Leviticus 18:16-26

16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife; it is thy brother’s nakedness.
17 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter; neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen; it is wickedness.
18 Neither shalt thou take a woman together with her sister, to make her a rival, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her lifetime.
19 Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is separated for her uncleanness.
20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, contaminating thyself with her.
21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech; neither shalt thou contaminate the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
22 Thou shalt not lie with males as with women; it is abomination.
23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith; neither shall any woman stand before a beast to join herself with it; it is mixture.
24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these things; for in all these things the Gentiles which I cast out before you have defiled themselves;
25 and the land became defiled; therefore, I visited its iniquity upon it, and the land itself vomited out her inhabitants.
26 Ye shall, therefore, keep my statutes and my rights and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither the natural of your own nor any stranger that sojourns among you.

Leviticus 18:16-26 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.

The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010