex with a woman during her monthly period, both you and the woman will be cut off from the people of Israel.#Lv 18.19. 19The sisters of your father and mother are your own relatives, and you will be punished for having sex with any of them.#Lv 18.12-14. 20If you have sex with your uncle's wife, neither you nor she will ever have any children. 21And if you marry your sister-in-law, neither of you will ever have any children.#20.21 And…children: According to Deuteronomy 25.5,6 a man was supposed to marry his brother's widow if his brother had died without having children. Otherwise, such marriages were forbidden (see also Matthew 22.23-33; Mark 12.18-27; Luke 20.27-40).#Lv 18.16.
22Obey my laws and teachings. Or else the land I am giving you will become sick of you and throw you out. 23The nations I am chasing out did these disgusting things, and I hated them for it, so don't follow their example. 24I am the LORD your God, and I have promised you their land that is rich with milk and honey. I have chosen you to be different from other people. 25That's why you must make a difference between animals and birds that I have said are clean and unclean#20.25 clean and unclean: See the note at 11.4-8.—this will keep you from becoming disgusting to me. 26I am the LORD, the holy God. You have been chosen to be my people, and so you must be holy too.
27If you claim to receive messages from the dead, you will be put to death by stoning, just as you deserve.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012