Common English Bible CEB
The Message Bible MSG
1 The LORD said to Moses,
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God spoke to Moses,
2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the LORD your God.
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"Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them: I am God, your God.
3 You must not do things like they are done in the land of Egypt, where you used to live. And you must not do things like they are done in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow the practices of those places.
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Don't live like the people of Egypt where you used to live, and don't live like the people of Canaan where I'm bringing you. Don't do what they do.
4 No, my regulations and my rules are the ones you must keep by following them: I am the LORD your God.
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Obey my laws and live by my decrees. I am your God.
5 You must keep my rules and my regulations; by doing them one will live; I am the LORD.
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Keep my decrees and laws: The person who obeys them lives by them. I am God.
6 No one is allowed to approach any blood relative for sexual contact: I am the LORD.
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"Don't have sex with a close relative. I am God.
7 You must not uncover your father's nakedness, which is your mother's nakedness. She is your mother; you must not have sexual contact with her.
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"Don't violate your father by having sex with your mother. She is your mother. Don't have sex with her.
8 You must not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
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"Don't have sex with your father's wife. That violates your father.
9 You must not have sexual contact with your sister—regardless of whether she is your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether born into the same household as you or outside it.
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"Don't have sex with your sister, whether she's your father's daughter or your mother's, whether she was born in the same house or elsewhere.
10 You must not have sexual contact with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, because their nakedness is your own nakedness.
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"Don't have sex with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter. That would violate your own body.
11 You must not have sexual contact with the daughter of your father's wife, who was born into your father's family; she is your sister.
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"Don't have sex with the daughter of your father's wife born to your father. She is your sister.
12 You must not have sexual contact with your father's sister; she is your father's blood relative.
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"Don't have sex with your father's sister; she is your aunt, closely related to your father.
13 You must not have sexual contact with your mother's sister because she is your mother's blood relative.
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"Don't have sex with your mother's sister; she is your aunt, closely related to your mother.
14 You will not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother—that is, you will not approach his wife for sex; she is your aunt.
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"Don't violate your father's brother, your uncle, by having sex with his wife. She is your aunt.
15 You must not have sexual contact with your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife. You must not have sexual contact with her.
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"Don't have sex with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; don't have sex with her.
16 You will not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness.
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"Don't have sex with your brother's wife; that would violate your brother.
17 You must not have sexual contact with a woman and her daughter. You will not marry her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, thereby uncovering her nakedness. They are her blood relatives; it is shameful.
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"Don't have sex with both a woman and her daughter. And don't have sex with her granddaughters either. They are her close relatives. That is wicked.
18 You must not marry your wife's sister as a rival and have sexual contact with her while her sister is alive.
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"Don't marry your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sex with her while your wife is living.
19 You must not approach a woman for sexual contact during her menstrual uncleanness.
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"Don't have sex with a woman during the time of her menstrual period when she is unclean.
20 You must not have sexual relations with the wife of your fellow Israelite, becoming unclean by it.
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"Don't have sex with your neighbor's wife and violate yourself by her.
21 You must not give any of your children to offer them over to Molech so that you do not defile your God's name: I am the LORD.
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"Don't give any of your children to be burned in sacrifice to the god Molech - an act of sheer blasphemy of your God. I am God.
22 You must not have sexual intercourse with a man as you would with a woman; it is a detestable practice.
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"Don't have sex with a man as one does with a woman. That is abhorrent.
23 You will not have sexual relations with any animal, becoming unclean by it. Nor will a woman present herself before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
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"Don't have sex with an animal and violate yourself by it. A woman must not have sex with an animal. That is perverse.
24 Do not make yourselves unclean in any of these ways because that is how the nations that I am throwing out before you became unclean.
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"Don't pollute yourself in any of these ways. This is how the nations became polluted, the ones that I am going to drive out of the land before you.
25 That is also how the land became unclean, and I held it liable for punishment, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
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Even the land itself became polluted and I punished it for its iniquities - the land vomited up its inhabitants.
26 But all of you must keep my rules and my regulations. You must not do any of these detestable things, neither citizen nor immigrant who lives with you (
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You must keep my decrees and laws - natives and foreigners both. You must not do any of these abhorrent things.
27 because the people who had the land before you did all of these detestable things and the land became unclean),
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The people who lived in this land before you arrived did all these things and polluted the land.
28 so that the land does not vomit you out because you have made it unclean, just as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
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And if you pollute it, the land will vomit you up just as it vomited up the nations that preceded you.
29 Anyone who does any of these detestable things will be cut off from their people.
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"Those who do any of these abhorrent things will be cut off from their people.
30 You must keep my requirement of not doing any of the detestable practices that were done before you arrived so that you don't make yourselves unclean by them; I am the LORD your God.
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Keep to what I tell you; don't engage in any of the abhorrent acts that were practiced before you came. Don't pollute yourselves with them. I am God, your God."
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.