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.
19:5 “‘When you sacrifice a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord, you must sacrifice it so that it is accepted for you. 3 19:6 It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice and on the following day, 4 but what is left over until the third day must be burned up. 5 19:7 If, however, it is eaten 6 on the third day, it is spoiled, 7 it will not be accepted, 19:8 and the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity 8 because he has profaned 9 what is holy to the Lord. 10 That person will be cut off from his people. 11
19:9 “‘When you gather in the harvest 12 of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, 13 and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. 19:10 You must not pick your vineyard bare, 14 and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.
19:11 “‘You must not steal, you must not tell lies, and you must not deal falsely with your fellow citizen. 15 19:12 You must not swear falsely 16 in my name, so that you do not profane 17 the name of your God. I am the Lord. 19:13 You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against him. 18 You must not withhold 19 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. 20 You must fear 21 your God; I am the Lord.
19:15 “‘You 22 must not deal unjustly in judgment: 23 you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. 24 You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. 25 19:16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. 26 You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. 27 I am the Lord. 19:17 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. 28 19:18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge 29 against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. 30 I am the Lord. 19:19 You must keep my statutes. You must not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed, 31 you must not sow your field with two different kinds of seed, and you must not wear 32 a garment made of two different kinds of fabric. 33
19:20 “‘When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, 34 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. 35 They must not be put to death, because she was not free. 19:21 He must bring his guilt offering to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, a guilt offering ram, 36 19:22 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, 37 and he will be forgiven 38 of his sin 39 that he has committed.
19:23 “‘When you enter the land and plant any fruit tree, 40 you must consider its fruit to be forbidden. 41 Three years it will be forbidden to you; 42 it must not be eaten. 19:24 In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, praise offerings 43 to the Lord. 19:25 Then in the fifth year you may eat its fruit to add its produce to your harvest. 44 I am the Lord your God.
19:26 “‘You must not eat anything with the blood still in it. 45 You must not practice either divination or soothsaying. 46 19:27 You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard. 47 19:28 You must not slash your body for a dead person 48 or incise a tattoo on yourself. 49 I am the Lord. 19:29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, 50 so that the land does not practice prostitution and become full of lewdness. 51
19:30 “‘You must keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 19:31 Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek familiar spirits 52 to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God. 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 53 with you in your land, you must not oppress him. 19:34 The foreigner who resides with you must be to you like a native citizen among you; so 54 you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. 19:35 You must not do injustice in the regulation of measures, whether of length, weight, or volume. 55 19:36 You must have honest balances, 56 honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. 57 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt. 19:37 You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations. 58 I am the Lord.’”
20:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 20:2 “You are to say to the Israelites, ‘Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in Israel 59 who gives any of his children 60 to Molech 61 must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. 62 20:3 I myself will set my face 63 against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people, 64 because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. 65 20:4 If, however, the people of the land shut their eyes 66 to that man 67 when he gives some of his children to Molech so that they do not put him to death, 20:5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, 68 to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. 69
20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits 71 to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face 72 against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.
20:7 “‘You must sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 20:8 You must be sure to obey my statutes. 73 I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
20:9 “‘If anyone 75 curses his father and mother 76 he must be put to death. He has cursed his father and mother; his blood guilt is on himself. 77 20:10 If a man 78 commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, 79 both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 20:11 If a man has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. 80 Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 81 20:12 If a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed perversion; 82 their blood guilt is on themselves. 20:13 If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, 83 the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 20:14 If a man has sexual intercourse with both a woman and her mother, 84 it is lewdness. 85 Both he and they must be burned to death, 86 so there is no lewdness in your midst. 20:15 If a man has sexual intercourse 87 with any animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 20:16 If a woman approaches any animal to have sexual intercourse with it, 88 you must kill the woman, and the animal must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
20:17 “‘If a man has sexual intercourse with 89 his sister, whether the daughter of his father or 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. 90 He has exposed his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his punishment for iniquity. 91 20:18 If a man has sexual intercourse 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 92 must be cut off from the midst of their people. 20:19 You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister and your father’s sister, for such a person has laid bare his own close relative. 93 They must bear their punishment for iniquity. 94 20:20 If a man has sexual intercourse with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness; they must bear responsibility for their sin, they will die childless. 20:21 If a man has sexual intercourse with 95 his brother’s wife, it is indecency. He has exposed his brother’s nakedness; 96 they will be childless.
20:22 “‘You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations, 97 so that 98 the land to which I am about to bring you to take up residence there does not vomit you out. 20:23 You must not walk in the statutes of the nation 99 which I am about to drive out before you, because they have done all these things and I am filled with disgust against them. 20:24 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. 100 20:25 Therefore you must distinguish 101 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 102 I have distinguished for you as unclean. 103 20:26 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.
20:27 “‘A man or woman who 104 has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit 105 must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones; 106 their blood guilt is on themselves.’”
21:1 The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person 107 no priest 108 is to defile himself among his people, 109 21:2 except for his close relative who is near to him: 110 his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 21:3 and his virgin sister who is near to him, 111 who has no husband; he may defile himself for her. 21:4 He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. 112 21:5 Priests 113 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. 114
21:6 “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane 115 the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, 116 the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. 117 21:7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, 118 nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, 119 for the priest 120 is holy to his God. 121 21:8 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, 122 am holy. 21:9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death. 123
21:10 “‘The high 124 priest – who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained 125 to wear the priestly garments – must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. 126 21:11 He must not go where there is any dead person; 127 he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother. 21:12 He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane 128 the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord. 21:13 He must take a wife who is a virgin. 129 21:14 He must not marry 130 a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people 131 as a wife. 21:15 He must not profane his children among his people, 132 for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”
21:16 The Lord spoke to Moses: 21:17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations 133 who has a physical flaw 134 is to approach to present the food of his God. 21:18 Certainly 135 no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, 136 or a limb too long, 21:19 or a man who has had a broken leg or arm, 137 21:20 or a hunchback, or a dwarf, 138 or one with a spot in his eye, 139 or a festering eruption, or a feverish rash, 140 or a crushed testicle. 21:21 No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward 141 to present the Lord’s gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God. 21:22 He may eat both the most holy and the holy food of his God, 21:23 but he must not go into the veil-canopy 142 or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus 143 he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”
21:24 So 144 Moses spoke these things 145 to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites.