Leviticus 20
20
Punishment for Child Sacrifice
1The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Say to the people of Israel, #See ch. 18:21Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3#See ch. 17:10 I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary #ch. 19:30; Ezek. 5:11; 23:38, 39 unclean and #See ch. 18:21to profane my holy name. 4And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not #Deut. 17:2, 3, 5put him to death, 5then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in #See Ex. 34:15whoring after Molech.
6“If #See ch. 19:31 a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, #See ch. 17:10I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. 7#See ch. 11:44Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8#See ch. 18:4 Keep my statutes and do them; #ch. 21:8, 15, 23; 22:32; Ex. 31:13; Ezek. 37:28I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 9For #See Ex. 21:17 anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; #ver. 11, 12, 13, 16, 27; [2 Sam. 1:16; 1 Kgs. 2:32, 33, 37]his blood is upon him.
Punishments for Sexual Immorality
10“If a #ch. 18:20; Deut. 22:22; John 8:4, 5man commits adultery with the wife of#20:10 Hebrew repeats if a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11#See ch. 18:8If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12#ch. 18:15 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed #ch. 18:23perversion; their blood is upon them. 13#See ch. 18:22If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14#ch. 18:17; Deut. 27:23If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. 15#ch. 18:23; Ex. 22:19; Deut. 27:21If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16#[See ver. 15 above]If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
17 # ch. 18:9; Deut. 27:22 “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18#ch. 18:19; [ch. 15:24]If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19#ch. 18:12, 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked #ch. 18:6one’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20#ch. 18:14If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21#ch. 18:16If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity.#20:21 Literally menstrual impurity He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.
You Shall Be Holy
22 # See ch. 18:4 “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not #ch. 18:25, 28vomit you out. 23#ch. 18:3, 24, 30; Deut. 9:5And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24But #Ex. 3:17; 6:8 I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land #See Ex. 3:8 flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, #Ex. 33:16; 1 Kgs. 8:53; [Ex. 19:5; Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 1 Kgs. 8:53]who has separated you from the peoples. 25#See ch. 11:2-47; Deut. 14:4-20You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26#Ex. 19:6 You shall be holy to me, #ver. 7; See ch. 11:44for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
27 # See ch. 19:31 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be #ver. 2 stoned with stones; #ver. 9their blood shall be upon them.”
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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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