Leviticus 18

English Standard Version

Unlawful Sexual Relations

18 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(A)I am the Lord your God. ³^(B)You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and ^(C)you 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^(D)You shall follow my rules^[a] and keep my statutes and walk in them. ^(E)I am the Lord your God. ⁵^(F)You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; ^(G)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^(H)You 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^(I)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness. ⁹^(J)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^(K)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶^(L)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 ^(M)rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness ^(N)while her sister is still alive.

¹⁹^(O)“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. ²⁰^(P)And 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 ^(Q)offer them^[b] to ^(R)Molech, and so ^(S)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. ²²^(T)You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. ²³^(U)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 ^(V)perversion.

²⁴^(W)“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, ^(X)for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, ²⁵and the ^(Y)land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land ^(Z)vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶But ^(AA)you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the ^(AB)native 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^(AC)So keep my charge never to practice ^(AD)any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: ^(AE)I am the Lord your God.”

Footnotes

Leviticus 18:4 Or my just decrees; also verse 5
Leviticus 18:21 Hebrew to make them pass through [the fire]

Psalm 22

English Standard Version

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

22 ^(A)My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so ^(B)far from saving me, from the words of my ^(C)groaning?
²O my God, I cry by ^(D)day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

³Yet you are ^(E)holy,
    ^(F)enthroned on ^(G)the praises^[a] of Israel.
⁴In you our fathers trusted;
    they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵To you they ^(H)cried and were rescued;
    in you they ^(I)trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶But I am ^(J)a worm and not a man,
    ^(K)scorned by mankind and ^(L)despised by the people.
⁷All who see me ^(M)mock me;
    they make mouths at me; they ^(N)wag their heads;
⁸^(O)“He trusts in the Lord; let him ^(P)deliver him;
    let him rescue him, for he ^(Q)delights in him!”

⁹Yet you are he who ^(R)took me from the womb;
    you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.
¹⁰On you was I cast from my birth,
    and from ^(S)my mother's womb you have been my God.
¹¹Be not ^(T)far from me,
    for trouble is near,
    and there is ^(U)none to help.

¹²Many bulls encompass me;
^(V)strong bulls of ^(W)Bashan surround me;
¹³they ^(X)open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.

¹⁴I am ^(Y)poured out like water,
    and all my bones are ^(Z)out of joint;
my ^(AA)heart is like ^(AB)wax;
    it is melted within my breast;
¹⁵my strength is ^(AC)dried up like a potsherd,
    and my ^(AD)tongue sticks to my jaws;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶For ^(AE)dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers ^(AF)encircles me;
they have ^(AG)pierced my hands and feet^[b]—
¹⁷I can count all my bones—
they ^(AH)stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸^(AI)they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹But you, O Lord, ^(AJ)do not be far off!
    O you my help, ^(AK)come quickly to my aid!
²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of ^(AL)the dog!
²¹    Save me from ^(AM)the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued^[c] me from the horns of ^(AN)the wild oxen!

²²^(AO)I will tell of your name to my ^(AP)brothers;
    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
²³You who ^(AQ)fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you offspring of Jacob, ^(AR)glorify him,
    and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴For he has not despised or abhorred
    the affliction of ^(AS)the afflicted,
and he has not ^(AT)hidden his face from him,
    but has heard, when he ^(AU)cried to him.

²⁵From you comes my praise in the great ^(AV)congregation;
    my ^(AW)vows I will ^(AX)perform before those who fear him.
²⁶^(AY)The afflicted^[d] shall ^(AZ)eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
    May your hearts ^(BA)live forever!

²⁷All ^(BB)the ends of the earth shall remember
    and turn to the Lord,
and all ^(BC)the families of the nations
    shall worship before you.
²⁸For ^(BD)kingship belongs to the Lord,
    and he rules over the nations.

²⁹All ^(BE)the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
    before him shall ^(BF)bow all who go down to the dust,
    even the one who could not ^(BG)keep himself alive.
³⁰Posterity shall serve him;
    it shall be told of the Lord to the coming ^(BH)generation;
³¹they shall ^(BI)come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet ^(BJ)unborn,
    that he has done it.

Footnotes

Psalm 22:3 Or dwelling in the praises
Psalm 22:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts like a lion [they are at] my hands and feet
Psalm 22:21 Hebrew answered
Psalm 22:26 Or The meek