“Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘You shall not lie with a man, as with a woman. That is detestable.
- KJV Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
- BSB You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.
- NKJV You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.
- NASB You shall not sleep with a male as one sleeps with a female; it is an abomination.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Homosexual relations between men are forbidden and called detestable.
Overview
This verse, restated in Leviticus 20, prohibits male same-sex relations as contrary to God's created order for human sexuality. The New Testament affirms the moral principle behind it while calling all sinners to repentance and offering grace in Christ. Like all of Scripture's sexual ethics, it directs people toward the goodness of God's design and the hope of forgiveness and transformation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Lev 20:13“‘If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
- Rom 1:26–27For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.
- 1 Cor 6:9Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,
- 1 Tim 1:10for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine;
- Jude 1:7Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
- 1 Kgs 14:24There were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh drove out before the children of Israel.
- Deut 23:18You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the wages of a male prostitute, into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow; for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God.
- Judg 19:22As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!”
- Gen 19:5They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 18:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.