Leviticus 18-20
Lexham English Bible
Unlawful Sexual Relations
18 Then[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites,[b] and say to them, ‘I am Yahweh your God. 3 You must not carry out[c] the practices of the land of Egypt, in which you lived, and you must not carry out[d] the practices of the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you; and you must not follow their statutes. 4 You must carry out[e] my regulations, and you must observe[f] my statutes by following them; I am Yahweh your God. 5 And you shall observe[g] my statutes and my regulations by which the person doing them shall live;[h] I am Yahweh.
6 “‘None[i] of you shall approach anyone who is his close relative[j] to expose nakedness; I am Yahweh. 7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness or[k] your mother’s nakedness—she is your mother; you must not expose her nakedness. 8 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s wife—it is your father’s nakedness. 9 As for your sister’s nakedness, whether your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home[l] or born abroad,[m] you must not expose their nakedness. 10 As for the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, you must not expose their nakedness, because they are your nakedness. 11 As for the nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife, she is your sister, a relative of your father; you must not expose her nakedness. 12 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.[n] 13 You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative.[o] 14 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not have sex with[p] his wife—she is your aunt. 15 You must not expose your daughter-in-law’s nakedness; she is your son’s wife; you must not expose her nakedness. 16 You must not expose the nakedness of your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You must not expose the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, or her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter; you must not take her as wife[q] to expose her nakedness; they are close relatives[r]—that is wickedness. 18 And you must not take as wife[s] a woman with her sister, to be a rival-wife, to expose her nakedness before her during[t] her life.
19 “‘And you must not have sex with[u] a woman to expose her nakedness during[v] her menstrual uncleanness. 20 And you must not have sex[w] with your fellow citizen’s[x] wife, becoming unclean with her.
21 “‘And you shall not give any of[y] your offspring[z] in order to sacrifice them to Molech, nor[aa] shall you profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh. 22 And you shall not lie with a male as lying with[ab] a woman; that is a detestable thing. 23 And you shall not have sexual relations[ac] with any animal, becoming unclean with it; and a woman shall not stand before[ad] an animal to copulate with it—that is a perversion.
24 “‘You must not make yourself unclean in any of these things, because the nations whom I am driving out from your presence were made unclean by all of these. 25 So[ae] the land became unclean, and I have brought the punishment of[af] its guilt upon it, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But[ag] you (neither the native nor[ah] the alien who is dwelling in your midst) shall keep my statutes and my regulations, and you shall not practice[ai] any of these detestable things 27 (because the people of the land, who were before you,[aj] did all these detestable things, so the land became unclean), 28 so that the land will not vomit you out when you make it unclean just as it vomited out the nation that was before you.[ak] 29 Indeed, anyone who does any of these detestable things, even[al] those persons who do so shall be cut off from the midst of their people. 30 Thus[am] you shall keep my obligation to not do any of the statutes regarding[an] the detestable things that they did before you,[ao] so that you will not make yourselves unclean by them; I am Yahweh your God.’”
Yahweh Is Holy
19 Then[ap] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the community of the Israelites,[aq] and say to them, ‘You[ar] must be holy, because I, Yahweh your[as] God, am holy. 3 Each of you must revere your mother[at] and your father,[au] and you[av] must keep my Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your[aw] God. 4 You[ax] must not turn to idols, and you[ay] must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal; I am Yahweh your[az] God.
5 “‘And when you[ba] sacrifice a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to Yahweh, you[bb] must sacrifice it for your[bc] acceptance. 6 It must be eaten on the day of your[bd] sacrifice and the next day; but[be] the remainder must be burned up in the fire by the third day. 7 And if it is indeed eaten on the third day, it is unclean meat; it shall not be regarded as accepted. 8 And the one who eats it shall bear his guilt, because he has profaned Yahweh’s holiness, and that person shall be cut off from his people.
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
9 “‘And at your[bf] reaping the harvest of your[bg] land you[bh] must not finish reaping the edge of your[bi] field, and you[bj] must not glean the remnants of your[bk] harvest. 10 And you[bl] must not glean your[bm] vineyard, and you[bn] must not gather your[bo] vineyard’s fallen grapes; you[bp] must leave them behind for the needy and for the alien; I am Yahweh your[bq] God.
11 “‘You[br] shall not steal, and you[bs] shall not deceive, and you[bt] shall not lie to one another;[bu] 12 and you[bv] shall not swear falsely[bw] in my name, and so one of you[bx] profane[by] the name of your[bz] God; I am Yahweh.
13 “‘You[ca] shall not exploit your[cb] neighbor, and you[cc] shall not rob him; a hired worker’s wage you[cd] shall not withhold[ce] overnight until morning. 14 You[cf] shall not curse the deaf, and you[cg] shall not put a stumbling block before[ch] a blind person, but[ci] you[cj] shall revere your[ck] God; I am Yahweh.
15 “‘You[cl] shall not do injustice in judgment; you[cm] shall not show partiality to the powerless;[cn] you[co] shall not give preference to the powerful;[cp] you[cq] shall judge your[cr] fellow citizen with justice. 16 You[cs] shall not go about with slander among your[ct] people; you[cu] shall not endanger your[cv] neighbor’s life;[cw] I am Yahweh.
17 “‘You[cx] shall not hate your[cy] brother in your[cz] heart; you[da] shall surely rebuke your[db] fellow citizen, so that you[dc] do not incur sin along with[dd] him. 18 You[de] shall not seek vengeance, and you[df] shall not harbor a grudge against your[dg] fellow citizens;[dh] and you[di] shall love your[dj] neighbor like yourself; [dk] I am Yahweh.
You Shall Keep My Statutes
19 “‘You[dl] must keep my statutes: as for your[dm] domestic animals, you[dn] shall not cause two differing kinds to breed; as for your[do] field, you[dp] shall not sow two differing kinds of seed; and, a garment of two differing kinds of woven material should not be worn on you.[dq]
20 “‘And when a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen and she is a female slave promised to a man, but[dr] she indeed has not been ransomed or freedom has not be given to her, there shall be an obligation to compensate; they shall not be put to death, because she has not been freed. 21 And he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh at the tent of assembly’s entrance: a ram for a guilt offering. 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him before[ds] Yahweh with the ram of the guilt offering for his sin that he committed,[dt] and so his sin that he committed[du] shall be forgiven him.
23 “‘And when you[dv] have come into the land and you[dw] plant any tree for[dx] food, you[dy] shall regard its fruit as unharvestable;[dz] for three years it shall be forbidden for you; [ea] it shall not be eaten. 24 But[eb] in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, offerings of praise for Yahweh. 25 And in the fifth year you[ec] shall eat its fruit to increase its yield for you; [ed] I am Yahweh your[ee] God.
26 “‘You[ef] must not eat anything with the blood; you[eg] shall not practice divination, nor shall you[eh] interpret signs. 27 You[ei] shall not round off the corner hair of your[ej] head, and you[ek] shall not trim the corner of your[el] beard. 28 And you[em] shall not make a slash in your[en] body for a dead person, nor shall you[eo] make on yourselves a tattoo’s mark; I am Yahweh.
29 “‘You[ep] shall not profane your[eq] daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land be prostituted and the land fill up with depravity.[er] 30 You[es] shall keep my Sabbaths, and you[et] shall revere my sanctuary; I am Yahweh.
31 “‘You[eu] shall not turn to the mediums and to the soothsayers; you[ev] shall not seek them to become unclean with them; I am Yahweh your[ew] God.
32 “‘Before[ex] old age you[ey] shall get up, and you[ez] shall show respect for an old person; and you[fa] shall revere your God; I am Yahweh.
33 “‘And when an alien dwells with you[fb] in your[fc] land, you[fd] shall not oppress him. 34 The alien who is dwelling with you[fe] shall be like a native among you,[ff] and you[fg] shall love him like yourself, [fh] because you[fi] were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your[fj] God.
35 “‘You[fk] shall not commit injustice in regulation, in measurement, in weight, or[fl] volume. 36 You[fm] must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin; I am Yahweh your[fn] God who brought you[fo] out from the land of Egypt.
37 “‘Thus you[fp] shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations, and you[fq] shall do them; I am Yahweh.’”
