Leviticus 18

PROHIBITED PAGAN PRACTICES

18The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the Lord your God.^{r 3}Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt,^s where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan,^t where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs.^{u 4}You are to practice my ordinances^v and you are to keep my statutes^w by following them; I am the Lord your God. ⁵Keep my statutes and ordinances; a person will live^x if he does them.^y I am the Lord.

⁶“You are not to come near^z any close relative^C for sexual intercourse;^aa I am the Lord. ⁷You are not to violate the intimacy that belongs to your father^ab and mother.^D She is your mother; you must not have sexual intercourse with her. ⁸You are not to have sex with your father’s wife;^ac she is your father’s family.^{ad 9}You are not to have sexual intercourse with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s,^ae whether born at home or born elsewhere. You are not to have sex with her. ¹⁰You are not to have sexual intercourse with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for they are your family.^{E 11}You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife’s daughter, who is adopted by^F your father; she is your sister. ¹²You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister;^af she is your father’s close relative. ¹³You are not to have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister,^ag for she is your mother’s close relative. ¹⁴You are not to violate the intimacy that belongs to^G your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual intercourse; she is your aunt.^{ah 15}You are not to have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law.^ai She is your son’s wife; you are not to have sex with her. ¹⁶You are not to have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s family.^{aj 17}You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter.^ak You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sex with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved.^{al 18}You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime.^a

¹⁹“You are not to approach^b a woman during her menstrual impurity to have sexual intercourse with her.^{c 20}You are not to have sexual intercourse with^A your neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her.^d

²¹“You are not to sacrifice any of your children in the fire^B to Molech.^e Do not profane the name^f of your God; I am the Lord. ²²You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman;^g it is detestable.^{h 23}You are not to have sexual intercourse with^C any animal, defiling yourself with it; a woman is not to present herself to an animal to mate with it;ⁱ it is a perversion.

²⁴“Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves by all these things. ²⁵The land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its iniquity, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.^{j 26}But you are to keep my statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these detestable acts—not the native or the alien who resides among you. ²⁷For the people who were in the land prior to you have committed all these detestable acts, and the land has become defiled. ²⁸If you defile the land, it will vomit^k you out as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹Any person who does any of these detestable practices is to be cut off from his people. ³⁰You must keep my instruction to not do any of the detestable customs^l that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them; I am the Lord your God.”