Leviticus 16-27

Living Bible

16 ^1-2 After Aaron’s two sons died before the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Warn your brother Aaron not to enter into the Holy Place behind the veil, where the Ark and the place of mercy are, just whenever he chooses. The penalty for intrusion is death. For I myself am present in the cloud above the place of mercy.

³ “Here are the conditions for his entering there: He must bring a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴ He must bathe himself and put on the sacred linen coat, shorts, belt, and turban. ⁵ The people of Israel shall then bring him two male goats for their sin offering, and a ram for their burnt offering. ⁶ First he shall present to the Lord the young bull as a sin offering for himself, making atonement for himself and his family. ⁷ Then he shall bring the two goats before the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle, ⁸ and cast lots to determine which is the Lord’s and which is to be sent away.^{[a] 9} The goat allotted to the Lord shall then be sacrificed by Aaron as a sin offering. ¹⁰ The other goat shall be kept alive and placed before the Lord. The rite of atonement shall be performed over it, and it shall then be sent out into the desert as a scapegoat.

¹¹ “After Aaron has sacrificed the young bull as a sin offering for himself and his family, ¹² he shall take a censer full of live coals from the altar of the Lord, and fill his hands with sweet incense beaten into fine powder, and bring it inside the veil. ¹³ There before the Lord he shall put the incense upon the coals, so that a cloud of incense will cover the mercy place above the Ark (containing the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments); thus he will not die. ¹⁴ And he shall bring some of the blood of the young bull and sprinkle it with his finger upon the east side of the mercy place, and then seven times in front of it.

¹⁵ “Then he must go out^[b] and sacrifice the people’s sin offering goat, and bring its blood within the veil, and sprinkle it upon the place of mercy and in front of it, just as he did with the blood of the young bull. ¹⁶ Thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because it is defiled by the sins of the people of Israel, and for the Tabernacle, located right among them and surrounded by their defilement. ¹⁷ Not another soul shall be inside the Tabernacle when Aaron enters to make atonement in the Holy Place—not until after he comes out again and has made atonement for himself and his household and for all the people of Israel. ¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar before the Lord and make atonement for it. He must smear the blood of the young bull and the goat on the horns of the altar, ¹⁹ and sprinkle blood upon the altar seven times with his finger, thus cleansing it from the sinfulness of Israel and making it holy.^[c]

²⁰ “When he has completed the rite of atonement for the Holy Place, the entire Tabernacle, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat and, ²¹ laying both hands upon its head, confess over it all the sins of the people of Israel. He shall lay all their sins upon the head of the goat and send it into the desert, led by a man appointed for the task. ²² So the goat shall carry all the sins of the people into a land where no one lives,^[d] and the man shall let it loose in the wilderness.

²³ “Then Aaron shall go into the Tabernacle again and take off the linen garments he wore when he went behind the veil, and leave them there in the Tabernacle. ²⁴ Then he shall bathe in a sacred place, put on his clothes again, and go out and sacrifice his own burnt offering for the people, making atonement for himself and for them. ²⁵ He shall also burn upon the altar the fat for the sin offering.

²⁶ “The man who took the goat out into the desert^[e] shall afterwards wash his clothes and bathe himself and then come back into the camp. ²⁷ And the young bull and the goat used for the sin offering (their blood was taken into the Holy Place by Aaron, to make atonement) shall be carried outside the camp and burned, including the hides and internal organs. ²⁸ Afterwards, the person doing the burning shall wash his clothes and bathe himself and then return to camp.

^29-30 “This is a permanent law: You must do no work on the twenty-fifth day of September,^[f] but must spend the day in self-examination and humility. This applies whether you are born in the land or are a foreigner living among the people of Israel; for this is the day commemorating the atonement, cleansing you in the Lord’s eyes from all of your sins. ³¹ It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall spend the day in quiet humility;^[g] this is a permanent law. ³² This ceremony, in later generations, shall be performed by the anointed High Priest, consecrated in place of his ancestor Aaron; he shall be the one to put on the holy linen garments, ³³ and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, the Tabernacle, the altar, the priests, and the people. ³⁴ This shall be an everlasting law for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel once each year, because of their sins.”

And Aaron followed all these instructions that the Lord gave to Moses.

17 ^1-2 The Lord gave to Moses these additional instructions for Aaron and the priests and for all the people of Israel:

^3-4 “Any Israelite who sacrifices^[h] an ox, lamb, or goat anywhere except at the Tabernacle is guilty of murder and shall be excommunicated from his nation. ⁵ The purpose of this law is to stop the people of Israel from sacrificing in the open fields, and to cause them to bring their sacrifices to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and to burn the fat as a savor the Lord will appreciate and enjoy— ⁶ for in this way the priest will be able to sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and to burn the fat as a savor the Lord will appreciate and enjoy— ⁷ instead of the people’s sacrificing to evil spirits^[i] out in the fields. This shall be a permanent law for you, from generation to generation. ^8-9 I repeat: Anyone, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you who offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice anywhere other than at the entrance of the Tabernacle, where it will be sacrificed to the Lord, shall be excommunicated.