Molech Worship and Spiritism
20 Then[fr] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “And to the Israelites[fs] you shall say, ‘If there is anyone[ft] from the Israelites[fu] or[fv] from the alien who is dwelling in Israel, who gives any of[fw] his offspring to Molech, he must surely be put to death; the people of the land must stone him with stones.[fx] 3 And I myself will set my face against that man, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given some of[fy] his offspring to Molech, so that he makes my sanctuary unclean[fz] and profanes[ga] my holy name.[gb] 4 And if the people of the land ever shut their eyes from[gc] that man at his giving some of[gd] his offspring to Molech, not putting him to death, 5 then[ge] I myself will set my face against that man and against his clan, and I will cut him off and all those from the midst of their people who prostitute after Molech. 6 As for[gf] the person who turns to the mediums and the soothsayers to prostitute after them, I will set[gg] my face against that person, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people.
7 “‘And you shall consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy, because I am Yahweh your God. 8 And you shall keep my statutes, and you shall do them; I am Yahweh who consecrates you.
Family and Sexual Offenses
9 “‘If there is anyone[gh] who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father and his mother—his blood is upon him.
10 “‘As for[gi] a man who commits adultery with a man’s wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death. 11 As for[gj] a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death—their blood is on them. 12 As for[gk] a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed a perversion—their blood is on them.
13 “‘As for[gl] the man who lies with a male as lying with a woman, they have committed a detestable thing; they shall surely be put to death—their blood is on them.
14 “‘As for[gm] a man who marries a woman and her mother, that is depravity; they shall burn him and them, so that it shall not become depravity in the midst of you all.
15 “‘As for[gn] a man who has sexual relations[go] with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 16 As for[gp] a woman who approaches any animal to copulate with it, you shall kill[gq] the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death—their blood is on them.
17 “‘As for[gr] a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and he sees her nakedness and she herself sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off before[gs] the eyes of their people;[gt] he has exposed his sister’s nakedness—he must bear his guilt. 18 As for[gu] a man who lies with a menstruating woman, he exposes[gv] her nakedness—her source he exposes and she herself reveals her blood’s source—both of them shall be cut off from the midst of their people. 19 And you shall not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister, and you shall not expose your father’s sister, because such a person[gw] has dishonored his close relative—they must bear their guilt. 20 As for[gx] a man who lies with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness—they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 As for[gy] a man who marries his brother’s wife, it is an abomination; he has exposed his brother’s nakedness—they shall be childless.
You Shall Be Holy
22 “‘And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations, and you shall do them, so that[gz] the land, to which I am bringing you to inhabit it, shall not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not follow the statutes of the nation that I am driving out from before you,[ha] because they did all these things, and I detested them. 24 So[hb] I said to you, “You yourselves shall take possession of their land, and I myself shall give it to you to possess it—a land flowing with milk and honey”; I am Yahweh your God, who has set you apart[hc] from the nations. 25 And you shall distinguish between the clean and the unclean animal and between the unclean and the clean bird; and you shall not defile yourselves with the animal or[hd] with the bird or[he] with anything that moves along the ground that I have set apart for you as unclean.[hf] 26 And you shall be holy for me, because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have singled you out from the nations to be mine.
27 “‘And a man or a woman, if a spirit of the dead or a spirit of divination is in them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones[hg]—their blood is on them.’”
