6 'None e of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness ; I am the Lord . 7 ' You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father , that is, the nakedness of your mother . She is your mother ; you are not to uncover her nakedness . 8 ' You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife ; it is your father's nakedness . 9 ' The nakedness of your sister , either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter , whether born at home or born outside , their nakedness you shall not uncover . 10 'The nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter , their nakedness you shall not uncover ; for their nakedness is yours. 11 'The nakedness of your father's wife's daughter , born to your father , she is your sister , you shall not uncover her nakedness . 12 ' You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister ; she is your father's blood relative . 13 'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister , for she is your mother's blood relative . 14 ' You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother ; you shall not approach his wife , she is your aunt . 15 ' You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law ; she is your son's wife , you shall not uncover her nakedness . 16 ' You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife ; it is your brother's nakedness . 17 ' You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter , nor shall you take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter , to uncover her nakedness ; they are blood relatives . It is lewdness . 18 'You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive , to uncover her nakedness .
19 ' Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity . 20 ' You shall not have intercourse e with your neighbor's wife , to be defiled with her. 21 'You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech , nor shall you profane the name of your God ; I am the Lord . 22 ' You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female ; it is an abomination . 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 . 24 'Do not defile yourselves by any of these things ; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before e you have become defiled . 25 'For the land has become defiled , therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants . 26 'But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any e of these abominations , neither the native , nor the alien who sojourns among you 27 (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations , and the land has become defiled ); 28 so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. 29 'For whoever e does any e of these abominations , those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people . 30 'Thus you are to keep My charge , that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am the Lord your God .' "
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Leviticus 18:6-30
Chapter Contents
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross sin. The grace of God only will secure us; that grace is to be expected only in the use of the means of grace. Nor does He ever leave any to their hearts' lusts, till they have left him and his services.