New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 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 follow 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 My ordinances you shall observe and my statutes you shall keep, 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 shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall 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 None of you shall approach anyone near of kin 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 the nakedness of your father.
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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 born at home or born abroad.
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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, begotten by your father, 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 flesh.
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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 flesh.
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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 her daughter, and you shall not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are your flesh; 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 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 You shall not have sexual relations with your kinsman's wife, and defile yourself 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 offspring to sacrifice 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 You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations 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 defile yourselves in any of these ways, for by all these practices the nations I am casting out before you have defiled themselves.
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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 Thus the land became defiled; and I punished it for 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 ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the citizen or the alien who resides 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 inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled);
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The people who lived in this land before you arrived did all these things and polluted the land.
28 otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, 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 whoever commits any of these abominations shall 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 So keep my charge not to commit any of these abominations that were done before you, and not to defile yourselves 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."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.