Chapter 20

And the Lord spoke to Moses,

giving him this message for the sons of Israel: If any Israelite, or alien living among you, sacrifices a child of his to the false god Moloch, his life must pay for it; he must be stoned publicly.

On such a man my ban rests, and I will not let him live among my people any longer, once he has outraged my sanctuary, dragged my holy name in the dust, by sacrificing his child to Moloch.

Does the people neglect its duty, defy my commandments? Does it condone the sacrifice, and refuse to kill him?

Then shall my ban rest upon all his kindred too, and I will rid my people of the man who played the wanton with Moloch, and all who consented to it.

If anyone betakes himself to sorcerers and wizards, on him too my ban shall rest for prostituting himself to such arts, and I will rid my people of him.

Keep yourselves apart, and be a holy people; remembering what God you worship.

Keep these commandments of mine and live by them; I, the Lord, have set you apart.

If a man curses father or mother, his life must pay for it; he has put himself beyond hope of pardon,1 in cursing father or mother.

If a man commits adultery by having commerce with his neighbour’s wife, the lives of both, adulterer and adulteress, must pay for it.

If a man has commerce with his step-mother, coming between his own father’s sheets, the lives of both must pay for it; they must find no mercy.

No mercy must be shewn when a man has commerce with his daughter-in-law; order has been violated, and both must die.

No mercy, either, when a man has commerce with another man as if he had been a woman; either is guilty of a foul deed, and both must die.

The man who mates with daughter and mother both, is guilty of a foul deed; he and they must be burnt alive, and such guilt as theirs be found in your midst no longer.

If a man has commerce with a beast, his life must pay for it; the beast too must be killed;

and the woman who allows a beast to have commerce with her, must die with the beast; no mercy must be shewn to any such.

If a man takes his own sister to his bed, whether she is his father’s daughter or his mother’s, to her shame and his, it is great disgrace; both must be held to account for it, and be put to death publicly, for bringing shame on one another.

If a man has commerce with a woman in her monthly time, and intrudes upon the flowing of her blood, both must be lost to their people.

Thou shalt not mate with any sister of thy father or thy mother; the man who does this dishonours his own flesh and blood, and both will be held to account for it.

If a man has commerce with the wife of his father’s brother, or his mother’s brother, bringing shame on his own kindred, man and woman will be held to account; they shall not live to breed children.

The man who takes his brother’s wife in marriage does a forbidden thing, bringing shame on his own brother; children they shall have never.

Remember these laws and decrees of mine, and live by them, or you too will be vomited up again by the land you are soon to invade and occupy;

it is not for you to imitate the practices of the nations I am driving out to make room for you. Was it not these very practices that made me their enemy?

And now, if I bid you take possession of their land, a land all milk and honey, and make it your home, it is because I, the Lord your God, have set you apart among all the nations of the world;

and you too must set what is clean apart from what is unclean, whether beast or bird; you are not to incur defilement over such beasts and birds and other living things as I have bidden you hold abominable.

You must be set apart for my service, as I am set apart, I, your God, who have chosen you out among all the nations of the world, to belong to me.

If man or woman is possessed by a spirit of witchcraft or divination, their lives must pay for it by stoning; they have put themselves beyond hope of pardon.