Idolatry Forbidden

19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘(A)You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Every one of you (B)shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep (C)My Sabbaths; (D)I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to (E)idols or make for yourselves cast metal (F)gods; I am the Lord your God.

‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it, and on the next day; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire. So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is unclean; it will not be accepted. And everyone who eats it will bear the consequences for his guilt, because he has profaned the holy thing of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Various Laws

(G)Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.

11 (H)You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, (I)nor lie to one another. 12 And (J)you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to (K)profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.

13 (L)You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. (M)The wages of a hired worker are not to remain with you all night until morning. 14 You shall not curse a person who is deaf, nor (N)put a stumbling block before a person who is blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.

15 (O)You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not show partiality to the poor nor give preference to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. 16 You shall not go about as (P)a slanderer among your people; and you are not to [a]jeopardize the [b](Q)life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.

17 ‘You (R)shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you (S)may certainly rebuke your neighbor, but you are not to incur sin because of him. 18 (T)You shall not take vengeance, (U)nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but (V)you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

19 ‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not cross-breed two kinds of your cattle; (W)you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment of two kinds of material mixed together.

20 (X)Now if a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave acquired for another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death, because she was not free. 21 He shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the doorway of the tent of meeting, (Y)a ram as a guilt offering. 22 The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him.

23 ‘Now when you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as [c]forbidden. For three years it shall be [d]forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, so that its yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God.

26 ‘You shall not eat any meat (Z)with the blood. You shall not practice (AA)divination nor soothsaying. 27 (AB)You shall not round off the [e]hairline of your heads, nor trim the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuts in your [f]body for the [g]dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.

29 (AC)Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land does not fall into prostitution, and the land does not become full of outrageous sin. 30 You shall (AD)keep My Sabbaths and (AE)revere My sanctuary; I am the Lord.

31 ‘Do not turn to [h](AF)mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

32 (AG)You shall stand up in the presence of the grayheaded and honor [i]elders, and you shall [j]fear your God; I am the Lord.

33 (AH)When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not [k]do him wrong. 34 The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and (AI)you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

35 (AJ)You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or volume. 36 You shall have (AK)accurate balances, accurate weights, an accurate [l]ephah, and an accurate [m]hin; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. 37 So you shall keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them; I am the Lord.’”

On Human Sacrifice and Immoralities

20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “You shall also say to the sons of Israel:

‘Anyone from the sons of Israel or from the strangers residing in Israel (AL)who gives any of his [n]children to Molech, shall certainly be put to death; (AM)the people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his [o]children to Molech, (AN)so as to defile My sanctuary and (AO)to profane My holy name. If the people of the land, however, [p]should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his [q]children to Molech, so as not to put him to death, then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the prostitute with him, by playing the prostitute with Molech.

‘As for the person who turns to [r](AP)mediums and to spiritists, to play the prostitute with them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and (AQ)be holy, for I am the Lord your God. So (AR)you shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

(AS)If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall certainly be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and has brought his [s]own death upon himself.

10 (AT)If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 11 (AU)If there is a man who sleeps with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death, they have brought their [t]own deaths upon themselves. 12 (AV)If there is a man who sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed [u]incest, and have brought their [v]own deaths upon themselves. 13 (AW)If there is a man who sleeps with a male as those who sleep with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they must be put to death. They have brought their [w]own deaths upon themselves. 14 (AX)If there is a man who [x]marries a woman and her mother, it is an outrageous sin; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no such outrageous sin in your midst. 15 (AY)If there is a man who has sexual intercourse with an animal, he must be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. 16 If there is a woman who approaches any animal to [y]mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they must be put to death. They have brought their [z]own deaths upon themselves.

17 (AZ)If there is a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he bears his guilt. 18 (BA)If there is a man who sleeps with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood; so both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 (BB)You shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for such a one has uncovered his [aa]blood relative; they will bear their guilt. 20 (BC)If there is a man who sleeps with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless. 21 (BD)If there is a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is [ab]detestable; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They will be childless.

22 ‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to [ac]live will not (BE)vomit you out. 23 Furthermore, you shall not [ad]follow (BF)the customs of the nation which I am going to drive out before you, because they did all these things; (BG)therefore I have felt disgust for them. 24 So I have said to you, “(BH)You are to take possession of their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has (BI)singled you out from the peoples. 25 (BJ)You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make [ae]yourselves detestable by animal or by bird, or by anything [af]that crawls on the ground, which I have distinguished for you as unclean. 26 So you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I (BK)have singled you out from the peoples to be Mine.

27 ‘Now a man or a woman (BL)who is a medium or a spiritist [ag]must be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; they have brought their [ah]own deaths upon themselves.’”

Regulations concerning Priests

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

(BM)No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, (BN)except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother, also for his virgin sister who is near to him [ai]because she has not had a husband; for her, he may defile himself. He shall not defile himself as a [aj]relative by marriage among his people, so as to profane himself. (BO)They shall not shave any area on their heads bald, (BP)nor shave off the edges of their beards, (BQ)nor make any cuts in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God and (BR)not profane the name of their God, because they present the offerings by fire [ak]to the Lord, (BS)the food of their God; so they shall be holy. (BT)They shall not take a woman who is a prostitute and [al]profaned, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. You shall consecrate him, therefore, because he offers (BU)the food of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. (BV)Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

10 ‘The priest who is [am]highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and [an]who has been consecrated to wear the garments, (BW)shall not [ao]uncover his head nor tear his clothes; 11 (BX)nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother; 12 (BY)nor shall he leave the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for (BZ)the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord. 13 He shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 (CA)A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by prostitution, these he shall not take; but rather he is to [ap]marry a virgin of his own people, 15 so that he will not profane his [aq]children among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”

16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘None of your [ar]descendants throughout their generations who has an impairment shall approach to offer the (CB)food of his God. 18 (CC)For no one who has an impairment shall approach: a man who is blind, or one who limps, or one who has a (CD)slit nose, or one with any conspicuous feature, 19 or someone who has a broken foot or broken hand, 20 or a contorted back, or one who is a dwarf, or has a spot in his eye, or a festering rash or scabs, or (CE)crushed testicles. 21 No man among the [as]descendants of Aaron the priest who has an impairment is to come forward to offer the Lords offerings by fire; since he has an impairment, he shall not come forward to offer (CF)the food of his God. 22 He may eat (CG)the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, 23 only he shall not come up to the veil or approach the altar, since he has an impairment, so that he does not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 19:16 Lit stand on
  2. Leviticus 19:16 Lit blood
  3. Leviticus 19:23 Lit uncircumcised
  4. Leviticus 19:23 Lit uncircumcised
  5. Leviticus 19:27 Lit side
  6. Leviticus 19:28 Lit flesh
  7. Leviticus 19:28 Lit soul
  8. Leviticus 19:31 Or ghosts or spirits
  9. Leviticus 19:32 Lit the face of the old
  10. Leviticus 19:32 Or revere
  11. Leviticus 19:33 Lit oppress him
  12. Leviticus 19:36 I.e., a dry measure, about 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
  13. Leviticus 19:36 I.e., a liquid measure, about 1 gallon or 3.8 liters
  14. Leviticus 20:2 Lit seed
  15. Leviticus 20:3 Lit seed
  16. Leviticus 20:4 Lit hiding they hide their eyes from
  17. Leviticus 20:4 Lit seed
  18. Leviticus 20:6 Or ghosts and spirits
  19. Leviticus 20:9 Lit bloodguilt upon
  20. Leviticus 20:11 Lit bloodguilt upon
  21. Leviticus 20:12 Lit disgracefulness
  22. Leviticus 20:12 Lit bloodguilt upon
  23. Leviticus 20:13 Lit bloodguilt upon
  24. Leviticus 20:14 Lit takes
  25. Leviticus 20:16 Lit lie
  26. Leviticus 20:16 Lit bloodguilt upon
  27. Leviticus 20:19 Lit flesh
  28. Leviticus 20:21 Or an abomination
  29. Leviticus 20:22 Lit dwell in it
  30. Leviticus 20:23 Lit walk in
  31. Leviticus 20:25 Lit your souls
  32. Leviticus 20:25 Lit with which the ground crawls
  33. Leviticus 20:27 Lit among them must
  34. Leviticus 20:27 Lit bloodguilt upon
  35. Leviticus 21:3 Or who has not belonged to a man
  36. Leviticus 21:4 Lit husband among
  37. Leviticus 21:6 Lit of
  38. Leviticus 21:7 I.e., deflowered
  39. Leviticus 21:10 I.e., the high priest
  40. Leviticus 21:10 Lit whose hand has been filled
  41. Leviticus 21:10 Lit unbind
  42. Leviticus 21:14 Lit take as wife
  43. Leviticus 21:15 Lit seed
  44. Leviticus 21:17 Lit seed
  45. Leviticus 21:21 Lit seed

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