1 The Lord told Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites: I am the Lord 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. 4 Do what I tell you and keep my rules. I am the Lord your God. 5 If you keep my rules and do what I tell you, you will live. I am the Lord. 6 Don't have sex with a close relative. 7 Don't shame your father by having sex with your mother. She is your mother; don't have sex with her. 8 Don't have sex with any of your father's wives and shame your father. 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. 10 Don't have sex with your granddaughter, your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, because that would be a shameful thing for you. 11 Don't have sex with the daughter of any of your father's wives or the daughter of your father. She is your sister. 12 Don't have sex with your father's sister. She is a close relative of your father. 13 Don't have sex with your mother's sister. She is a close relative of your mother. 14 Don't bring shame on your uncle by having sex with his wife. 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. 16 Don't have sex with your brother's wife and bring shame on your brother. 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. 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. 19 Don't have sex with a woman during the time she is unclean because of her period. 20 Don't commit any sex act with any other man's wife. This would pollute you and make you unclean. 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. 22 Don't have sex with a man as with a woman. That is something disgusting. 23 Don't have sex with any animal. This would pollute you and make you unclean. 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. 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. 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. 27 The people who lived in the land before you practiced all these disgusting things, and the land became polluted. 28 If you pollute the land, it will vomit you out just like it did the nations before you. 29 Consequently anyone who does any of these disgusting things must be expelled from 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.”
Leviticus · Free Bible Version
Leviticus 18 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
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People
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Cross references (26)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 2 Exodus 6:7; Leviticus 11:44; Ezekiel 20:5; Leviticus 20:7; Ezekiel 20:19–20
- 3 Leviticus 20:23; Exodus 23:24; Ezekiel 20:7–8; Ezekiel 23:8; 1 Peter 4:2–4
- 4 Ezekiel 20:19; Leviticus 18:2; Psalm 119:4; John 15:14; Ezekiel 36:27
- 5 Galatians 3:12; Ezekiel 20:11; Romans 10:5; Ezekiel 20:21; Ezekiel 20:13
- 6 Leviticus 20:17–21; Leviticus 18:7–19; Leviticus 20:11–12
- 7 Leviticus 20:11; Ezekiel 22:10; Leviticus 20:14; Leviticus 18:8–16
- 8 Leviticus 20:11; 1 Corinthians 5:1; Deuteronomy 22:30; Deuteronomy 27:20; Amos 2:7
- 9 Leviticus 20:17; Deuteronomy 27:22; Ezekiel 22:11; 2 Samuel 13:11–14; Leviticus 18:11
- 12 Leviticus 20:19; Exodus 6:20
- 14 Leviticus 20:20
- 15 Leviticus 20:12; Genesis 38:26; Ezekiel 22:11; Genesis 38:18–19
- 16 Leviticus 20:21; Deuteronomy 25:5; Mark 12:19; Matthew 22:24; Mark 6:17
- 17 Leviticus 20:14; Amos 2:7; Deuteronomy 27:23
- 18 Malachi 2:15; Genesis 29:28; Genesis 30:15; Genesis 4:19; 1 Samuel 1:6–8
- 19 Leviticus 15:24; Leviticus 20:18; Ezekiel 22:10; Leviticus 15:19; Ezekiel 18:6
- 20 Exodus 20:14; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Matthew 5:27–28; Leviticus 20:10
- 21 Deuteronomy 12:31; Deuteronomy 18:10; Leviticus 20:2–5; Leviticus 19:12; Leviticus 22:32
- 22 Leviticus 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Romans 1:26–27; 1 Timothy 1:10; Jude 7
- 23 Leviticus 20:15–16; Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 20:12; Deuteronomy 27:21
- 24 Deuteronomy 18:12; Leviticus 18:30; Leviticus 20:22–23; Deuteronomy 12:31; 1 Corinthians 3:17
- 25 Leviticus 18:28; Leviticus 20:22–23; Jeremiah 2:7; Jeremiah 9:9; Psalm 106:38
- 26 Leviticus 18:5; Luke 8:15; Luke 11:28; Deuteronomy 12:32; Deuteronomy 4:1–2
- 27 Ezekiel 22:11; Deuteronomy 27:15; Ezekiel 16:50; 2 Chronicles 36:14; 1 Kings 14:24
- 28 Leviticus 18:25; Leviticus 20:22; Revelation 3:16; Ezekiel 36:17; Jeremiah 9:19
- 29 Leviticus 17:10; Leviticus 20:6; Exodus 12:15
- 30 Leviticus 20:23; Deuteronomy 18:9–12; Leviticus 22:9; Leviticus 18:26–27; Leviticus 18:2–4
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences