Lev 11 through 17 dealt with ritual uncleanness and purification, Lev 18.1-30 deals with the subject of moral uncleanness and punishment; forbidden marriages and immoral practices; and an exhortation to remember what happened to the Egyptians and the Canaanites whose customs was a perversion to the Torah, and if Israel followed these practices it would lead to their annihilation.
Holiness is…
v 1…Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying,
v 2…”Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God.
v 3…You shall not do what was done in the land of Egypt where you lived nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes (Jer 10.3).
v 4…You are to perform my judgments and keep my statutes, to live in accord with them. I am the Lord your God.
v 5…So you shall keep my statutes and my judgments, by which man may live if he does them, I am the Lord (this is the ultimate purpose of the Torah-Deut 11.26, 30.6, Prov 3.1-35; Acts 10.35).
v 6…None of you shall approach a blood relative of his to uncover nakedness (to expose those parts that should never be naked or exposed, but always be covered-Gen 3.7); I am the Lord.
v 7…You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother, you are not to uncover her nakedness.
v 8…You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife (step-mother), your father’s nakedness (this explains Reuben’s conduct in Gen 35.22 and Absalom’s in 2 Sam 16.20-22).
v 9…The nakedness of your sister either your father’s daughter, your mother’s daughter, who was born at home (brought up there) or born outside (brought up in another place), their nakedness you shall not uncover, for their nakedness is yours (his flesh and blood).
v 11…The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter (daughter of his father by another wife), born to your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
v 12…You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister (aunt), she is your father’s relative.
v 13…You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s blood relative.
v 14…You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother (the wife), you shall approach to his wife, she is your aunt (by marriage).
v 15…You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law, she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
v 16…You shall not uncover the nakedness of your bother’s wife, your brother’s nakedness (his wife is).
v 17…You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter, or her son’s daughter’s daughter (granddaughter) to uncover her nakedness, they are blood relatives. It is lewdness.
v 18…And you shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival to her (because this will always happen), while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.
v 19…Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity.’
v 20…And you shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her (all sin defiles).
v 21…Neither shall you give any of your offspring to offer them Molech (an idol, but this applies to Milcom of the Ammonites in 1 KIngs 11.5 and with Baal in Jer 32.35, and any other idol worship of its kind), nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord (I am Yehovah).
v 22…You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
v 23…Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it; nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
v 24…Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled (these things are what brought about their annihilation).
v 25…For the land has become defiled, therefore I have visited its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.(like the stomach does when it vomits).
v 26…You shall therefore keep (incorporate into your life the things of God and stay true to the tavnit, or blueprint, by doing certain things at certain times by certain people at certain places) my statutes (chukim) and my judgments (mishpatim) , and shall not do any of these abominations , neither the native, nor the alien (the “ger” or a non-Jew who has joined himself to the God of Israel) who sojourns among you;
v 27…for all these abominations have the men of the land done which were before you, and the land is defiled;
v 28…so that the land may not vomit you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you.
v 29…For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons do so shall be cut off (karet) from among their people.
v 30…Thus you are to keep my charge (Mishmarti), that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as to not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord (Yehovah) your God (power).’ ”
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