Leviticus 18

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.”