Leviticus18
King James Version · Public Domain
1And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God.
3After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
4Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God.
5Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.
6None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.
7The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
8The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
9The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
10The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.
11The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
12Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: she is thy father's near kinswoman.
13Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: for she is thy mother's near kinswoman.
14Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.
15Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
16Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness.
17Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.
18Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.
19Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.
20Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.
21And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.
22Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
23Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
24Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
25And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
26Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
27(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
28That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
29For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
30Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Leviticus 18.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts. (1-30).
vv1-30
Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross sin. The grace of God only will secure us; that grace is to be expected only in the use of the means of grace. Nor does He ever leave any to their hearts' lusts, till they have left him and his services.
Key Words
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
עָשָׂה: to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application
מַעֲשֶׂה: an action (good or bad); generally, a transaction; abstractly, activity; by implication, a product (specifically, a poem) or (generally) property
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
מִצְרַיִם: Mitsrajim, i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt
Cross References
Leviticus 18Paul explicitly quotes Leviticus 18:5 ('the man which doeth those things shall live in them') regarding legal righteousness.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Paul quotes the phrase 'the man that doeth them shall live in them' to contrast law and faith.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Provides the foundational promise of life for keeping the statutes and judgments.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jesus echoes the life promise of Leviticus 18:5 to the lawyer: 'this do, and thou shalt live.'
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Paul condemns a man having 'his father's wife' as incest not even named among the Gentiles.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Specifies the capital penalty for giving seed to Molech, expanding on verse 21.
Supported by John Calvin
Prescribes the capital punishment for the homosexual act forbidden as an abomination in verse 22.
Supported by John Calvin
Establishes the penalty for bestiality, which is prohibited in verse 23.
Supported by John Calvin
Repeats warning against walking in the manners of the nations cast out before them.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Jesus' statement 'if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments' echoes the promise of verse 5.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Reuben's sin with Bilhah, his father's concubine, violates the prohibition against uncovering a father's wife's nakedness.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Jacob's dying words denounce Reuben for defiling his couch, referring back to the incest forbidden here.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Prohibits making sons or daughters pass through the fire, parallel to Molech worship.
Supported by John Calvin
Condemns the pagan practice of burning children in the fire to their gods.
Supported by John Calvin
Apostolic theological application of the 'do and live' principle of Leviticus 18.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Warning that the land will vomit Israel out if they commit these abominations.
Supported by John Calvin
Ezekiel explicitly cites God's giving of statutes which 'if a man do, he shall even live in them.'
Supported by Matthew Poole
The formal covenant curse pronounced upon anyone who lies with his father's wife, echoing verse 8.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The levirate marriage law provides a specific, divinely mandated exception to the general prohibition in verse 16.
John the Baptist's rebuke to Herod: 'It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.'
Historical fulfillment where Josiah defiled Topheth to stop child sacrifices to Molech.
Supported by JFB
Prophetic condemnation of Israel building high places to cause children to pass through fire to Molech.
Supported by John Calvin
New Testament parallel exposing the same unnatural practices as errors worthy of judgment.
Supported by JFB
Pronounces a formal curse upon anyone who lies with any manner of beast.
Supported by John Calvin
Ezekiel denounces Jerusalem for uncovering their fathers' nakedness and humbling women set apart for pollution.
The penal counterpart to verse 8, prescribing the death penalty for lying with a father's wife.
Tamar appeals to the prohibition of sibling incest, pleading with Amnon not to do such folly.
Prescribes the specific penalty (childlessness) for taking a brother's wife, reinforcing the prohibition of verse 16.
Declares the death penalty for both the adulterer and adulteress, backing the prohibition in verse 20.
Parallels the prohibition against profaning the name of your God.
Supported by John Calvin
Reinforces the command not to do after the customs of Egypt or Canaan.
Supported by Matthew Poole