Footnotes
- Leviticus 18:1 Or “And”
- Leviticus 18:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Leviticus 18:3 Literally “do”
- Leviticus 18:3 Literally “do”
- Leviticus 18:4 Literally “do”
- Leviticus 18:4 Or “keep”
- Leviticus 18:5 Or “keep”
- Leviticus 18:5 Literally “which the man does them and he shall live in them”
- Leviticus 18:6 Literally “a man a man … not”
- Leviticus 18:6 Literally “the flesh of his body”
- Leviticus 18:7 Or “and”
- Leviticus 18:9 Literally “a relative of house”
- Leviticus 18:9 Literally “a relative of an outside place”
- Leviticus 18:12 Literally “the flesh of your father”
- Leviticus 18:13 Literally “the flesh of your mother”
- Leviticus 18:14 Literally “approach”
- Leviticus 18:17 The verb לקח is used to speak of marrying (“taking a wife”)
- Leviticus 18:17 Literally “flesh”; see vv. 6, 12, 13
- Leviticus 18:18 The verb לקח is used to speak of marrying (“taking a wife”)
- Leviticus 18:18 Literally “in”
- Leviticus 18:19 Literally “approach”
- Leviticus 18:19 Literally “in”
- Leviticus 18:20 Literally “you shall not give your lying down for semen”
- Leviticus 18:20 Or “neighbor’s”
- Leviticus 18:21 Literally “from”
- Leviticus 18:21 Or “descendants”
- Leviticus 18:21 Or “and not”
- Leviticus 18:22 Literally “of”
- Leviticus 18:23 Literally “give your lying down”
- Leviticus 18:23 Literally “to the faces of”
- Leviticus 18:25 Or “And”
- Leviticus 18:25 Literally “I have visited”
- Leviticus 18:26 Or “And”
- Leviticus 18:26 Or “and”
- Leviticus 18:26 Literally “do”
- Leviticus 18:27 Literally “to the faces of you”
- Leviticus 18:28 Literally “to the faces of you”
- Leviticus 18:29 Or “and”
- Leviticus 18:30 Or “And”
- Leviticus 18:30 Literally “of”
- Leviticus 18:30 Literally “to the faces of you”
- Leviticus 19:1 Or “And”
- Leviticus 19:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Leviticus 19:2 Plural
- Leviticus 19:2 Plural
- Leviticus 19:3 Hebrew “his mother”
- Leviticus 19:3 Hebrew “his father”
- Leviticus 19:3 Plural
- Leviticus 19:3 Plural
- Leviticus 19:4 Plural
- Leviticus 19:4 Plural
- Leviticus 19:4 Plural
- Leviticus 19:5 Plural
- Leviticus 19:5 Plural
- Leviticus 19:5 Plural
- Leviticus 19:6 Plural
- Leviticus 19:6 Or “and”
- Leviticus 19:9 Plural
- Leviticus 19:9 Plural
- Leviticus 19:9 Singular
- Leviticus 19:9 Singular
- Leviticus 19:9 Singular
- Leviticus 19:9 Singular
- Leviticus 19:10 Singular
- Leviticus 19:10 Singular
- Leviticus 19:10 Singular
- Leviticus 19:10 Singular
- Leviticus 19:10 Singular
- Leviticus 19:10 Plural
- Leviticus 19:11 Plural
- Leviticus 19:11 Plural
- Leviticus 19:11 Plural
- Leviticus 19:11 Literally “a man to his fellow citizen”
- Leviticus 19:12 Plural
- Leviticus 19:12 Literally “to the deception”
- Leviticus 19:12 Singular
- Leviticus 19:12 Or “you shall profane”
- Leviticus 19:12 Singular
- Leviticus 19:13 Singular
- Leviticus 19:13 Singular
- Leviticus 19:13 Singular
- Leviticus 19:13 Singular
- Leviticus 19:13 Literally “leave with you”
- Leviticus 19:14 Singular
- Leviticus 19:14 Singular
- Leviticus 19:14 Literally “to the faces of”
- Leviticus 19:14 Or “and”
- Leviticus 19:14 Singular
- Leviticus 19:14 Singular
- Leviticus 19:15 Plural
- Leviticus 19:15 Singular
- Leviticus 19:15 Literally “you shall not lift up the faces of the poor/powerless”
- Leviticus 19:15 Singular
- Leviticus 19:15 Literally “faces of the great”
- Leviticus 19:15 Singular
- Leviticus 19:15 Singular
- Leviticus 19:16 Singular
- Leviticus 19:16 Singular
- Leviticus 19:16 Singular
- Leviticus 19:16 Singular
- Leviticus 19:16 Literally “you shall not stand on the blood of your neighbor”
- Leviticus 19:17 Singular
- Leviticus 19:17 Singular
- Leviticus 19:17 Singular
- Leviticus 19:17 Singular
- Leviticus 19:17 Singular
- Leviticus 19:17 Singular
- Leviticus 19:17 Or “in addition to him”; literally “upon him”
- Leviticus 19:18 Singular
- Leviticus 19:18 Singular
- Leviticus 19:18 Singular
- Leviticus 19:18 Literally “the sons of your people”
- Leviticus 19:18 Singular
- Leviticus 19:18 Singular
- Leviticus 19:18 Singular
- Leviticus 19:19 Plural
- Leviticus 19:19 Singular
- Leviticus 19:19 Singular
- Leviticus 19:19 Singular
- Leviticus 19:19 Singular
- Leviticus 19:19 Singular
- Leviticus 19:20 Or “and”
- Leviticus 19:22 Literally “to the faces of”
- Leviticus 19:22 Literally “sinned”
- Leviticus 19:22 Literally “sinned”
- Leviticus 19:23 Plural
- Leviticus 19:23 Plural
- Leviticus 19:23 Hebrew “of”
- Leviticus 19:23 Plural
- Leviticus 19:23 Literally “and you shall regard its foreskin as uncircumcised its fruit”
- Leviticus 19:23 Plural
- Leviticus 19:24 Or “And”
- Leviticus 19:25 Plural
- Leviticus 19:25 Plural
- Leviticus 19:25 Plural
- Leviticus 19:26 Plural
- Leviticus 19:26 Plural
- Leviticus 19:26 Plural
- Leviticus 19:27 Plural
- Leviticus 19:27 Plural
- Leviticus 19:27 Singular
- Leviticus 19:27 Singular
- Leviticus 19:28 Plural
- Leviticus 19:28 Plural
- Leviticus 19:28 Plural
- Leviticus 19:29 Singular
- Leviticus 19:29 Singular
- Leviticus 19:29 Literally “and the land does not prostitute and the land fills up depravity” or “so that the land does not prostitute and the land fills up depravity”
- Leviticus 19:30 Plural
- Leviticus 19:30 Plural
- Leviticus 19:31 Plural
- Leviticus 19:31 Plural
- Leviticus 19:31 Plural
- Leviticus 19:32 Literally “from the faces of”
- Leviticus 19:32 Singular
- Leviticus 19:32 Singular
- Leviticus 19:32 Singular
- Leviticus 19:33 Singular
- Leviticus 19:33 Plural
- Leviticus 19:33 Plural
- Leviticus 19:34 Plural
- Leviticus 19:34 Plural
- Leviticus 19:34 Singular
- Leviticus 19:34 Singular
- Leviticus 19:34 Plural
- Leviticus 19:34 Plural
- Leviticus 19:35 Plural
- Leviticus 19:35 Or “and”
- Leviticus 19:36 Plural
- Leviticus 19:36 Plural
- Leviticus 19:36 Plural
- Leviticus 19:37 Plural
- Leviticus 19:37 Plural
- Leviticus 20:1 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Leviticus 20:2 Literally “a man a man”
- Leviticus 20:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Leviticus 20:2 Or “and”
- Leviticus 20:2 Literally “from”
- Leviticus 20:2 Hebrew “the stone”
- Leviticus 20:3 Literally “from”
- Leviticus 20:3 Literally “to make unclean my sanctuary”
- Leviticus 20:3 Hebrew “to profane”
- Leviticus 20:3 Literally “the name of my holiness”
- Leviticus 20:4 Or “disregard”
- Leviticus 20:4 Literally “from”
- Leviticus 20:5 Or “and”
- Leviticus 20:6 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:6 Hebrew “and I will set”
- Leviticus 20:9 Literally “a man a man”
- Leviticus 20:10 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:11 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:12 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:13 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:14 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:15 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:15 Literally “he gives his lying down”
- Leviticus 20:16 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:16 Or “and you shall kill”
- Leviticus 20:17 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:17 Literally “in”
- Leviticus 20:17 Literally “the sons/children of their people”
- Leviticus 20:18 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:18 Or “and he exposes”
- Leviticus 20:19 Hebrew “he”
- Leviticus 20:20 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:21 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:22 Or “and”
- Leviticus 20:23 Literally “from your faces”
- Leviticus 20:24 Or “And”
- Leviticus 20:24 Literally “I have set you apart”
- Leviticus 20:25 Or “and”
- Leviticus 20:25 Or “and”
- Leviticus 20:25 Literally “to make unclean”
- Leviticus 20:27 Hebrew “the stone”
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