Leviticus 18 - New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Chapter 18

Laws Concerning Sexual Behavior. ¹ The Lord said to Moses: ² Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I, the Lord, am your God.^{[a] 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.^{(A) 4} My decrees you shall carry out, and my statutes you shall take care to follow. I, the Lord, am your God. ⁵ Keep, then, my statutes and decrees, for the person who carries them out will find life^[b] through them. I am the Lord.^(B)

^{6 [c]}None of you shall approach a close relative^[d] to have sexual intercourse. I am the Lord. ^{7 [e]}You shall not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother.^(C) She is your own mother; you shall not have intercourse with her. ⁸ You shall not have intercourse with your father’s wife, for that would be a disgrace to your father. ⁹ You shall not have intercourse with your sister,^[f](D) your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in your own household or born elsewhere. ¹⁰ You shall not have intercourse with your son’s daughter or with your daughter’s daughter,^[g] for that would be a disgrace to you. ¹¹ You shall not have intercourse with the daughter whom your father’s wife bore to him in his household,^(E) since she, too, is your sister. ¹² You shall not have intercourse with your father’s sister,^(F) since she is your father’s relative. ¹³ You shall not have intercourse with your mother’s sister, since she is your mother’s relative. ¹⁴ You shall not disgrace your father’s brother by having sexual relations with his wife,^(G) since she, too, is your aunt. ¹⁵ You shall not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law;^[h](H) she is your son’s wife; you shall not have intercourse with her. ¹⁶ You shall not have intercourse with your brother’s wife;^[i](I) that would be a disgrace to your brother. ¹⁷ You shall not have intercourse with a woman and also with her daughter, nor shall you marry and have intercourse with her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter;^(J) they are related to her. This would be shameful. ¹⁸ While your wife is still living you shall not marry her sister as her rival and have intercourse with her.^(K)

¹⁹ You shall not approach a woman to have intercourse with her while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.^{(L) 20} You shall not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife,^[j](M) defiling yourself with her. ^{21 (N)}You shall not offer any of your offspring for immolation to Molech,^[k] thus profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord. ²² You shall not lie with a male as with a woman;^(O) such a thing is an abomination. 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.^(P)

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. ²⁵ And so the land has become defiled, and I have punished it for its wickedness, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants.^{(Q) 26} You, however, must keep my statutes and decrees, avoiding all these abominations, both the natives and the aliens resident among you— ²⁷ because the previous inhabitants did all these abominations and the land became defiled; ²⁸ otherwise the land will vomit you out also for having defiled it, just as it vomited out the nations before you. ²⁹ For whoever does any of these abominations shall be cut off from the people. ³⁰ Heed my charge, then, not to observe the abominable customs that have been observed before your time, and thus become impure by them.^(R) I, the Lord, am your God.

Footnotes

1. 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.
2. 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. Ez 20:11, 13, 21.
3. 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; 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).
4. 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.”
5. 18:7–8 Cf. the story of Reuben lying with Bilhah, his father’s concubine and Rachel’s maid (Gn 35:22; 49:4).
6. 18:9, 11 Cf. actual or possible marriage to a half sister in Gn 20:12 and 2 Sm 13:13.
7. 18:10 Daughter incest is found in the story of Lot (Gn 19:30–38).
8. 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.
9. 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 (Mt 14:4; Mk 6:18).
10. 18:20 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. Ex 22:15–16; Dt 22:28–29). Cf. Lv 19:20–22.
11. 18:21 Immolation to Molech: the reference is to the custom of sacrificing children to the god Molech. Cf. Ez 16:20–21; 20:26, 31; 23:37. See note on Lv 20:1–5.

Cross references

1. 18:3 : Lv 20:22–23.
2. 18:5 : Ez 20:11, 13, 21; Gal 3:12.
3. 18:7 : Lv 20:11; Dt 23:1; 27:20; 1 Cor 5:1.
4. 18:9 : Lv 20:17; Dt 27:22.
5. 18:11 : Lv 20:17.
6. 18:12 : Lv 20:19.
7. 18:14 : Lv 20:20.
8. 18:15 : Lv 20:12.
9. 18:16 : Lv 20:21; Dt 25:5–10; Mt 14:3–4; Mk 6:18.
10. 18:17 : Lv 20:14; Dt 27:23.
11. 18:18 : Gn 29:27–28.
12. 18:19 : Lv 15:24, 33; 20:18; Ez 18:6; 22:10.
13. 18:20 : Lv 20:10; Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18; 22:22; Mt 5:27–30; Jn 8:4–5.
14. 18:21 : Lv 20:2–5; Dt 18:10; 1 Kgs 11:7; 2 Kgs 16:3.
15. 18:22 : Lv 20:13; Gn 19:4–11; Jgs 19:22–30; Rom 1:27; 1 Cor 6:9.
16. 18:23 : Lv 20:15–16; Ex 22:18; Dt 27:21.
17. 18:25 : Lv 20:22.
18. 18:30 : Lv 20:23; Dt 18:9.