Leviticus 17:11-19:2

English Standard Version

¹¹^(A)For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar ^(B)to make atonement for your souls, ^(C)for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. ¹²Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

¹³“Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall ^(D)pour out its blood and ^(E)cover it with earth. ¹⁴For the life of every creature^[a] is its ^(F)blood: its blood is its life.^[b] Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. ¹⁵^(G)And every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts, ^(H)whether he is a native or a sojourner, ^(I)shall wash his clothes and ^(J)bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean. ¹⁶But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh, ^(K)he shall bear his iniquity.”

Unlawful Sexual Relations

18 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(L)I am the Lord your God. ³^(M)You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and ^(N)you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. ⁴^(O)You shall follow my rules^[c] and keep my statutes and walk in them. ^(P)I am the Lord your God. ⁵^(Q)You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; ^(R)if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

⁶“None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. ⁷^(S)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. ⁸^(T)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness. ⁹^(U)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. ¹⁰You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. ¹¹You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, brought up in your father's family, since she is your sister. ¹²You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's relative. ¹³You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's relative. ¹⁴You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. ¹⁵^(V)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶^(W)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness. ¹⁷You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. ¹⁸And you shall not take a woman as a ^(X)rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness ^(Y)while her sister is still alive.

¹⁹^(Z)“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. ²⁰^(AA)And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her. ²¹You shall not give any of your children to ^(AB)offer them^[d] to ^(AC)Molech, and so ^(AD)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. ²²^(AE)You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. ²³^(AF)And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is ^(AG)perversion.

²⁴^(AH)“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, ^(AI)for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, ²⁵and the ^(AJ)land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land ^(AK)vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶But ^(AL)you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the ^(AM)native or the stranger who sojourns among you ²⁷(for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), ²⁸lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ²⁹For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. ³⁰^(AN)So keep my charge never to practice ^(AO)any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: ^(AP)I am the Lord your God.”

The Lord Is Holy

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, ^(AQ)You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.