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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 Leviticus 18:25 and Jeremiah 2:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Leviticus warns that certain actions defile the land to the point that it vomits out its inhabitants. Jeremiah echoes this idea when he charges that Israel has polluted the land through its own disobedience.

Passages

Leviticus 18:25

Hebrew Bible
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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Jeremiah 2:7

Hebrew Bible
5 This is what the Lord says: “What fault could your ancestors have possibly found in me that they strayed so far from me? They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to me. 6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt, who brought us through the wilderness, through a land of valleys and gorges, through a land of desert and deep darkness, through a land in which no one travels, and where no one lives?’ 7 I brought you into a fertile land so you could enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty. But when you entered my land, you defiled it; you made the land I call my own loathsome to me. 8 Your priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those responsible for teaching my law did not really know me. Your rulers rebelled against me. Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. They all worshiped idols that could not help them. 9 “So, once more I will state my case against you,” says the Lord. “I will also state it against your children and grandchildren.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jeremiah

References

"... Moral impurity, by contrast, is inherently sinful and results from committing certain acts so heinous that they are considered defiling. Such behaviors include sexual sins (e.g., Leviticus 18:24–30), idolatry (e.g., 19:31; 20:1–3), and bloodshed (e.g., Numbers 35:33–34). These acts are specifically referred to as “abominations,” and they bring about an impurity that morally—but not ritually— defiles the sinner (Leviticus 18:24), the Land of Israel (Leviticus 18:25; Ezekiel 36:17), and the sanctuary of God (Leviticus 20:3; Ezekiel 5:11). The defilement of the sanctuary renders it unfit for the divine presence that dwells there (Numbers 35:34; Ezekiel 8:1–11:25). This in turn leads to the expulsion of the people from the Land of Israel (Leviticus 18:28; Ezekiel 36:19). The bulk of the references to these ideas can be found in priestly traditions (especially the Holiness Code) and in the most priestly of prophetic books, Ezekiel. Additional articulations of the notion or echoes of it can be found in various strands of biblical tradition, including Genesis 34:5; Deuteronomy 24:1–4; 1 Kings 14:24; Jeremiah 2:7, 23; 3:1; Hosea 5:6; 6:10; and Psalms 106:34–40 ..."
Jonathan Klawans, “Moral and Ritual Purity,” in The Historical Jesus in Context, ed. Amy-Jill Levine, Dale C. Allison Jr., and John Dominic Crossan, Princeton Readings in Religions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), 266–284.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 18:25 and Jeremiah 2:7

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