Leviticus 18

Unlawful Sexual Relations

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, q I am the Lord your God. 3 r You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and s you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 t You shall follow my rules 1 and keep my statutes and walk in them. q I am the Lord your God. 5 t You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; u if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

6 "None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7 v You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 w You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness. 9 x You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, brought up in your father's family, since she is your sister. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's relative. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's relative. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 y You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 z You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18 And you shall not take a woman as a a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness b while her sister is still alive.

19 c "You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 d And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21 You shall not give any of your children to e offer them 2 to f Molech, and so g profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 h You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 i And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is j perversion.

24 k "Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, l for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the m land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land n vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But o you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the p native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 q So keep my charge never to practice r any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: s I am the Lord your God."

  1. Cross References
    Leviticus 11:44
    For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.
    Leviticus 19:4
    Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
    Leviticus 20:7
    Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.
    Exodus 6:6 - 7
    Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.
  2. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:7 - 8
    And I said to them, Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.
    Ezekiel 23:8
    She did not give up her whoring that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her.
  3. Cross References
    Exodus 23:24
    You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.
    Deuteronomy 12:30 - 31
    Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? - that I also may do the same.
  4. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:26
    But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and...
    Leviticus 19:19
    You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let y...
    Leviticus 19:37
    And you shall observe all my statutes and all m...
    Leviticus 20:8
    Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who...
    Leviticus 20:22
    You shall therefore keep all my statutes and al...
    Leviticus 25:18
    Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my ...
    Deuteronomy 4:1
    And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and t...
    Deuteronomy 4:6
    Keep them and do them, for that will be your wi...
    Deuteronomy 5:1
    And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them,...
    Deuteronomy 6:1
    Now this is the commandment, the statutes and t...
    Deuteronomy 12:1
    These are the statutes and rules that you shall...
    Ezekiel 20:19
    I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, an...
  5. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:2
    Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God.
  6. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:4
    You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God.
  7. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:11
    I gave them my statutes and made known to them ...
    Ezekiel 20:13
    But the house of Israel rebelled against me in ...
    Ezekiel 20:21
    But the children rebelled against me. They did ...
    Romans 10:5
    For Moses writes about the righteousness that i...
    Galatians 3:12
    But the law is not of faith, rather "The one wh...
    Luke 10:28
    And he said to him, "You have answered correctl...
  8. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:7 - 16
    You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
    Leviticus 20:11 - 21
    If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
  9. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 22:30
    A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness.
    Deuteronomy 27:20
    "'Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's nakedness.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
    1 Corinthians 5:1
    It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.
    Genesis 49:4
    Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it - he went up to my couch!
    Amos 2:7
    Those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned.
  10. Cross References
    2 Samuel 13:12
    She answered him, "No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this outrageous thing.
    Ezekiel 22:11
    One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter.
  11. Cross References
    Genesis 38:26
    Then Judah identified them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he did not know her again.
    Ezekiel 22:11
    One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter.
  12. Cross References
    Genesis 38:8
    Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.
    Deuteronomy 25:5
    If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.
    Matthew 22:24
    Saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.
    Mark 12:19
    Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
    Luke 20:28
    And they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
  13. Cross References
    1 Samuel 1:6
    And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.
  14. Cross References
    Genesis 31:50
    If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.
  15. Cross References
    Leviticus 15:24
    And if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
    Leviticus 20:18
    If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
    Ezekiel 18:6
    If he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity.
    Ezekiel 22:10
    In you men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity.
  16. Cross References
    Exodus 20:14
    You shall not commit adultery.
  17. Cross References
    Leviticus 20:2 - 5
    Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.
    Deuteronomy 18:10
    There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer
  18. Cross References
    1 Kings 11:7
    Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
    1 Kings 11:33
    Because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did.
    Acts 7:43
    You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.
  19. Cross References
    Leviticus 19:12
    You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so ...
    Leviticus 20:3
    I myself will set my face against that man and ...
    Leviticus 21:6
    They shall be holy to their God and not profane...
    Leviticus 22:2
    Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they abstai...
    Leviticus 22:32
    And you shall not profane my holy name, that I ...
    Ezekiel 36:20
    But when they came to the nations, wherever the...
    Ezekiel 36:22
    Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says...
    Malachi 1:12
    But you profane it when you say that the Lord's...
  20. Cross References
    Leviticus 20:13
    If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both...
    Genesis 19:5
    And they called to Lot, "Where are the men who ...
    Judges 19:22
    As they were making their hearts merry, behold,...
    Romans 1:27
    And the men likewise gave up natural relations ...
    1 Corinthians 6:9 - 10
    Or do you not know that the unrighteous will no...
    1 Timothy 1:9 - 10
    Understanding this, that the law is not laid do...
  21. Cross References
    Leviticus 20:15 - 16
    If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.
    Exodus 22:19
    Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.
  22. Cross References
    Leviticus 20:12
    If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them.
  23. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:30
    So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.
    Matthew 15:19 - 20
    For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
    Mark 7:21 - 23
    For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery.
  24. Cross References
    Leviticus 20:23
    And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.
    Deuteronomy 18:12
    For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.
  25. Cross References
    Numbers 35:34
    You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.
    Jeremiah 2:7
    And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.
    Ezekiel 36:17
    Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity.
  26. Cross References
    Leviticus 20:22
    You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.
  27. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:4 - 5
    You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God.
  28. Cross References
    Leviticus 16:29
    And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.
  29. Cross References
    Leviticus 22:9
    They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
  30. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:3
    You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.
    Leviticus 18:26
    But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you
    Leviticus 20:23
    And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.
    Deuteronomy 18:9
    When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.
  31. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:2
    Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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