Unlawful Sexual Relations
The chapter begins with the LORD's claim over Israel and a refusal of surrounding customs. Life is set in keeping his judgments rather than repeating the patterns of Egypt or Canaan.
T1hen the LORD said to Moses, 2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am the LORD your God. 3You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you. You must not walk in their customs. 4You are to practice My judgments and keep My statutes by walking in them. I am the LORD your God. 5Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the LORD.
Verse 1The LORD speaks to Moses to begin this set of commands.
It opens the chapter by marking the words as divine instruction.
Verse 2Moses is to tell Israel that the one speaking is the LORD their God.
It establishes the speaker's covenant authority over the people.
Verse 3Israel must not imitate the practices of Egypt, where they lived, or Canaan, where they are going.
It defines holiness partly as refusal of surrounding customs.
Verse 4They are to practice the LORD's judgments and walk in his statutes.
It states the positive pattern that replaces imitation of the nations.
Verse 5The one who keeps these statutes and judgments will live by them, because they come from the LORD.
It gives the commands their promised moral weight and frame.
The laws first forbid sexual relations within close family and household bonds. The list moves through parents, siblings, aunts, in-laws, and rival claims within a family, marking these relationships as protected boundaries.
6None of you are to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD. 7You must not expose the nakedness of your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her. 8You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father. 9You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere. 10You must not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for that would shame your family. 11You must not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister. 12You must not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative. 13You must not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s close relative. 14You must not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations with her; she is your aunt. 15You must not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you are not to have sexual relations with her. 16You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would shame your brother. 17You must not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved. 18You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive.
Verse 6No one is to approach a close relative for sexual relations.
It introduces the central prohibition that governs the list that follows.
Verse 7Sex with one's mother is forbidden because it exposes a father's nakedness and violates the mother herself.
It begins the list with the closest parental bond.
Verse 8Sex with a father's wife is forbidden because it dishonors the father.
It extends the ban to another protected household relationship.
Verse 9Sex with a sister is forbidden, whether she is raised in the same home or not.
It closes off sexual access within sibling bonds.
Verse 10Sex with a granddaughter is forbidden because it brings shame upon one's own family line.
It carries the prohibition down to descendants.
Verse 11Sex with the daughter of a father's wife is forbidden because she is a sister.
It clarifies the ban in a blended-family case.
Verse 12Sex with a father's sister is forbidden because she is a close relative.
It extends the boundary to the father's side of the family.
Verse 13Sex with a mother's sister is forbidden because she is a close relative.
It mirrors the same limit on the mother's side.
Verse 14A man must not approach his uncle's wife, since this dishonors his father's brother; she is his aunt.
It applies the rule to marriage bonds within the extended family.
Verse 15Sex with a daughter-in-law is forbidden because she is joined to one's son.
It protects the integrity of a son's marriage.
Verse 16Sex with a brother's wife is forbidden because it shames the brother.
It guards the marriage bond within the sibling line.
Verse 17A man must not take both a woman and her daughter, nor her granddaughter, because this is depraved.
It forbids layered claims that collapse generations into one sexual sphere.
Verse 18A man must not take his wife's sister as a rival wife while his wife still lives.
It closes the family list by barring a rivalry inside one household.
The commands widen beyond close relatives to other acts that defile: intercourse during menstruation, adultery, child sacrifice to Molech, same-sex intercourse between men, and relations with animals. Each is named as a breach of Israel's holy order.
19You must not approach a woman to have sexual relations with her during her menstrual period. 20You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her. 21You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 22You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination. 23You must not lie carnally with any animal, thus defiling yourself with it; a woman must not stand before an animal to mate with it; that is a perversion.
Verse 19A woman is not to be approached sexually during her menstrual uncleanness.
It marks another bodily boundary within intimate life.
Verse 20A man must not have sexual relations with his neighbor's wife and so defile himself.
It prohibits adultery as defilement beyond the household.
Verse 21Children must not be given to Molech, because that profanes the name of the LORD.
It links bodily violation with idolatrous profanation.
Verse 22A man must not lie with a man as with a woman; it is called an abomination.
It names another forbidden sexual act within the chapter's list.
Verse 23Sexual relations with animals are forbidden for both man and woman as defiling perversion.
It brings the catalogue of prohibited acts to its furthest edge.
The chapter ends by tying these acts to the fate of the land itself. The nations before Israel were expelled for such defilement, and Israel is warned that the same judgment will fall if it adopts the same customs.
24Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves. 25Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. 26But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations— neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you. 27For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled. 28So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you. 29Therefore anyone who commits any of these abominations must be cut off from among his people. 30You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”
Verse 24Israel must not defile itself by these practices, because the nations before them did so.
It begins the warning by connecting these acts to the land's former inhabitants.
Verse 25The land has become defiled by such sin, and the LORD says it vomits out its inhabitants.
It gives the consequence a vivid form by showing the land reacting to defilement.
Verse 26Israel and the foreigners among them must keep the LORD's statutes and avoid these abominations.
It reapplies the warning directly to everyone living within Israel's life.
Verse 27The earlier inhabitants committed these abominations, and the land became defiled.
It reinforces the historical pattern behind the warning.
Verse 28If Israel defiles the land, it too will be vomited out as the earlier nations were.
It turns the past judgment into a direct warning for Israel's future.
Verse 29Anyone who commits these abominations must be cut off from among the people.
It states the communal penalty for violating these boundaries.
Verse 30Israel must keep the LORD's charge and refuse the abominable customs of the land, because he is the LORD their God.
It closes the chapter by gathering the commands into a final charge of covenant loyalty.
A quiet block diagram: each row is one authored paragraph movement, with verse numbers kept visible for scanning and deeper work.
- vv. 1-5
The chapter begins with the LORD's claim over Israel and a refusal of surrounding customs. Life is set in keeping his judgments rather than repeating the patterns of Egypt or Canaan.
These verses frame the commands by grounding them in the LORD's authority and Israel's distinct calling. - vv. 6-18
The laws first forbid sexual relations within close family and household bonds. The list moves through parents, siblings, aunts, in-laws, and rival claims within a family, marking these relationships as protected boundaries.
This paragraph gives the chapter's main catalogue of forbidden kinship unions. - vv. 19-23
The commands widen beyond close relatives to other acts that defile: intercourse during menstruation, adultery, child sacrifice to Molech, same-sex intercourse between men, and relations with animals. Each is named as a breach of Israel's holy order.
This paragraph broadens the warning from family boundaries to other practices that profane and defile. - vv. 24-30
The chapter ends by tying these acts to the fate of the land itself. The nations before Israel were expelled for such defilement, and Israel is warned that the same judgment will fall if it adopts the same customs.
This closing paragraph explains the consequence of the prohibitions and presses their urgency for life in the land.