Leviticus 18

Sexual Relations

1The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 # Ex 6.7; Lev 11.44 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the Lord your God. 3#Ex 23.24; Lev 20.23; Ezek 20.7, 8You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes. 4My ordinances you shall observe, and my statutes you shall keep, following them: I am the Lord your God. 5#Ezek 20.11; Lk 10.28; Rom 10.5; Gal 3.12You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live: I am the Lord.

6“None of you shall approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness: I am the Lord. 7#Lev 20.11You 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. 8You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is the nakedness of your father. 9#Lev 20.17You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born abroad. 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, born in your father’s house, since she is your sister. 12#Lev 20.19You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh. 13You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s flesh. 14#Lev 20.20You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother; that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15#Lev 20.12You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16#Lev 20.21You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17#Lev 20.14You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, and you shall not take#18.17 Or marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are your#18.17 Gk: Heb lacks your flesh; it is depravity. 18And you shall not take#18.18 Or marry a woman as a rival to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

19 # Lev 15.24; 20.18 “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20#Ex 20.14; Lev 20.10; Prov 6.32; Mt 5.27You shall not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her. 21#Lev 19.12; 20.2–5; 21.6You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them#18.21 Heb to pass them over to Molech and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22#Lev 20.13; Rom 1.27You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23#Ex 22.19; Lev 20.15; Deut 27.21You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; it is perversion.

24 # v 3 ; Lev 20.23“Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for by all these practices the nations I am casting out before you have defiled themselves. 25#v 28; Lev 20.23; Deut 9.5; 18.12Thus the land became defiled, and I punished it for its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26But you shall keep my statutes and my ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the native-born or the alien who resides among you 27(for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled); 28otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29For whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from their people. 30#v 2; Lev 22.9; Deut 11.1So keep my charge not to commit any of these abominations that were done before you and not to defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.”

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