Forbidden Sexual Practices

18 The Lord told Moses ² to say to the people of Israel, “I am the Lord your God. ³ Do not follow the practices of the people of Egypt, where you once lived, or of the people in the land of Canaan, where I am now taking you. ⁴ Obey my laws and do what I command. I am the Lord your God. ^5 (A)Follow the practices and the laws that I give you; you will save your life by doing so. I am the Lord.”

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 (B)Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with any of his other wives. ^9 (C)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 (D)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 (E)Do not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law ^16 (F)or with your brother's wife. ^17 (G)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 (H)Do not have intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, because she is ritually unclean. ^20 (I)Do not have intercourse with another man's wife; that would make you ritually unclean. ^21 (J)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 (K)No man is to have sexual relations with another man; God hates that. ^23 (L)No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion makes you ritually unclean.

²⁴ Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these acts, for that is how the pagans made themselves unclean, those pagans who lived in the land before you and whom the Lord is driving out so that you can go in. ²⁵ Their actions made the land unclean, and so the Lord is punishing the land and making it reject the people who lived there. ^26-27 They did all these disgusting things and made the land unclean, but you must not do them. All of you, whether Israelites or foreigners living with you, must keep the Lord's laws and commands, ²⁸ and then the land will not reject you, as it rejected the pagans who lived there before you. ²⁹ You know that whoever does any of these disgusting things will no longer be considered one of God's people.

³⁰ And the Lord said, “Obey the commands I give and do not follow the practices of the people who lived in the land before you, and do not make yourselves unclean by doing any of these things. I am the Lord your God.”

A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise^[a]

Life Is Useless

1 These are the words of the Philosopher, David's son, who was king in Jerusalem.

² It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless. ³ You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it? ^4 (A)Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same. ⁵ The sun still rises, and it still goes down, going wearily back to where it must start all over again. ⁶ The wind blows south, the wind blows north—round and round and back again. ⁷ Every river flows into the sea, but the sea is not yet full. The water returns to where the rivers began, and starts all over again. ⁸ Everything leads to weariness—a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough. ⁹ What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world. ¹⁰ “Look,” they say, “here is something new!” But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born. ¹¹ No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.

The Philosopher's Experience

¹² I, the Philosopher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world.

God has laid a miserable fate upon us. ¹⁴ I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind. ¹⁵ You can't straighten out what is crooked; you can't count things that aren't there.

^16 (B)I told myself, “I have become a great man, far wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are.” ¹⁷ I was determined to learn the difference between knowledge and foolishness, wisdom and madness. But I found out that I might as well be chasing the wind. ¹⁸ The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts.

Leaders in the Church

3 This is a true saying: If a man is eager to be a church leader, he desires an excellent work. ^2 (A)A church leader must be without fault; he must have only one wife,^[a] be sober, self-controlled, and orderly; he must welcome strangers in his home; he must be able to teach; ³ he must not be a drunkard or a violent man, but gentle and peaceful; he must not love money; ⁴ he must be able to manage his own family well and make his children obey him with all respect. ⁵ For if a man does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of the church of God? ⁶ He must be mature in the faith, so that he will not swell up with pride and be condemned, as the Devil was. ⁷ He should be a man who is respected by the people outside the church, so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the Devil's trap.

Helpers in the Church

⁸ Church helpers must also have a good character and be sincere; they must not drink too much wine or be greedy for money; ⁹ they should hold to the revealed truth of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰ They should be tested first, and then, if they pass the test, they are to serve. ¹¹ Their wives^[b] also must be of good character and must not gossip; they must be sober and honest in everything. ¹² A church helper must have only one wife,^[c] and be able to manage his children and family well. ¹³ Those helpers who do their work well win for themselves a good standing and are able to speak boldly about their faith in Christ Jesus.

The Great Secret

¹⁴ As I write this letter to you, I hope to come and see you soon. ¹⁵ But if I delay, this letter will let you know how we should conduct ourselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. ¹⁶ No one can deny how great is the secret of our religion: