Unlawful Sexual Relations

¹ Then¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

1. Or “And”

² “Speak to the ⌞Israelites⌟,¹ and say to them, ‘I am Yahweh your God.

1. Literally “sons/children of Israel”

³ You must not ⌞carry out⌟¹ the practices of the land of Egypt, in which you lived, and you must not ⌞carry out⌟² the practices of the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you; and you must not follow their statutes.

1. Literally “do”
2. Literally “do”

⁴ You must ⌞carry out⌟¹ my regulations, and you must observe² my statutes by following them; I am Yahweh your God.

1. Literally “do”
2. Or “keep”

⁵ And you shall observe¹ my statutes and my regulations ⌞by which the person doing them shall live⌟;² I am Yahweh.

1. Or “keep”
2. Literally “which the man does them and he shall live in them”

⁶ “ ‘⌞None⌟¹ of you shall approach anyone who is ⌞his close relative⌟² to expose nakedness; I am Yahweh.

1. Literally “a man a man … not”
2. Literally “the flesh of his body”

⁷ You must not expose your father’s nakedness or¹ your mother’s nakedness—she is your mother; you must not expose her nakedness.

1. Or “and”

⁸ You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s wife—it is your father’s nakedness.

⁹ As for your sister’s nakedness, whether your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether ⌞born at home⌟¹ or ⌞born abroad⌟,² you must not expose their nakedness.

1. Literally “a relative of house”
2. Literally “a relative of an outside place”

¹⁰ As for the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, you must not expose their nakedness, because they are your nakedness.

¹¹ As for the nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife, she is your sister, a relative of your father; you must not expose her nakedness.

¹² You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is ⌞your father’s close relative⌟.¹

1. Literally “the flesh of your father”

¹³ You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister, because she is ⌞your mother’s close relative⌟.¹

1. Literally “the flesh of your mother”

¹⁴ You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not ⌞have sex with⌟¹ his wife—she is your aunt.

1. Literally “approach”

¹⁵ You must not expose your daughter-in-law’s nakedness; she is your son’s wife; you must not expose her nakedness.

¹⁶ You must not expose the nakedness of your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness.

¹⁷ You must not expose the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, or her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter; you must not take her as wife¹ to expose her nakedness; they are ⌞close relatives⌟²—that is wickedness.

1. The verb לקח is used to speak of marrying (“taking a wife”)
2. Literally “flesh”; see vv. 6, 12, 13

¹⁸ And you must not take as wife¹ a woman with her sister, to be a rival-wife, to expose her nakedness before her ⌞during⌟² her life.

1. The verb לקח is used to speak of marrying (“taking a wife”)
2. Literally “in”

¹⁹ “ ‘And you must not ⌞have sex with⌟¹ a woman to expose her nakedness ⌞during⌟² her menstrual uncleanness.

1. Literally “approach”
2. Literally “in”

²⁰ And ⌞you must not have sex⌟¹ with your fellow citizen’s² wife, becoming unclean with her.

1. Literally “you shall not give your lying down for semen”
2. Or “neighbor’s”

²¹ “ ‘And you shall not give ⌞any of⌟¹ your offspring² in order to sacrifice them to Molech, nor³ shall you profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh.

1. Literally “from”
2. Or “descendants”
3. Or “and not”

²² And you shall not lie with a male as lying ⌞with⌟¹ a woman; that is a detestable thing.

1. Literally “of”

²³ And you shall not ⌞have sexual relations⌟¹ with any animal, becoming unclean with it; and a woman shall not stand ⌞before⌟² an animal to copulate with it—that is a perversion.

1. Literally “give your lying down”
2. Literally “to the faces of”

²⁴ “ ‘You must not make yourself unclean in any of these things, because the nations whom I am driving out from your presence were made unclean by all of these.

²⁵ So¹ the land became unclean, and ⌞I have brought the punishment of⌟² its guilt upon it, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants.

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “I have visited”

²⁶ But¹ you (neither the native nor² the alien who is dwelling in your midst) shall keep my statutes and my regulations, and you shall not ⌞practice⌟³ any of these detestable things

1. Or “And”
2. Or “and”
3. Literally “do”

²⁷ (because the people of the land, who were ⌞before you⌟,¹ did all these detestable things, so the land became unclean),

1. Literally “to the faces of you”

²⁸ so that the land will not vomit you out when you make it unclean just as it vomited out the nation that was ⌞before you⌟.¹

1. Literally “to the faces of you”

²⁹ Indeed, anyone who does any of these detestable things, even¹ those persons who do so shall be cut off from the midst of their people.

1. Or “and”

³⁰ Thus¹ you shall keep my obligation to not do any of the statutes ⌞regarding⌟² the detestable things that they did ⌞before you⌟,³ so that you will not make yourselves unclean by them; I am Yahweh your God.’ ”

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “of”
3. Literally “to the faces of you”