Leviticus 18
1 The LORD spoke to Moses:
2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God.
3 Do not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived; and do not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their customs.
4 Carry out my rules and keep my decrees, living by them. I am the LORD your God.
5 Keep my decrees and my rules; the person who practices them will live by them. I am the LORD.
6 None of you is to approach a close blood relative to uncover their nakedness. I am the LORD.
7 Do not uncover your father's nakedness or your mother's nakedness. She is your mother; do not uncover her nakedness.
8 Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
9 Do not uncover the nakedness of your sister, whether she is your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, born in the same home or elsewhere.
10 Do not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own.’”
11 “‘Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, born to your father; she is your sister.
12 Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is a close blood relative of your father.
13 Do not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is a close blood relative of your mother.
14 Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother; do not approach his wife. She is your aunt.
15 Do not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife. Do not uncover her nakedness.
16 Do not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness.
17 Do not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter. Do not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are close blood relatives. It is depravity.
18 Do not take a woman along with her sister, making her a rival by uncovering her nakedness while the other is alive.
19 Do not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during the impurity of her menstrual period.
20 Do not lie with your neighbor's wife, making yourself unclean with her.’”
21 “‘Do not give any of your children to be passed over to Molech. Do not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
22 Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination.
23 Do not have sexual relations with any animal, making yourself unclean with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
24 Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for the nations I am driving out before you have made themselves unclean by them.
25 The land became unclean, and I called it to account for its guilt; the land vomited out its inhabitants.
26 But you must keep my decrees and my rules, and must not do any of these abominations—not the native-born or the foreigner residing among you.
27 For the people of that land, who were there before you, did all these abominations, and the land became unclean.
28 Then the land will not vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was there before you.
29 For anyone who does any of these abominations will be cut off from among their people.
30 Keep what I have commanded you to keep, so that you do not practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, and make yourselves unclean by them. I am the LORD your God.’”
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app