Israel Will Be Punished for Their Sins

20 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ² “Say to the Israelites, ‘Suppose a person sacrifices one of his children to the god Molek. It does not matter whether that person is an Israelite or an outsider who lives in Israel. He must be put to death. The members of the community must kill him by throwing stones at him. ³ I will turn against that man. I will separate him from his people. That’s because he has sacrificed his child to Molek. He has made my sacred tent “unclean.” He has treated my name as if it were not holy. ⁴ Suppose the members of the community act like they don’t know that the man has sacrificed his child to Molek. And suppose they don’t put him to death. ⁵ Then I will turn against that man and his family. I will separate them from their people. I will also separate all those who follow him by joining themselves to Molek. They are not faithful to me.

⁶ “ ‘Suppose someone looks for advice from people who get messages from those who have died. Or they go to people who talk to the spirits of the dead. And they do what those people say. Then they have not been faithful to me. So I will turn against them. I will separate them from their people.

⁷ “ ‘Set yourselves apart for me. Be holy, because I am the Lord your God. ⁸ Obey my rules. Follow them. I am the Lord. I make you holy.

⁹ “ ‘Anyone who asks for bad things to happen to their father or mother must be put to death. They have cursed their father or mother. So anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹⁰ “ ‘Suppose a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife. Then the man and the woman must be put to death.

¹¹ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his father’s wife. Then he has brought shame on his father. The man and the woman must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹² “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his daughter-in-law. Then they must be put to death. They have used sex in the wrong way. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹³ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with another man as he would have sex with a woman. I hate what they have done. They must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹⁴ “ ‘Suppose a man gets married to both a woman and her mother. That is evil. All of them must be burned to death. Then there will not be any evil among you.

¹⁵ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with an animal. Then he must be put to death. You must also kill the animal.

¹⁶ “ ‘Suppose a woman has sex with an animal. Then kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹⁷ “ ‘Suppose a man gets married to his sister and has sex with her. That is a shameful thing to do. It does not matter whether she is the daughter of his father or of his mother. They must be separated from their community in front of everyone. That man has brought shame on his sister. He will be responsible for what he has done.

¹⁸ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with a woman during her monthly period. He has uncovered the place where her bleeding was coming from. And she has let him do it. So both of them must be separated from their people.

¹⁹ “ ‘Do not have sex with the sister of either your mother or your father. That would bring shame on a close relative. Both of you would be held responsible for what you have done.

²⁰ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his aunt. Then he has brought shame on his uncle. Both of them will be held accountable for what they have done. They will die without having any children.

²¹ “ ‘Suppose a man gets married to his brother’s wife. That is something that should never be done. He has brought shame on his brother. Neither of them will have any children.

²² “ ‘Obey all my rules and laws. Follow them. Then the land where I am bringing you to live will not throw you out. ²³ To make room for you, I am going to drive out the nations that are in the land. You must not follow the practices of those nations. I hated those nations because they did all those things. ²⁴ But I said to you, “You will take over their land as your own. I will give it to you. It will belong to you. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God. I have set you apart from the other nations.

²⁵ “ ‘So you must be able to tell the difference between animals that are “clean” and those that are not. You must know which birds are “clean” and which are not. Do not make yourselves “unclean” by eating any “unclean” animal or bird. Do not make yourselves “unclean” by eating anything that moves along the ground. I have set all of them apart as “unclean” for you. ²⁶ You must be holy. You must be set apart to me. I am the Lord. I am holy. I have set you apart from the other nations to be my own people.

²⁷ “ ‘Suppose a man or woman gets messages from those who have died. Or suppose a man or woman talks to the spirits of the dead. Then you must put that man or woman to death. You must kill them by throwing stones at them. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.’ ”