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 worshiped 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.
9 #
Ex 21.17; Mt 15.4; Mk 7.10. If you curse your father or mother, you will be put to death, and it will be your own fault.
10 #
Ex 20.14; Lv 18.20; Dt 5.18. If any of you men have sex with another man's wife, both you and the woman will be put to death.
11 #
Lv 18.8; Dt 22.30; 27.14-26. Having 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. 12#Lv 18.15. It isn't natural to have sex with your daughter-in-law, and both of you will be put to death, just as you deserve. 13#Lv 18.22. It's disgusting for men to have sex with one another, and those who do will be put to death, just as they deserve. 14#Lv 18.17; Dt 27.14-26. It isn't natural for a man to marry both a woman and her daughter, and so all three of them will be burned to death. 15-16#Ex 22.19; Lv 18.23; Dt 27.14-26. If any of you have sex with an animal, both you and the animal will be put to death, just as you deserve.
17 #
Lv 18.9; Dt 27.14-26. If 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. 18#Lv 18.19. If you have sex with a woman during her monthly period, both you and the woman will be cut off from the people of Israel. 19#Lv 18.12-14. The sisters of your father and mother are your own relatives, and you will be punished for having sex with any of them. 20If you have sex with your uncle's wife, neither you nor she will ever have any children. 21#Lv 18.16. And 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).
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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Leviticus 20: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Leviticus 20
20
Israel Will Be Punished for Their Sins
1The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 2“Say to the Israelites, ‘Suppose a person sacrifices one of his children to the god Molek. It does not matter whether that person is an Israelite or an outsider who lives in Israel. He must be put to death. The members of the community must kill him by throwing stones at him. 3I will turn against that man. I will separate him from his people. That’s because he has sacrificed his child to Molek. He has made my sacred tent “unclean.” He has treated my name as if it were not holy. 4Suppose the members of the community act like they don’t know that the man has sacrificed his child to Molek. And suppose they don’t put him to death. 5Then I will turn against that man and his family. I will separate them from their people. I will also separate all those who follow him by joining themselves to Molek. They are not faithful to me.
6“ ‘Suppose someone looks for advice from people who get messages from those who have died. Or they go to people who talk to the spirits of the dead. And they do what those people say. Then they have not been faithful to me. So I will turn against them. I will separate them from their people.
7“ ‘Set yourselves apart for me. Be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 8Obey my rules. Follow them. I am the Lord. I make you holy.
9“ ‘Anyone who asks for bad things to happen to their father or mother must be put to death. They have cursed their father or mother. So anything that happens to them will be their own fault.
10“ ‘Suppose a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife. Then the man and the woman must be put to death.
11“ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his father’s wife. Then he has brought shame on his father. The man and the woman must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.
12“ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his daughter-in-law. Then they must be put to death. They have used sex in the wrong way. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.
13“ ‘Suppose a man has sex with another man as he would have sex with a woman. I hate what they have done. They must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.
14“ ‘Suppose a man gets married to both a woman and her mother. That is evil. All of them must be burned to death. Then there will not be any evil among you.
15“ ‘Suppose a man has sex with an animal. Then he must be put to death. You must also kill the animal.
16“ ‘Suppose a woman has sex with an animal. Then kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.
17“ ‘Suppose a man gets married to his sister and has sex with her. That is a shameful thing to do. It does not matter whether she is the daughter of his father or of his mother. They must be separated from their community in front of everyone. That man has brought shame on his sister. He will be responsible for what he has done.
18“ ‘Suppose a man has sex with a woman during her monthly period. He has uncovered the place where her bleeding was coming from. And she has let him do it. So both of them must be separated from their people.
19“ ‘Do not have sex with the sister of either your mother or your father. That would bring shame on a close relative. Both of you would be held responsible for what you have done.
20“ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his aunt. Then he has brought shame on his uncle. Both of them will be held accountable for what they have done. They will die without having any children.
21“ ‘Suppose a man gets married to his brother’s wife. That is something that should never be done. He has brought shame on his brother. Neither of them will have any children.
22“ ‘Obey all my rules and laws. Follow them. Then the land where I am bringing you to live will not throw you out. 23To make room for you, I am going to drive out the nations that are in the land. You must not follow the practices of those nations. I hated those nations because they did all those things. 24But I said to you, “You will take over their land as your own. I will give it to you. It will belong to you. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God. I have set you apart from the other nations.
25“ ‘So you must be able to tell the difference between animals that are “clean” and those that are not. You must know which birds are “clean” and which are not. Do not make yourselves “unclean” by eating any “unclean” animal or bird. Do not make yourselves “unclean” by eating anything that moves along the ground. I have set all of them apart as “unclean” for you. 26You must be holy. You must be set apart to me. I am the Lord. I am holy. I have set you apart from the other nations to be my own people.
27“ ‘Suppose a man or woman gets messages from those who have died. Or suppose a man or woman talks to the spirits of the dead. Then you must put that man or woman to death. You must kill them by throwing stones at them. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.’ ”
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