Leviticus 18–20

Prohibited Pagan Practices

18Yahweh spoke to Moses: ²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am Yahweh your God. ^p3Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, ^qwhere you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, ^rwhere I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs. ^s4You are to practice My ordinances ^tand you are to keep My statutes ^uby following them; I am Yahweh your God. ⁵Keep My statutes and ordinances; a person will live ^vif he does them. ^wI am Yahweh.

⁶“You are not to come near ^xany close relative ^yfor sexual intercourse; ^zI am Yahweh. ⁷You are not to shame your father ^aby having sex with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual intercourse with her. ⁸You are not to have sex with your father’s wife; ^bit will shame your father. ^c9You are not to have sexual intercourse with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s, ^dwhether 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, because it will shame your family. ^e11You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife’s daughter, ^fwho is adopted by ^gyour father; she is your sister. ¹²You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister; ^hshe is your father’s close relative. ¹³You are not to have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister, ⁱfor she is your mother’s close relative. ¹⁴You are not to shame your father’s brother by coming near his wife to have sexual intercourse; she is your aunt. ^j15You are not to have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law. ^kShe 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; it will shame your brother. ^l17You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter. ^mYou 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. ⁿ¹⁸You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime. ^o

¹⁹“You are not to come near ^pa woman during her menstrual impurity to have sexual intercourse with her. ^q20You are not to have sexual intercourse with ^ryour neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her. ^s

²¹“You are not to make any of your children pass through the fire to Molech. ^tDo not profane the name ^uof your God; I am Yahweh. ²²You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; ^vit is detestable. ^w23You are not to have sexual intercourse with ^xany animal, defiling yourself with it; a woman is not to present herself to an animal to mate with it; ^yit 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 sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. ^z26But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these detestable things—not the native or the foreigner who lives among you. ²⁷For the men who were in the land prior to you have committed all these detestable things, and the land has become defiled. ²⁸If you defile the land, it will vomit ^ayou out as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹Any person who does any of these detestable practices must be cut off from his people. ³⁰You must keep My instruction to not do any of the detestable customs ^bthat were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them; I am Yahweh your God.”

Laws of Holiness

19The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy ^cbecause I, Yahweh your God, am holy. ^d

³“Each of you is to respect his mother and father. ^eYou are to keep My Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God. ⁴Do not turn to idols ^for make cast images ^gof gods for yourselves; ^hI am Yahweh your God.

⁵“When you offer a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ⁶It is to be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day, but what remains on the third day must be burned up. ⁱ⁷If any is eaten on the third day, it is a repulsive thing; it will not be accepted. ^j8Anyone who eats it will bear his punishment, for he has profaned what is holy to the Lord. That person must be cut off from his people. ^k

⁹“When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings ^lof your harvest. ¹⁰You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor ^mand the foreign resident; ⁿI am Yahweh your God.

¹¹“You must not steal. ^oYou must not act deceptively ^por lie ^qto one another. ¹²You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God; ^rI am Yahweh.

¹³“You must not oppress ^syour neighbor or rob ^thim. The wages due a hired hand ^umust not remain with you until morning. ¹⁴You must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, ^vbut you are to fear your God; ^wI am Yahweh. ^x

¹⁵“You must not act unjustly ^ywhen deciding a case. Do not be partial ^zto the poor or give preference to the rich; ^ajudge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶You must not go about spreading slander ^bamong your people; you must not jeopardize ^cyour neighbor’s life; I am Yahweh.

¹⁷“You must not harbor hatred against your brother. ^deRebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him. ^f18Do not take revenge ^gor bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; ^hI am Yahweh.

¹⁹“You are to keep My statutes. You must not crossbreed two different kinds of your livestock, sow your fields with two kinds of seed, or put on a garment made of two kinds of material. ⁱ

²⁰“If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman who is a slave designated for another man, but she has not been redeemed ^jor given her freedom, there must be punishment. ^kThey are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. ²¹However, he must bring a ram as his restitution offering to the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ^l22The priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord with the ram of the restitution offering for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven for the sin he committed.

²³“When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden. ^mIt will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten. ²⁴In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering ⁿto the Lord. ²⁵But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you; ^oI am Yahweh your God.

²⁶“You are not to eat anything with blood in it. ^pqYou are not to practice divination ^ror sorcery. ^s27You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard. ^t28You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead ^uor put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am Yahweh.

²⁹“Do not debase ^vwyour daughter by making her a prostitute, ^xor the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity. ³⁰You must keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; ^yI am Yahweh.

³¹“Do not turn to mediums ^zaor consult spiritists, ^bcor you will be defiled by them; I am Yahweh your God.

³²“You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. ^dFear your God; I am Yahweh.

³³“When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress ^ehim. ³⁴You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, ^ffor you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; ^gI am Yahweh your God.

³⁵“You must not be unfair ^hin measurements of length, weight, or volume. ³⁶You are to have honest balances, ⁱhonest weights, an honest dry measure, ^jand an honest liquid measure; ^klI am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am Yahweh.”

Molech Worship and Spiritism

20The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech ^mmust be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him. ⁿ³I will turn ^oagainst that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling My sanctuary ^pand profaning My holy name. ^q4But if the people of the country look the other way when that man ^rgives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, ⁵then I will turn ^sagainst that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow ^thim in prostituting ^uthemselves with Molech.

⁶“Whoever turns to mediums ^vwor spiritists ^xand prostitutes himself with them, I will turn ^yagainst that person and cut him off from his people. ⁷Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God. ⁸Keep My statutes and do them; I am Yahweh who sets you apart.

Family and Sexual Offenses

⁹“If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. ^zHe has cursed his father or mother; his blood is on his own hands. ^a

¹⁰If a man commits adultery ^bwith a married woman—if he commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. ¹¹If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has shamed his father. ^cBoth of them must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands. ^d12If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, ^eboth of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own hands. ^f13If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, ^gthey have both committed a detestable thing. ^hThey must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands. ⁱ¹⁴If a man marries a woman and her mother, ^jit is depraved. Both he and they must be burned with fire, ^kso that there will be no depravity among you. ¹⁵If a man has sexual intercourse with ^lan animal, he must be put to death; you are also to…