Leviticus 19
1 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Speak to all the people of Israel and tell them this: You must be holy, because I, Yahweh your God, am holy, [and I want you to be like me].
“Speak to all the assembly of the people of Israel and say to them, 'You must be holy, for I Yahweh your God am holy.
3 ‘Each of you must respect your father and your mother. And you must (honor/treat respectfully) the Sabbath days. I am Yahweh, your God, [and that is what I am commanding you to do].
Everyone must respect his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
4 ‘Do not worship idols or make metal statues of gods for yourselves. I am Yahweh, your God, [and I am the only one you must worship].
Do not turn to worthless idols, nor make for yourselves gods out of metal. I am Yahweh your God.
5 ‘Then you bring an offering to maintain fellowship with me, offer it in a way that will cause me to accept it.
When you offer a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to Yahweh, you must offer it that you may be accepted.
6 The meat should be eaten on the day that you sacrifice it, but you are permitted to eat some of it on the next day. Anything that remains until the third/next day must be completely burned.
It must be eaten the same day you offer it, or on the next day. If anything remains until the third day, it must be burned up with fire.
7 For any of it to be eaten on the third day is very displeasing to me, and I will not accept that offering.
If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is unclean meat; it must not be accepted,
8 I will punish anyone who eats it [after the second day], because he will not have respected that what I say is holy. And that person must no longer be allowed to associate with my people.
and everyone who eats it must carry his own guilt because he has defiled what is holy to Yahweh, and that person must be cut off from his people.
9 ‘Then you harvest your grain, leave the grain at the very edge of the field, and do not pick up the grain that has fallen on the ground.
When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not completely reap the corners of your field, neither will you gather all the produce of your harvest.
10 And when you harvest your grapes, do not go back a second time to try to harvest some more, and do not pick up the grapes that have fallen on the ground. Leave those things for the poor people and for foreigners who are living among you. I, Yahweh your God, [am commanding those things].
You must not gather every grape from your vineyard, nor gather the grapes that have fallen on the ground in your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.
11 ‘Do not steal anything. ‘Do not tell lies. ‘Do not deceive each other.
Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive each other.
12 ‘Do not show that you do not respect me by using/saying my name to falsely promise that you will do something. [Do not forget that] I am Yahweh, your God.
Do not swear by my name falsely and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
13 ‘Do not cheat anyone or steal from anyone. [‘If you have agreed to] pay your workers at the end of the day, [do what you have promised]; do not keep those wages until the next day.
Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant must not stay with you all night until the morning.
14 ‘Do not curse deaf people, and do not put things in the path of blind people to cause them to stumble.
Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind. Instead, you must fear your God. I am Yahweh.
15 ‘Always [LIT] judge people fairly [DOU]. Do not do special favors for either poor people or rich people.
Do not cause judgment to be false. You must not show favoritism to someone because he is poor, and you must not show favoritism to someone because he is important. Instead, judge your neighbor righteously.
16 ‘Do not spread false rumors about other people. ‘Do not say anything [in court] that would result in some [innocent] person being executed. I, Yahweh, [am commanding this].
Do not walk around spreading slander among your people, but seek to protect your neighbor's life. I am Yahweh.
17 ‘Do not hate anyone. Instead, honestly rebuke those who ought to be rebuked, in order that you also will not be guilty.
Do not hate your brother in your heart. You must honestly rebuke your neighbor so as not to share in sin because of him.
18 ‘Do not try to get revenge against someone or be angry with someone for a long time. Instead, love other people like you love yourself. I, Yahweh your God, [am commanding this].
Do not take vengeance or hold any grudge against any of your people, but instead love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.
19 ‘Obey my laws. ‘Do not allow two different kinds of animals to mate with each other. ‘Do not plant two different kinds of seed in the [same] field. ‘Do not wear clothing made from two different kinds of material.
You must keep my commands. Do not try to breed your animals with different kinds of other animals. Do not mix two different kinds of seeds when planting your field. Do not wear clothing made of two kinds of material mixed together.
