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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 18:5 and Ezekiel 20:25

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Leviticus 18 promises life to those who follow the Torah, describing it as good. Ezekiel reverses this, claiming that God gave Israel commands that were not good. Instead of protecting life, these commands are said to bring judgment and exile.

Passages

Leviticus 18:5

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

Ezekiel 20:25

Hebrew Bible
23 I also swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. 24 I did this because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols. 25 I also gave them decrees that were not good and regulations by which they could not live. 26 I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices—they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire—so that I might devastate them, so that they would know that I am the Lord.’ 27 “Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

"... The identity of the “not good” laws of Ezekiel 20:25 has vexed biblical scholarship for centuries. We have argued that the literary structure and narrative sequence of Ezekiel 20 place the giving of the “not good” laws in the same narrative position that the Deuteronomic law-giving occupies in the hexateuch, between the rebellion of the second wilderness generation and the entrance to the land. This conclusion of narrative analysis is confirmed by the fact that the oath to scatter the Israelites referred to in verse 23 is best explained as an extrapolation from God’s pledge in Deuteronomy 31–32 that Israel would break the covenant and thus actualize the attendant curses, among which was dispersal to foreign lands. Additional confirmation is provided by Ezekiel’s use of terms favored by D rather than P in verses 23–26, namely, “scatter,” and “laws.” We have shown how several provisions of the Deuteronomic code would be perceived from a Priestly perspective as violations of a higher standard of holiness. This applies specifically to the Deuteronomic provisions limiting sacrificial slaughter to firstlings and voluntary offerings and allowing the redemption of firstlings and the purchase of substitutes for sacrifice at the central sanctuary, which would be illicit and offensive according to the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17:1–9; 27:9–33). Strangely, in Ezekiel 20:26 Ezekiel seems to attribute these defective provisions of the Deuteronomic code to the LORD as an intentional method of defiling the Israelites, thus provoking the covenant curses and the eventual recognition of the LORD’s sovereignty ..."
Scott Walker Hahn and John Sietze Bergsma, “What Laws Were ‘Not Good’? A Canonical Approach to the Theological Problem of Ezekiel 20:25–26,” JBL 123.2 (2004): 201–218.

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 18:5 and Ezekiel 20:25

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