Chronological
Religious and Social Regulations
19 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 3 Each of you must respect his mother and his father,[a] and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols,[b] and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal. I am the Lord your God.
Eating the Peace Offering
5 “‘When you sacrifice a peace-offering sacrifice to the Lord, you must sacrifice it so that it is accepted for you.[c] 6 It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice and on the following day,[d] but what is left over until the third day must be burned up.[e] 7 If, however, it is eaten[f] on the third day, it is spoiled;[g] it will not be accepted, 8 and the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity[h] because he has profaned[i] what is holy to the Lord.[j] That person will be cut off from his people.[k]
Leaving the Gleanings
9 “‘When you gather in the harvest[l] of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field,[m] and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. 10 You must not pick your vineyard bare,[n] and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the resident foreigner.[o] I am the Lord your God.
Dealing Honestly
11 “‘You must not steal, you must not tell lies, and you must not deal falsely with your fellow citizen.[p] 12 You must not swear falsely[q] in my name, so that you do not profane[r] the name of your God. I am the Lord. 13 You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against your neighbor.[s] You must not withhold[t] the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning. 14 You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person.[u] You must fear[v] your God; I am the Lord.
Justice, Love, and Propriety
15 “‘You[w] must not deal unjustly in judgment:[x] You must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich.[y] You must judge your fellow citizen fairly.[z] 16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your people.[aa] You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake.[ab] I am the Lord. 17 You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him.[ac] 18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against[ad] any of your people,[ae] but you must love your neighbor as yourself.[af] I am the Lord. 19 You must keep my statutes. You must not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed together,[ag] you must not sow your field with two different kinds of seed, and you must not wear[ah] a garment made of two different kinds of material.[ai]
Lying with a Slave Woman
20 “‘When a man goes to bed with a woman for intercourse,[aj] although she is a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an obligation to pay compensation.[ak] They must not be put to death, because she was not free. 21 He must bring his guilt offering to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, a guilt offering ram,[al] 22 and the priest is to make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed,[am] and he will be forgiven[an] of his sin[ao] that he has committed.
The Produce of Fruit Trees
23 “‘When you enter the land and plant any fruit tree,[ap] you must consider its fruit to be forbidden.[aq] Three years it will be forbidden to you;[ar] it must not be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, praise offerings[as] to the Lord. 25 Then in the fifth year you may eat its fruit to add its produce to your harvest.[at] I am the Lord your God.
Blood, Hair, Body, and Prostitution
26 “‘You must not eat anything with the blood still in it.[au] You must not practice either divination or soothsaying.[av] 27 You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard.[aw] 28 You must not slash your body for a dead person[ax] or incise a tattoo on yourself.[ay] I am the Lord. 29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute,[az] so that the land does not practice prostitution and become full of lewdness.[ba]
Sabbaths, Purity, Honor, Respect, and Honesty
30 “‘You must keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 31 Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek familiar spirits[bb] to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God. 32 You must stand up in the presence of the aged, honor the presence of an elder, and fear your God. I am the Lord. 33 When a resident foreigner[bc] lives with you in your land, you must not oppress him. 34 The resident foreigner[bd] who lives with you must be to you as a native citizen among you; so[be] you must love the foreigner as yourself, because you were foreigners[bf] in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. 35 You must not do injustice in the regulation of measures, whether of length, weight, or volume.[bg] 36 You must have honest balances,[bh] honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin.[bi] I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt. 37 You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations.[bj] I am the Lord.’”
Prohibitions against Illegitimate Family Worship
20 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “You are to say to the Israelites, ‘Any man from the Israelites (or any of the resident foreigners[bk] who live in Israel) who gives any of his children[bl] to Molech[bm] must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones.[bn] 3 I myself will set my face[bo] against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people,[bp] because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.[bq] 4 If, however, the people of the land shut their eyes[br] to that man[bs] when he gives some of his children to Molech so that they do not put him to death, 5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of the people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution,[bt] committing prostitution by worshiping Molech.[bu]
Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums[bv]
6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits[bw] to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face[bx] against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.
Exhortation to Holiness and Obedience
7 “‘You must sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 8 You must be sure to obey my statutes.[by] I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
Family Life and Sexual Prohibitions[bz]
9 “‘If anyone[ca] curses his father or mother[cb] he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood guilt is on himself.[cc] 10 If a man[cd] commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife,[ce] both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 11 If a man goes to bed with[cf] his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness.[cg] Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.[ch] 12 If a man goes to bed[ci] with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed perversion;[cj] their blood guilt is on themselves. 13 If a man goes to bed with[ck] a male as one goes to bed with a woman,[cl] the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 14 If a man has marital relations with both a woman and her mother,[cm] it is lewdness.[cn] Both he and they must be burned to death,[co] so there is no lewdness in your midst. 15 If a man has sexual relations[cp] with any animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 16 If a woman approaches any animal to copulate with it, you must kill the woman, and the animal must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
17 “‘If a man has marital relations with[cq] his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of the children of their people.[cr] He has exposed his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his punishment for iniquity.[cs] 18 If a man goes to bed[ct] with a menstruating woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her fountain of blood and she has exposed the fountain of her blood, so both of them[cu] must be cut off from the midst of their people. 19 You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, for such a person has exposed his own close relative.[cv] They must bear their punishment for iniquity.[cw] 20 If a man goes to bed[cx] with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness; they must bear responsibility for their sin, they will die childless. 21 If a man has marital relations with[cy] his brother’s wife, it is indecency. He has exposed his brother’s nakedness;[cz] they will be childless.
Exhortation to Holiness and Obedience
22 “‘You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations,[da] so that[db] the land to which I am about to bring you to take up residence does not vomit you out. 23 You must not walk in the statutes of the nations[dc] which I am about to drive out before you, because they have done all these things and I am filled with disgust against them. 24 So I have said to you: You yourselves will possess their land and I myself will give it to you for a possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God who has set you apart from the other peoples.[dd] 25 Therefore you must distinguish[de] between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean, and you must not make yourselves detestable by means of an animal or bird or anything that creeps on the ground—creatures[df] I have distinguished for you as unclean.[dg] 26 You must be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the other peoples to be mine.
Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums
27 “‘A man or woman who[dh] has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit[di] must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones;[dj] their blood guilt is on themselves.’”
Rules for the Priests
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron—say to them: ‘For a dead person[dk] no priest[dl] is to defile himself among his people,[dm] 2 except for his close relative who is near to him[dn]—his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 and his virgin sister who is near to him,[do] who has no husband—he may defile himself for her. 4 He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself.[dp] 5 Priests[dq] must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body.[dr]
6 “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane[ds] the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts,[dt] the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy.[du] 7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution,[dv] nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband,[dw] for the priest[dx] is holy to his God.[dy] 8 You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all,[dz] am holy. 9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death.[ea]
Rules for the High Priest
10 “‘The high[eb] priest—who is greater than his brothers, and on whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who has been ordained[ec] to wear the priestly garments—must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments.[ed] 11 He must not go where there is any dead person;[ee] he must not defile himself even for his father or for his mother. 12 He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane[ef] the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord. 13 He must take a wife who is a virgin.[eg] 14 He must not marry[eh] a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people[ei] as a wife, 15 so that he does not profane his children among his people,[ej] for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”
Rules for the Priesthood
16 The Lord spoke to Moses: 17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations[ek] who has a physical flaw[el] is to approach to present the food of his God. 18 Certainly[em] no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose,[en] or who has a limb too long, 19 or a man who has had a broken leg or arm,[eo] 20 or a hunchback, or a dwarf,[ep] or one with a spot in his eye,[eq] or a festering eruption, or a feverish rash,[er] or a crushed testicle. 21 No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward[es] to present the Lord’s gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God. 22 He may eat both the most holy and the holy food of his God, 23 but he must not go near the special curtain[et] or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus[eu] he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”
24 So[ev] Moses spoke these things[ew] to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites.
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