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Leviticus 18:19-30
New English Translation

19 “‘You must not approach a woman in her menstrual impurity[a] to have sexual relations with her. 20 You must not have sexual relations[b] with the wife of your fellow citizen to become unclean with her. 21 You must not give any of your children as an offering to Molech,[c] so that you do not profane[d] the name of your God. I am the Lord! 22 You must not have sexual relations with a male as one has sexual relations with a woman;[e] it is a detestable act.[f] 23 You must not have sexual relations[g] with any animal to become defiled with it, and a woman must not stand before an animal to have sexual relations with it;[h] it is a perversion.[i]

Warning against the Abominations of the Nations

24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations that I am about to drive out before you[j] have been defiled with all these things. 25 Therefore[k] the land has become unclean and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it,[l] so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants. 26 You yourselves must obey[m] my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner[n] in your midst, 27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations,[o] and the land has become unclean. 28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it[p] just as it has vomited out the nations[q] that were before you. 29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, that person who does them will be cut off from the midst of the people.[r] 30 You must obey my charge not to practice any of the abominable statutes[s] that have been done before you, so that you do not[t] defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.’”

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 18:19 tn Heb “in the menstruation of her impurity”; NIV “during the uncleanness of her monthly period.”
  2. Leviticus 18:20 tn Heb “And to the wife of your fellow citizen you shall not give your layer for seed.” The meaning of “your layer” (שְׁכָבְתְּךָ, shekhavtekha) is uncertain (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 122, “you shall not place your layer of semen”; but cf. also J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 283, and the literature cited there for understanding the term to refer to the male member). The Hebrew word שְׁכֹבֶת (shekhovet) is related to the noun מִשְׁכָּב (mishkav) “bed” and the verb שָׁכַב (shakhav) “to lie down,” which also acts as a euphemism for sexual relations.
  3. Leviticus 18:21 tn Heb “And from your seed you shall not give to cause to pass over to Molech.” Smr (cf. also the LXX) has “to cause to serve” rather than “to cause to pass over.” For detailed remarks on Molech and Molech worship see N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NCBC), 87-88; P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 259-60; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 333-37, and the literature cited there. It could refer to either human sacrifice or a devotion of children to some sort of service of Molech, perhaps of a sexual sort (cf. Lev 20:2-5; 2 Kgs 23:10, etc.). The inclusion of this prohibition against Molech worship here may be due to some sexual connection of this kind, or perhaps simply to the lexical link between זֶרַע (zeraʿ) meaning “seed, semen” in v. 20 but “offspring” in v. 21.
  4. Leviticus 18:21 tn Heb “and you shall not profane.” Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
  5. Leviticus 18:22 tn Heb “And with a male you shall not lay [as the] lyings of a woman” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 123). The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.
  6. Leviticus 18:22 tn The Hebrew term תּוֹעֵבָה (toʿevah, rendered “detestable act”) refers to the repugnant practices of foreigners, whether from the viewpoint of other peoples toward the Hebrews (e.g., Gen 43:32; 46:34; Exod 8:26) or of the Lord toward other peoples (see esp. Lev 18:26-27, 29-30). It can also designate, as here, detestable acts that might be perpetrated by the native peoples (it is used again in reference to homosexuality in Lev 20:13; cf. also its use for unclean food, Deut 14:3; idol worship, Isa 41:24; remarriage to a former wife who has been married to someone else in between, Deut 24:4).
  7. Leviticus 18:23 tn See the note on v. 20 above.
  8. Leviticus 18:23 tn Heb “to copulate with it” (cf. Lev 20:16).
  9. Leviticus 18:23 tn The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל (tevel, “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” and therefore refers to illegitimate mixtures of species or violation of the natural order of things.
  10. Leviticus 18:24 tn Heb “which I am sending away (Piel participle of שָׁלַח [shalakh, “to send”]) from your faces.” The rendering here takes the participle as anticipatory of the coming conquest events.
  11. Leviticus 18:25 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.
  12. Leviticus 18:25 tn Heb “and I have visited its [punishment for] iniquity on it.” See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
  13. Leviticus 18:26 tn Heb “And you shall keep, you.” The latter emphatic personal pronoun “you” is left out of a few medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate.
  14. Leviticus 18:26 sn On the Hebrew ger (גֵּר) “resident foreigner” see notes at Exod 12:19 and Deut 29:11.
  15. Leviticus 18:27 tn Heb “for all these abominations the men of the land who were before you have done.”
  16. Leviticus 18:28 tn Heb “And the land will not vomit you out in your defiling it.”
  17. Leviticus 18:28 tc The MT reads the singular “nation” and is followed by ASV, NASB, NRSV; the LXX, Syriac, and Targum have the plural “nations” (cf. v. 24).
  18. Leviticus 18:29 sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.
  19. Leviticus 18:30 tn Heb “to not do from the statutes of the detestable acts.”
  20. Leviticus 18:30 tn Heb “and you will not.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
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Leviticus 17
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