¹⁰ “And I will turn my face against anyone, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you, who eats blood in any form. I will excommunicate him from his people. ¹¹ For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given you the blood to sprinkle upon the altar as an atonement for your souls; it is the blood that makes atonement because it is the life.^{[j] 12} That is the reasoning behind my decree to the people of Israel, that neither they, nor any foreigner living among them, may eat blood. ¹³ Anyone, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you, who goes hunting and kills an animal or bird of a kind permitted for food, must pour out the blood and cover it with dust, ¹⁴ for the blood is the life. That is why I told the people of Israel never to eat it, for the life of every bird and animal^[k] is its blood. Therefore, anyone who eats blood must be excommunicated.

¹⁵ “And anyone—native born or foreigner—who eats the dead body of an animal that dies a natural death, or is killed by wild animals, must wash his clothes and bathe himself and be defiled until evening; after that he shall be declared cleansed. ¹⁶ But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe, he shall suffer the consequence.”

18 ^1-2 The Lord then told Moses to tell the people of Israel,

“I am Jehovah your God, ³ so don’t act like the heathen—like the people of Egypt where you lived so long, or the people of Canaan where I am going to take you. ^4-5 You must obey only my laws, and you must carry them out in detail, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey them, you shall live.^[l] I am the Lord.

⁶ “None of you shall marry^[m] a near relative, for I am the Lord. ⁷ Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother, ⁸ nor any other of your father’s wives. ⁹ Do not have intercourse with your sister or half sister, whether the daughter of your father or your mother, whether brought up in the same household or elsewhere.

¹⁰ “You shall not have intercourse with your granddaughter—the daughter of either your son or your daughter—for she is a close relative.^{[n] 11} You may not have intercourse with a half sister—your father’s wife’s daughter; ¹² nor your aunt—your father’s sister—because she is so closely related to your father; ¹³ nor your aunt—your mother’s sister—because she is a close relative of your mother; ¹⁴ nor your aunt—the wife of your father’s brother.^[o]

¹⁵ “You may not marry your daughter-in-law—your son’s wife; ¹⁶ nor your brother’s wife, for she is your brother’s.^{[p] 17} You may not marry both a woman and her daughter or granddaughter, for they are near relatives, and to do so is horrible wickedness. ¹⁸ You shall not marry two sisters, for they will be rivals. However, if your wife dies, then it is all right to marry her sister.

¹⁹ “There must be no sexual relationship with a woman who is menstruating; ²⁰ nor with anyone else’s wife, to defile yourself with her.

²¹ “You shall not give any of your children to Molech, burning them upon his altar; never profane the name of your God, for I am Jehovah.

²² “Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin. ²³ A man shall have no sexual intercourse with any female animal, thus defiling himself; and a woman must never give herself to a male animal, to mate with it; this is a terrible perversion.

²⁴ “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for these are the things the heathen do; and because they do them, I am going to cast them out from the land into which you are going. ²⁵ That entire country is defiled with this kind of activity; that is why I am punishing the people living there, and will throw them out of the land.^{[q] 26} You must strictly obey all of my laws and ordinances, and you must not do any of these abominable things; these laws apply both to you who are born in the nation of Israel and to foreigners living among you.

²⁷ “Yes, all these abominations have been done continually by the people of the land where I am taking you, and the land is defiled. ²⁸ Do not do these things or I will throw you out of the land, just as I will throw out^[r] the nations that live there now. ^29-30 Whoever does any of these terrible deeds shall be excommunicated from this nation. So be very sure to obey my laws, and do not practice any of these horrible customs. Do not defile yourselves with the evil deeds of those living in the land where you are going. For I am Jehovah your God.”

19 ^1-2 The Lord also told Moses to tell the people of Israel, “You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. You must respect your mothers and fathers, and obey my Sabbath law, for I am the Lord your God. ^3-4 Do not make or worship idols, for I am Jehovah your God.

⁵ “When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, offer it correctly so that it will be accepted: ⁶ Eat it the same day you offer it, or the next day at the latest; any remaining until the third day must be burned. ⁷ For any of it eaten on the third day is repulsive to me and will not be accepted. ⁸ If you eat it on the third day, you are guilty, for you profane the holiness of Jehovah, and you shall be excommunicated from Jehovah’s people.

⁹ “When you harvest your crops, don’t reap the corners of your fields, and don’t pick up stray grains of wheat from the ground. ¹⁰ It is the same with your grape crop—don’t strip every last piece of fruit from the vines, and don’t pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and for those traveling through, for I am Jehovah your God.

¹¹ “You must not steal nor lie nor defraud. ¹² You must not swear to a falsehood, thus bringing reproach upon the name of your God, for I am Jehovah.

¹³ “You shall not rob nor oppress anyone, and you shall pay your hired workers promptly. If something is due them, don’t even keep it overnight.

¹⁴ “You must not curse the deaf nor trip up a blind man as he walks. Fear your God; I am Jehovah!

¹⁵ “Judges must always be just in their sentences, not noticing whether a person is poor or rich; they must always be perfectly fair.

¹⁶ “Don’t gossip. Don’t falsely accuse your neighbor of some crime,^[s] for I am Jehovah.

¹⁷ “Don’t hate your brother. Rebuke anyone who sins; don’t let him get away with it, or you will be equally guilty. ¹⁸ Don’t seek vengeance. Don’t bear a grudge; but love your neighbor as yourself, for I am Jehovah.

¹⁹ “Obey my laws: Do not mate your cattle with a different kind; don’t sow your field with two kinds of seed; don’t wear clothes made of half wool and half linen.

²⁰ “If a man seduces a slave girl^[t] who is engaged to be married, they shall be tried in a court but not put to death, because she is not free. ²¹ The man involved shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle; the offering shall be a ram. ²² The priest shall make atonement with the ram for the sin the man has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

²³ “When you enter the land and have planted all kinds of fruit trees, do not eat the first three crops, for they are considered ceremonially defiled.^{[u] 24} And the fourth year the entire crop shall be devoted to the Lord, and shall be given to the Lord in praise to him. ²⁵ Finally, in the fifth year, the crop is yours.

²⁶ “I am Jehovah your God! You must not eat meat with undrained blood nor use fortune-telling or witchcraft.

²⁷ “You must not trim off your hair on your temples or clip the edges of your beard, as the heathen do.^{[v] 28} You shall not cut yourselves nor put tattoo marks upon yourselves in connection with funeral rites; I am the Lord.

²⁹ “Do not violate your daughter’s sanctity by making her a prostitute, lest the land become full of enormous wickedness.

³⁰ “Keep my Sabbath laws and reverence my Tabernacle, for I am the Lord.

³¹ “Do not defile yourselves by consulting mediums and wizards, for I am Jehovah your God.

³² “You shall give due honor and respect to the elderly, in the fear of God. I am Jehovah.

³³ “Do not take advantage of foreigners in your land; do not wrong them. ³⁴ They must be treated like any other citizen; love them as yourself, for remember that you too were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.

^35-36 “You must be impartial in judgment. Use accurate measurements—lengths, weights, and volumes—and give full measure, for I am Jehovah your God who brought you from the land of Egypt. ³⁷ You must heed all of my commandments and ordinances, carefully obeying them, for I am Jehovah.”

20 ^1-2 The Lord gave Moses these further instructions for the people of Israel:

“Anyone—whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you—who sacrifices his child as a burnt offering to Molech shall without fail be stoned by his peers. ³ And I myself will turn against that man and cut him off from all his people, because he has given his child to Molech, thus making my Tabernacle^[w] unfit for me to live in, and insulting my holy name. ⁴ And if the people of the land pretend they do not know what the man has done and refuse to put him to death, ⁵ then I myself will set my face against that man and his family and cut him off, along with all others who turn to other gods than me.

⁶ “I will set my face against anyone who consults mediums and wizards instead of me and I will cut that person off from his people. ⁷ So sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ You must obey all of my commandments, for I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

⁹ “Anyone who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death—for he has cursed his own flesh and blood.

¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and woman shall be put to death. ¹¹ If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has defiled what is his father’s; both the man and the woman must die, for it is their own fault. ¹² And if a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both shall be executed: they have brought it upon themselves by defiling each other. ¹³ The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have brought it upon themselves. ¹⁴ If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and with her mother, it is a great evil. All three shall be burned alive to wipe out wickedness from among you.

¹⁵ “If a man has sexual intercourse with an animal, he shall be executed and the animal killed. ¹⁶ If a woman has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill the woman and the animal, for they deserve their punishment.^[x]

¹⁷ “If a man has sexual intercourse with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, it is a shameful thing, and they shall publicly be cut off from the people of Israel. He shall bear his guilt. ¹⁸ If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman during her period of menstruation, both shall be excommunicated, for he has uncovered the source of her flow, and she has permitted it.

¹⁹ “Sexual intercourse is outlawed between a man and his maiden aunt—whether the sister of his mother or of his father—for they are near of kin; they shall bear their guilt. ²⁰ If a man has intercourse with his uncle’s wife, he has taken what belongs to his uncle; their punishment is that they shall bear their sin and die childless. ²¹ If a man marries his brother’s wife,^[y] this is impurity; for he has taken what belongs to his brother, and they shall be childless.

²² “You must obey all of my laws and ordinances so that I will not throw you out of your new land.^{[z] 23} You must not follow the customs of the nations I cast out before you, for they do all these things I have warned you against; that is the reason I abhor them. ²⁴ I have promised you their land; I will give it to you to possess it. It is a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God who has made a distinction between you and the people of other nations.

²⁵ “You shall therefore make a distinction between the birds and animals I have given you permission to eat and those you may not eat. You shall not contaminate yourselves and make yourselves hateful to me by eating any animal or bird which I have forbidden, though the land teem with them. ²⁶ You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have set you apart from all other peoples to be mine.

²⁷ “A medium or a wizard—whether man or woman—shall surely be stoned to death. They have caused their own doom.”

21 The Lord said to Moses: “Tell the priests never to defile themselves by touching a dead person, ^2-3 unless it is a near relative—a mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried^[aa] sister for whom he has special responsibility since she has no husband. ⁴ For the priest is a leader among his people, and he may not ceremonially defile himself as an ordinary person can.

