Leviticus 18

Laws on Immoral Relations

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, '¹I am the LORD your God.

3 'You shall not do what is ²done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is ³done in the land of Canaan where * I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.

4 'You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; ⁴I am the LORD your God.

5 'So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, ⁵by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD.

6 'None * of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am the LORD.

7 '⁶You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness.

8 '⁷You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.

9 '⁸The nakedness of your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover.

10 'The nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for their nakedness is yours.

11 'The nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, born to your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness.

12 '⁹You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's blood relative.

13 'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's blood relative.

14 '¹⁰You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother; you shall not approach his wife, she is your aunt.

15 '¹¹You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness.

16 '¹²You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness.

17 '¹³You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; they are blood relatives. It is lewdness.

18 'You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.

19 '¹⁴Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her ¹⁵menstrual impurity.

20 '¹⁶You shall not have intercourse * with your neighbor's wife, to be defiled with her.

21 'You shall not give any of your offspring ¹⁷to offer them to Molech, nor shall you ¹⁸profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.

22 '¹⁹You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

23 '²⁰Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.

24 'Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these ²¹the nations which I am casting out before * you have become defiled.

25 'For the land has become defiled, ²²therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land ²³has spewed out its inhabitants.

26 'But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any * of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you

27 (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled );

28 so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you.

29 'For whoever * does any * of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people.

30 'Thus you are to keep ²⁴My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; ²⁵I am the LORD your God.' "

Leviticus 18 Commentary

Chapter 18

Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.

- Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross sin. The grace of God only will secure us; that grace is to be expected only in the use of the means of grace. Nor does He ever leave any to their hearts' lusts, till they have left him and his services.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 6:7; Leviticus 11:44; Ezekiel 20:5
• 2. Ezekiel 20:7, 8
• 3. Leviticus 18:24-30; Leviticus 20:23
• 4. Leviticus 18:2
• 5. Nehemiah 9:29; Ezekiel 18:9; Ezekiel 20:11; Luke 10:28; Romans 10:5; Galatians 3:12
• 6. Leviticus 20:11; Deuteronomy 27:20; Ezekiel 22:10
• 7. Leviticus 20:11; Deuteronomy 22:30; Deuteronomy 27:20; 1 Corinthians 5:1
• 8. Leviticus 18:11; Leviticus 20:17; Deuteronomy 27:22
• 9. Leviticus 20:19
• 10. Leviticus 20:20
• 11. Leviticus 20:12
• 12. Leviticus 20:21
• 13. Leviticus 20:14
• 14. Leviticus 15:24; Leviticus 20:18
• 15. Leviticus 12:2
• 16. Leviticus 20:10; Proverbs 6:29; Matthew 5:27, 28; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Hebrews 13:4
• 17. Leviticus 20:2-5; Deuteronomy 12:31
• 18. Leviticus 19:12; Leviticus 20:3; Leviticus 21:6; Ezekiel 36:20; Malachi 1:12
• 19. Leviticus 20:13; Deut 23:18 mg; Romans 1:27
• 20. Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 20:15, 16; Deuteronomy 27:21
• 21. Leviticus 18:3; Deuteronomy 18:12
• 22. Leviticus 20:23; Deuteronomy 9:5; Deuteronomy 18:12
• 23. Leviticus 18:28; Leviticus 20:22
• 24. Leviticus 22:9; Deuteronomy 11:1
• 25. Leviticus 18:2

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "according to the deed of"
• [b]. Lit "according to the deed of"
• [c]. Lit "to walk in them"
• [d]. Lit "of his flesh"
• [e]. Lit "they are your nakedness"
• [f]. Lit "begotten of"
• [g]. Or "wickedness"
• [h]. Lit "take a wife"
• [i]. Or "another"
• [j]. Lit "to be"
• [k]. Lit "cause to pass over"
• [l]. Lit "those who lie"
• [m]. Or "lie"
• [n]. Lit "iniquity"
• [o]. Or "and the"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 18

In this chapter the Israelites are directed in general not to imitate the customs and practices of the Egyptians and Canaanites, but to keep the ordinances, statutes, and judgments of the Lord, Le 18:1-5; and they are instructed particularly to avoid incestuous marriages, Le 18:6-18; carnal copulation with a menstruous woman, Le 18:19; adultery, Le 18:20; letting any of their seed pass through the fire to Molech, Le 18:21; sodomy, Le 18:22; and bestiality, Le 18:23; and they are deterred from these things by observing to them the pollution and destruction which they brought on the inhabitants of Canaan, and would bring the same on them should they commit them, Le 18:24-30.