Leviticus 18:22-24
New English Translation
22 You must not have sexual relations with a male as one has sexual relations with a woman;[a] it is a detestable act.[b] 23 You must not have sexual relations[c] with any animal to become defiled with it, and a woman must not stand before an animal to have sexual relations with it;[d] it is a perversion.[e]
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[f] have been defiled with all these things.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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.
- 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).
- Leviticus 18:23 tn See the note on v. 20 above.
- Leviticus 18:23 tn Heb “to copulate with it” (cf. Lev 20:16).
- 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.
- 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.
Leviticus 18:22-24
New International Version
22 “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman;(A) that is detestable.(B)
23 “‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.(C)
24 “‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you(D) became defiled.(E)
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