Leviticus 18–20

Forbidden Sexual Practices

18The Lord told Moses ²to say to the people of Israel, “I am the Lord your God. ³Do not follow the practices of the people of Egypt, where you once lived, or of the people in the land of Canaan, where I am now taking you. ⁴Obey my laws and do what I command. I am the Lord your God. ^5*Follow the practices and the laws that I give you; you will save your life by doing so. I am the Lord.”

⁶The Lord gave the following regulations. Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your relatives. ⁷Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. You must not disgrace your own mother. ^8*Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with any of his other wives. ^9*Do not have intercourse with your sister or your stepsister, whether or not she was brought up in the same house with you. ¹⁰Do not have intercourse with your granddaughter; that would be a disgrace to you. ¹¹Do not have intercourse with a half-sister; she, too, is your sister. ^12–13*Do not have intercourse with an aunt, whether she is your father’s sister or your mother’s sister. ^14*Do not have intercourse with your uncle’s wife; she, too, is your aunt. ^15*Do not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law ^16*or with your brother’s wife. ^17*Do not have intercourse with the daughter or granddaughter of a woman with whom you have had intercourse; they may be related to you, and that would be incest. ¹⁸Do not take your wife’s sister as one of your wives, as long as your wife is living.

^19*Do not have intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, because she is ritually unclean. ^20*Do not have intercourse with another man’s wife; that would make you ritually unclean. ^21*Do not hand over any of your children to be used in the worship of the god Molech, because that would bring disgrace on the name of God, the Lord. ^22*No man is to have sexual relations with another man; God hates that. ^23*No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion makes you ritually unclean.

²⁴Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these acts, for that is how the pagans made themselves unclean, those pagans who lived in the land before you and whom the Lord is driving out so that you can go in. ²⁵Their actions made the land unclean, and so the Lord is punishing the land and making it reject the people who lived there. ^26–27They did all these disgusting things and made the land unclean, but you must not do them. All of you, whether Israelites or foreigners living with you, must keep the Lord’s laws and commands, ²⁸and then the land will not reject you, as it rejected the pagans who lived there before you. ²⁹You know that whoever does any of these disgusting things will no longer be considered one of God’s people.

³⁰And the Lord said, “Obey the commands I give and do not follow the practices of the people who lived in the land before you, and do not make yourselves unclean by doing any of these things. I am the Lord your God.”

Laws of Holiness and Justice

19The Lord told Moses ^2*to say to the community of Israel, “Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. ^3*Each of you must respect his mother and his father, and must keep the Sabbath, as I have commanded. I am the Lord your God.

^4*“Do not abandon me and worship idols; do not make gods of metal and worship them. I am the Lord your God.

⁵“When you kill an animal for a fellowship offering, keep the regulations that I have given you, and I will accept the offering. ⁶The meat must be eaten on the day the animal is killed or on the next day. Any meat left on the third day must be burnt, ⁷because it is ritually unclean, and if anyone eats it, I will not accept the offering. ⁸Anyone who eats it will be guilty of treating as ordinary what is dedicated to me, and he will no longer be considered one of my people.

^9*“When you harvest your fields, do not cut the corn at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the ears of corn that were left. ^10*Do not go back through your vineyard to gather the grapes that were missed or to pick up the grapes that have fallen; leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.

^11*“Do not steal or cheat or lie. ^12*Do not make a promise in my name if you do not intend to keep it; that brings disgrace on my name. I am the Lord your God.

^13*“Do not take advantage of anyone or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of someone you have hired, not even for one night. ^14*Do not curse a deaf man or put something in front of a blind man so as to make him stumble over it. Obey me; I am the Lord your God.

^15*“Be honest and just when you make decisions in legal cases; do not show favouritism to the poor or fear the rich. ¹⁶Do not spread lies about anyone, and when someone is on trial for his life, speak out if your testimony can help him. I am the Lord.

^17*“Do not bear a grudge against anyone, but settle your differences with him, so that you will not commit a sin because of him.^{i 18*}Do not take revenge on anyone or continue to hate him, but love your neighbour as you love yourself. I am the Lord.

^19*“Obey my commands. Do not crossbreed domestic animals. Do not plant two kinds of seed in the same field. Do not wear clothes made of two kinds of material.

²⁰“If a slave woman is the recognized concubine of a man and she has not been paid for and freed, then if another man has sexual relations with her, they will be punished but not^j put to death, since she is a slave. ²¹The man shall bring a ram to the entrance of the Tent of my presence as his repayment offering, ²²and with it the priest shall perform the ritual of purification to remove the man’s sin, and God will forgive him.

²³“When you come into the land of Canaan and plant any kind of fruit tree, consider the fruit ritually unclean for the first three years. During that time you must not eat it. ²⁴In the fourth year all the fruit shall be dedicated as an offering to show your gratitude to me,^k the Lord. ²⁵But in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you do all this, your trees will bear more fruit. I am the Lord your God.

^26*“Do not eat any meat with blood still in it. Do not practice any kind of magic. ^27*Do not cut the hair on the sides of your head or trim your beard ^28*or tattoo yourselves or cut gashes in your body to mourn for the dead. I am the Lord.

^29*“Do not disgrace your daughters by making them temple prostitutes;^l if you do, you will turn to other gods and the land will be full of immorality. ^30*Keep the Sabbath, and honour the place where I am worshipped. I am the Lord.

^31*“Do not go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead. If you do, you will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord your God.

³²“Show respect for old people and honour them. Reverently obey me; I am the Lord.

^33*“Do not ill-treat foreigners who are living in your land. ^34*Treat them as you would a fellow-Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

^35*“Do not cheat anyone by using false measures of length, weight, or quantity. ^36*Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. I am the Lord your God, and I brought you out of Egypt. ³⁷Obey all my laws and commands. I am the Lord.”

Penalties for Disobedience

20The Lord told Moses ²to say to the people of Israel, “Any of you or any foreigner living among you who gives any of his or her children to be used in the worship of the god Molech shall be stoned to death by the whole community. ³If anyone gives one of his children to Molech and makes my sacred Tent unclean and disgraces my holy name, I will turn against him and will no longer consider him one of my people. ⁴But if the community ignores what he has done and does not put him to death, ⁵I myself will turn against the man and his whole family and against all who join him in being unfaithful to me and worshipping Molech. I will no longer consider them my people.

⁶“If anyone goes for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead, I will turn against him and will no longer consider him one of my people. ⁷Keep yourselves holy, because I am the Lord your God. ⁸Obey my laws, because I am the Lord and I make you holy.”

^9*The Lord gave the following regulations. Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall be put to death; he is responsible for his own death.

^10*If a man commits adultery with the wife of a fellow-Israelite, both he and the woman shall be put to death. ^11*A man who has intercourse with one of his father’s wives disgraces his father, and both he and the woman shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death. ^12*If a man has intercourse with his daughter-in-law, they shall both be put to death. They have committed incest and are responsible for their own death. ^13*If a man has sexual relations with another man, they have done a disgusting thing, and both shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death. ^14*If a man marries a woman and her mother, all three shall be burnt to death because of the disgraceful thing they have done; such a thing must not be permitted among you. ^15*If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he and the animal shall be put to death. ^16*If a woman tries to have sexual relations with an animal, she and the animal shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.

^17*If a man marries his sister or half-sister, they shall be publicly disgraced and driven out of the community. He has had intercourse with his sister and must suffer the consequences. ^18*If a man has intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, both of them are to be driven out of the community, because they have broken the regulations about ritual uncleanness.

^19*If a man has intercourse with his aunt, both of them must suffer the consequences for incest. ^20*If a man has intercourse with his uncle’s wife, he disgraces his uncle, and he and the woman will pay the penalty; neither of them will have children.…