18:1] The Eternal One spoke to Moses, saying: 2] Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:
I the Eternal am your God. 3] You shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you; nor shall you follow their laws. 4] My rules alone shall you observe, and faithfully follow My laws: I the Eternal am your God.
5] You shall keep My laws and My rules, by the pursuit of which human beings shall live: I am the Eternal.
6] None of you men shall come near anyone of his own flesh to uncover nakedness: I am the Eternal.
7] Your father’s nakedness, that is, the nakedness of your mother, you shall not uncover; she is your mother—you shall not uncover her nakedness.
8] Do not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is the nakedness of your father.
9] The nakedness of your sister—your father’s daughter or your mother’s, whether born into the household or outside—do not uncover their nakedness.
10] The nakedness of your son’s daughter, or of your daughter’s daughter—do not uncover their nakedness; for their nakedness is yours.
11] The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, who was born into your father’s household—she is your sister; do not uncover her nakedness.
12] Do not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh.
13] Do not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister; for she is your mother’s flesh.
14] Do not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother: do not approach his wife; she is your aunt.
15] Do not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness.
16] Do not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is the nakedness of your brother.
17] Do not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter; nor shall you marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and uncover her nakedness: they are kindred; it is depravity.
18] Do not marry a woman as a rival to her sister and uncover her nakedness in the other’s lifetime.
19] Do not come near a woman during her menstrual period of impurity to uncover her nakedness.
20] Do not have carnal relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.
21] Do not allow any of your offspring to be offered up to Molech, and do not profane the name of your God: I am the Eternal.
22] Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abhorrence.
23] Do not have carnal relations with any beast and defile yourself thereby. Likewise for a woman: she shall not lend herself to a beast to mate with it; it is perversion.
24] Do not defile yourselves in any of those ways, for it is by such that the nations that I am casting out before you defiled themselves. 25] Thus the land became defiled; and I called it to account for its iniquity, and the land spewed out its inhabitants. 26] But you must keep My laws and My rules, and you must not do any of those abhorrent things, neither the citizen nor the stranger who resides among you; 27] for all those abhorrent things were done by the people who were in the land before you, and the land became defiled. 28] So let not the land spew you out for defiling it, as it spewed out the nation that came before you. 29] All who do any of those abhorrent things—such persons shall be cut off from their people. 30] You shall keep My charge not to engage in any of the abhorrent practices that were carried on before you, and you shall not defile yourselves through them: I the Eternal am your God.
Translation from The Torah: A Modern Commentary, copyright (c) 2016 by CCAR Press. All rights reserved. Translation of Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers; Deuteronomy from NJPS © 1962, 1985, 1999; CJPS © 2006. Used and adapted by CCAR Press with permission from The Jewish Publication Society and the University of Nebraska Press. No part of this translation may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or be transmitted without express written permission from the Central Conference of American Rabbis. For permission, please contact CCAR Press.