20 ‘If a man has sex with a slave woman who has been promised to marry some other man, but she has not been bought by that man and is still a slave, the man who had sex with her must be punished. But because she is still a slave, she and the man who had sex with her must not be killed.
Whoever sleeps with a slave girl who is promised to a husband, but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, they must be punished. They must not be put to death because she was not free.
21 However, that man must bring a ram to [be slaughtered at] the entrance of the Sacred Tent area, to be an offering in order that he no longer be guilty for his sin.
A man must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh to the entrance to the tent of meeting—a ram as a guilt offering.
22 The priest will offer that ram to me in order that the man will be forgiven for the sin that he committed, and I will forgive him.
Then the priest will make atonement for him with the ram for the guilt offering before Yahweh, for the sin that he has committed. Then the sin which he has committed will be forgiven.
23 ‘When you enter the land [that I have promised to give to you], and when you plant various kinds of fruit trees, you must not eat any of their fruit for three years [DOU].
When you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you must regard the fruit they produce as forbidden to be eaten. The fruit must be forbidden to you for three years. It must not be eaten.
24 In the fourth year all of their fruit must be set aside to belong to me; it must be brought to me to be an offering to praise me.
But in the fourth year all the fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to Yahweh.
25 But in the fifth/next year, you will be permitted to eat their fruit. If you do that, your trees will produce much fruit. I, Yahweh your God, [am promising that].
In the fifth you may eat the fruit, having waited so that the trees might produce more. I am Yahweh your God.
26 ‘Do not eat any meat that still has [the animal’s] blood in it. ‘Do not consult spirits to find out what will happen in the future, and do not practice sorcery.
Do not eat any meat with blood still in it. Do not consult spirits about the future, and do not seek to control others by supernatural powers.
27 ‘Do not shave the hair at the sides of your heads [like pagan people do].
You will not round off the corners of the hair on the sides of your head or shave off the edge of your beard.
28 ‘Do not cut your bodies [when you are mourning] for people who have died, and do not put tattoos on your bodies. I, Yahweh your God, [am commanding this].
Do not cut your body for the dead or put tattoo marks on your body. I am Yahweh.
29 ‘Do not disgrace your daughters by forcing them to become prostitutes. If you cause them to become prostitutes, soon the land will be filled with prostitutes and all other kinds of people’s wicked behavior.
Do not disgrace your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the nation will fall to prostitution and the land will become full of wickedness.
30 ‘Honor my Sabbath days and revere my Sacred Tent, because I, Yahweh, [live there].
You must keep my Sabbaths and honor the sanctuary of my tabernacle. I am Yahweh.
31 ‘Do not seek advice from those who (consult/talk with) the spirits of dead people [DOU], because if you do that, they will defile you. I, Yahweh your God, [am the one you should consult].
Do not turn to those who talk with the dead or with spirits. Do not seek them out, or they will defile you. I am Yahweh your God.
32 ‘Stand up when old people [enter the room], and show that you respect them, and also revere me, your God; [that is what] I, Yahweh, [am commanding].
You must rise before the gray-headed person and honor the presence of an old man. You must fear your God. I am Yahweh.
33 ‘When foreigners live among you [in your land], do not mistreat them.
If a foreigner lives among you in your land, you must not do him any wrong.
34 You must treat them like you treat your fellow-citizens. Love them like you love yourselves, and do not forget that once, when you were foreigners in Egypt, [you were badly mistreated by the people of Egypt]. I, Yahweh your God, [am commanding you to do this].
The foreigner who lives with you must be to you like the native-born Israelite who lives among you, and you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
35 ‘When you are measuring things, to see how long they are or how much they weigh or how many there are,
Do not use false measures when measuring length, weight, or quantity.
36 use correct [measuring sticks and] scales and weights [on the scales] and measuring baskets and other measuring containers. I Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, [am giving you these laws].
You must use just scales, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 ‘Obey carefully [DOU] all my laws and decrees, because I, Yahweh, [am the one who am commanding them].’”
You must obey all my decrees and all my laws, and do them. I am Yahweh.'”
