> [[leviticus-17|← Previous]] | [[leviticus-00|TOC]] | [[leviticus-19|Next →]] --- # Leviticus, Chapter 18 ## Chapter 18 **Laws Concerning Sexual Behavior.** 1 The LORD said to Moses: ^leviticus-18-1 2 Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I, the LORD, am your God. ^leviticus-18-2 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you once lived, nor shall you do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; do not conform to their customs. ^leviticus-18-3 4 My decrees you shall carry out, and my statutes you shall take care to follow. I, the LORD, am your God. ^leviticus-18-4 5 Keep, then, my statutes and decrees, for the person who carries them out will find life through them. I am the LORD. ^leviticus-18-5 6 None of you shall approach a close relative to have sexual intercourse. I am the LORD. ^leviticus-18-6 7 You shall not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. She is your own mother; you shall not have intercourse with her. ^leviticus-18-7 8 You shall not have intercourse with your father’s wife, for that would be a disgrace to your father. ^leviticus-18-8 9 You shall not have intercourse with your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in your own household or born elsewhere. ^leviticus-18-9 10 You shall not have intercourse with your son’s daughter or with your daughter’s daughter, for that would be a disgrace to you. ^leviticus-18-10 11 You shall not have intercourse with the daughter whom your father’s wife bore to him in his household, since she, too, is your sister. ^leviticus-18-11 12 You shall not have intercourse with your father’s sister, since she is your father’s relative. ^leviticus-18-12 13 You shall not have intercourse with your mother’s sister, since she is your mother’s relative. ^leviticus-18-13 14 You shall not disgrace your father’s brother by having sexual relations with his wife, since she, too, is your aunt. ^leviticus-18-14 15 You shall not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife; you shall not have intercourse with her. ^leviticus-18-15 16 You shall not have intercourse with your brother’s wife; that would be a disgrace to your brother. ^leviticus-18-16 18 While your wife is still living you shall not marry her sister as her rival and have intercourse with her. ^leviticus-18-18 19 You shall not approach a woman to have intercourse with her while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. ^leviticus-18-19 20 You shall not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her. ^leviticus-18-20 21 You shall not offer any of your offspring for immolation to Molech, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD. ^leviticus-18-21 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination. ^leviticus-18-22 23 You shall not have sexual relations with an animal, defiling yourself with it; nor shall a woman set herself in front of an animal to mate with it; that is perverse. ^leviticus-18-23 24 Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, because by them the nations whom I am driving out of your way have defiled themselves. ^leviticus-18-24 25 And so the land has become defiled, and I have punished it for its wickedness, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants. ^leviticus-18-25 26 You, however, must keep my statutes and decrees, avoiding all these abominations, both the natives and the aliens resident among you— ^leviticus-18-26 27 because the previous inhabitants did all these abominations and the land became defiled; ^leviticus-18-27 28 otherwise the land will vomit you out also for having defiled it, just as it vomited out the nations before you. ^leviticus-18-28 29 For whoever does any of these abominations shall be cut off from the people. ^leviticus-18-29 30 Heed my charge, then, not to observe the abominable customs