Leviticus, 20

1. The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: None of you shall make himself unclean for any dead person among his people,

1. Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

2. except for his nearest relatives, his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother

2. 'Say to the Israelites: "Anyone, be he Israelite or alien resident in Israel, who gives any of his children to Molech, will be put to death. The people of the country must stone him,

3. or his maiden sister, who is of his own family while she remains unmarried; for these he may make himself unclean.

3. and I shall set my face against that man and outlaw him from his people; for by giving a child of his to Molech he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.

4. But for a sister who has married out of his family he shall not make himself unclean; this would be a profanation.

4. If the people of the country choose to close their eyes to the man's action when he gives a child of his to Molech, and do not put him to death,

5. "The priests shall not make bare the crown of the head, nor shave the edges of the beard, nor lacerate the body.

5. I myself shall turn my face against that man and his clan. I shall outlaw them from their people, both him and all those after him who prostitute themselves by following Molech.

6. To their God they shall be sacred, and not profane his name; since they offer up the oblations of the LORD, the food of their God, they must be holy.

6. "If anyone has recourse to the spirits of the dead or to magicians, to prostitute himself by following them, I shall set my face against him and outlaw him from his people.

7. "A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or has lost her honor, nor a woman who has been divorced by her husband; for the priest is sacred to his God.

7. "Sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God.

8. Honor him as sacred who offers up the food of your God; treat him as sacred, because I, the LORD, who have consecrated him, am sacred.

8. "You will keep my laws and put them into practice, for it is I, Yahweh, who make you holy.

9. "A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death.

9. Hence: "Anyone who curses father or mother will be put to death. Having cursed father or mother, the blood will be on that person's own head.

10. "The most exalted of the priests, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the special vestments, shall not bare his head or rend his garments,

10. "The man who commits adultery with his neighbour's wife will be put to death, he and the woman.

11. nor shall he go near any dead person. Not even for his father or mother may he thus become unclean

11. "The man who has intercourse with his father's wife has infringed his father's sexual prerogative. Both of them will be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

12. or leave the sanctuary; otherwise he will profane the sanctuary of his God, for with the anointing oil upon him, he is dedicated to his God, to me, the LORD.

12. "The man who has intercourse with his daughter-in-law: both of them will be put to death; they have violated nature, their blood will be on their own heads.

13. "The priest shall marry a virgin.

13. "The man who has intercourse with a man in the same way as with a woman: they have done a hateful thing together; they will be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

14. Not a widow or a woman who has been divorced or a woman who has lost her honor as a prostitute, but a virgin, taken from his own people, shall he marry;

14. "The man who marries a woman and her mother: this is incest. They will be burnt alive, he and they; you will not tolerate incest.

15. otherwise he will have base offspring among his people. I, the LORD, have made him sacred."

15. "The man who has intercourse with an animal will be put to death; you will kill the animal too.

16. The LORD said to Moses,

16. "The woman who approaches any animal to have intercourse with it: you will kill the woman and the animal. They will be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

17. "Speak to Aaron and tell him: None of your descendants, of whatever generation, who has any defect shall come forward to offer up the food of his God.

17. "The man who marries his father's or his mother's daughter: if they have intercourse together, this is an outrage. They will be executed in public, for the man has had intercourse with his sister; he will bear the consequences of his guilt.

18. Therefore, he who has any of the following defects may not come forward: he who is blind, or lame, or who has any disfigurement or malformation,

18. "The man who has intercourse with a woman during her monthly periods and exposes her nakedness: he has laid bare the source of her blood, and she has exposed the source of her blood, and both of them will be outlawed from their people.

19. or a crippled foot or hand,

19. "You will not have intercourse with your mother's sister or your father's sister. Whoever does so, has had intercourse with a close relation; they will bear the consequences of their guilt.

20. or who is hump-backed or weakly or walleyed, or who is afflicted with eczema, ringworm or hernia.

20. "The man who has intercourse with the wife of his paternal uncle has infringed his uncle's sexual prerogative; they will bear the consequences of their guilt and die childless.

21. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any such defect may draw near to offer up the oblations of the LORD; on account of his defect he may not draw near to offer up the food of his God.

21. "The man who marries his brother's wife: this is pollution; he has infringed his brother's sexual prerogative; they will die childless.

22. He may, however, partake of the food of his God: of what is most sacred as well as of what is sacred.

22. "You will keep all my laws, all my decisions, and put them into practice, so that the country where I am taking you to live will not vomit you out.

23. Only, he may not approach the veil nor go up to the altar on account of his defect; he shall not profane these things that are sacred to me, for it is I, the LORD, who make them sacred."

23. You will not follow the laws of the nations whom I am driving out before you; they practised all these things, which is why I detested them.

24. Moses, therefore, told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

24. As I have already told you, you will take possession of their soil, I myself shall give you possession of it, a country flowing with milk and honey. "Since I, Yahweh your God, have set you apart from these peoples,

25.

25. you for your part will make a distinction between clean animals and unclean ones and between unclean birds and clean ones, and will not make yourselves detestable with any animal or bird or reptile, which I have set apart from you as unclean.

26.

26. "Be consecrated to me, for I, Yahweh, am holy, and I shall set you apart from all these peoples, for you to be mine.

27.

27. "Any man or woman of yours who is a necromancer or magician will be put to death; they will be stoned to death; their blood will be on their own heads." '