Leviticus 18:14-24

14 “Do not violate your uncle, your father’s brother, by having sexual relations with his wife, for she is your aunt.

15 “Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, so you must not have sexual relations with her.

16 “Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife, for this would violate your brother.

17 “Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. And do not take her granddaughter, whether her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives, and this would be a wicked act.

18 “While your wife is living, do not marry her sister and have sexual relations with her, for they would be rivals.

19 “Do not have sexual relations with a woman during her period of menstrual impurity.

20 “Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor’s wife.

21 “Do not permit any of your children to be offered as a sacrifice to Molech, for you must not bring shame on the name of your God. I am the LORD .

22 “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.

23 “A man must not defile himself by having sex with an animal. And a woman must not offer herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it. This is a perverse act.

24 “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways.

Leviticus 18:14-24 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or do not marry.