Leviticus 18

God’s Command to Stay Holy

1 The Lord spoke to Moses.

2 Tell the Israelites, I am the Lord your God.

3 Do not follow the practices of Egypt, where you used to live, or the practices of Canaan, where I am taking you. Do not live like them.

4 Obey My laws and keep My commands. I am the Lord your God.

5 Follow My rules, and you will live by them. I am the Lord.

Forbidden Sexual Relations

6 No one is allowed to have sexual relations with a close relative. I am the Lord.

7 Do not dishonor your father by having sex with your mother. She is your mother. Do not sleep with her.

8 Do not sleep with your father’s wife. That would bring shame to your father.

9 Do not sleep with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born in your house or somewhere else.

10 Do not sleep with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter. That would bring shame to you.

11 Do not sleep with your father’s wife’s daughter. She is your sister.

12 Do not sleep with your father’s sister. She is your father’s close relative.

13 Do not sleep with your mother’s sister. She is your mother’s close relative.

14 Do not sleep with your father’s brother’s wife. That would bring shame to your uncle.

15 Do not sleep with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife.

16 Do not sleep with your brother’s wife. That would bring shame to your brother.

17 Do not sleep with a woman and her daughter. Do not sleep with her granddaughter either. That is wickedness.

18 Do not marry a woman and her sister while both are alive. That would create jealousy between them.

Other Forbidden Sexual Sins

19 Do not sleep with a woman during her period when she is unclean.

20 Do not sleep with another man’s wife. That would make you unclean.

21 Do not sacrifice your children to Molech. Do not dishonor My name. I am the Lord.

22 Do not sleep with a man as you would with a woman. That is detestable.

23 Do not have sexual relations with an animal. That is perversion.

God’s Warning Against Sinful Nations

24 Do not make yourselves unclean by doing these things. This is why I am driving out the nations before you.

25 The land itself has become unclean, and I am punishing it by making it vomit out its people.

26 You must keep My laws and not do the detestable things the nations before you did.

27 The people who lived there before you did all these evil things, and that is why the land became unclean.

28 If you defile the land, it will vomit you out just like it did the nations before you.

29 Anyone who does these detestable things must be cut off from their people.

30 Keep My commands and do not follow the sinful practices of the nations before you. I am the Lord your God.