Leviticus 18 (MSG)

30 verses · The Message · Contemporary paraphrase

The Message by Eugene Peterson presents the Bible in the rhythms and idioms of contemporary American English. More than a translation, it is a paraphrase designed to help readers experience Scripture's impact as if hearing it for the first time.

Leviticus Chapter 18 contains 30 verses and is presented here in the The Message (MSG), which uses a contemporary paraphrase approach. Read the full text below, compare with other translations, or navigate to any of the 27 chapters in Leviticus.

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Chapter 17Chapter 19

1God spoke to Moses,

2"Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them: I am God, your God.

3Don't live like the people of Egypt where you used to live, and don't live like the people of Canaan where I'm bringing you. Don't do what they do.

4Obey my laws and live by my decrees. I am your God.

5Keep my decrees and laws: The person who obeys them lives by them. I am God.

6"Don't have sex with a close relative. I am God.

7"Don't violate your father by having sex with your mother. She is your mother. Don't have sex with her.

8"Don't have sex with your father's wife. That violates your father.

9"Don't have sex with your sister, whether she's your father's daughter or your mother's, whether she was born in the same house or elsewhere.

10"Don't have sex with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter. That would violate your own body.

11"Don't have sex with the daughter of your father's wife born to your father. She is your sister.

12"Don't have sex with your father's sister; she is your aunt, closely related to your father.

13"Don't have sex with your mother's sister; she is your aunt, closely related to your mother.

14"Don't violate your father's brother, your uncle, by having sex with his wife. She is your aunt.

15"Don't have sex with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; don't have sex with her.

16"Don't have sex with your brother's wife; that would violate your brother.

17"Don't have sex with both a woman and her daughter. And don't have sex with her granddaughters either. They are her close relatives. That is wicked.

18"Don't marry your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sex with her while your wife is living.

19"Don't have sex with a woman during the time of her menstrual period when she is unclean.

20"Don't have sex with your neighbor's wife and violate yourself by her.

21"Don't give any of your children to be burned in sacrifice to the god Molech—an act of sheer blasphemy of your God. I am God.

22"Don't have sex with a man as one does with a woman. That is abhorrent.

23"Don't have sex with an animal and violate yourself by it. "A woman must not have sex with an animal. That is perverse.

24"Don't pollute yourself in any of these ways. This is how the nations became polluted, the ones that I am going to drive out of the land before you.

25Even the land itself became polluted and I punished it for its iniquities—the land vomited up its inhabitants.

26You must keep my decrees and laws—natives and foreigners both. You must not do any of these abhorrent things.

27The people who lived in this land before you arrived did all these things and polluted the land.

28And if you pollute it, the land will vomit you up just as it vomited up the nations that preceded you.

29"Those who do any of these abhorrent things will be cut off from their people.

30Keep to what I tell you; don't engage in any of the abhorrent acts that were practiced before you came. Don't pollute yourselves with them. I am God, your God."

Chapter 17Read in NIVChapter 19

About This Translation

What is Leviticus 18 in the MSG?

Leviticus 18 in the The Message (MSG) contains 30 verses. The MSG uses a contemporary paraphrase approach, first published in 2002.

How does the MSG translate Leviticus 18 differently?

The The Message uses contemporary paraphrase, rendering the text as a modern paraphrase in contemporary idioms. Compare this with the NIV (dynamic equivalence) version of Leviticus 18 for a different perspective.

How many verses are in Leviticus 18 (MSG)?

Leviticus Chapter 18 contains 30 verses in the The Message. The book of Leviticus has 27 chapters total.

Leviticus (MSG) — All 27 Chapters