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Leviticus 18

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And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God.

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After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

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Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God.

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Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.

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None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.

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The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

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The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.

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The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.

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The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.

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The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

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Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.

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Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman.

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Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.

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Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

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Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.

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Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.

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Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.

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Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.

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Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.

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And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

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Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

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Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

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Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:

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And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

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Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:

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(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)

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That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

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For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

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Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.

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Leviticus 18

The Holiness Code begins with the sexual ethics that distinguish the covenant community from both Egypt (the culture they left) and Canaan (the culture they are entering). The chapter opens with the covenant formula — I am the Lord your God — and frames the regulations negatively (not as Egypt, not as Canaan) and positively (keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them). The prohibited relationships cover the full range of incest (parents, step-parents, grandchildren, step- and half-siblings, aunts, uncles, aunts-by-marriage, daughters-in-law, sisters-in-law), adultery, the wife's sister during the wife's lifetime, menstrual impurity, child sacrifice to Molek, male same-sex intercourse, and bestiality. The theological rationale is the land's defilement: the Canaanites practiced these things, and the land vomited them out; if Israel practices the same things, the land will vomit out Israel. The chapter closes with the I am the Lord your God formula that opened it, grounding every ethical requirement in the covenant's identity rather than merely in social utility or natural law.

Leviticus 18:23

Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. The prohibition on bestiality — both for men and for women — is called a perversion — tevel, a confusion or mixing that violates proper categories. The dual prohibition (for men and for women) communicates the comprehensive nature of the covenant's sexual ethics: the protection of proper sexual categories applies equally to both sexes.

Leviticus 18:1

The Lord said to Moses. The sexual ethics regulations of Leviticus 18 open the Holiness Code — the section of Leviticus (chapters 18–27) that applies the holiness of God to the practical and social life of the covenant community. The shift from the ritual regulations of chapters 1–17 to the ethical and social regulations of chapters 18–27 communicates that holiness is not only expressed in the sanctuary's rituals but in the community's daily relationships and behavior. I am the Lord your God is the grounding formula that will punctuate the holiness code throughout: the ethical requirements are grounded in the identity of the God who makes them.

Leviticus 18:2

Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the Lord your God. The self-identification of God as the Lord your God precedes every regulation in the Holiness Code. The regulations that follow are not arbitrary restrictions but expressions of the character of the God who has identified himself as Israel's God. The covenant relationship — I am the Lord your God — is the foundation of every ethical requirement that follows. The same formula that introduced the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2) introduces the Holiness Code's application: the identity of God grounds the obligations of the covenant community.

Leviticus 18:3

You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. The negative frame: Israel must not follow the practices of Egypt (the land they are leaving) or Canaan (the land they are entering). The sexual ethics of Leviticus 18 are not culturally neutral; they are explicitly counter-cultural: both the empire behind them and the culture ahead of them practiced what the covenant prohibits. The covenant community's sexual ethics will distinguish them from both their origin and their destination. The distinctiveness is intentional and divinely commanded.

Leviticus 18:4

You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. The positive frame following the negative: obey my laws, follow my decrees. The covenant community's sexual ethics are not primarily defined by what they reject (the practices of Egypt and Canaan) but by what they embrace (the Lord's laws and decrees). The I am the Lord your God formula following the positive command grounds the obedience in the relationship: you obey because of who I am and because of who you are to me.

Leviticus 18:5

Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord. The keeping of the decrees and laws produces life: the person who obeys them will live by them. Ezekiel 20:11 and 13 cite this verse. Romans 10:5 quotes it in the context of the righteousness that comes from the law versus the righteousness that comes from faith. The life promised by the law is the life of the covenant relationship — the life lived in alignment with the God who gives life. The I am the Lord formula that closes the verse grounds the life-promise in the identity of the God who makes it.

Leviticus 18:6

No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord. The incest prohibition begins with the comprehensive principle: no sexual relations with any close relative. The I am the Lord formula after the prohibition communicates the grounding of the prohibition in God's character: the covenant community does not avoid incest merely for social or genetic reasons but because I am the Lord — because the God who made human sexuality also made the boundaries within which it is expressed.

