Leviticus 18:1-19:18

English Standard Version

Unlawful Sexual Relations

18 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(A)I am the Lord your God. ³^(B)You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and ^(C)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^(D)You shall follow my rules^[a] and keep my statutes and walk in them. ^(E)I am the Lord your God. ⁵^(F)You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; ^(G)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^(H)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^(I)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness. ⁹^(J)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^(K)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶^(L)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 ^(M)rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness ^(N)while her sister is still alive.

¹⁹^(O)“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. ²⁰^(P)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 ^(Q)offer them^[b] to ^(R)Molech, and so ^(S)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. ²²^(T)You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. ²³^(U)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 ^(V)perversion.

²⁴^(W)“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, ^(X)for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, ²⁵and the ^(Y)land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land ^(Z)vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶But ^(AA)you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the ^(AB)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^(AC)So keep my charge never to practice ^(AD)any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: ^(AE)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, ^(AF)You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. ³^(AG)Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and ^(AH)you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. ⁴^(AI)Do not turn to idols ^(AJ)or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

⁵^(AK)“When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so ^(AL)that you may be accepted. ⁶It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. ⁷If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is ^(AM)tainted; it will not be accepted, ⁸and everyone who eats it shall ^(AN)bear his iniquity, because ^(AO)he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

⁹^(AP)“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. ¹⁰And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

¹¹^(AQ)“You shall not steal; ^(AR)you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. ¹²^(AS)You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so ^(AT)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

¹³^(AU)“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. ^(AV)The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. ¹⁴^(AW)You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall ^(AX)fear your God: I am the Lord.

¹⁵^(AY)“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. ¹⁶^(AZ)You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not ^(BA)stand up against the life^[c] of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

¹⁷^(BB)“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but ^(BC)you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you ^(BD)incur sin because of him. ¹⁸^(BE)You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but ^(BF)you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.