Leviticus 18
The full text of Leviticus 18 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 The LORD said to Moses,
2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the LORD your God.
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.
4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God.
5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.
6 "No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.
7 "Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.
8 "Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father.
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.
10 "Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you.
11 "Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father; she is your sister.
12 "Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister; she is your father's close relative.
13 "Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative.
14 "Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.
15 "Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; do not have relations with her.
16 "Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother.
17 "Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have relations with her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.
18 "Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
19 "Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.
20 "Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her.
21 "Do not give any of your children to be passed through the fire to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
22 "Do not have sexual relations with a man as one has relations with a woman; that is detestable.
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.
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.
25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
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,
27 for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled.
28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
29 "Everyone who does any of these detestable things—such persons must be cut off from their people.
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."
Translation notes (3)
- Leviticus 18:6a The phrase "to have sexual relations" translates the Hebrew idiom "to uncover the nakedness of" (galah 'ervah), which is used throughout this chapter to mean sexual intercourse.
- Leviticus 18:21a The phrase "passed through the fire to Molek" (le-ha'avir la-molek) refers to a debated practice. Molek (vocalized in the standard Hebrew text with the vowels of *boshet*, meaning "shame") is widely understood as a Canaanite deity linked to child sacrifice, though some scholars interpret *molek* as a type of sacrifice itself. Similarly, "pass through the fire" could mean child sacrifice or a dedicatory rite; the exact practice is debated and not resolved here.
- Leviticus 18:22a This verse is considered a "bias-battleground" text, and its interpretation is not decided here. The Hebrew, translated as literally as possible, reads roughly: "And with a male you shall not lie the lyings of a woman." Key questions, which are noted without resolution, include: (1) the precise scope of *mishkevei 'ishah* ("the lyings/beds of a woman"), a rare plural idiom; (2) how this prohibition relates to its surrounding context of incest, Molek worship, and adultery; and (3) the full range of meaning for *to'evah* ("detestable thing"), which is a term for ritual impurity also used for food and idolatry, not exclusively a moral-universal term. The Trinity Bible Version renders the text plainly and faithfully, without adjusting it toward or away from any modern interpretation; the interpretive questions are left for further study and scholarly review.
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