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Leviticus 20
Lexham English Bible

Molech Worship and Spiritism

20 Then[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “And to the Israelites[b] you shall say, ‘If there is anyone[c] from the Israelites[d] or[e] from the alien who is dwelling in Israel, who gives any of[f] his offspring to Molech, he must surely be put to death; the people of the land must stone him with stones.[g] 3 And I myself will set my face against that man, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given some of[h] his offspring to Molech, so that he makes my sanctuary unclean[i] and profanes[j] my holy name.[k] 4 And if the people of the land ever shut their eyes from[l] that man at his giving some of[m] his offspring to Molech, not putting him to death, 5 then[n] I myself will set my face against that man and against his clan, and I will cut him off and all those from the midst of their people who prostitute after Molech. 6 As for[o] the person who turns to the mediums and the soothsayers to prostitute after them, I will set[p] my face against that person, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people.

7 “‘And you shall consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy, because I am Yahweh your God. 8 And you shall keep my statutes, and you shall do them; I am Yahweh who consecrates you.

Family and Sexual Offenses

9 “‘If there is anyone[q] who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father and his mother—his blood is upon him.

10 “‘As for[r] a man who commits adultery with a man’s wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death. 11 As for[s] a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death—their blood is on them. 12 As for[t] a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed a perversion—their blood is on them.

13 “‘As for[u] the man who lies with a male as lying with a woman, they have committed a detestable thing; they shall surely be put to death—their blood is on them.

14 “‘As for[v] a man who marries a woman and her mother, that is depravity; they shall burn him and them, so that it shall not become depravity in the midst of you all.

15 “‘As for[w] a man who has sexual relations[x] with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 16 As for[y] a woman who approaches any animal to copulate with it, you shall kill[z] the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death—their blood is on them.

17 “‘As for[aa] a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and he sees her nakedness and she herself sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off before[ab] the eyes of their people;[ac] he has exposed his sister’s nakedness—he must bear his guilt. 18 As for[ad] a man who lies with a menstruating woman, he exposes[ae] her nakedness—her source he exposes and she herself reveals her blood’s source—both of them shall be cut off from the midst of their people. 19 And you shall not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister, and you shall not expose your father’s sister, because such a person[af] has dishonored his close relative—they must bear their guilt. 20 As for[ag] a man who lies with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness—they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 As for[ah] a man who marries his brother’s wife, it is an abomination; he has exposed his brother’s nakedness—they shall be childless.

You Shall Be Holy

22 “‘And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations, and you shall do them, so that[ai] the land, to which I am bringing you to inhabit it, shall not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not follow the statutes of the nation that I am driving out from before you,[aj] because they did all these things, and I detested them. 24 So[ak] I said to you, “You yourselves shall take possession of their land, and I myself shall give it to you to possess it—a land flowing with milk and honey”; I am Yahweh your God, who has set you apart[al] from the nations. 25 And you shall distinguish between the clean and the unclean animal and between the unclean and the clean bird; and you shall not defile yourselves with the animal or[am] with the bird or[an] with anything that moves along the ground that I have set apart for you as unclean.[ao] 26 And you shall be holy for me, because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have singled you out from the nations to be mine.

27 “‘And a man or a woman, if a spirit of the dead or a spirit of divination is in them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones[ap]—their blood is on them.’”

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 20:1 Or “And”
  2. Leviticus 20:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  3. Leviticus 20:2 Literally “a man a man”
  4. Leviticus 20:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  5. Leviticus 20:2 Or “and”
  6. Leviticus 20:2 Literally “from”
  7. Leviticus 20:2 Hebrew “the stone”
  8. Leviticus 20:3 Literally “from”
  9. Leviticus 20:3 Literally “to make unclean my sanctuary”
  10. Leviticus 20:3 Hebrew “to profane”
  11. Leviticus 20:3 Literally “the name of my holiness”
  12. Leviticus 20:4 Or “disregard”
  13. Leviticus 20:4 Literally “from”
  14. Leviticus 20:5 Or “and”
  15. Leviticus 20:6 Or “And”
  16. Leviticus 20:6 Hebrew “and I will set”
  17. Leviticus 20:9 Literally “a man a man”
  18. Leviticus 20:10 Or “And”
  19. Leviticus 20:11 Or “And”
  20. Leviticus 20:12 Or “And”
  21. Leviticus 20:13 Or “And”
  22. Leviticus 20:14 Or “And”
  23. Leviticus 20:15 Or “And”
  24. Leviticus 20:15 Literally “he gives his lying down”
  25. Leviticus 20:16 Or “And”
  26. Leviticus 20:16 Or “and you shall kill”
  27. Leviticus 20:17 Or “And”
  28. Leviticus 20:17 Literally “in”
  29. Leviticus 20:17 Literally “the sons/children of their people”
  30. Leviticus 20:18 Or “And”
  31. Leviticus 20:18 Or “and he exposes”
  32. Leviticus 20:19 Hebrew “he”
  33. Leviticus 20:20 Or “And”
  34. Leviticus 20:21 Or “And”
  35. Leviticus 20:22 Or “and”
  36. Leviticus 20:23 Literally “from your faces”
  37. Leviticus 20:24 Or “And”
  38. Leviticus 20:24 Literally “I have set you apart”
  39. Leviticus 20:25 Or “and”
  40. Leviticus 20:25 Or “and”
  41. Leviticus 20:25 Literally “to make unclean”
  42. Leviticus 20:27 Hebrew “the stone”
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Leviticus 20
New International Version

Punishments for Sin

20 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death.(A) The members of the community are to stone him.(B) 3 I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people;(C) for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled(D) my sanctuary(E) and profaned my holy name.(F) 4 If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death,(G) 5 I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek.

6 “‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.(H)

7 “‘Consecrate yourselves(I) and be holy,(J) because I am the Lord your God.(K) 8 Keep my decrees(L) and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.(M)

9 “‘Anyone who curses their father(N) or mother(O) is to be put to death.(P) Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.(Q)

10 “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife(R)—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.(S)

11 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father.(T) Both the man and the woman are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.(U)

12 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law,(V) both of them are to be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.

13 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.(W) They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

14 “‘If a man marries both a woman and her mother,(X) it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire,(Y) so that no wickedness will be among you.(Z)

15 “‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal,(AA) he is to be put to death,(AB) and you must kill the animal.

16 “‘If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

17 “‘If a man marries his sister(AC), the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed(AD) from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible.(AE)

18 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period,(AF) he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them are to be cut off from their people.(AG)

19 “‘Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father,(AH) for that would dishonor a close relative; both of you would be held responsible.

20 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his aunt,(AI) he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless.(AJ)

21 “‘If a man marries his brother’s wife,(AK) it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.(AL)

22 “‘Keep all my decrees and laws(AM) and follow them, so that the land(AN) where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations(AO) I am going to drive out before you.(AP) Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.(AQ) 24 But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.”(AR) I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations.(AS)

25 “‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds.(AT) Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those that I have set apart as unclean for you. 26 You are to be holy to me(AU) because I, the Lord, am holy,(AV) and I have set you apart from the nations(AW) to be my own.

27 “‘A man or woman who is a medium(AX) or spiritist among you must be put to death.(AY) You are to stone them;(AZ) their blood will be on their own heads.’”

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