Leviticus 18

1 The Lord told Moses
2 to say to the people of Israel, "I am the Lord your God.
3 Do not follow the practices of the people of Egypt, where you once lived, or of the people in the land of Canaan, where I am now taking you.
4 Obey my laws and do what I command. I am the Lord your God.
5 Follow the practices and the laws that I give you; you will save your life by doing so. I am the Lord." 1
6 The Lord gave the following regulations. Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your relatives.
7 Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. You must not disgrace your own mother.
8 Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with any of his other wives. 2
9 Do not have intercourse with your sister or your stepsister, whether or not she was brought up in the same house with you. 3
10 Do not have intercourse with your granddaughter; that would be a disgrace to you.
11 Do not have intercourse with a half sister; she, too, is your sister.
12 Do not have intercourse with an aunt, whether she is your father's sister or your mother's sister. 4
14 Do not have intercourse with your uncle's wife; she, too, is your aunt.
15 Do not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law 5
16 or with your brother's wife. 6
17 Do not have intercourse with the daughter or granddaughter of a woman with whom you have had intercourse; they may be related to you, and that would be incest. 7
18 Do not take your wife's sister as one of your wives, as long as your wife is living.
19 Do not have intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, because she is ritually unclean. 8
20 Do not have intercourse with another man's wife; that would make you ritually unclean. 9
21 Do not hand over any of your children to be used in the worship of the god Molech, because that would bring disgrace on the name of God, the Lord. 10
22 No man is to have sexual relations with another man; God hates that. 11
23 No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion makes you ritually unclean. 12
24 Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these acts, for that is how the pagans made themselves unclean, those pagans who lived in the land before you and whom the Lord is driving out so that you can go in.
25 Their actions made the land unclean, and so the Lord is punishing the land and making it reject the people who lived there.
26 They did all these disgusting things and made the land unclean, but you must not do them. All of you, whether Israelites or foreigners living with you, must keep the Lord's laws and commands,
28 and then the land will not reject you, as it rejected the pagans who lived there before you.
29 You know that whoever does any of these disgusting things will no longer be considered one of God's people.
30 And the Lord said, "Obey the commands I give and do not follow the practices of the people who lived in the land before you, and do not make yourselves unclean by doing any of these things. I am the Lord your God."

Leviticus 18 Commentary

Chapter 18

Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.

- Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross sin. The grace of God only will secure us; that grace is to be expected only in the use of the means of grace. Nor does He ever leave any to their hearts' lusts, till they have left him and his services.

Cross References 12

  • 1. 18.5Nehemiah 9.29;Ezekiel 18.9; 20.11-13;Luke 10.28;Romans 10.5;Galatians 3.12.
  • 2. 18.8Leviticus 20.11;Deuteronomy 22.30; 27.20.
  • 3. 18.9Leviticus 20.17;Deuteronomy 27.22.
  • 4. 18.12-14Leviticus 20.19, 20.
  • 5. 18.15Leviticus 20.12.
  • 6. 18.16Leviticus 20.21.
  • 7. 18.17Leviticus 20.14;Deuteronomy 27.23.
  • 8. 18.19Leviticus 20.18.
  • 9. 18.20Leviticus 20.10.
  • 10. 18.21Leviticus 20.1-5.
  • 11. 18.22Leviticus 20.13.
  • 12. 18.23Exodus 22.19;Leviticus 20.15, 16;Deuteronomy 27.21.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 18

In this chapter the Israelites are directed in general not to imitate the customs and practices of the Egyptians and Canaanites, but to keep the ordinances, statutes, and judgments of the Lord, Le 18:1-5; and they are instructed particularly to avoid incestuous marriages, Le 18:6-18; carnal copulation with a menstruous woman, Le 18:19; adultery, Le 18:20; letting any of their seed pass through the fire to Molech, Le 18:21; sodomy, Le 18:22; and bestiality, Le 18:23; and they are deterred from these things by observing to them the pollution and destruction which they brought on the inhabitants of Canaan, and would bring the same on them should they commit them, Le 18:24-30.

Leviticus 18 Commentaries

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.