¹tn Heb “As the work [or ‘deed’] of the land of Egypt, which you were dwelling in it, you must not do.”
²tn Heb “and as the work [or ‘deed’] of the land of Canaan which I am bringing you to there, you must not do.” The participle “I am bringing” is inceptive; the Lord is “about to” bring them into the land of Canaan, as opposed to their having dwelt previously in the land of Egypt (see the first part of the verse).
³tn Heb “and you shall not walk.”
⁴tn Heb “My regulations you shall do.”
sn The Hebrew term translated “regulation” (fp*v=m!, m!vp*f) refers to the set of regulations about to be set forth in the following chapters (cf. Lev 19:37; 20:22; 25:18; 26:46). Note esp. the thematic and formulaic relationships between the introduction here in Lev 18:1-5 and the paraenesis in Lev 20:22-26, both of which refer explicitly to the corrupt nations and the need to separate from them by keeping the Lord’s regulations.
⁵tn Heb “and my statutes you shall keep [or ‘watch; guard’] to walk in them.”
⁶tn Heb “And you shall keep.”
⁷tn Heb “which the man shall do them and shall live in them.” The term for “a man, human being; mankind” (<d*a*; see the note on Lev 1:2) in this case refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female. The expression yj^w` “and shall live” looks like the adjective “living” so it is written hy`j*w+ in the Samaritan Pentateuch, but the MT form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see HALOT 309 [a] and GKC §76.i; cf. Lev 25:35).
⁸tn Heb “Man, man shall not draw near to any flesh [ra@v=] of his body/flesh [rc*B*].” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any [or ‘every’] man” (GKC §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2). The two words for “flesh” are combined to refer to emphasize the physical familial relatedness (see Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 282 and Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 119).
⁹tn Heb “to uncover [her] nakedness,” which is clearly euphemistic for sexual intercourse (see Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 282 and Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 119). This expression occurs a number of times in the following context and is generally translated “have sexual relations with [someone],” although in the case of the father mentioned in the following verse the expression may be connected to the shame or disgrace that would belong to the father whose wife’s sexuality is violated by his son. See the note on the word “mother” in v. 7.
¹⁰tn The verbal negative here is the same as that used in the ten commandments (Exod 20:4-5, 7, 13-17). It suggests permanent prohibition rather than a simple negative command and could, therefore, be rendered “must not” here and throughout the following section as it is in vv. 3-4 above.
¹¹tn Heb “The nakedness of your father and [i.e., even] the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover.”
sn Commentators suggest that the point of referring to the father’s nakedness is that the mother’s sexuality belongs to the father and is forbidden to the son on that account (see Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 120 and Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 294). The expression may, however, derive from the shame of nakedness when exposed. If one exposes his mother’s nakedness to himself it is like openly exposing the father’s nakedness (cf. Gen 9:22-23 with the background of Gen 2:25 and 3:7, 21). The same essential construction is used in v. 10 where the latter explanation makes more sense than the former.
¹²tn Heb “the nakedness of your father she is.” See the note on v. 7 above. This law refers to another wife of the man’s father, who is not that man’s mother. The laws in the Pentateuch sometimes assume the possibility that a man may have more than one wife (cf., e.g., Deut 21:15-17).
¹³tn Heb “the daughter your father or the daughter of your mother.”
¹⁴tn Heb “born of house or born of outside.”
¹⁵tn For a smooth English translation “either of” was added.
tc Several medieval Hebrew mss, the Samaritan Pentateuch, LXX, and Syriac have “her nakedness” rather than “their nakedness,” thus agreeing with singular “sister” at the beginning of the verse.
¹⁶sn That is, to have sexual relations with one’s granddaughter would be like openly exposing one’s own shameful nakedness (see the note on v. 7 above).
¹⁷tn Heb “The nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife born of your father, she is your sister; you must not uncover her nakedness.” That is, a half sister, the daughter of the man’s father by another wife, who is not the man’s mother, is to be considered a true sister. Therefore, the man must not have sexual relations with her.
¹⁸tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate all read “because she is the flesh of your father,” like the MT of v. 13.
¹⁹tn Heb “you must not draw near to his wife.” In the context this refers to approaching one’s aunt to have sexual relations with her, so this has been specified in the translation for clarity.
²⁰tn As in v. 12 (see the note there), some mss and versions have “because she is your aunt.”
