Leviticus 18

Modern

Literal

Unlawful Sexual Relations

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

¹And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God.

²“Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: I am YHWH your God.

³You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you. You must not walk in their customs.

³You shall not do according to the work of the land of Egypt in which you dwelt, and according to the work of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you, you shall not do, and in their statutes you shall not walk.

⁴You are to practice My judgments and keep My statutes by walking in them. I am the LORD your God.

⁴You shall do My judgments, and you shall keep My statutes, to walk in them. I am YHWH your God.

⁵Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them.^a I am the LORD.

⁵And you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which the man shall do them, and he shall live by them. I am YHWH.

⁶None of you are to approach any close relative to have sexual relations.^a I am the LORD.

⁶Any man shall not draw near to any close relative of his flesh to uncover nakedness. I am YHWH.

⁷You must not expose the nakedness of your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.

⁷The nakedness of your father and the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness.

⁸You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.

⁸The nakedness of the wife of your father you shall not uncover; it is the nakedness of your father.

⁹You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

⁹The nakedness of your sister the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother born at home or born outside it, you shall not uncover their nakedness.

¹⁰You must not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for that would shame your family.

¹⁰The nakedness of the daughter of your son or of the daughter of your daughter—you shall not uncover their nakedness; for they are your own nakedness.

¹¹You must not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.

¹¹The nakedness of the daughter of the wife of your father, begotten of your father—she is your sister—you shall not uncover her nakedness.

¹²You must not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.

¹²The nakedness of the sister of your father you shall not uncover; she is a close relative of your father.

¹³You must not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s close relative.

¹³The nakedness of the sister of your mother you shall not uncover, for she is a close relative of your mother.

¹⁴You must not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations with her; she is your aunt.

¹⁴The nakedness of the brother of your father you shall not uncover. To his wife you shall not draw near; she is your aunt.

¹⁵You must not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you are not to have sexual relations with her.

¹⁵The nakedness of your daughter-in-law you shall not uncover; she is the wife of your son. You shall not uncover her nakedness.

¹⁶You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would shame your brother.

¹⁶The nakedness of the wife of your brother you shall not uncover; it is the nakedness of your brother.

¹⁷You must not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved.

¹⁷The nakedness of a woman and her daughter you shall not uncover—the daughter of her son and the daughter of her daughter you shall not take to uncover her nakedness. They are close relatives; it is wickedness.

¹⁸You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive.

¹⁸And a woman to her sister you shall not take, to be a rival, to uncover her nakedness beside her in her life.

¹⁹You must not approach a woman to have sexual relations with her during her menstrual period.

¹⁹And to a woman in the menstruation of her uncleanness you shall not draw near to uncover her nakedness.

²⁰You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her.

²⁰And to the wife of your neighbor you shall not give your lying to seed to defile yourself with her.

²¹You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed^a to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

²¹And from your seed you shall not give to pass over to Molech, and you shall not profane the name of your God. I am YHWH.

²²You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.

²²And with a male you shall not lie the lyings of a woman; it is an abomination.

²³You must not lie carnally with any animal, thus defiling yourself with it; a woman must not stand before an animal to mate with it; that is a perversion.

²³And with any animal you shall not give your lyings to defile yourself with it, and a woman shall not stand before the face of an animal to lie with it. It is perversion.

²⁴Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves.

²⁴Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for by all these the nations have defiled themselves, which I am sending away from before your faces.

²⁵Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.

²⁵And the land is defiled; and I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out those dwelling in it.

²⁶But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you.

²⁶And you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, and you shall not do from all of these abominations, the native and the sojourner who is sojourning in your midst—

²⁷For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled.

²⁷for the men of the land who were before your faces have done all these abominations, and the land was defiled—

²⁸So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.

²⁸And the land will not vomit you out when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before your faces.

²⁹Therefore anyone who commits any of these abominations must be cut off from among his people.

²⁹For anyone who does from all these abominations—then the soul who do them—shall be cut off from among their people.

³⁰You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”

³⁰And you shall keep My charge, to not do from the statutes of the abominations that have been done before your faces, and you shall not defile yourselves by them. I am YHWH your God.”