Font Size
Leviticus 20:1-22:16
English Standard Version
Leviticus 20:1-22:16
English Standard Version
Punishment for Child Sacrifice
20 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, (A)Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 (B)I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary (C)unclean and (D)to profane my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not (E)put him to death, 5 then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in (F)whoring after Molech.
6 “If (G)a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, (H)I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. 7 (I)Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 (J)Keep my statutes and do them; (K)I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 9 For (L)anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; (M)his blood is upon him.
Punishments for Sexual Immorality
10 “If a (N)man commits adultery with the wife of[a] his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 (O)If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12 (P)If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed (Q)perversion; their blood is upon them. 13 (R)If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14 (S)If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. 15 (T)If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 (U)If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
17 (V)“If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18 (W)If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 (X)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for that is to make naked (Y)one's relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20 (Z)If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 (AA)If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity.[b] He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.
You Shall Be Holy
22 (AB)“You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not (AC)vomit you out. 23 (AD)And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But (AE)I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land (AF)flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, (AG)who has separated you from the peoples. 25 (AH)You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 (AI)You shall be holy to me, (AJ)for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
27 (AK)“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be (AL)stoned with stones; (AM)their blood shall be upon them.”
Holiness and the Priests
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, (AN)No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5 (AO)They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6 They shall be holy to their God and (AP)not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord's food offerings, (AQ)the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 (AR)They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman (AS)divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for (AT)I, the Lord, who sanctify you, (AU)am holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; (AV)she shall be burned with fire.
10 (AW)“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, (AX)shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11 He shall not (AY)go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 (AZ)He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he (BA)profane the sanctuary of his God, for the (BB)consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.[c] 14 A widow, (BC)or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin[d] of his own people, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for (BD)I am the Lord who sanctifies him.”
16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may (BE)approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man (BF)blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face (BG)or a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a (BH)defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or (BI)crushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to (BJ)offer the Lord's food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of (BK)the most holy and of the (BL)holy things, 23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not (BM)profane my sanctuaries,[e] (BN)for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.
22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they (BO)abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they (BP)dedicate to me, so that they do not (BQ)profane my holy name: I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while (BR)he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. 4 None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a (BS)discharge may eat of the holy things (BT)until he is clean. (BU)Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or (BV)a man who has had an emission of semen, 5 and (BW)whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or (BX)a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— 6 the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has (BY)bathed his body in water. 7 When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because (BZ)they are his food. 8 (CA)He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ 9 They shall therefore keep my charge, (CB)lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: (CC)I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
10 (CD)“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, 11 but if a priest buys a slave[f] as his property for money, the slave[g] may eat of it, and (CE)anyone born in his house may eat of his food. 12 If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. 13 But if a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and (CF)returns to her father's house, (CG)as in her youth, she may eat of her father's food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. 14 (CH)And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add (CI)the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. 15 They (CJ)shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, 16 and so cause them (CK)to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: (CL)for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”
Footnotes
- Leviticus 20:10 Hebrew repeats if a man commits adultery with the wife of
- Leviticus 20:21 Literally menstrual impurity
- Leviticus 21:13 Or a young wife
- Leviticus 21:14 Hebrew young woman
- Leviticus 21:23 Or my holy precincts
- Leviticus 22:11 Or servant; twice in this verse
- Leviticus 22:11 Hebrew he
Leviticus 20:1-22:16
New International Version
Leviticus 20:1-22:16
New International Version
Punishments for Sin
20 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death.(A) The members of the community are to stone him.(B) 3 I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people;(C) for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled(D) my sanctuary(E) and profaned my holy name.(F) 4 If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death,(G) 5 I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek.
6 “‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.(H)
7 “‘Consecrate yourselves(I) and be holy,(J) because I am the Lord your God.(K) 8 Keep my decrees(L) and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.(M)
9 “‘Anyone who curses their father(N) or mother(O) is to be put to death.(P) Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.(Q)
10 “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife(R)—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.(S)
11 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father.(T) Both the man and the woman are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.(U)
12 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law,(V) both of them are to be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.
13 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.(W) They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
14 “‘If a man marries both a woman and her mother,(X) it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire,(Y) so that no wickedness will be among you.(Z)
15 “‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal,(AA) he is to be put to death,(AB) and you must kill the animal.
