Sexual Relations

18 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the Lord your God.^{(A) 3} You 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.^{(B) 4} My ordinances you shall observe, and my statutes you shall keep, following them: I am the Lord your God. ⁵ You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live: I am the Lord.^(C)

⁶ “None of you shall approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness: I am the Lord. ⁷ 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.^{(D) 8} You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is the nakedness of your father. ⁹ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born abroad.^{(E) 10} You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. ¹¹ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, born in your father’s house, since she is your sister. ¹² You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh.^{(F) 13} You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s flesh. ¹⁴ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother; that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.^{(G) 15} You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness.^{(H) 16} You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.^{(I) 17} You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, and you shall not take^[a] her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are your^[b] flesh; it is depravity.^{(J) 18} And you shall not take^[c] a woman as a rival to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

¹⁹ “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.^{(K) 20} You shall not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.^{(L) 21} You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them^[d] to Molech and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.^{(M) 22} You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.^{(N) 23} You 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.^(O)

²⁴ “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.^{(P) 25} Thus the land became defiled, and I punished it for its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.^{(Q) 26} But 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); ²⁸ otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ²⁹ For whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from their people. ³⁰ So 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.”^(R)