Leviticus 18:7

Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her. The specific application of the incest prohibition begins with the mother: the prohibition that protects the parent's dignity — do not dishonor your father — expresses the incest prohibition in terms of the harm done to the family structure rather than only in terms of the prohibited act. The relationship terms (your mother) are used rather than merely the anatomical terms, communicating that the prohibition protects relationships, not merely behaviors.

Leviticus 18:8

Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father. The father's wife — the stepmother or a second wife of the father — is also protected by the incest prohibition. The prohibition is framed as the protection of the father's dignity: the sexual relationship with the father's wife is a violation of the father's relational and sexual rights. 1 Corinthians 5:1 records that someone in the Corinthian church was having a relationship with his father's wife — the violation of Leviticus 18:8 that Paul calls sexual immorality of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate.

Leviticus 18:9

Do 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. The sister prohibition covers both full sisters (same father and mother) and half-sisters (same father different mother, or same mother different father) and both those born in the household and those born outside it. The comprehensive coverage of all sister relationships communicates the thoroughness of the sibling prohibition: the sexual relationships that the covenant permits do not include any form of sibling relationship.

Leviticus 18:10

Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you. The granddaughter prohibition extends the incest boundary downward in the generational structure: the son's daughter and the daughter's daughter are both protected. The dishonor framing — that would dishonor you — communicates that the incest prohibition protects not only the victim but the structural integrity of the family's generational relationships. The violation of the granddaughter relationship dishonors the covenant community's family structure.

Leviticus 18:11

Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father; she is your sister. The prohibition covers the daughter born to the father's wife by a different man — a stepsister through the father's marital relationship. The she is your sister framing communicates that the sibling prohibition is about the relationship status rather than only genetic connection: the step-relationship creates the same prohibition as the full biological relationship.

Leviticus 18:12

Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister; she is your father's close relative. The paternal aunt is prohibited: the father's sister is a close relative through the paternal line. The prohibition extends the incest boundary beyond the nuclear family to the extended family: aunts and uncles are included in the protected categories. The close relative designation communicates the principle underlying the specific prohibitions.

Leviticus 18:13

Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative. The maternal aunt is prohibited as the mother's close relative. The parallel treatment of paternal and maternal aunt communicates the symmetrical application of the extended family incest prohibition: the mother's family line is as protected as the father's. The covenant community's sexual ethics do not privilege either the paternal or maternal extended family.

Leviticus 18:14

Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt. The uncle's wife — the aunt by marriage — is protected by the incest prohibition framed as the protection of the uncle's honor. The prohibition on the uncle's wife communicates that the incest boundary extends to spouses of family members, not only to blood relatives. The marriage relationship creates the same relational boundary as the blood relationship.

Leviticus 18:15

Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; do not have relations with her. The daughter-in-law is prohibited — the son's wife is protected from her husband's father. The she is your son's wife framing grounds the prohibition in the existing relationship: the son's marriage creates a relational boundary that the father cannot cross. Tamar in Genesis 38:24 was condemned as a temple prostitute when her father-in-law Judah unknowingly had relations with her — the relationship that Leviticus 18:15 prohibits.

Leviticus 18:16

Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother. The sister-in-law is prohibited by her relationship to the brother: the prohibition protects the brother's marriage and dignity. Numbers 36 and Deuteronomy 25:5–10 will address the levirate marriage exception — when a brother dies without children, his surviving brother is obligated to marry the widow. The levirate exception is the specific exception that the general prohibition of Leviticus 18:16 requires.

Leviticus 18:17

Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness. The prohibition on a woman and her daughter (or granddaughter) is called wickedness — zimah, the strongest negative evaluation used for any of the sexual prohibitions. The wickedness designation communicates the particular severity of this violation: having sexual relations with a woman and her daughter (or granddaughter) is not merely an incest violation but an act of fundamental degradation of the family structure.

Leviticus 18:18

Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living. The prohibition against marrying a wife's sister during the wife's lifetime is the only one of the Leviticus 18 prohibitions framed in terms of a sister rivalry: the wife's sister cannot be taken as a rival wife while the first wife lives. The rivalry framing communicates the pastoral concern behind the prohibition: the sister relationship would be destroyed by the competitive co-wife relationship. Jacob's marriages to Leah and Rachel illustrate the conflict that this prohibition is designed to prevent.

Leviticus 18:19

Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period. The sexual prohibition during the menstrual period connects the sexual ethics of Leviticus 18 to the purity regulations of Leviticus 15: the bodily discharge impurity framework and the sexual ethics framework overlap at this point. Leviticus 20:18 treats deliberate violation of this prohibition as a more serious offense than the impurity regulations of Leviticus 15:24 suggest. The connection between the purity regulations and the sexual ethics communicates the integrated character of the Levitical holiness framework.

Leviticus 18:20

Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her. The prohibition on adultery — sexual relations with a neighbor's wife — is the covenant's sexual ethic applied to the community's relational structure. The defile yourself framing communicates that the adultery is not only a violation of the neighbor's marital rights but a self-contaminating act. The Seventh Commandment (Exodus 20:14) prohibits adultery as a brief statement; Leviticus 18:20 connects the prohibition to the self-defilement that adultery produces.

Leviticus 18:21

Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. The child sacrifice prohibition to Molek interrupts the sexual ethics list — the connection between child sacrifice and the sexual ethics section is the connection between the family's integrity (protected by the sexual ethics) and the family's continuity (protected by the child sacrifice prohibition). The profane the name framing communicates that child sacrifice is a violation of the covenant relationship, not only of the parent-child relationship. I am the Lord who stands against this.

Leviticus 18:22

Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. The prohibition on male same-sex intercourse is stated with the evaluation detestable — to'evah, the same evaluation used for the dietary prohibitions of Leviticus 11. The prohibited practice is evaluated as contrary to the created order that God established and as incompatible with the holiness of the covenant community. Romans 1:26–27 connects the prohibition to the created order's sexual design.

Leviticus 18:24

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. The theological rationale for the entire sexual ethics list: the nations of Canaan became defiled through these practices, and their defilement is part of why God is driving them out. The defile yourselves warning communicates that Israel faces the same consequence as the nations if they practice the same things. The holiness of the promised land is at stake: a land occupied by a defiled community cannot remain the land of the holy God's covenant community.

Leviticus 18:25

Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. The land itself is described as defiled by the sexual practices of its inhabitants — and the land vomited out its inhabitants. The anthropomorphic description of the land as nauseated by the practices of the Canaanites communicates the incompatibility of these practices with the created order's integrity. The land that God made for human habitation rejects the humans who violate the created order's sexual design. Israel is warned that the same fate awaits them if they follow the same practices.

Leviticus 18:26

But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things. The positive command following the warning: keep my decrees and laws. The comprehensive application — native-born and foreigner — communicates that the sexual ethics are not culturally specific regulations for ethnic Israelites but the standards of the covenant community's space. Anyone living within that space is bound by the same sexual ethics.

Leviticus 18:27

For all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. The historical grounding: the Canaanites who preceded Israel in the land practiced these things and defiled the land. The historical statement grounds the prohibition in observable consequence: the land's defilement is the evidence that these practices are incompatible with the covenant community's habitation. The history of the land is the warning for its new inhabitants.

Leviticus 18:28

And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. The warning applied directly to Israel: if you defile the land, the land will vomit you out. The same consequence that befell the Canaanites awaits Israel if they follow the same practices. Leviticus 26 will develop this warning into the exile theology that the prophets will later announce. The vomiting-out of Israel from the promised land — the exile — is foreshadowed here as the covenant consequence of the holiness violations that Leviticus 18 prohibits.

Leviticus 18:29

Everyone who does any of these detestable things — such persons must be cut off from their people. The cut off penalty applies to every violation in the detestable category. The comprehensive penalty communicates the severity of the sexual ethics violations: these are not minor infractions requiring minor penalties but covenant-level violations requiring the most severe community sanction. The cut off from the people removes the violator from the covenant community whose holiness they have violated.

Leviticus 18:30

Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God. The closing command and divine self-identification close the chapter with the same formula that opened it: I am the Lord your God. The holiness ethics that the chapter has detailed are bounded by the covenant identity: the regulations begin and end in the relationship. The community that keeps the requirements and avoids the detestable customs does so not primarily from fear of the consequences but from the identity they have received: I am the Lord your God.