The Bible
Leviticus Chapter 18
1Yahweh said to Moses, 2"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'I am Yahweh your God. 3Don't do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived. Don't do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Don't follow their statutes. 4Do my ordinances. Keep my statutes and walk in them. I am Yahweh your God. 5Therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he will live by them. I am Yahweh.
6"'No one is to approach any close relatives, to uncover their nakedness. I am Yahweh.
7"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your father, nor the nakedness of your mother: she is your mother. Don't uncover her nakedness.
8"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your father's wife. It is your father's nakedness.
9"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or born abroad.
10"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter, or of your daughter's daughter, even their nakedness; for theirs is your own nakedness.
11"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, conceived by your father, since she is your sister.
12"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your father's sister. She is your father's near kinswoman.
13"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's near kinswoman.
14"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your father's brother. Don't approach his wife. She is your aunt.
15"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife. Don't uncover her nakedness.
16"'Don't uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife. It is your brother's nakedness.
17"'Don't uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter. Don't take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near kinswomen. It is wickedness.
18"'Don't have a wife in addition to her sister, to be a rival, to uncover her nakedness, while her sister is still alive.
19"'Don't approach a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness.
20"'Don't lie sexually with your neighbor's wife, and defile yourself with her.
21"'Don't give any of your children as a sacrifice to Molech. Don't profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
22"'Don't lie with a man as with a woman. That is detestable.
23"'Don't lie with any animal to defile yourself with it. No woman may give herself to an animal, to lie down with it: it is a perversion.
24"'Don't defile yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled. 25The land was defiled. Therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants. 26You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you 27for the men of the land that were before you did all these abominations, and the land became defiled, 28that the land not vomit you out also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
29"'For whoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30Therefore keep my requirements, that you do not practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you, and that you do not defile yourselves with them. I am Yahweh your God.'"
The Bible text is an adaptation of the WEB
to include nuanced meanings of particular ancient words for placenames, God and others of special interest.
In general square brackets:[] are used to indicate words not found in the original text.
They also indicate the 5 books of the Psalms, and the letters in Psalm 119;
and a few passages considered by some to be of questionable authenticity, marked with an asterisk(*).
