Leviticus 20-21

Christian Standard Bible

Molech Worship and Spiritism

20 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or alien residing in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech^(A) must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him.^{(B) 3} I will turn^[a] against that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary^(C) and profaning my holy name.^{(D) 4} But if the people of the country look the other way when that man^[b] gives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, ⁵ then I will turn against that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow^[c] him in prostituting^(E) themselves with Molech.

⁶ “Whoever turns to mediums^[d](F) or spiritists^[e] and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn against that person and cut him off from his people. ⁷ Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sets you apart.

Family and Sexual Offenses

⁹ “If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.^(G) He has cursed his father or mother; his death is his own fault.^[f]

¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery^(H) with a married woman—if he commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. ¹¹ If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his father.^[g](I) Both of them must be put to death; their death is their own fault.^{[h] 12} If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law,^(J) both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their death is their own fault. ¹³ If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman,^(K) they have both committed a detestable act.^(L) They must be put to death; their death is their own fault. ¹⁴ If a man marries^[i] a woman and her mother,^(M) it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned,^(N) so that there will be no depravity among you. ¹⁵ If a man has sexual intercourse with^[j] an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal. ¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal.^(O) They must be put to death; their death is their own fault. ¹⁷ If a man marries his sister,^(P) whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have sexual relations,^[k](Q) it is a disgrace.^(R) They are to be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his iniquity. ¹⁸ If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood.^(S) Both of them are to be cut off from their people. ¹⁹ You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister,^(T) for it is exposing one’s own blood relative; both people will bear their iniquity. ²⁰ If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his uncle;^[l](U) they will bear their guilt and die childless. ²¹ If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity.^(V) He has violated the intimacy that belongs to his brother;^[m](W) they will be childless.

Holiness in the Land

²² “You are to keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.^{(X) 23} You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.^{(Y) 24} And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(Z) I am the Lord your God who set you apart from the peoples. ²⁵ Therefore you are to distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. Do not become contaminated^(AA) by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.^{(AB) 26} You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be mine.^(AC)

²⁷ “A man or a woman who is^[n] a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their death is their own fault.”

The Holiness of the Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives,^{(AD) 2} except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. ³ He may make himself unclean for his unmarried virgin sister in his immediate family. ⁴ He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage^[o] and so defile himself.

⁵ “Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies.^{(AE) 6} They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God.^(AF) For they present the food offerings to the Lord, the food of their God, and they must be holy. ⁷ They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution.^[p](AG) They are not to marry one divorced^(AH) by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ You are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, the Lord who sets you apart, am holy. ⁹ If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by promiscuity,^[q](AI) she defiles her father; she must be burned to death.^(AJ)

¹⁰ “The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained^[r] to wear the clothes, must not dishevel his hair^[s] or tear his clothes.^{(AK) 11} He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or mother.^{(AL) 12} He must not leave the sanctuary or he will desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him;^(AM) I am the Lord.

¹³ “He is to marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴ He is not to marry a widow,^(AN) a divorced woman,^(AO) or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵ so that he does not corrupt his bloodline^[t] among his people, for I am the Lord who sets him apart.”

Physical Defects and Priests

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁷ “Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect^(AP) is to come near to present the food^(AQ) of his God. ¹⁸ No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed; ¹⁹ no man who has a broken foot or hand, ²⁰ or who is a hunchback or a dwarf,^[u](AR) or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs,^(AS) or a crushed testicle.^{(AT) 21} No descendant of the priest Aaron who has a defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect and is not to come near to present the food of his God. ²² He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy. ²³ But because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain^(AU) or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate my holy places, for I am the Lord who sets them apart.”^{(AV) 24} Moses said this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.