Leviticus 18NLT
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Leviticus18

New Living Translation

1Then the Lord said to Moses,

2“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God.

3So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.

4You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God.

5If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.

6“You must never have sexual relations with a close relative, for I am the Lord.

7“Do not violate your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.

8“Do not have sexual relations with any of your father’s wives, for this would violate your father.

9“Do not have sexual relations with your sister or half sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born into your household or someone else’s.

10“Do not have sexual relations with your granddaughter, whether she is your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for this would violate yourself.

11“Do not have sexual relations with your stepsister, the daughter of any of your father’s wives, for she is your sister.

12“Do not have sexual relations with your father’s sister, for she is your father’s close relative.

13“Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s close relative.

14“Do not violate your uncle, your father’s brother, by having sexual relations with his wife, for she is your aunt.

15“Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, so you must not have sexual relations with her.

16“Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife, for this would violate your brother.

17“Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. And do not take her granddaughter, whether her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives, and this would be a wicked act.

18“While your wife is living, do not marry her sister and have sexual relations with her, for they would be rivals.

19“Do not have sexual relations with a woman during her period of menstrual impurity.

20“Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor’s wife.

21“Do not permit any of your children to be offered as a sacrifice to Molech, for you must not bring shame on the name of your God. I am the Lord.

22“Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.

23“A man must not defile himself by having sex with an animal. And a woman must not offer herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it. This is a perverse act.

24“Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways.

25Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out.

26You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.

27“All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled.

28So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now.

29Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel.

30So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord your God.”

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Leviticus 18.

Full AI study →

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.

Cross References

Leviticus 18
v5Romans 10:5quotation

Paul explicitly quotes Leviticus 18:5 ('the man which doeth those things shall live in them') regarding legal righteousness.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v5Galatians 3:12quotation

Paul quotes the phrase 'the man that doeth them shall live in them' to contrast law and faith.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v26Leviticus 18:5thematic

Provides the foundational promise of life for keeping the statutes and judgments.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v5Luke 10:28allusion

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

v21Leviticus 20:2thematic

Specifies the capital penalty for giving seed to Molech, expanding on verse 21.

Supported by John Calvin

v22Leviticus 20:13thematic

Prescribes the capital punishment for the homosexual act forbidden as an abomination in verse 22.

Supported by John Calvin

v23Leviticus 20:15thematic

Establishes the penalty for bestiality, which is prohibited in verse 23.

Supported by John Calvin

v24Leviticus 20:23thematic

Repeats warning against walking in the manners of the nations cast out before them.

Supported by John Calvin, JFB

v5Matthew 19:17allusion

Jesus' statement 'if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments' echoes the promise of verse 5.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v8Genesis 35:22thematic

Reuben's sin with Bilhah, his father's concubine, violates the prohibition against uncovering a father's wife's nakedness.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v8Genesis 49:4thematic

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

v26Romans 10:5allusion

Apostolic theological application of the 'do and live' principle of Leviticus 18.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v28Leviticus 20:22thematic

Warning that the land will vomit Israel out if they commit these abominations.

Supported by John Calvin

v5Ezekiel 20:11allusion

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

v16Deuteronomy 25:5contrast

The levirate marriage law provides a specific, divinely mandated exception to the general prohibition in verse 16.

v16Matthew 14:4thematic

John the Baptist's rebuke to Herod: 'It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.'

v212 Kings 23:10thematic

Historical fulfillment where Josiah defiled Topheth to stop child sacrifices to Molech.

Supported by JFB

v21Jeremiah 32:35thematic

Prophetic condemnation of Israel building high places to cause children to pass through fire to Molech.

Supported by John Calvin

v22Romans 1:27thematic

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

v7Ezekiel 22:10thematic

Ezekiel denounces Jerusalem for uncovering their fathers' nakedness and humbling women set apart for pollution.

v8Leviticus 20:11thematic

The penal counterpart to verse 8, prescribing the death penalty for lying with a father's wife.

v92 Samuel 13:12thematic

Tamar appeals to the prohibition of sibling incest, pleading with Amnon not to do such folly.

v16Leviticus 20:21thematic

Prescribes the specific penalty (childlessness) for taking a brother's wife, reinforcing the prohibition of verse 16.

v20Leviticus 20:10thematic

Declares the death penalty for both the adulterer and adulteress, backing the prohibition in verse 20.

v21Leviticus 19:12thematic

Parallels the prohibition against profaning the name of your God.

Supported by John Calvin

v30Leviticus 18:3thematic

Reinforces the command not to do after the customs of Egypt or Canaan.

Supported by Matthew Poole