Leviticus 18

Prohibited Pagan Practices

¹The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the Lord your God. ^{a 3}Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, ^b where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, ^c where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs. ^{d 4}You are to practice my ordinances ^e and you are to keep my statutes ^f by following them; I am the Lord your God. ⁵Keep my statutes and ordinances; a person will live ^g if he does them. ^h I am the Lord.

⁶“You are not to come near ⁱ any close relative ^j for sexual intercourse; ^k I am the Lord. ⁷You are not to violate the intimacy that belongs to your father ^l and mother. ^m She is your mother; you must not have sexual intercourse with her. ⁸You are not to have sex with your father’s wife; ⁿ she is your father’s family. ^{o 9}You are not to have sexual intercourse with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s, ^p whether 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, for they are your family. ^{q 11}You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife’s daughter, who is adopted by ^r your father; she is your sister. ¹²You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister; ^s she is your father’s close relative. ¹³You are not to have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister, ^t for she is your mother’s close relative. ¹⁴You are not to violate the intimacy that belongs to ^u your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual intercourse; she is your aunt. ^{v 15}You are not to have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law. ^w She 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; she is your brother’s family. ^{x 17}You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter. ^y You 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. ^{z 18}You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime. ^aa

¹⁹“You are not to approach ^ab a woman during her menstrual impurity to have sexual intercourse with her. ^{ac 20}You are not to have sexual intercourse with ^ad your neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her. ^ae

²¹“You are not to sacrifice any of your children in the fire ^af to Molech. ^ag Do not profane the name ^ah of your God; I am the Lord. ²²You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; ^ai it is detestable. ^{aj 23}You are not to have sexual intercourse with ^ak any animal, defiling yourself with it; a woman is not to present herself to an animal to mate with it; ^al it 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 iniquity, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. ^{am 26}But you are to keep my statutes and ordinances. You must not commit any of these detestable acts #— #not the native or the alien who resides among you. ²⁷For the people who were in the land prior to you have committed all these detestable acts, and the land has become defiled. ²⁸If you defile the land, it will vomit ^an you out as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹Any person who does any of these detestable practices is to be cut off from his people. ³⁰You must keep my instruction to not do any of the detestable customs ^ao that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them; I am the Lord your God.”