24 ^tTherefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Unlawful Sexual Relations

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^qI am the Lord your God. 3 ^rYou shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and ^syou shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 ^tYou shall follow my rules¹ and keep my statutes and walk in them. ^qI am the Lord your God. 5 ^tYou shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; ^uif a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

6 “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7 ^vYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 ^wYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 ^xYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 ^yYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 ^zYou 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, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18 And you shall not take a woman as a ^arival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness ^bwhile her sister is still alive.

19 ^c“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 ^dAnd you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21 You shall not give any of your children to ^eoffer them² to ^fMolech, and so ^gprofane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 ^hYou shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 ⁱAnd you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is ^jperversion.

24 ^k“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, ^lfor by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the ^mland became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land ⁿvomited out its inhabitants. 26 But ^oyou shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the ^pnative or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 ^qSo keep my charge never to practice ^rany of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: ^sI am the Lord your God.”

26 For this reason ^wGod gave them up to ^xdishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, ^ymen committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ^zGod gave them up to ^aa debased mind to do ^bwhat ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,

Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church

1 It is actually reported that there is ^wsexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, ^xfor a man has his father’s wife.

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous¹ will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: ^xneither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,² 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

A Life Pleasing to God

1 Finally, then, brothers,¹ we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you ^dreceived from us ^ehow you ought to walk and ^fto please God, just as you are doing, that you ^gdo so more and more. 2 For ^hyou know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, ⁱyour sanctification:^{2 j}that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own ^kbody³ in holiness and ^lhonor, 5 not in ^mthe passion of lust ⁿlike the Gentiles ^owho do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and ^pwrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is ^qan avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For ^rGod has not called us for ^simpurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore ^twhoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, ^uwho gives his Holy Spirit to you.

4 ^yLet marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge ^zthe sexually immoral and adulterous.