< Leviticus 19 >
And the Lord said to Moses,
2 “Tell all the Israelites: You must be holy because I am holy; I am the Lord your God.
Say to all the people of Israel, You are to be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
3 Show respect for your mother and father, and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
Let every man give honour to his mother and to his father and keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
4 Don't turn to idols for help or make for metal images of gods. I am the Lord your God.
Do not go after false gods, and do not make metal images of gods for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.
5 When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, make sure you do it correctly so God will accept you.
And when you give a peace offering to the Lord, do it in the way which is pleasing to the Lord.
6 It needs to be eaten the day you sacrifice it, or the next day. Whatever is left over on the third day must be burned.
Let it be used for food on the same day on which it is offered, or on the day after; and whatever is over on the third day is to be burned with fire.
7 If you do eat some of it on the third day, the sacrifice becomes repulsive and won't be accepted.
If any of it is used for food on the third day, it is a disgusting thing and will not be pleasing to the Lord.
8 Anyone who eats it eats it will bear responsibility for their guilt, for they have made unclean what is holy to the Lord. They must be expelled from their people.
And as for anyone who takes it for food, his sin will be on him, for he has put shame on the holy thing of the Lord: he will be cut off from his people.
9 When you harvest the crops grown on your land, don't harvest right up to the edges of your field, or collect what has been missed.
And when you get in the grain from your land, do not let all the grain be cut from the edges of the field, or take up what has been dropped on the earth after the getting in of the grain.
10 Don't take every last grape from your vineyard or pick up the ones that have fallen. Leave them for the poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.
And do not take all the grapes from your vine-garden, or the fruit dropped on the earth; let the poor man, and the man from another country, have these: I am the Lord your God.
11 Don't steal. Don't lie. Don't deceive each other.
Do not take anyone's property or be false in act or word to another.
12 Don't swear oaths in my name that are not true, otherwise you defame the character of your God. I am the Lord.
And do not take an oath in my name falsely, putting shame on the name of your God: I am the Lord.
13 Don't cheat others or rob them. Don't refuse to pay wages due to workers until the morning.
Do not be cruel to your neighbour or take what is his; do not keep back a servant's payment from him all night till the morning.
14 Don't speak badly about deaf people. Don't put objects in the way of blind people to trip them up. Instead show respect to your God. I am the Lord.
Do not put a curse on those who have no hearing, or put a cause of falling in the way of the blind, but keep the fear of your God before you: I am the Lord.
15 Don't be a corrupt judge. Don't show favoritism to the poor or to the rich. Judge others fairly.
Do no wrong in your judging: do not give thought to the position of the poor, or honour to the position of the great; but be a judge to your neighbour in righteousness.
16 Don't go around spreading false rumors about people. Don't keep quiet when the lives of others are at risk. I am the Lord.
Do not go about saying untrue things among your people, or take away the life of your neighbour by false witness: I am the Lord.
17 Don't hold onto hateful feelings towards others. Talk honestly with your neighbors, so that you don't sin because of them.
Let there be no hate in your heart for your brother; but you may make a protest to your neighbour, so that he may be stopped from doing evil.
18 Don't look for revenge or hold a grudge against anybody, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
Do not make attempts to get equal with one who has done you wrong, or keep hard feelings against the children of your people, but have love for your neighbour as for yourself: I am the Lord.
19 Do what I tell you! Don't make different kinds of livestock breed together. Don't sow your fields with two different kinds of seed. Don't wear clothes made of two different kinds of material.
Keep my laws. Do not let your cattle have offspring by those of a different sort; do not put mixed seed into your field; do not put on a robe made of two sorts of cloth.
20 If a man has sex with a servant girl promised to become another man's wife, but who hasn't yet been bought or set free, then compensation has to be paid. However, they are not to be killed, because she hadn't been set free.
If any man has sex relations with a servant-woman who has given her word to be married to a man, and has not been made free for a price or in any other way, the thing will be looked into; but they will not be put to death because she was not a free woman.
21 But the man must bring a ram as his guilt offering to the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
Let him take his offering for wrongdoing to the Lord, to the door of the Tent of meeting; let him give a male sheep as an offering for wrongdoing.
22 The priest will set things right for him before the Lord using the ram of the guilt offering for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven.
And the priest will take away his sin before the Lord with the sheep which is offered for his wrongdoing, and he will have forgiveness for the sin which he has done.
23 When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, treat the fruit at first as unclean. For three years you are forbidden to eat it.
And when you have come into the land, and have put in all sorts of fruit-trees, their fruit will be as if they had not had circumcision, and for three years their fruit may not be used for food.
24 The fourth year all the fruit must be dedicated to the Lord as a praise offering.
And in the fourth year all the fruit will be holy as a praise-offering to the Lord.
25 However, the fifth year you may eat the fruit and in this way you will have an even greater harvest. I am the Lord your God.
But in the fifth year you may take the fruit and the increase of it for your food: I am the Lord your God.
26 Don't eat meat with blood in it. Don't use fortune-telling or witchcraft.
Nothing may be used for food with its blood in it; you may not make use of strange arts, or go in search of signs and wonders.
27 Don't cut your hair on the sides of your head or trim the sides of your beard,
The ends of the hair round your face and on your chin may not be cut off.
28 don't cut your bodies in some pagan ritual for the dead, and don't get yourselves tattoos. I am the Lord.
You may not make cuts in your flesh in respect for the dead, or have marks printed on your bodies: I am the Lord.
29 Don't bring shame on your daughter by making her a prostitute, otherwise the land will become morally and spiritually depraved.
Do not make your daughter common by letting her become a loose woman, for fear that the land may become full of shame.
30 Keep my Sabbaths and show respect for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
Keep my Sabbaths and have respect for my holy place: I am the Lord.
31 Don't try and find help from mediums or spiritists—don't even go looking for them, otherwise they will corrupt you. I am the Lord your God.
Do not go after those who make use of spirits, or wonder-workers; do not go in their ways or become unclean through them: I am the Lord your God.
32 Stand up and be respectful of older people. Show reverence for your God. I am the Lord.
Get up from your seats before the white-haired, and give honour to the old, and let the fear of your God be before you: I am the Lord.
33 Don't mistreat foreigners who live in your country.
And if a man from another country is living in your land with you, do not make life hard for him;
34 Treat them in the same way as a fellow citizen, and love them as you love yourself, because you were once foreigners living in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Let him be to you as one of your countrymen and have love for him as for yourself; for you were living in a strange land, in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
35 Don't use dishonest weights and measures.
Do not make false decisions in questions of yard-sticks and weights and measures.
36 Make sure your scales and weights are accurate, that your measures of ephah and hin are correct. I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt.
Have true scales, true weights and measures for all things: I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt;
37 Keep all my rules and regulations, and make sure you follow them. I am the Lord.”
You are to keep all my rules and my decisions and do them: I am the Lord.