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Summary

Leviticus 18:1–5 – Live by God’s statutes, not the nations’

What happens: God tells Israel not to follow Egypt’s or Canaan’s practices. Keep God’s rules and live by them.

What it means: Covenant identity requires moral distinctness. Life is found in obedient trust.


Leviticus 18:6–18 – Forbidden relations within family

What happens: God forbids uncovering the nakedness of close relatives, listing many family ties.

What it means: God protects the family and the vulnerable. Boundaries resist exploitation and honor creation order.


Leviticus 18:19–20 – Menstruation and adultery

What happens: Sex during a woman’s period is forbidden. Adultery with a neighbor’s wife is forbidden.

What it means: Purity and fidelity honor God and neighbor. Marriage is sacred and guarded by God’s law.


Leviticus 18:21 – No child sacrifice to Molech

What happens: Offering children to Molech profanes God’s name and is forbidden.

What it means: God values every life he gives. Worship that destroys life is an insult to the Creator.


Leviticus 18:22 – Male with male

What happens: A man must not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.

What it means: God sets sexual boundaries that reflect his design. Holiness submits desires to God’s will.


Leviticus 18:23 – Bestiality

What happens: Sex with animals is forbidden for men and women.

What it means: God preserves human dignity and the order of creation. Crossing these lines corrupts worship and community.


Leviticus 18:24–30 – The land and the warning

What happens: These sins defile the land; it vomits out nations who practice them. Israel must keep God’s statutes or face the same judgment.

What it means: God is just and impartial. A holy God ties morality to place and blessing, calling his people to be clean.


Application

  • Honor God’s design for family, marriage, and sexuality.
  • Protect the vulnerable and refuse exploitative behavior.
  • Value every child as God’s gift; reject any practice that harms them.
  • Live distinct from culture when culture opposes God’s ways.

Bible

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.

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