Leviticus 18:23

Leviticus 18:23 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
• New International Version (NIV)“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
• English Standard Version (ESV)And 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 perversion.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.

Context of Leviticus 18:23

21Do not offer your child as a sacrifice to the false god, Molech. This would spoil God's honour. He is the Lord. 22A man must not have sex with another man. That is an evil thing to do. Do not have sex with an animal. That would make you unclean. A woman must not offer herself to an animal to have sex with it. She would be doing a disgusting thing. 24Do not do any of these things. They would make you unclean. The people who live in Canaan do these things. It made them unclean. God will send those people out of their country. 25Canaan is unclean because the people did these things. This is why God pushed the people out of that land.

Leviticus 18:23 word by word

וּבְכָל־בְּהֵמָ֛ה לֹא־תִתֵּ֥ן שְׁכָבְתְּךָ֖ לְטָמְאָה־בָ֑הּ וְאִשָּׁ֗ה לֹֽא־תַעֲמֹ֞ד לִפְנֵ֧י בְהֵמָ֛ה לְרִבְעָ֖הּ תֶּ֥בֶל הֽוּא׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Neither shalt thouנָתַןnâthan · to give: give(marriage)H5414
• lieשְׁכֹ֫בֶתshekôbeth · copulationH7903
• with any beastבְּהֵמָהbehêmâh · animalH929
• to defileטָמֵאţâmê' · to defileH2930
• thyself therewith: neither shall any womanאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · womanH802
• standעָמַד‛âmad · to stand: putH5975
• beforeפָּנֶהpânîym · face: beforeH6440
• to lie downרָבַעrâba‛ · to mateH7250
• confusionתֶּ֫בֶלtebel · perversionH8397

Cross-references for Leviticus 18:23

• Leviticus 20:15A man is sinning if he has sex with an animal. You must kill the man and the animal.
• Exodus 22:19You must punish with death anyone who has sex with an animal.
• Leviticus 20:12A man is sinning if he has sex with his son's wife. You must kill them both. They have done a strange thing. Their own sin causes their death.

Commentaries on Leviticus 18:23

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23With any beast - This abomination is also punishable with death by the laws of this country. Any woman stand before a beast - That this was often done in Egypt there can be no doubt; and we have already seen, from the testimony of Herodotus, that a fact of this kind actually took place while he was in Egypt. See Clarke's note on Leviticus 17:7, and See Clarke on Leviticus 20:16; (note).Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23Like homosexuality, bestiality violates God's created order (see study note on Leviticus 18:22). The Hebrew word for perversion refers not only to a violation but also to a confusion of the order God created. It destroys the clear boundaries that God established.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-302-4. I am the Lord your God--This renewed mention of the divine sovereignty over the Israelites was intended to bear particularly on some laws that were widely different from the social customs that obtained both in Egypt and Canaan; for the enormities, which the laws enumerated in this chapter were intended to put down, were freely practised or publicly sanctioned in both of those countries; and, indeed, the extermination of the ancient Canaanites is…Read the comment

Topics related to Leviticus 18:23

• Abomination
• Bestiality
• Sodomy

In the dictionaries

• Approach
• Confusion
• Live
• Mankind
• Near
• Atonement, Day of
• Clean
• Cornelius
• Crime; Crimes
• Criticism

Commentaries on Leviticus 18

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings