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Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 18

1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘I am the Lord your God! 3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes. 4 You must observe my regulations, and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. I am the Lord your God. 5 So you must keep my statutes and my regulations; anyone who does so will live by keeping them.⁠ I am the Lord.⁠ 6 “‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations with her. I am the Lord.⁠ 7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual relations with your mother.⁠ She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her. 8 You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness.⁠ 9 You must not have sexual relations with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual relations with either of them.⁠ 10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual relations with them, because they are your own nakedness. 11 You must not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife born of your father; she is your sister. You must not have sexual relations with her. 12 You must not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh. 13 You must not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s flesh. 14 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not approach his wife to have marital relations with her. She is your aunt. 15 You must not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You must not have sexual relations with her. 16 You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You must not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have sexual relations with them. They are closely related to her—it is lewdness. 18 You must not take a woman in marriage and then marry her sister as a rival wife while she is still alive, to have sexual relations with her.⁠ 19 “‘You must not approach a woman in her menstrual impurity to have sexual relations with her. 20 You must not have sexual relations with the wife of your fellow citizen to become unclean with her.⁠ 21 You must not give any of your children as an offering to Molech,⁠ so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord! 22 You must not have sexual relations with a male as one has sexual relations with a woman; it is a detestable act. 23 You must not have sexual relations with any animal to become defiled with it, and a woman must not stand before an animal to have sexual relations with it; it is a perversion. 24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations that I am about to drive out before you have been defiled with all these things.⁠ 25 Therefore the land has become unclean, and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants.⁠ 26 You yourselves must obey my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, 27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become unclean. 28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it just as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, that person who does them will be cut off from the midst of the people. 30 You must obey my charge not to practice any of the abominable statutes⁠ that have been done before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.’”

Texts in conversation

Compare Surpu II and Leviticus 18:20

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Leviticus 18 forbids a man from sleeping with his neighbor's wife, following ancient Near Eastern traditions such as in the Surpu Tablet, which includes this behavior in a list of actions that an unjust man commits.

Passages

Surpu II

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations
He despised his parents, offended the elder sister, gave with small measure and received with big measure, he said “there is”, when there was not, he said “there is not”, when there was, spoke unseemly things, spoke improper things, he spoke insolent things, he spoke …, he used an untrue balance, but did not use the true balance, he took money that was not due to him, but did not take money due to him, he disinherited the legitimate son and did not establish in his rights the legitimated son, he set up an untrue boundary, but did not set up the true boundary, he removed mark, frontier and boundary. He entered his neighbor’s house, had intercourse with his neighbor’s wife, shed his neighbor’s blood, took away his neighbor’s clothes, and did not clothe a young man when he was naked.
1200 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Surpu

Leviticus 18:20

Hebrew Bible
19 “‘You must not approach a woman in her menstrual impurity to have sexual relations with her. 20 You must not have sexual relations with the wife of your fellow citizen to become unclean with her. 21 You must not give any of your children as an offering to Molech, so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord! 22 You must not have sexual relations with a male as one has sexual relations with a woman; it is a detestable act.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

References

"... The terms with the root גזל and עשק, although not defined in any greater detail in Leviticus 5:21, can still be reconstructed with the help of other biblical passages. The words גזל and עשק frequently appear in combination. In the majority of cases, these expressions are used to denote the abuse of power by the rich. In some cases the term עשק involves the withholding of payment which may lead to the impoverishment of the weak as described in Lev 19:13 and Deuteronomy 24:14–15. It is therefore possible to compare lying about a deposit (פיקדון) and oppressing (עשק) one’s neighbor in Lev 5:21 to wearing or taking the neighbor’s clothes as expressed in Šurpu II 50: “He wore the garment of his neighbor” (“He took away his neighbor’s clothes”). The abuse of power may also be the issue in Šurpu II 61 which states that: “He oppresses, takes away, causes to be taken away.” In addition, the term עשק is used by Hosea in connection with the usage of false weights (compare Hosea 12:8). Likewise, the use of faulty weights is an issue in Šurpu II 37: “he gave in small (measure) and received in great (measure).” In Leviticus 5:22 the abuse of power is also expressed by the Hebrew idiom תשומת יד which finds parallels in Šurpu. One possible translation of תשומת יד is “placing of the hand,” which is a literal translation of manus iniectio, a term used in later Roman law when the creditor took a debtor prisoner with the possibility of selling him into slavery should he fail to pay his debt ..."
Isabel Cranz, Atonement and Purification: Priestly and Assyro-Babylonian Perspectives on Sin and Its Consequences (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017), 46–47.

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Surpu II and Leviticus 18:20

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