that have been observed before your time, and thus become impure by them. I, the LORD, am your God. ^leviticus-18-30 \* (18:2) I, the LORD, am your God: this declaration appears frequently elsewhere throughout chaps. [17] – [26], sometimes with a statement of God’s holiness or his sanctifying activity. It emphasizes the importance of the laws and the relationship of the divine lawgiver to the people. \* (18:5) Find life: in [Dt 30:15] – [20] Moses sets before the people life and death. The alternatives are set out in detail in [Lv 26] and [Dt 28]. Cf. [[ezekiel-20|Ez 20]]:11, [13], [21]. \* (18:6] – [23) These laws deal with illicit sexual behavior. [Lv 20:10] – [21] reiterates most of these cases, with penalties. Cf. also [Dt 27:15] – [26]; [[ezekiel-22|Ez 22]]:7 – [12]. The ordering of the cases in [Lv 18] seems to be: blood relatives (vv. [6] – [13]), those related by marriage (vv. [14] – [18]), then other cases (vv. [19] – [23]). \* (18:6) Close relative: this refers to a blood relative and includes those not specifically mentioned in the list, such as one’s own daughter and a full sister. Have sexual intercourse: lit., “to uncover nakedness.” \* (18:7] – [8) Cf. the story of Reuben lying with Bilhah, his father’s concubine and Rachel’s maid ([Gn 35:22]; [49:4]). \* (18:9], [11) Cf. actual or possible marriage to a half sister in [[genesis-20|Gen 20]]:12 and [2 Sm 13:13]. \* (18:10) Daughter incest is found in the story of Lot ([[genesis-19|Gen 19]]:30 – [38]). \* (18:15) Judah had intercourse with his daughter-in-law Tamar ([Gn 38]), but did not know her true identity until her pregnancy was discovered. \* (18:16) This refers to cohabiting with one’s sister-in-law not only while the brother is alive, but also after he is dead. [Dt 25:5] – [10] allows for the marriage to the wife of a brother when that brother died without a male heir. Cf. [Gn 38:6] – [14]. It was the violation of this law of Leviticus which aroused the wrath of John the Baptist against Herod Antipas (([[matthew-14|Mt 14]]:4]; ([[mark-06|Mk 6]]:18]). \* (18:20) [[adultery|Adultery]] in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East is intercourse between a married or betrothed woman and any male. In the Bible it is generally punishable by the death of both individuals ([20:10]; cf. [Dt 22:22] – [27]). Intercourse with an unmarried or unbetrothed woman is not prohibited but carries responsibilities and fines (cf. ([[exodus-22|Ex 22]]:15] – [16]; [Dt 22:28] – [29]). Cf. [Lv 19:20] – [22]. \* (18:21) Immolation to Molech: the reference is to the custom of sacrificing children to the god Molech. Cf. [[ezekiel-16|Ez 16]]:20 – [21]; [20:26], [31]; [23:37]. See note on [Lv 20:1] – [5]. a. (18:3) [Lv 20:22] – [23]. b. (18:5) [[ezekiel-20|Ez 20]]:11, [13], [21]; [Gal 3:12]. c. (18:7) [Lv 20:11]; [Dt 23:1]; [27:20]; ([[1-corinthians-05|1 Cor 5]]:1]. d. (18:9) [Lv 20:17]; [Dt 27:22]. e. (18:11) [Lv 20:17]. f. (18:12) [Lv 20:19]. g. (18:14) [Lv 20:20]. h. (18:15) [Lv 20:12]. i. (18:16) [Lv 20:21]; [Dt 25:5] – [10]; ([[matthew-14|Mt 14]]:3] – [4]; ([[mark-06|Mk 6]]:18]. j. (18:17) [Lv 20:14]; [Dt 27:23]. k. (18:18) [Gn 29:27] – [28]. l. (18:19) [Lv 15:24], [33]; [20:18]; [[ezekiel-18|Ez 18]]:6; [22:10]. m. (18:20) [Lv 20:10]; ([[exodus-20|Ex 20]]:14]; [Dt 5:18]; [22:22]; ([[matthew-05|Mt 5]]:27] – [30]; [Jn 8:4] – [5]. n. (18:21) [Lv 20:2] – [5]; [Dt 18:10]; [[1-kings-11|1 Kgs 11]]:7; [[2-kings-16|2 Kgs 16]]:3. o. (18:22) [Lv 20:13]; [[genesis-19|Gen 19]]:4 – [11]; [Jgs 19:22] – [30]; ([[romans-01|Rom 1]]:27]; ([[1-corinthians-06|1 Cor 6]]:9]. p. (18:23) [Lv 20:15] – [16]; ([[exodus-22|Ex 22]]:18]; [Dt 27:21]. q. (18:25) [Lv 20:22]. r. (18:30) [Lv 20:23]; [Dt 18:9]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[leviticus-17|← Previous]] | [[leviticus-00|TOC]] | [[leviticus-19|Next →]]