Leviticus 18

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: I am the Lord your God. 3 You are not to do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you are not to do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; you are not to walk in their practices. 4 You are to do my judgments and keep my decrees and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You are to keep all my decrees and all my judgments and do them; a man who does them will live by them. I am the Lord your God.

6 No man is to come near any close relative of his own flesh to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. [a] 7 You are not to uncover the nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness. 8 You are not to uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness. 9 The nakedness of your sister, by your father or by your mother, born at home or born away, you are not to uncover. 10 The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter you are not to uncover, because it is your own nakedness. 11 You are not to uncover the nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife. She is your sister by the same father; you are not to uncover her nakedness. 12 You are not to uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister, for she is your father’s close relative. 13 You are not to uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s close relative. 14 You are not to uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, and you are not to go in to his wife, for she is your relative. 15 You are not to uncover the nakedness of your son’s wife. She is your son’s wife; you are not to uncover her nakedness. 16 You are not to uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife. It is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You are not to uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter; you are not to take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover their nakedness, for they are your close relatives. It is an ungodly thing. 18 You are not to take a woman in addition to her sister, as a rival, uncovering her nakedness against her while she is still living.

19 And you are not to come near a woman in the separation of her uncleanness, to uncover her nakedness. 20 And you are not to give your flow of seed to your neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her. 21 And you are not to give any of your seed to serve a ruler, and you are not to treat the holy name as common. I am the Lord. [b] 22 And you are not to lie with a male as one lies with a woman, for it is a detestable thing. 23 And you are not to give yourself to any four-footed animal to breed with it, defiling yourself with it; and a woman is not to present herself to any four-footed animal to be mounted by it, for it is a foul thing. [c]

24 Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for by all of these the nations were defiled, whom I am driving out ahead of you; 25 and the land was defiled, and I paid their wrongdoing back on them because of it, and the land was sickened by those living on it. [d] 26 And you are to keep all my practices and all my decrees, and you are not to do any of these detestable things — neither the one born in the land nor the newcomer who has joined you — 27 for the men of the land who were there before you did all these detestable things, and the land was defiled; 28 so that the land will not be sickened by you when you defile it, as it was sickened by the nations before you. 29 For anyone who does any of these detestable things — the souls that do them will be destroyed from among their people. 30 And you are to keep my decrees, so that you do not follow any of the detestable practices that were done before your time, and you are not to be defiled by them; for I am the Lord your God.”