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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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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Leviticus 18
18
Sexual conduct
1The LORD said to Moses, 2Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the LORD your God. 3You must not do things like they are done in the land of Egypt, where you used to live. And you must not do things like they are done in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow the practices#18.3 Or rules or customs of those places. 4No, my regulations and my rules are the ones you must keep by following them: I am the LORD your God. 5You must keep my rules and my regulations; by doing them one will live; I am the LORD.
6No one is allowed to approach any blood relative for sexual contact:#18.6 Or to uncover nakedness I am the LORD. 7You must not uncover your father’s nakedness, which is your mother’s nakedness. She is your mother; you must not have sexual contact with her. 8You must not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9You must not have sexual contact with your sister—regardless of whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born into the same household as you or outside it. 10You must not have sexual contact with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, because their nakedness is your own nakedness.#18.10 Heb uncertain 11You must not have sexual contact with the daughter of your father’s wife, who was born into your father’s family; she is your sister. 12You must not have sexual contact with your father’s sister; she is your father’s blood relative. 13You must not have sexual contact with your mother’s sister because she is your mother’s blood relative. 14You will not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother—that is, you will not approach his wife for sex; she is your aunt. 15You must not have sexual contact with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You must not have sexual contact with her. 16You will not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.
17You must not have sexual contact with a woman and her daughter. You will not marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, thereby uncovering her nakedness. They are her blood relatives; it is shameful. 18You must not marry your wife’s sister as a rival and have sexual contact with her while her sister is alive. 19You must not approach a woman for sexual contact during her menstrual uncleanness. 20You must not have sexual relations with the wife of your fellow Israelite, becoming unclean by it.
21You must not give any of your children#18.21 Or seed to offer them over to Molech so that you do not defile your God’s name: I am the LORD. 22You must not have sexual intercourse with a man as you would with a woman; it is a detestable practice. 23You will not have sexual relations with any animal, becoming unclean by it. Nor will a woman present herself before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
Warning against uncleanness and moral pollution
24Do not make yourselves unclean in any of these ways because that is how the nations that I am throwing out before you became unclean. 25That is also how the land became unclean, and I held it liable for punishment, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26But all of you must keep my rules and my regulations. You must not do any of these detestable things, neither citizen nor immigrant who lives with you (27because the people who had the land before you did all of these detestable things and the land became unclean), 28so that the land does not vomit you out because you have made it unclean, just as it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29Anyone who does any of these detestable things will be cut off from their people. 30You must keep my requirement of not doing any of the detestable practices#18.30 Or rules or customs that were done before you arrived so that you don’t make yourselves unclean by them; I am the LORD your God.
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