Leviticus 18
Don’t be like the pagans
The Existing One told Moses,
“tell the Israelites that I am the Existing One your God. You shouldn’t live like the Egyptians (where you’ve been) or the Canaanites (where you’re going). Don’t follow their practices, but follow my practices and walk in them. I am the Existing One your God, so keep my practices and rules. If anyone follows them, he will experience life from them. I am the Existing One.
Don’t sleep with close relatives
“No one should get naked with any of their close relatives. I am the Existing One. You shouldn’t get naked with your father (because that would be like getting naked with your mother), and you shouldn’t get naked with your mother. You shouldn’t get naked with your father’s wife (because that would be like getting naked with your father). You shouldn’t get naked with your sister or half sister even if you were raised in separate homes, because that would be like getting naked with a copy of yourself. You shouldn’t get naked with your stepsister even if she’s brought up in another family, because she is your sister. You shouldn’t get naked with your aunt, because she’s your parent’s relative. You shouldn’t get naked with your aunt because that would be like getting naked with your uncle. You shouldn’t get naked with your daughter-in-law because she’s your son’s wife, and that would be like getting naked with your son. You shouldn’t get naked with your brother’s wife, because that would be like getting naked with your own brother. If you get naked with a woman, you shouldn’t get naked with her mother, daughter, or granddaughter because they are relatives, and that would be perverted. If your wife can’t have children, you shouldn’t marry her sister for as long as your wife is alive.
Don’t sleep with your neighbor’s wife, men, animals, or sacrifice your children
“You shouldn’t get naked with a woman while she is unclean from her period. You shouldn’t sleep with your neighbor’s wife and make yourself unclean with her. You shouldn’t sacrifice any of your children to Molech because that would defile your God’s reputation: I am the Existing One. You shouldn’t sleep with a man like you would with a woman—that would be disgusting. And you shouldn’t ever sleep with an animal and make yourself unclean with it because that would be perverted.
You’ll be exiled like the pagans before you if you practice their ways
“Don’t defile yourselves in any of these ways, because all the countries I’m exiling before you have become defiled, and even the land became defiled. I have to punish its injustice and have the land vomit out its inhabitants. You, on the other hand must keep my rules and abstain from these perversions (you or your visitors). The people before you practiced all these perversions, and defiled the land; if you follow in their footsteps, the land will vomit you out just like it did to the people before you. Anyone who participates in any of these perversions must be cut off from their people. Take my advice and never defile yourselves with these perversions—I am the Existing One your God.