Leviticus 18:21-19:32

English Standard Version

²¹You shall not give any of your children to ^(A)offer them^[a] to ^(B)Molech, and so ^(C)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. ²²^(D)You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. ²³^(E)And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is ^(F)perversion.

²⁴^(G)“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, ^(H)for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, ²⁵and the ^(I)land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land ^(J)vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶But ^(K)you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the ^(L)native or the stranger who sojourns among you ²⁷(for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), ²⁸lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ²⁹For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. ³⁰^(M)So keep my charge never to practice ^(N)any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: ^(O)I am the Lord your God.”

The Lord Is Holy

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, ^(P)You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. ³^(Q)Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and ^(R)you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. ⁴^(S)Do not turn to idols ^(T)or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

⁵^(U)“When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so ^(V)that you may be accepted. ⁶It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. ⁷If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is ^(W)tainted; it will not be accepted, ⁸and everyone who eats it shall ^(X)bear his iniquity, because ^(Y)he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

⁹^(Z)“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. ¹⁰And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

¹¹^(AA)“You shall not steal; ^(AB)you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. ¹²^(AC)You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so ^(AD)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

¹³^(AE)“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. ^(AF)The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. ¹⁴^(AG)You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall ^(AH)fear your God: I am the Lord.

¹⁵^(AI)“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. ¹⁶^(AJ)You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not ^(AK)stand up against the life^[b] of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

¹⁷^(AL)“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but ^(AM)you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you ^(AN)incur sin because of him. ¹⁸^(AO)You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but ^(AP)you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

You Shall Keep My Statutes

¹⁹^(AQ)“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. ^(AR)You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

²⁰“If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; ²¹but ^(AS)he shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. ²²And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

²³“When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.^[c] Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. ²⁴And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. ²⁵But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

²⁶^(AT)“You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. ^(AU)You shall not interpret omens or ^(AV)tell fortunes. ²⁷^(AW)You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. ²⁸You shall not make any ^(AX)cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

²⁹^(AY)“Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. ³⁰^(AZ)You shall keep my Sabbaths and ^(BA)reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

³¹^(BB)“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

³²^(BC)“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall ^(BD)fear your God: I am the Lord.