Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18:1 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Leviticus 18:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am Yahveh your God.

Leviticus 18:3 You will not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you stayed, and you will not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You will not walk in their prescriptions.

Leviticus 18:4 You will follow my judgments and keep my prescriptions and walk in them. I am Yahveh your God.

Leviticus 18:5 You will therefore keep my prescriptions and my judgments; if a human does them, he will live by them: I am Yahveh.

Leviticus 18:6 “None of you will approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am Yahveh.

Leviticus 18:7 You will not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you will not uncover her nakedness.

Leviticus 18:8 You will not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 18:9 You will 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.

Leviticus 18:10 You will not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, because their nakedness is your own nakedness.

Leviticus 18:11 You will not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister.

Leviticus 18:12 You will not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative.

Leviticus 18:13 You will not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s relative.

Leviticus 18:14 You will not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you will not approach his wife; she is your aunt.

Leviticus 18:15 You will not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife; you will not uncover her nakedness.

Leviticus 18:16 You will not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.

Leviticus 18:17 You will not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you will not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is an immoral act.

Leviticus 18:18 And you will not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

Leviticus 18:19 “You will not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual contamination.

Leviticus 18:20 And you will not lie sexually with your associate’s wife and so make yourself contaminated with her.

Leviticus 18:21 You will not give any of your children to sacrifice them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am Yahveh.

Leviticus 18:22 You will not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 18:23 And you will not lie with any animal and so make yourself contaminated with it, neither will any woman give herself to an animal’s face to lie with it: it is perversion.

Leviticus 18:24 “Do not make yourselves contaminated by any of these things, because by all these the nations I am driving out from your face have become contaminated,

Leviticus 18:25 and the land became contaminated, so that I punished its violation, and the land vomited out those who stayed there.

Leviticus 18:26 But you will keep my prescriptions and my judgments and do none of these abominations, either the native or the foreign guest who is a temporary resident among you

Leviticus 18:27 (because the people of the land, who were at your face, did all of these abominations, so that the land became contaminated),

Leviticus 18:28 or else the land vomit you out when you make it contaminated, as it vomited out the nation that was at your face.

Leviticus 18:29 Because everyone who does any of these abominations, the throats who do them will be eliminated from among their people.

Leviticus 18:30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable prescriptions that were practiced at your face, and never to make yourselves contaminated by them: I am Yahveh your God.”

Leviticus 18 quotes:

“The word detestable (to‘ebah) also appears in the prohibitions against homosexual behavior in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. In addition, Jude says that Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire (Jude 7). The sexual license of Sodom and Gomorrah is also recounted by the apostle Peter (2 Peter 2:6-9).”

Stewart, David. What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality? Stewart Publications, 1997. p. 14.

“The universal scope of Leviticus 18 is emphasized by the motif of the land ‘vomiting out’ the pre-Israelite inhabitants, who should have known better even without the benefit of the spoken or written Torah.”

Ash, Christopher. Marriage : Sex in the Service of God. Inter-Varsity Press, 2003. p. 92.

“Others have argued that the prohibition of homosexuality is rooted in the arbitrariness of the Jewish people regarding sexual matters, and that there is no reason for it in terms of social consequences (i.e., it does not harm society or violate the rights of others). Such thinking contradicts the divine authorship of the law.33 If, contrary to the views of Jesus and Paul,34 the moral code of Leviticus 18-20 is not received as inspired of God, then it is superfluous to debate its binding character. But if it is deemed to be divine in origin, then it is arbitrary on the part of the critic to renounce the sections unfavorable to his preconceived notions.”

Bahnsen, Greg L. Homosexuality, a Biblical View. Baker Book House, 1978. pp. 37-38.

“The biblical call to holiness is often repeated in the Old Testament, but nowhere is it given more frequently than in the “Law of Holiness” of Leviticus 18-20. The standard for the good, the right, the just, and the acceptable is nothing less than the person of the living God: “Be holy because I the Lord your God am holy” (italics added, Lev. 19:2, 9, 14; ef. Matt. 5:48). Deities of other nations indulge in many, if not all, of the vices of their worshipers, but Yahweh’s character is revealed in Habakkuk’s prayer, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” (Hab. 1:13).”

Kaiser, Walter C. Toward Old Testament Ethics. Zondervan, 1983. p. 6.