16 “‘If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
17 “‘If a man marries his sister(AC), the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed(AD) from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible.(AE)
18 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period,(AF) he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them are to be cut off from their people.(AG)
19 “‘Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father,(AH) for that would dishonor a close relative; both of you would be held responsible.
20 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his aunt,(AI) he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless.(AJ)
21 “‘If a man marries his brother’s wife,(AK) it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.(AL)
22 “‘Keep all my decrees and laws(AM) and follow them, so that the land(AN) where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations(AO) I am going to drive out before you.(AP) Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.(AQ) 24 But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.”(AR) I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations.(AS)
25 “‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds.(AT) Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those that I have set apart as unclean for you. 26 You are to be holy to me(AU) because I, the Lord, am holy,(AV) and I have set you apart from the nations(AW) to be my own.
27 “‘A man or woman who is a medium(AX) or spiritist among you must be put to death.(AY) You are to stone them;(AZ) their blood will be on their own heads.’”
Rules for Priests
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron,(BA) and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean(BB) for any of his people who die,(BC) 2 except for a close relative, such as his mother or father,(BD) his son or daughter, his brother, 3 or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean.(BE) 4 He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage,[a] and so defile himself.
5 “‘Priests must not shave(BF) their heads or shave off the edges of their beards(BG) or cut their bodies.(BH) 6 They must be holy to their God(BI) and must not profane the name of their God.(BJ) Because they present the food offerings to the Lord,(BK) the food of their God,(BL) they are to be holy.(BM)
7 “‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands,(BN) because priests are holy to their God.(BO) 8 Regard them as holy,(BP) because they offer up the food of your God.(BQ) Consider them holy, because I the Lord am holy—I who make you holy.(BR)
9 “‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.(BS)
10 “‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head(BT) and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments,(BU) must not let his hair become unkempt[b] or tear his clothes.(BV) 11 He must not enter a place where there is a dead body.(BW) He must not make himself unclean,(BX) even for his father or mother,(BY) 12 nor leave the sanctuary(BZ) of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil(CA) of his God. I am the Lord.
13 “‘The woman he marries must be a virgin.(CB) 14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, 15 so that he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.’”
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect(CC) may come near to offer the food of his God.(CD) 18 No man who has any defect(CE) may come near: no man who is blind(CF) or lame,(CG) disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.(CH) 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect(CI) is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord.(CJ) He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.(CK) 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God,(CL) as well as the holy food; 23 yet because of his defect,(CM) he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary.(CN) I am the Lord, who makes them holy.(CO)’”
24 So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.
22 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings(CP) the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name.(CQ) I am the Lord.(CR)
3 “Say to them: ‘For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord,(CS) that person must be cut off from my presence.(CT) I am the Lord.
4 “‘If a descendant of Aaron has a defiling skin disease[c] or a bodily discharge,(CU) he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse(CV) or by anyone who has an emission of semen, 5 or if he touches any crawling thing(CW) that makes him unclean, or any person(CX) who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be. 6 The one who touches any such thing will be unclean(CY) till evening.(CZ) He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.(DA) 7 When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food.(DB) 8 He must not eat anything found dead(DC) or torn by wild animals,(DD) and so become unclean(DE) through it. I am the Lord.(DF)
9 “‘The priests are to perform my service(DG) in such a way that they do not become guilty(DH) and die(DI) for treating it with contempt. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.(DJ)
10 “‘No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it.(DK) 11 But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if slaves are born in his household, they may eat his food.(DL) 12 If a priest’s daughter marries anyone other than a priest, she may not eat any of the sacred contributions. 13 But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or is divorced, yet has no children, and she returns to live in her father’s household as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food. No unauthorized person, however, may eat it.
14 “‘Anyone who eats a sacred offering by mistake(DM) must make restitution to the priest for the offering and add a fifth of the value(DN) to it. 15 The priests must not desecrate the sacred offerings(DO) the Israelites present to the Lord(DP) 16 by allowing them to eat(DQ) the sacred offerings and so bring upon them guilt(DR) requiring payment.(DS) I am the Lord, who makes them holy.(DT)’”
Footnotes
- Leviticus 21:4 Or unclean as a leader among his people
- Leviticus 21:10 Or not uncover his head
- Leviticus 22:4 The Hebrew word for defiling skin disease, traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.