Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18
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"Tabernacle", Biblical illustrations, Sweet Media, 1984.
Book	Book of Leviticus
Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Bible part	3
Category	Torah

Leviticus 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to the Hebrew Bible, it narrates part of the instructions given to Moses by God on biblical Mount Sinai. The chapter deals with a number of sexual activities considered unclean or abominable. Although the chapter is principally concerned with incest, it also contains laws related to bestiality and "lying with a man as with a woman." This single reference in verse 22 has, in recent years, made the interpretation of this verse a focus of debate among Christians and Jews regarding homosexual activity (see Homosexuality and Christianity and Jewish views of homosexuality).

Leviticus 18 is generally regarded as part of the holiness code of Leviticus 11–26, and its sexual prohibitions are largely paralleled by Leviticus 20 (except that chapter has more emphasis on punishment).

The original text of Leviticus 20, like that of most of the Hebrew Bible, is written in Hebrew. The oldest extant versions of the text in Hebrew are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Masoretic Text. An ancient Greek translation from the third century BC, the Septuagint, also exists. Since the addition of chapter divisions in the thirteenth century AD, this chapter is divided into 30 verses.