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Leviticus 18
The opening of the Holiness Code, and a hard turn from ritual to sexuality. Bracketed by a warning not to live like Egypt or Canaan (v3), the chapter lists forbidden unions relative by relative: parents, siblings, in-laws, a wife's sister as rival (v18), then adds Molech child-sacrifice (v21) among them. Watch the refrain "I am the LORD" pacing the list, and the closing image (v25, v28): the land itself grows sick and vomits out inhabitants who defile it. Behavior, not just belief, is treated as something the land can no longer stomach.
- 1
The LORD said to Moses,
- 2
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.
- 3
You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived. You shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.
- 4
You shall do my ordinances. You shall keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God.
- 5
You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am the LORD.
- 6
“‘None of you shall approach any close relatives, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.
- 7
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, nor the nakedness of your mother: she is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness.
- 8
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.
- 9
“‘You shall not 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
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter, or of your daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness; for theirs is your own nakedness.
- 11
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, conceived by your father, since she is your sister.
- 12
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister. She is your father’s near kinswoman.
- 13
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s near kinswoman.
- 14
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife. She is your aunt.
- 15
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife. You shall not uncover her nakedness.
- 16
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife. It is your brother’s nakedness.
- 17
“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter. You shall not take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near kinswomen. It is wickedness.
- 18
“‘You shall not take a wife in addition to her sister, to be a rival, to uncover her nakedness, while her sister is still alive.
- 19
“‘You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness.
- 20
“‘You shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, and defile yourself with her.
- 21
“‘You shall not give any of your children as a sacrifice to Molech. You shall not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
- 22
“‘You shall not lie with a man as with a woman. That is detestable.
- 23
“‘You shall not 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.
- 25
The land was defiled. Therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants.
- 26
You 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
- 27
(for the men of the land that were before you had done all these abominations, and the land became defiled),
- 28
that 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.
- 30
Therefore you shall 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 the LORD your God.’”
A land that vomits
The chapter's logic is territorial. The previous nations were expelled not by superior armies but because their practices defiled the land (v24-25), and Israel is warned it can be spit out the same way (v28). Holiness here is a condition for staying in the land, not an abstract virtue.
The kinship terms are precise: each prohibition names a relationship ("she is your mother," "it is your father's nakedness"), grounding the ban in family structure rather than mere taboo. Chapter 20 will later attach penalties to nearly this same list.
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