Laws of Holiness

19 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy(A) because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.(B)

“Each of you is to respect his mother and father.(C) You are to keep My Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God. Do not turn to idols(D) or make cast images(E) of gods for yourselves;(F) I am Yahweh your God.

“When you offer a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. It is to be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day, but what remains on the third day must be burned up.(G) If any is eaten on the third day, it is a repulsive thing; it will not be accepted.(H) Anyone who eats it will bear his punishment, for he has profaned what is holy to the Lord. That person must be cut off from his people.(I)

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings(J) of your harvest. 10 You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor(K) and the foreign resident;(L) I am Yahweh your God.

11 “You must not steal.(M) You must not act deceptively(N) or lie(O) to one another. 12 You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God;(P) I am Yahweh.

13 “You must not oppress(Q) your neighbor or rob(R) him. The wages due a hired hand(S) must not remain with you until morning. 14 You must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind,(T) but you are to fear your God;(U) I am Yahweh.(V)

15 “You must not act unjustly(W) when deciding a case. Do not be partial(X) to the poor or give preference to the rich;(Y) judge your neighbor fairly. 16 You must not go about spreading slander(Z) among your people; you must not jeopardize[a] your neighbor’s life; I am Yahweh.

17 “You must not harbor hatred against your brother.[b](AA) Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him.(AB) 18 Do not take revenge(AC) or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself;(AD) I am Yahweh.

19 “You are to keep My statutes. You must not crossbreed two different kinds of your livestock, sow your fields with two kinds of seed, or put on a garment made of two kinds of material.(AE)

20 “If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman who is a slave designated for another man, but she has not been redeemed(AF) or given her freedom, there must be punishment.[c] They are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. 21 However, he must bring a ram as his restitution offering to the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.(AG) 22 The priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord with the ram of the restitution offering for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven for the sin he committed.

23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden.[d] It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering(AH) to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you;(AI) I am Yahweh your God.

26 “You are not to eat anything with blood in it.[e](AJ) You are not to practice divination(AK) or sorcery.(AL) 27 You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard.(AM) 28 You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead(AN) or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am Yahweh.

29 “Do not debase[f](AO) your daughter by making her a prostitute,(AP) or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity. 30 You must keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary;(AQ) I am Yahweh.

31 “Do not turn to mediums[g](AR) or consult spiritists,[h](AS) or you will be defiled by them; I am Yahweh your God.

32 “You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old.(AT) Fear your God; I am Yahweh.

33 “When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress(AU) him. 34 You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself,(AV) for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt;(AW) I am Yahweh your God.

35 “You must not be unfair(AX) in measurements of length, weight, or volume. 36 You are to have honest balances,(AY) honest weights, an honest dry measure,[i] and an honest liquid measure;[j](AZ) I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am Yahweh.”

Molech Worship and Spiritism

20 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech(BA) must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him.(BB) I will turn[k] against that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling My sanctuary(BC) and profaning My holy name.(BD) But if the people of the country look the other way when that man[l] gives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, then I will turn[m] against that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow[n] him in prostituting(BE) themselves with Molech.

“Whoever turns to mediums[o](BF) or spiritists[p] and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn[q] against that person and cut him off from his people. Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God. Keep My statutes and do them; I am Yahweh who sets you apart.

Family and Sexual Offenses

“If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.(BG) He has cursed his father or mother; his blood is on his own hands.[r]

10 If a man commits adultery(BH) with a married woman—if he commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 11 If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has shamed his father.(BI) Both of them must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.[s] 12 If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law,(BJ) both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own hands.[t] 13 If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman,(BK) they have both committed a detestable thing.(BL) They must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.[u] 14 If a man marries a woman and her mother,(BM) it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned with fire,(BN) so that there will be no depravity among you. 15 If a man has sexual intercourse with[v] an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal. 16 If a woman comes near any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal.(BO) They must be put to death; their own blood is on them. 17 If a man marries his sister,(BP) whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have sexual relations,[w](BQ) it is a disgrace.(BR) They must be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his punishment. 18 If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood.(BS) Both of them must be cut off from their people. 19 You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister,(BT) for it is exposing one’s own blood relative; both people will bear their punishment. 20 If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has shamed his uncle;(BU) they will bear their guilt and die childless. 21 If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity.(BV) He has shamed his brother;(BW) they will be childless.

Holiness in the Land

22 “You are to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.(BX) 23 You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.(BY) 24 And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.(BZ) I am Yahweh your God who set you apart from the peoples. 25 Therefore you must distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. Do not become contaminated(CA) by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.(CB) 26 You are to be holy to Me because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be Mine.(CC)

27 A man or a woman who is[x] a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their blood is on their own hands.”[y]

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 19:16 Lit not stand against
  2. Leviticus 19:17 Or your fellow Israelite
  3. Leviticus 19:20 Or compensation
  4. Leviticus 19:23 Lit uncircumcised
  5. Leviticus 19:26 Or [anything] over its blood
  6. Leviticus 19:29 Lit profane
  7. Leviticus 19:31 Or spirits of the dead
  8. Leviticus 19:31 Or familiar spirits
  9. Leviticus 19:36 Lit honest ephah; an ephah is a dry measure of grain equivalent to about 23 quarts.
  10. Leviticus 19:36 Lit honest hin; a hin is a liquid measure of about 1 gallon.
  11. Leviticus 20:3 Lit will set My face
  12. Leviticus 20:4 Lit country ever close their eyes from that man when he
  13. Leviticus 20:5 Lit will set My face
  14. Leviticus 20:5 Lit prostitute themselves with
  15. Leviticus 20:6 Or spirits of the dead
  16. Leviticus 20:6 Or familiar spirits
  17. Leviticus 20:6 Lit will set My face
  18. Leviticus 20:9 Lit on him
  19. Leviticus 20:11 Lit on them
  20. Leviticus 20:12 Lit on them
  21. Leviticus 20:13 Lit on them
  22. Leviticus 20:15 Lit man gives his emission to
  23. Leviticus 20:17 Lit and he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness
  24. Leviticus 20:27 Lit is in them
  25. Leviticus 20:27 Lit on them

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