Leviticus 18:19-29

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.

25 Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out.

26 You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.

27 “All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled.

28 So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now.

29 Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel.

Leviticus 18:19-29 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.