¹⁵ Do not make any treaties with the people of the country, because when they worship their pagan gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you to join them, and you will be tempted to eat the food they offer to their gods. ¹⁶ Your sons might marry those foreign women, who would lead them to be unfaithful to me and to worship their pagan gods.

^17 (A)“Do not make gods of metal and worship them.

^20 (A)Instead, we should write a letter telling them not to eat any food that is ritually unclean because it has been offered to idols; to keep themselves from sexual immorality; and not to eat any animal that has been strangled, or any blood.

⁶ The Lord gave the following regulations. Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your relatives. ⁷ Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. You must not disgrace your own mother. ^8 (A)Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with any of his other wives. ^9 (B)Do not have intercourse with your sister or your stepsister, whether or not she was brought up in the same house with you. ¹⁰ Do not have intercourse with your granddaughter; that would be a disgrace to you. ¹¹ Do not have intercourse with a half sister; she, too, is your sister. ^12-13 (C)Do not have intercourse with an aunt, whether she is your father's sister or your mother's sister. ¹⁴ Do not have intercourse with your uncle's wife; she, too, is your aunt. ^15 (D)Do not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law ^16 (E)or with your brother's wife. ^17 (F)Do not have intercourse with the daughter or granddaughter of a woman with whom you have had intercourse; they may be related to you, and that would be incest. ¹⁸ Do not take your wife's sister as one of your wives, as long as your wife is living.

^19 (G)Do not have intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, because she is ritually unclean. ^20 (H)Do not have intercourse with another man's wife; that would make you ritually unclean. ^21 (I)Do not hand over any of your children to be used in the worship of the god Molech, because that would bring disgrace on the name of God, the Lord. ^22 (J)No man is to have sexual relations with another man; God hates that. ^23 (K)No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion makes you ritually unclean.

^20 (A)Instead, we should write a letter telling them not to eat any food that is ritually unclean because it has been offered to idols; to keep themselves from sexual immorality; and not to eat any animal that has been strangled, or any blood.

^10 (A)If any Israelites or any foreigners living in the community eat meat with blood still in it, the Lord will turn against them and no longer consider them his people. ^11 (B)The life of every living thing is in the blood, and that is why the Lord has commanded that all blood be poured out on the altar to take away the people's sins. Blood, which is life, takes away sins. ¹² That is why the Lord has told the people of Israel that neither they nor any foreigner living among them shall eat any meat with blood still in it.

¹³ If any Israelites or any foreigners living in the community catch an animal or a bird which is ritually clean, they must pour its blood out on the ground and cover it with dirt. ¹⁴ The life of every living thing is in the blood, and that is why the Lord has told the people of Israel that they shall not eat any meat with blood still in it and that anyone who does so will no longer be considered one of his people.

¹⁵ Any people, Israelites or foreigners, who eat meat from an animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by wild animals must wash their clothes, take a bath, and wait until evening before they are ritually clean. ¹⁶ If they do not, they must suffer the consequences.