Leviticus 20

Then God said to Moses,

“Be sure to tell the people of Israel that any Israelite or any foreigner who is living in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to the false god Molech should certainly die. The people living in Israel should kill such a person by throwing stones at him. \*

I will personally punish such a person. I will make the person who does this an outcast and remove him from my people. I will do this because he has given his child to the false god Molech and so defiled my holy space and tainted my reputation.

But it may happen that the people who live in Israel ignore that person when he sacrifices one of his children to the false idol Molech, and they do not execute that person.

If that happens, I will personally punish that person and his family unit. I will remove that person from my people—him and anyone else who acts unfaithfully in the same manner by worshiping the false idol Molech. \*

I will punish those who abandon me by inquiring of someone who speaks to the dead or someone who inquires of dead family members. In doing these things, the people of Israel act unfaithfully. I will make the person who does this an outcast and remove him from my people.

The people of Israel must be careful to keep themselves set apart for me and to be holy people. They should do this because I am God their God. \*

The Israelites should habitually obey my laws and live by them. Remember: I am God, the one who sets you apart from the other people.

The people of Israel must execute anyone who curses his father or his mother. He has caused his own death by cursing his father and mother. \*

It may happen that a man commits adultery with another man’s wife. If this happens, the people of Israel must execute both the man and the woman.

A man who has sexual relations with one of his father’s wives has shamed his father. The people of Israel must execute both that man and woman. They will be responsible for their own deaths.

The people of Israel must execute a man who has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law. They must execute both that man and the woman. They have done something that is utterly perverse. They will be responsible for their own deaths. \*

If a man has sexual relations with another man, as he would with a woman, they both have done something that is utterly abominable. The people of Israel must execute both men. They will be responsible for their own deaths.

A man who marries both a woman and her mother has done something utterly depraved. The people of Israel must burn all three of them to death so that no one among the people of Israel will continue to commit such a depraved action. \*

The people of Israel must execute a man who has sexual relations with an animal. They must also kill the animal.

Likewise, the people of Israel must kill a woman who gives herself to an animal to copulate with it. They must execute both her and that animal. They will be responsible for their own deaths. \*

If a man sleeps with his sister, whether she is his father’s or his mother’s daughter, and they see one another naked, they have done something disgraceful. Because the man has shamed his sister, I will remove them from among my people so that the people of Israel no longer see them. The people of Israel should hold him responsible for his wrongdoing.

If a man sleeps with a woman during her menstrual period, they have both revealed her flowing blood and brought shame on the woman. I will make both of them outcasts and remove them from my people. \*

No man should have sexual relations with his aunt and shame her, whether she is his mother’s or his father’s sister. In so doing, he would disgrace a close relative. The people of Israel should hold both of them responsible for their wrongdoing.

A man who has sexual relations with his uncle’s wife has shamed his uncle. I will punish both of them by causing them to die without having any children.

If a man has sex with his brother’s wife {while his brother is still living}, that is disgraceful. He has dishonored his brother; and they both will die without having any children. \*

The people of Israel should habitually obey all my laws and customs and do everything that I tell them. If they do this, I will not reject and remove them from the land to which I am bringing them to live.

Likewise, the people of Israel must not practice the laws and customs of the people who currently live in the land. I am removing them from the places in which they live because they have done all of these practices. For this reason, I abhor them. \*

But I told the people of Israel, ‘You will take their land from them as if you were inheriting it from your father. I will give it to you personally to be your family’s possession. The soil in that land is very fertile and produces good crops abundantly. Remember: I am God your God, who has set you apart from the other people who live around you.’

So the people of Israel should learn to distinguish which animals and birds are acceptable to me and pure from those that are unacceptable to me and impure. By doing so, they will not defile themselves by eating unacceptable animals, birds, or other creatures that crawl along on the ground. These animals I have set apart as those which make the people of Israel impure and unable to enter into holy space. \*

In this way, the people of Israel must belong to me, God, as a people who are set apart and noticeably different from the people who live around them. This is because I am God, and I am also set apart from every created thing. In the same way, I have set the people of Israel apart from the people of other nations. They belong to me uniquely. \*

But the people of Israel must execute anyone among them who speaks to the dead or inquires of dead family members. The people of Israel must kill them by throwing stones at them. Such people are responsible for their own deaths.” \*