²¹sn Regarding the last clause, see the notes on vv. 7 and 10 above.
²²tn Heb “You must not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter; the daughter of her son and the daughter of her daughter you must not take to uncover her nakedness.” Translating “her” as “them” provides consistency in the English. In this kind of context, “take” means to “take in marriage” (cf. also v. 18). The LXX and Syriac have “their nakedness,” referring to the nakedness of the woman’s granddaughters, rather than the nakedness of the woman herself.
²³tc Heb “they are her flesh.” The LXX reads “your” here (followed by NRSV). If the LXX reading were followed by the present translation, the result would be “They are closely related to you.”
²⁴tn The term rendered “lewdness” almost always carries a connotation of cunning, evil device, and divisiveness (cf. HALOT 272, “infamy”), and is closely associated with sexual and religious infidelity (cf., e.g., Lev 19:29; 20:14; Job 31:11; Jer 13:27; Ezek 16:27; 22:9, etc.).
²⁵tn Or “as a concubine”; Heb “And a woman to her sister you shall not take to be a second wife [or ‘to be a concubine’].” According to HALOT 1059 [b] (III rrx), the infinitive “to be a second wife” (rr)x=l!) is a denominative verb from II hr`x* A “concubine; second wife” which, in turn, derives from II rrx “to treat with hostility” (cf. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 283 and Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 122).
²⁶tn Heb “on her in her life.”
²⁷tn Heb “in the menstruation of her impurity.”
²⁸tn Heb “And to the wife of your fellow citizen you shall not give your layer for seed.” The meaning of “your layer” (;T=b=k*v=) is uncertain (see Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 122, “you shall not place your layer of semen”; but cf. also Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 283 and the literature cited there for the rendering, “you shall not give your penis for seed”).
²⁹tn Heb “And from your seed you shall not give to cause to pass over to Molech.” The Samaritan Pentateuch (cf. also the LXX) has “to cause to serve” rather than “to cause to pass over.” For detailed remarks on Molech and Molech worship see Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers, NCB, 87-88; Budd, Leviticus, NCBC, 259-260; and Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 333-337 and the literature cited there. It could refer to either human sacrifice or a devotion of children to some sort of service of Molech, perhaps of a sexual sort (cf. Lev 20:2-5; 2 Kgs 23:10, etc.). The inclusion of this prohibition against Molech worship here may be due to some sexual connection of this kind, or perhaps simply to the lexical link between ur~z\ meaning “seed, semen” in v. 20 but “offspring” in v. 21.
³⁰tn Heb “and you shall not profane.” Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
³¹tn Heb “And with a male you shall not lay [as the] lyings of a woman” (see Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 123). The reference is to homosexual intercourse.
³²tn The Hebrew term hb*u@oT (rendered “detestable act”) refers to the repugnant practices of foreigners, whether from the viewpoint of other peoples toward the Hebrews (e.g., Gen 43:32; 46:34; Exod 8:26) or of the Lord toward other peoples (see esp. Lev 18:26-27, 29-30). It can also designate, as here, detestable acts that might be perpetrated by the native peoples (it is used again in reference to homosexuality in Lev 20:13; cf. also its use for unclean food, Deut 14:3; idol worship, Isa 41:24; remarriage of a former wife has been married in between, Deut 24:4; etc.).
³³tn See the note on v. 20 above.
³⁴tn Heb “to copulate it” (cf. Lev 20:16).
³⁵tn The Hebrew term lb#T# (“perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” and, therefore, refers to illegitimate mixtures of species or violation of the natural order of things.
³⁶tn Heb “which I am sending away (Piel participle of jlv [“to send”] from your faces.” The rendering here takes the participle as anticipatory of the coming conquest events.
³⁷tn Heb “And.”
³⁸tn Heb “and I have visited its [punishment for] iniquity on it.” See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
³⁹tn Heb “And you shall keep, you.” The latter emphatic personal pronoun “you” is left out of a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate.
⁴⁰tn Heb “the native and the sojourner.”
⁴¹tn Heb “for all these abominations the men of the land who were before you have done.”
⁴²tn Heb “And the land will not vomit you out in your defiling it.”
⁴³tc The MT reads the singular “nation”; the LXX, Syriac, and Targum have the plural “nations” (cf. v. 24).
⁴⁴sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.
⁴⁵tn Heb “to not do from the statutes of the detestable acts.”
⁴⁶tn Heb “and you will not.”