English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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God spoke to Moses,
2 "Speak to the people of Israel 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 shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.
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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 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in 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 shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: 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 "None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD.
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"Don't have sex with a close relative. I am God.
7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
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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 shall 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 shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home.
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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 shall not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for 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 shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, brought up in your father's family, since 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 shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's 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 shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's 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 shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; 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 shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
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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 shall 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 shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity.
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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 And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still 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 shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in 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 And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her.
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"Don't have sex with your neighbor's wife and violate yourself by her.
21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: 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 shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
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"Don't have sex with a man as one does with a woman. That is abhorrent.
23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is 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 by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become 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 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, 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 you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among 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 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that 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 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was 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 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people.
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"Those who do any of these abhorrent things will be cut off from their people.
30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to 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."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
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.