⁵ “The priests shall not clip bald spots in their hair or beards, nor cut their flesh. ⁶ They shall be holy unto their God and shall not dishonor and profane his name; otherwise they will be unfit to make food offerings by fire to the Lord their God. ⁷ A priest shall not marry a prostitute, nor a woman of another tribe, and he shall not marry a divorced woman, for he is a holy man of God. ⁸ The priest is set apart to offer the sacrifices of your God; he is holy, for I, the Lord who sanctifies you, am holy. ⁹ The daughter of any priest who becomes a prostitute, thus violating her father’s holiness as well as her own, shall be burned alive.

¹⁰ “The High Priest—anointed with the special anointing oil and wearing the special garments—must not let his hair hang loose in mourning, nor tear his clothing, ¹¹ nor be in the presence of any dead person—not even his father or mother.^{[ab] 12} He shall not leave the sanctuary when on duty,^[ac] nor treat my Tabernacle like an ordinary house, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him; I am Jehovah. ¹³ He must marry a virgin. ^14-15 He may not marry a widow, nor a woman who is divorced, nor a prostitute. She must be a virgin from his own tribe, for he must not be the father of children of mixed blood—half priestly and half ordinary.”^[ad]

^16-17 And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron that any of his descendants from generation to generation who have any bodily defect may not offer the sacrifices to God. ¹⁸ For instance, if a man is blind or lame, or has a broken nose or any extra fingers or toes, ¹⁹ or has a broken foot or hand, ²⁰ or has a humped back, or is a dwarf, or has a defect in his eye, or has pimples or scabby skin, or has imperfect testicles— ²¹ although he is a descendant of Aaron—he is not permitted to offer the fire sacrifices to the Lord because of his physical defect. ²² However, he shall be fed with the food of the priests from the offerings sacrificed to God, both from the holy and most holy offerings. ²³ But he shall not go in behind the veil, nor come near the altar, because of the physical defect; this would defile my sanctuary, for it is Jehovah who sanctifies it.”

²⁴ So Moses gave these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel.

22 ^1-2 The Lord told Moses, “Instruct Aaron and his sons to be very careful not to defile my holy name by desecrating the people’s sacred gifts; for I am Jehovah. ³ From now on and forever, if a priest who is ceremonially defiled sacrifices the animals brought by the people or handles the gifts dedicated to Jehovah, he shall be discharged from the priesthood. For I am Jehovah!

⁴ “No priest who is a leper or who has a running sore may eat the holy sacrifices until healed. And any priest who touches a dead person, or who is defiled by a seminal emission, ⁵ or who touches any reptile or other forbidden thing, or who touches anyone who is ceremonially defiled for any reason— ⁶ that priest shall be defiled until evening and shall not eat of the holy sacrifices until after he has bathed that evening. ⁷ When the sun is down, then he shall be purified again and may eat the holy food, for it is his source of life. ⁸ He may not eat any animal that dies of itself or is torn by wild animals, for this will defile him. I am Jehovah. ⁹ Warn the priests to follow these instructions carefully, lest they be declared guilty and die for violating these rules. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁰ “No one may eat of the holy sacrifices unless he is a priest; no one visiting the priest, for instance, nor a hired servant, may eat this food. ¹¹ However, there is one exception—if the priest buys a slave with his own money, that slave may eat it, and any slave children born in his household may eat it. ¹² If a priest’s daughter is married outside the tribe, she may not eat the sacred offerings.^{[ae] 13} But if she is a widow or divorced and has no son to support her, and has returned home to her father’s household, she may eat of her father’s food again. But otherwise, no one who is not in the priestly families may eat this food.

¹⁴ “If someone should eat of the holy sacrifices without realizing it, he shall return to the priest the amount he has used, with 20 percent added; ¹⁵ for the holy sacrifices brought by the people of Israel must not be defiled by being eaten by unauthorized persons, for these sacrifices have been offered to the Lord. ¹⁶ Anyone who violates this law is guilty and is in great danger because he has eaten the sacred offerings; for I am Jehovah who sanctifies the offerings.”

^17-18 And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel that if an Israelite or other person living among you offers a burnt offering sacrifice to the Lord—whether it is to fulfill a promise or is a spontaneous freewill offering— ¹⁹ it will only be acceptable to the Lord if it is a male animal without defect; it must be a young bull or a sheep or a goat. ²⁰ Anything that has a defect must not be offered, for it will not be accepted.

²¹ “Anyone sacrificing a peace offering to the Lord from the herd or flock, whether to fulfill a vow or as a voluntary offering, must sacrifice an animal that has no defect, or it will not be accepted: ²² An animal that is blind or disabled or mutilated, or which has sores or itch or any other skin disease, must not be offered to the Lord; it is not a fit burnt offering for the altar of the Lord. ²³ If the young bull or lamb presented to the Lord has anything superfluous or lacking in its body parts, it may be offered as a freewill offering, but not for a vow. ²⁴ An animal that has injured genitals—crushed or castrated—shall not be offered to the Lord at any time. ²⁵ This restriction applies to the sacrifices made by foreigners among you as well as those made by yourselves, for no defective animal is acceptable for this sacrifice.”

^26-27 And the Lord said to Moses, “When a bullock, sheep, or goat is born, it shall be left with its mother for seven days, but from the eighth day onward it is acceptable as a sacrifice by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ You shall not slaughter a mother animal and her offspring the same day, whether she is a cow or ewe. ^29-30 When you offer the Lord a sacrifice of thanksgiving, you must do it in the right way, eating the sacrificial animal the same day it is slain. Leave none of it for the following day. I am the Lord.

