Leviticus 20

Living Bible

20 ^1-2 The Lord gave Moses these further instructions for the people of Israel:

“Anyone—whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you—who sacrifices his child as a burnt offering to Molech shall without fail be stoned by his peers. ³ And I myself will turn against that man and cut him off from all his people, because he has given his child to Molech, thus making my Tabernacle^[a] unfit for me to live in, and insulting my holy name. ⁴ And if the people of the land pretend they do not know what the man has done and refuse to put him to death, ⁵ then I myself will set my face against that man and his family and cut him off, along with all others who turn to other gods than me.

⁶ “I will set my face against anyone who consults mediums and wizards instead of me and I will cut that person off from his people. ⁷ So sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ You must obey all of my commandments, for I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

⁹ “Anyone who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death—for he has cursed his own flesh and blood.

¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and woman shall be put to death. ¹¹ If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has defiled what is his father’s; both the man and the woman must die, for it is their own fault. ¹² And if a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both shall be executed: they have brought it upon themselves by defiling each other. ¹³ The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have brought it upon themselves. ¹⁴ If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and with her mother, it is a great evil. All three shall be burned alive to wipe out wickedness from among you.

¹⁵ “If a man has sexual intercourse with an animal, he shall be executed and the animal killed. ¹⁶ If a woman has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill the woman and the animal, for they deserve their punishment.^[b]

¹⁷ “If a man has sexual intercourse with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, it is a shameful thing, and they shall publicly be cut off from the people of Israel. He shall bear his guilt. ¹⁸ If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman during her period of menstruation, both shall be excommunicated, for he has uncovered the source of her flow, and she has permitted it.

¹⁹ “Sexual intercourse is outlawed between a man and his maiden aunt—whether the sister of his mother or of his father—for they are near of kin; they shall bear their guilt. ²⁰ If a man has intercourse with his uncle’s wife, he has taken what belongs to his uncle; their punishment is that they shall bear their sin and die childless. ²¹ If a man marries his brother’s wife,^[c] this is impurity; for he has taken what belongs to his brother, and they shall be childless.

²² “You must obey all of my laws and ordinances so that I will not throw you out of your new land.^{[d] 23} You must not follow the customs of the nations I cast out before you, for they do all these things I have warned you against; that is the reason I abhor them. ²⁴ I have promised you their land; I will give it to you to possess it. It is a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God who has made a distinction between you and the people of other nations.

²⁵ “You shall therefore make a distinction between the birds and animals I have given you permission to eat and those you may not eat. You shall not contaminate yourselves and make yourselves hateful to me by eating any animal or bird which I have forbidden, though the land teem with them. ²⁶ You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have set you apart from all other peoples to be mine.

²⁷ “A medium or a wizard—whether man or woman—shall surely be stoned to death. They have caused their own doom.”