Leviticus 18

1 The Lord told Moses,

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “Tell the Israelites: I am the Lord your God.

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'I am Yahweh your God.

3 Don't follow the ways of Egypt where you used to live, and don't follow the ways of Canaan where I'm going to take you. Don't adopt their practices.

You must not do the things that the people do in Egypt, where you lived previously. You must not do the things that the people do in Canaan, the land to which I am taking you. Do not follow their customs.

4 Do what I tell you and keep my rules. I am the Lord your God.

My laws are what you must do, and my commandments are what you must keep, so that you walk in them, because I am Yahweh your God.

5 If you keep my rules and do what I tell you, you will live. I am the Lord.

Therefore you must keep my decrees and my laws. If a person obeys them, he will live because of them. I am Yahweh.

6 Don't have sex with a close relative.

No one must sleep with any close relative to uncover his nakedness. I am Yahweh.

7 Don't shame your father by having sex with your mother. She is your mother; don't have sex with her.

Do not dishonor your father by sleeping with your mother. She is your mother! You must not dishonor her.

8 Don't have sex with any of your father's wives and shame your father.

Do not sleep with any of your father's wives; you must not dishonor your father like that.

9 Don't have sex with your sister, whether she's your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, or whether she was born in the same house as you or somewhere else.

Do not sleep with any sister of yours, whether she is the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother, whether she was raised at your home or distant from you. You must not sleep with your sisters.

10 Don't have sex with your granddaughter, your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, because that would be shameful thing for you.

Do not sleep with your son's daughter or with your daughter's daughter. That would be your own shame.

11 Don't have sex with the daughter of any of your father's wives and your father, she is your sister.

Do not sleep with your father's wife's daughter, who was born of your father. She is your sister, and you must not sleep with her.

12 Don't have sex with your father's sister. She is a close relative of your father.

Do not sleep with your father's sister. She is a close relative to your father.

13 Don't have sex with your mother's sister. She is a close relative of your mother.

Do not sleep with your mother's sister. She is a close relative to your mother.

14 Don't bring shame on your uncle by having sex with his wife. She is your aunt.

Do not dishonor the brother of your father by sleeping with his wife. Do not go near her for that purpose; she is your aunt.

15 Don't have sex with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife. Don't have sex with her.

Do not sleep with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; do not sleep with her.

16 Don't have sex with your brother's wife and bring shame on your brother.

Do not sleep with your brother's wife; do not dishonor him in this way.

17 Don't have sex with both a woman and her daughter. Don't have sex with her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter. They are her close relatives. That is something I loathe.

Do not sleep with a woman and her daughter, or with her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter. They are close relatives to her, and sleeping with them would be wicked.

18 Don't marry your wife's sister and have sex with her while your wife is still alive. They will be hostile wives to one other.

You must not marry your wife's sister as a second wife and sleep with her while your first wife is alive.

19 Don't have sex with a woman during the time she is unclean because of her period.

Do not sleep with a woman during her menstruation. She is unclean during that time.

20 Don't commit any sex act with any other man's wife. This would pollute you and make you unclean.

Do not sleep with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her in this way.

21 Don't give any of your children as a human sacrifice to Molech, for you must not disgrace the character of your God. I am the Lord.

You must not give any of your children to put them into the fire, so that you sacrifice them to Molech, because you must not profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.

22 Don't have sex with a man as with a woman. That is something disgusting.

Do not sleep with other men as with a woman. This would be wicked.

23 Don't have sex with any animal. This would pollute you and make you unclean.

Do not sleep with any animal and defile yourself with it. No woman must consider sleeping with any animal. This would be perversion.

24 A woman must not give herself to an animal to have sex with it. That is something disgusting. Don't pollute yourselves and make yourselves unclean by doing anything like this. That's the reason I'm expelling these nations from the land—they polluted themselves because of all these practices.

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in all these ways the nations are defiled, the nations that I will drive out from before you.

25 Even the land has become polluted, so I am punishing it for the sins committed by the people who live there, and the land will vomit them out.

The land became defiled, so I punished their sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

26 You, however, must do what I tell you and keep my rules. You must not do any of these disgusting acts, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you.

You, therefore, must keep my commandments and decrees, and you must not do any of these detestable things, neither the native-born Israelite nor the foreigner who lives among you.

27 The people who lived in the land before you practiced all these disgusting things, and the land became polluted.

For this is the wickedness that the people in the land have committed, those who lived here before you, and now the land is defiled.

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

Therefore be careful so that the land does not vomit you up also after you have defiled it, as it vomited out the people who were before you.

29 Consequently anyone who does any of these disgusting things must be expelled from their people.

Whoever does any of these detestable things, the persons who do such things will be cut off from among their people.

30 You must accept my demand that you don't follow any of these disgusting practices done before you arrived. Don't pollute yourselves and make yourselves unclean. I am the Lord your God.”

Therefore you must keep my command not to practice any of these detestable customs which were practiced here before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am Yahweh your God.'”