Leviticus 18:19-23, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Leviticus 18:19-23
Menstruation, adultery, Molech, male-male intercourse, and bestiality are prohibited
Five distinct prohibitions stand in sequence
The unit bars approaching a woman during her menstrual uncleanness; lying carnally with a neighbor's wife; giving one's seed to Molech and thereby profaning God's name; a man lying with mankind as with womankind, which the text calls toevah; and lying with any beast, with a matching prohibition addressed to a woman.
These clauses are not one act with five names. Menstrual-status sex, adultery, child-giving to Molech, male-male intercourse in the named manner, and bestiality have different objects, different harms, and different rationales even as they stand in one holiness speech.
The wording about male-male intercourse must be stated, not hidden
The Hebrew expression is disputed in scope. Some read it as a broad ban on male-male sex; others as a narrower act, often in a patriarchal, status, or cultic frame. The received wording is still a prohibition of a man lying with a male as with a woman. Teaching that pretends the verse is not there is untrue.
What the verse does not do is define a modern person's identity. It does not name lesbian relationships, and it does not speak the later language of sexual orientation. Interpretive disagreement about contemporary scope is real and should be said out loud.
The list must not be used as a smear or a weapon
Joining these verses on one page does not equate LGBTQ people, or loving same-sex relationships, with adultery, child sacrifice, or sex with animals. Those are different acts. Collapsing them is a rhetorical injury, not a reading of the sequence.
Nothing here authorizes insult, coercion, conversion pressure, family expulsion, criminal targeting, assault, or murder. An ancient prohibition, even a severe one, is not a permit to harm people.
How this should shape us
State what the law actually names, keep the acts distinct, and refuse every use that needs dehumanization to work. Protect people from coercion and violence, including LGBTQ neighbors, while not pretending the verse is absent or that Molech and bestiality are the same subject.
Teach it back
Explain Leviticus 18:19-23 in your own words. Include its ritual, legal, narrative, or calendar movement; one source-supported detail; one uncertainty; and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree over Priestly and Holiness composition, legal scope, ancient enforcement, kinship structures, sexual acts and rationales, moral versus ritual categories, resident-outside status, and how Jews and Christians should reason from these texts today. Material alternatives are stated without pretending the ethical stakes disappear.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Leviticus 18:19-23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 18:19-23
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 18:19-23
Supports: Open critical orientation to Day of Atonement, holiness, social law, calendar, land, release, covenant, and final valuations.
Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 2,' complete guide sections on Leviticus 16, the Holiness Code, love of neighbor, festivals, land, covenant, and vows, applied to Leviticus 18:19-23
Supports: One prominent contextual reading of the male-male prohibitions, preserved as a material interpretation rather than declared consensus.
Nissinen, 'It's About Masculinity, Not Homosexuality,' complete article sections on Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Hebrew wording, ancient masculinity, and reception limits
Supports: A different critical model that treats Torah as legally polyphonic; it preserves denominational and compositional disagreement rather than deciding contemporary ethics by concealment.
Frankel, 'Male Homosexual Intercourse Is Prohibited - In One Part of the Torah,' complete source-critical comparison of Leviticus 18, 20, Priestly texts, and Deuteronomy
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Leviticus 18:19-23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Leviticus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 18:19-23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Leviticus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2025-12-31
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 18:19-23
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Leviticus Part 2: Day of Atonement, Holiness Code, and Love of Neighbor
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Open critical orientation to Day of Atonement, holiness, social law, calendar, land, release, covenant, and final valuations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 2,' complete guide sections on Leviticus 16, the Holiness Code, love of neighbor, festivals, land, covenant, and vows, applied to Leviticus 18:19-23
Open source ↗modern scholarly open ancient sexuality study
It's About Masculinity, Not Homosexuality
Martti Nissinen
TheTorah.com, 2024
Supports: One prominent contextual reading of the male-male prohibitions, preserved as a material interpretation rather than declared consensus.
Exact location: Nissinen, 'It's About Masculinity, Not Homosexuality,' complete article sections on Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Hebrew wording, ancient masculinity, and reception limits
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open polyphonic reading
Male Homosexual Intercourse Is Prohibited - In One Part of the Torah
David Frankel
TheTorah.com, 2017
Supports: A different critical model that treats Torah as legally polyphonic; it preserves denominational and compositional disagreement rather than deciding contemporary ethics by concealment.
Exact location: Frankel, 'Male Homosexual Intercourse Is Prohibited - In One Part of the Torah,' complete source-critical comparison of Leviticus 18, 20, Priestly texts, and Deuteronomy
Open source ↗modern christian scholarly handbook chapter abstract
Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism
Philip Church
The Oxford Handbook of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Exact location: Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Open source ↗