Leviticus 19:1-5

Religious and Social Regulations

19:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 19:2 “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 19:3 Each of you must respect his mother and his father, ¹  and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. 19:4 Do not turn to idols, ²  and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal. I am the Lord your God.

Eating the Peace Offering

19:5 “‘When you sacrifice a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord, you must sacrifice it so that it is accepted for you. ³ 

Leviticus 19:12-16

19:12 You must not swear falsely ⁴  in my name, so that you do not profane ⁵  the name of your God. I am the Lord. 19:13 You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against him. ⁶  You must not withhold ⁷  the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning. 19:14 You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. ⁸  You must fear ⁹  your God; I am the Lord.

Justice, Love, and Propriety

19:15 “‘You ¹⁰  must not deal unjustly in judgment: ¹¹  you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. ¹²  You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. ¹³  19:16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. ¹⁴  You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. ¹⁵  I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:32-33

19:32 You must stand up in the presence of the aged, honor the presence of an elder, and fear your God. I am the Lord. 19:33 When a foreigner resides ¹⁶  with you in your land, you must not oppress him.

¹ tn Heb “A man his mother and his father you [plural] shall fear.” The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and certain Targum mss reverse the order, “his father and his mother.” The term “fear” is subject to misunderstanding by the modern reader, so “respect” has been used in the translation. Cf. NAB, NRSV “revere”; NASB “reverence.”

¹ sn Regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִים, ’elilim), see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 126; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 304; N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NBC), 89; and Judith M. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:411. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god; God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless; weak; powerless; nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”

¹ tn Heb “for your acceptance”; cf. NIV, NLT “it will be accepted on your behalf.”

¹ tn Heb “And you shall not swear to the falsehood.”

² tn Heb “and you shall not profane”; NAB “thus profaning.”

¹ tn Heb “You shall not oppress your neighbor and you shall not rob.”

² tn Heb “hold back with you”; perhaps “hold back for yourself” (cf. NRSV “keep for yourself”).

¹ tn Heb “You shall not curse a deaf [person] and before a blind [person] you shall not put a stumbling block.”

² tn Heb “And you shall fear.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV) regard the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) as adversative in force here (“but”).

¹ tc Smr has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the MT, which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.

² tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”

³ tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”

⁴ tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”

¹ tn The term רָכִיל (rakhil) is traditionally rendered “slanderer” here (so NASB, NIV, NRSV; see also J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 304, 316), but the exact meaning is uncertain (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129). It is sometimes related to I רָכַל (“to go about as a trader [or “merchant”]”; BDB 940 s.v. רָכַל), and taken to refer to cutthroat business dealings, but there may be a II רָכַל, the meaning of which is dubious (HALOT 1237 s.v. II *רכל). Some would render it “to go about as a spy.”

² tn Heb “You shall not stand on the blood of your neighbor.” This part of the verse is also difficult to interpret. The rendering here suggests that one will not allow a neighbor to be victimized, whether in court (cf. v. 15) or in any other situation (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129).

¹ tn Heb “And when a sojourner sojourns.”