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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)“A man must not defile himself by having sex with an animal. And a woman must not offer herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it. This is a perverse act.

Context of Leviticus 18:23

21“ ‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. 22“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. “ ‘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. 24“ ‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. 25Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

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 20:15“ ‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is to be put to death, and you must kill the animal.
• Exodus 22:19“Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.
• Leviticus 20:12“ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them are to be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.

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