³¹ “You must keep all of my commandments, for I am the Lord. ^32-33 You must not treat me as common and ordinary. Revere me and hallow me, for I, the Lord, made you holy to myself and rescued you from Egypt to be my own people! I am Jehovah!”

23 ^1-2 The Lord said to Moses, “Announce to the people of Israel that they are to celebrate several annual festivals of the Lord—times when all Israel will assemble and worship me. ³ (These are in addition to your Sabbaths^[af]—the seventh day of every week—which are always days of rest in every home, times for assembling to worship, and for resting from the normal business of the week.) ⁴ These are the holy festivals which are to be observed each year:

⁵ “The Passover of the Lord: This is to be celebrated on the first day of April,^[ag] beginning at sundown.

⁶ “The Festival of Unleavened Bread: This is to be celebrated beginning the day following the Passover, and for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast. ⁷ On the first day of this festival, you shall gather the people for worship, and all ordinary work shall cease.^{[ah] 8} You shall do the same on the seventh day of the festival. On each of the intervening days you shall make an offering by fire to the Lord.

^9-11 “The Festival of First Fruits: When you arrive in the land I will give you and you reap your first harvest, bring the first sheaf of the harvest to the priest on the day after the Sabbath. He shall wave it before the Lord in a gesture of offering, and it will be accepted by the Lord as your gift. ¹² That same day you shall sacrifice to the Lord a male yearling lamb without defect as a burnt offering. ¹³ A grain offering shall accompany it, consisting of a fifth of a bushel of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil, to be offered by fire to the Lord; this will be very pleasant to him. Also offer a drink offering consisting of three pints of wine. ¹⁴ Until this is done you must not eat any of the harvest for yourselves—neither fresh kernels nor bread nor parched grain. This is a permanent law throughout your nation.

^15-16 “The Harvest Festival (Festival of Pentecost): Fifty days later you shall bring to the Lord an offering of a sample of the new grain of your later crops. ¹⁷ This shall consist of two loaves of bread from your homes to be waved before the Lord in a gesture of offering. Bake this bread from a fifth of a bushel of fine flour containing yeast. It is an offering to the Lord of the first sampling of your later crops.^{[ai] 18} Along with the bread and the wine, you shall sacrifice as burnt offerings to the Lord seven yearling lambs without defects, one young bull, and two rams. All are fire offerings, very acceptable to Jehovah.^{[aj] 19} And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male yearling lambs for a peace offering.

²⁰ “The priests shall wave these offerings before the Lord along with the loaves representing the first sampling of your later crops. They are holy to the Lord and will be given to the priests as food. ²¹ That day shall be announced as a time of sacred convocation of all the people; don’t do any work that day. This is a law to be honored from generation to generation. ²² (When you reap your harvests, you must not thoroughly reap all the corners of the fields, nor pick up the fallen grain; leave it for the poor and for foreigners living among you who have no land of their own; I am Jehovah your God!)

^23-24 “The Festival of Trumpets: Mid-September^[ak] is a time for all the people to meet together for worship; it is a time of remembrance, and is to be announced by loud blowing of trumpets. ²⁵ Don’t do any hard work on that day, but offer a sacrifice by fire to the Lord.

^26-27 “The Day of Atonement follows nine days later:^[al] All the people are to come together before the Lord, saddened by their sin; and they shall offer sacrifices by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ Don’t do any work that day, for it is a special day for making atonement before the Lord your God. ²⁹ Anyone who does not spend the day in repentance and sorrow for sin shall be excommunicated from his people. ^30-31 And I will put to death anyone who does any kind of work that day. This is a law of Israel from generation to generation. ³² For this is a Sabbath of rest, and in it you shall go without food and be filled with sorrow; this time for atonement begins in the evening and continues through the next day.

^33-34 “The Festival of Shelters: Five days later, on the last day of September,^[am] is the Festival of Shelters to be celebrated before the Lord for seven days. ³⁵ On the first day there will be a sacred assembly of all the people; don’t do any hard work that day. ³⁶ On each of the seven days of the festival you are to sacrifice an offering by fire to the Lord. The eighth day requires another sacred convocation of all the people, at which time there will again be an offering by fire to the Lord. It is the closing assembly, and no regular work is permitted.

³⁷ “(These, then, are the regular annual festivals—sacred convocations of all people—when offerings to the Lord are to be made by fire. ³⁸ These annual festivals are in addition to your regular Sabbaths—the weekly days of holy rest. The sacrifices made during the festivals are to be in addition to your regular giving and normal fulfillment of your vows.)

³⁹ “This last day of September, at the end of your harvesting, is the time to begin to celebrate this seven-day festival before the Lord. Remember that the first and last days of the festival are special days of rest. ⁴⁰ On the first day, take boughs of fruit trees laden with fruit, and palm fronds, and the boughs of leafy trees—such as willows that grow by the brooks—and build shelters with them,^[an] rejoicing before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ This seven-day annual feast is a law from generation to generation. ⁴² During those seven days, all of you who are native Israelites are to live in these shelters. ⁴³ The purpose of this is to remind the people of Israel, generation after generation, that I rescued you from Egypt, and caused you to live in shelters. I am Jehovah your God.”

⁴⁴ So Moses announced these annual festivals of the Lord to the people of Israel.

24 ^1-2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to bring you pure olive oil for an eternal flame ^3-4 in the lampstand of pure gold which stands outside the veil that secludes the Holy of Holies. Each morning and evening Aaron shall supply it with fresh oil and trim the wicks. It will be an eternal flame before the Lord from generation to generation.

^5-8 “Every Sabbath day the High Priest shall place twelve loaves of bread in two rows upon the gold table that stands before the Lord. These loaves shall be baked from finely ground flour, using a fifth of a bushel for each. Pure frankincense shall be sprinkled along each row. This will be a memorial offering made by fire to the Lord, in memory of his everlasting covenant with the people of Israel. ⁹ The bread shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons, in a place set apart for the purpose. For these are offerings made by fire to the Lord under a permanent law of God and are most holy.”

¹⁰ Out in the camp one day, a young man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian got into a fight with one of the men of Israel. ¹¹ During the fight the Egyptian man’s son^[ao] cursed God, and was brought to Moses for judgment. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan.) ¹² He was put in jail until the Lord would indicate what to do with him.

^13-14 And the Lord said to Moses, “Take him outside the camp and tell all who heard him to lay their hands upon his head; then all the people are to execute him by stoning. ^15-16 And tell the people of Israel that anyone who curses his God must pay the penalty: he must die. All the congregation shall stone him; this law applies to the foreigner as well as to the Israelite who blasphemes the name of Jehovah. He must die.

¹⁷ “Also, all murderers must be executed. ¹⁸ Anyone who kills an animal that isn’t his^[ap] shall replace it. ¹⁹ The penalty for injuring anyone is to be injured in exactly the same way: ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Whatever anyone does to another shall be done to him.

²¹ “To repeat, whoever kills an animal must replace it, and whoever kills a man must die. ²² You shall have the same law for the foreigner as for the home-born citizen, for I am Jehovah your God.”

²³ So they took the youth out of the camp and stoned him until he died, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

25 ^1-2 While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord gave him these instructions for the people of Israel:

“When you come into the land I am going to give you, you must let the land rest before the Lord every seventh year. ³ For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, ⁴ but during the seventh year the land is to lie fallow before the Lord, uncultivated. Don’t sow your crops and don’t prune your vineyards during that entire year. ⁵ Don’t even reap for yourself the volunteer crops that come up, and don’t gather the grapes for yourself; for it is a year of rest for the land. ^6-7 Any crops that do grow that year shall be free to all—for you, your servants, your slaves, and any foreigners living among you. Cattle and wild animals alike shall be allowed to graze there.

⁸ “Every fiftieth year, ⁹ on the Day of Atonement,^[aq] let the trumpets blow loud and long throughout the land. ¹⁰ For the fiftieth year shall be holy, a time to proclaim liberty throughout the land to all enslaved debtors, and a time for the canceling of all public and private debts. It shall be a year when all the family estates sold to others shall be returned to the original owners or their heirs.

¹¹ “What a happy year it will be! In it you shall not sow, nor gather crops nor grapes; ¹² for it is a holy Year of Jubilee for you. That year your food shall be the volunteer crops that grow wild in the fields. ¹³ Yes, during the Year of Jubilee everyone shall return home to his original family possession; if he has sold it, it shall be his again! ^14-16 Because of this, if the land is sold or bought during the preceding forty-nine years, a fair price shall be arrived at by counting the number of years until the Jubilee. If the Jubilee is many years away, the price will be high; if few years, the price will be low; for what you are really doing is selling the number of crops the new owner will get from the land before it is returned to you.

^17-18 “You must fear your God and not overcharge! For I am Jehovah. Obey my laws if you want to live safely in the land. ¹⁹ When you obey, the land will yield bumper crops and you can eat your fill in safety. ²⁰ But you will ask, ‘What shall we eat the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ ^21-22 The answer is, ‘I will bless you with bumper crops the sixth year that will last you until the crops of the eighth year are harvested!’ ²³ And remember, the land is mine, so you may not sell it permanently. You are merely my tenants and sharecroppers!

²⁴ “In every contract of sale there must be a stipulation that the land can be redeemed at any time by the seller. ²⁵ If anyone becomes poor and sells some of his land, then his nearest relatives may redeem it. ²⁶ If there is no one else to redeem it, and he himself gets together enough money, ²⁷ then he may always buy it back at a price proportionate to the number of harvests until the Jubilee, and the owner must accept the money and return the land to him. ²⁸ But if the original owner is not able to redeem it, then it shall belong to the new owner until the Year of Jubilee; but at the Jubilee year it must be returned again.

²⁹ “If a man sells a house in the city,^[ar] he has up to one year to redeem it, with full right of redemption during that time. ³⁰ But if it is not redeemed within the year, then it will belong permanently to the new owner—it does not return to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee. ³¹ But village houses—a village is a settlement without fortifying walls around it—are like farmland, redeemable at any time, and are always returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

³² “There is one exception: The homes of the Levites, even though in walled cities, may be redeemed at any time, ³³ and must be returned to the original owners in the Year of Jubilee; for the Levites will not be given farmland like the other tribes, but will receive only houses in their cities, and the surrounding fields.^{[as] 34} The Levites are not permitted to sell the fields of common land surrounding their cities, for these are their permanent possession, and they must belong to no one else.

³⁵ “If your brother becomes poor, you are responsible to help him; invite him to live with you as a guest in your home. ³⁶ Fear your God and let your brother live with you; and don’t charge him interest on the money you lend him. ³⁷ Remember—no interest; and give him what he needs, at your cost: don’t try to make a profit! ³⁸ For I, the Lord your God, brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

³⁹ “If a fellow Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to you, you must not treat him as an ordinary slave, ⁴⁰ but rather as a hired servant or as a guest; and he shall serve you only until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ At that time he can leave with his children and return to his own family and possessions. ⁴² For I brought you from the land of Egypt, and you are my servants; so you may not be sold as ordinary slaves ⁴³ or treated harshly; fear your God.

⁴⁴ “However, you may purchase slaves from the foreign nations living around you, ⁴⁵ and you may purchase the children of the foreigners living among you, even though they have been born in your land. ⁴⁶ They will be permanent slaves for you to pass on to your children after you; but your brothers, the people of Israel, shall not be treated so.

⁴⁷ “If a foreigner living among you becomes rich, and an Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to the foreigner or to the foreigner’s family, ⁴⁸ he may be redeemed by one of his brothers, ⁴⁹ his uncle, nephew, or anyone else who is a near relative. He may also redeem himself if he can find the money. ⁵⁰ The price of his freedom shall be in proportion to the number of years left before the Year of Jubilee—whatever it would cost to hire a servant for that number of years. ⁵¹ If there are still many years until the Jubilee, he shall pay almost the amount he received when he sold himself; ⁵² if the years have passed and only a few remain until the Jubilee, then he will repay only a small part of the amount he received when he sold himself. ⁵³ If he sells himself to a foreigner, the foreigner must treat him as a hired servant rather than as a slave or as property. ⁵⁴ If he has not been redeemed by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, then he and his children shall be freed at that time. ⁵⁵ For the people of Israel are my servants; I brought them from the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

26 “You must have no idols; you must never worship carved images, obelisks, or shaped stones, for I am the Lord your God. ² You must obey my Sabbath laws of rest, and reverence my Tabernacle, for I am the Lord.

³ “If you obey all of my commandments, ^4-5 I will give you regular rains, and the land will yield bumper crops, and the trees will be loaded with fruit long after the normal time!^[at] And grapes will still be ripening when sowing time comes again. You shall eat your fill, and live safely in the land, ⁶ for I will give you peace, and you will go to sleep without fear. I will chase away the dangerous animals. ⁷ You will chase your enemies; they will die beneath your swords. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you, ten thousand! You will defeat all of your enemies. ⁹ I will look after you, and multiply you, and fulfill my covenant with you. ¹⁰ You will have such a surplus of crops that you won’t know what to do with them when the new harvest is ready! ¹¹ And I will live among you and not despise you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. ¹³ For I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would be slaves no longer; I have broken your chains so that you can walk with dignity.^[au]

¹⁴ “But if you will not listen to me or obey me, ¹⁵ but reject my laws, ¹⁶ this is what I will do to you: I will punish you with sudden terrors and panic, and with tuberculosis and burning fever; your eyes shall be consumed and your life shall ebb away; you will sow your crops in vain, for your enemies will eat them. ¹⁷ I will set my face against you and you will flee before your attackers; those who hate you will rule you; you will even run when no one is chasing you!

¹⁸ “And if you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times more severely for your sins. ¹⁹ I will break your proud power and make your heavens as iron and your earth as bronze. ²⁰ Your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its crops, nor your trees their fruit.

²¹ “And if even then you will not obey me and listen to me, I will send you seven times more plagues because of your sins. ²² I will send wild animals to kill your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your numbers so that your roads will be deserted.

²³ “And if even this will not reform you, but you continue to walk against my wishes, ²⁴ then I will walk against your wishes, and I, even I, will personally smite you seven times for your sin. ²⁵ I will revenge the breaking of my covenant by bringing war against you. You will flee to your cities, and I will send a plague among you there; and you will be conquered by your enemies. ²⁶ I will destroy your food supply so that one oven will be large enough to bake all the bread available for ten entire families; and you will still be hungry after your pittance has been doled out to you.

²⁷ “And if you still won’t listen to me or obey me, ²⁸ then I will let loose my great anger and send you seven times greater punishment for your sins. ²⁹ You shall eat your own sons and daughters, ³⁰ and I will destroy the altars on the hills where you worship your idols, and I will cut down your incense altars, leaving your dead bodies to rot among your idols; and I will abhor you. ³¹ I will make your cities desolate, and destroy your places of worship, and will not respond to your incense offerings. ³² Yes, I will desolate your land; your enemies shall live in it, utterly amazed at what I have done to you.

³³ “I will scatter you out among the nations, destroying you with war as you go. Your land shall be desolate and your cities destroyed. ^34-35 Then at last the land will rest and make up for the many years you refused to let it lie idle; for it will lie desolate all the years that you are captives in enemy lands. Yes, then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths! It will make up for the rest you didn’t give it every seventh year when you lived upon it.

³⁶ “And for those who are left alive, I will cause them to be dragged away to distant lands as prisoners of war and slaves. There they will live in constant fear. The sound of a leaf driven in the wind will send them fleeing as though chased by a man with a sword; they shall fall when no one is pursuing them. ³⁷ Yes, though none pursue they shall stumble over each other in flight, as though fleeing in battle, with no power to stand before their enemies. ³⁸ You shall perish among the nations and be destroyed among your enemies. ³⁹ Those left shall pine away in enemy lands because of their sins, the same sins as those of their fathers.

^40-41 “But at last they shall confess their sins and their fathers’ sins of treachery against me. (Because they were against me, I was against them, and brought them into the land of their enemies.) When at last their evil hearts are humbled and they accept the punishment I send them for their sins, ⁴² then I will remember again my promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will remember the land (and its desolation). ⁴³ For the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as it lies desolate. But then at last they shall accept their punishment for rejecting my laws and for despising my rule. ⁴⁴ But despite all they have done, I will not utterly destroy them and my covenant with them, for I am Jehovah their God. ⁴⁵ For their sakes I will remember my promises to their ancestors to be their God. For I brought their forefathers out of Egypt as all the nations watched in wonder. I am Jehovah.”

⁴⁶ These were the laws, ordinances, and instructions that Jehovah gave to the people of Israel, through Moses, on Mount Sinai.

27 ^1-2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel that when a person makes a special vow to give himself to the Lord, he shall give these payments instead: ³ A man from the age of twenty to sixty shall pay twenty-five dollars;^{[av] 4} a woman from the age of twenty to sixty shall pay fifteen dollars; ⁵ a boy from five to twenty shall pay ten dollars; a girl, five dollars. ⁶ A boy one month to five years old shall have paid for him two and a half dollars; a girl, one and a half dollars. ⁷ A man over sixty shall pay seven and a half dollars; a woman, five dollars. ⁸ But if the person is too poor to pay this amount, he shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall talk it over with him, and he shall pay as the priest shall decide.

⁹ “But if it is an animal that is vowed to be given to the Lord as a sacrifice, it must be given. ¹⁰ The vow may not be changed; the donor may neither change his mind about giving it to the Lord, nor substitute good for bad or bad for good; if he does, both the first and the second shall belong to the Lord! ^11-12 But if the animal given to the Lord is not a kind that is permitted as a sacrifice, the owner shall bring it to the priest to value it, and he shall be told how much to pay instead. ¹³ If the animal is a kind that may be offered as a sacrifice,^[aw] but the man wants to redeem it, then he shall pay 20 percent more than the value set by the priest.

^14-15 “If someone donates his home to the Lord and then wishes to redeem it, the priest will decide its value, and the man shall pay that amount plus 20 percent, and the house will be his again.

¹⁶ “If a man dedicates any part of his field to the Lord, value it in proportion to its size, as indicated by the amount of seed required to sow it. A section of land that requires ten bushels of barley seed for sowing is valued at twenty-five dollars. ¹⁷ If a man dedicates his field in the Year of Jubilee, then the whole estimate shall stand; ¹⁸ but if it is after the Year of Jubilee, then the value shall be in proportion to the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee. ¹⁹ If the man decides to redeem the field, he shall pay 20 percent in addition to the priest’s valuation, and the field will be his again. ²⁰ But if he decides not to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to someone else and has given to the Lord his rights to it at the Year of Jubilee,^[ax] it shall not be returned to him again. ²¹ When it is freed in the Year of Jubilee, it shall belong to the Lord as a field devoted to him, and it shall be given to the priests.

²² “If a man dedicates to the Lord a field he has bought, but which is not part of his family possession, ²³ the priest shall estimate the value until the Year of Jubilee, and he shall immediately give that estimated value to the Lord, ²⁴ and in the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to the original owner from whom it was bought. ²⁵ All the valuations shall be stated in standard money.^[ay]

²⁶ “You may not dedicate to the Lord the firstborn of any ox or sheep, for it is already his. ²⁷ But if it is the firstborn of an animal that cannot be sacrificed because it is not on the list of those acceptable to the Lord, then the owner shall pay the priest’s estimate of its worth, plus 20 percent; or if the owner does not redeem it, the priest may sell it to someone else. ²⁸ However, anything utterly devoted to the Lord—people, animals, or inherited fields—shall not be sold or redeemed, for they are most holy to the Lord. ²⁹ No one sentenced by the courts to die may pay a fine instead; he shall surely be put to death.^[az]

³⁰ “A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, is the Lord’s, and is holy. ³¹ If anyone wants to buy back this fruit or grain, he must add a fifth to its value. ³² And the Lord owns every tenth animal of your herds and flocks and other domestic animals, as they pass by for counting. ³³ The tenth given to the Lord shall not be selected on the basis of whether it is good or bad, and there shall be no substitutions; for if there is any change made, then both the original and the substitution shall belong to the Lord, and may not be bought back!”

³⁴ These are the commandments the Lord gave to Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.