Idolatry Forbidden

19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

² “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^(A)You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. ³ Every one of you ^(B)shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep ^(C)My Sabbaths; ^(D)I am the Lord your God. ⁴ Do not turn to ^(E)idols or make for yourselves cast metal ^(F)gods; I am the Lord your God.

⁵ ‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. ⁶ It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it, and on the next day; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire. ⁷ So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is unclean; it will not be accepted. ⁸ And everyone who eats it will bear the consequences for his guilt, because he has profaned the holy thing of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Various Laws

⁹ ‘^(G)Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ ‘^(H)You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, ^(I)nor lie to one another. ¹² And ^(J)you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to ^(K)profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.

¹³ ‘^(L)You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. ^(M)The wages of a hired worker are not to remain with you all night until morning. ¹⁴ You shall not curse a person who is deaf, nor ^(N)put a stumbling block before a person who is blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.

¹⁵ ‘^(O)You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not show partiality to the poor nor give preference to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶ You shall not go about as ^(P)a slanderer among your people; and you are not to ^[a]jeopardize the ^[b](Q)life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.

¹⁷ ‘You ^(R)shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you ^(S)may certainly rebuke your neighbor, but you are not to incur sin because of him. ^18 (T)You shall not take vengeance, ^(U)nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but ^(V)you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

¹⁹ ‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not cross-breed two kinds of your cattle; ^(W)you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment of two kinds of material mixed together.

²⁰ ‘^(X)Now if a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave acquired for another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death, because she was not free. ²¹ He shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the doorway of the tent of meeting, ^(Y)a ram as a guilt offering. ²² The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him.

²³ ‘Now when you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as ^[c]forbidden. For three years it shall be ^[d]forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten. ²⁴ And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. ²⁵ But in the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, so that its yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God.

²⁶ ‘You shall not eat any meat ^(Z)with the blood. You shall not practice ^(AA)divination nor soothsaying. ^27 (AB)You shall not round off the ^[e]hairline of your heads, nor trim the edges of your beard. ²⁸ You shall not make any cuts in your ^[f]body for the ^[g]dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.

²⁹ ‘^(AC)Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land does not fall into prostitution, and the land does not become full of outrageous sin. ³⁰ You shall ^(AD)keep My Sabbaths and ^(AE)revere My sanctuary; I am the Lord.

³¹ ‘Do not turn to ^[h](AF)mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

³² ‘^(AG)You shall stand up in the presence of the grayheaded and honor ^[i]elders, and you shall ^[j]fear your God; I am the Lord.

³³ ‘^(AH)When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not ^[k]do him wrong. ³⁴ The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and ^(AI)you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

³⁵ ‘^(AJ)You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or volume. ³⁶ You shall have ^(AK)accurate balances, accurate weights, an accurate ^[l]ephah, and an accurate ^[m]hin; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. ³⁷ So you shall keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them; I am the Lord.’”

On Human Sacrifice and Immoralities

20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “You shall also say to the sons of Israel:

‘Anyone from the sons of Israel or from the strangers residing in Israel ^(AL)who gives any of his ^[n]children to Molech, shall certainly be put to death; ^(AM)the people of the land shall stone him with stones. ³ I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his ^[o]children to Molech, ^(AN)so as to defile My sanctuary and ^(AO)to profane My holy name. ⁴ If the people of the land, however, ^[p]should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his ^[q]children to Molech, so as not to put him to death, ⁵ then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the prostitute with him, by playing the prostitute with Molech.

⁶ ‘As for the person who turns to ^[r](AP)mediums and to spiritists, to play the prostitute with them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. ⁷ You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and ^(AQ)be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ So ^(AR)you shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

⁹ ‘^(AS)If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall certainly be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and has brought his ^[s]own death upon himself.

¹⁰ ‘^(AT)If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. ^11 (AU)If there is a man who sleeps with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death, they have brought their ^[t]own deaths upon themselves. ^12 (AV)If there is a man who sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed ^[u]incest, and have brought their ^[v]own deaths upon themselves. ^13 (AW)If there is a man who sleeps with a male as those who sleep with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they must be put to death. They have brought their ^[w]own deaths upon themselves. ^14 (AX)If there is a man who ^[x]marries a woman and her mother, it is an outrageous sin; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no such outrageous sin in your midst. ^15 (AY)If there is a man who has sexual intercourse with an animal, he must be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. ¹⁶ If there is a woman who approaches any animal to ^[y]mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they must be put to death. They have brought their ^[z]own deaths upon themselves.

¹⁷ ‘^(AZ)If there is a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he bears his guilt. ^18 (BA)If there is a man who sleeps with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood; so both of them shall be cut off from among their people. ^19 (BB)You shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for such a one has uncovered his ^[aa]blood relative; they will bear their guilt. ^20 (BC)If there is a man who sleeps with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless. ^21 (BD)If there is a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is ^[ab]detestable; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They will be childless.

²² ‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to ^[ac]live will not ^(BE)vomit you out. ²³ Furthermore, you shall not ^[ad]follow ^(BF)the customs of the nation which I am going to drive out before you, because they did all these things; ^(BG)therefore I have felt disgust for them. ²⁴ So I have said to you, “^(BH)You are to take possession of their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has ^(BI)singled you out from the peoples. ^25 (BJ)You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make ^[ae]yourselves detestable by animal or by bird, or by anything ^[af]that crawls on the ground, which I have distinguished for you as unclean. ²⁶ So you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I ^(BK)have singled you out from the peoples to be Mine.

²⁷ ‘Now a man or a woman ^(BL)who is a medium or a spiritist ^[ag]must be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; they have brought their ^[ah]own deaths upon themselves.’”

Melchizedek’s Priesthood like Christ’s

7 For this ^(A)Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the ^(B)Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ² to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. ³ Without father, without mother, ^(C)without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like ^(D)the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

⁴ Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the ^(E)patriarch, ^(F)gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. ⁵ And those indeed of ^(G)the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have a commandment ^[a]in the Law to collect ^[b]a tenth from the people, that is, from their countrymen, although they ^[c]are descended from Abraham. ⁶ But the one ^(H)whose genealogy is not traced from them ^(I)collected ^[d]a tenth from Abraham and ^[e](J)blessed the one who ^(K)had the promises. ⁷ But without any dispute the lesser person is blessed by the greater. ⁸ In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, ^(L)of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. ⁹ And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, has paid tithes, ¹⁰ for he was still in the loins of his ^[f]forefather when Melchizedek met him.

^11 (M)So if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it ^(N)the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise ^(O)according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? ¹² For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. ¹³ For ^(P)the one about whom ^(Q)these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is evident that our Lord ^[g]was ^(R)descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses said nothing concerning priests. ¹⁵ And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, ¹⁶ who has become a priest not on the basis of a law of ^[h](S)physical requirement, but according to the power of ^(T)an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is attested of Him,

¹⁸ For, on the one hand, there is the nullification of a former commandment ^(V)because of its weakness and uselessness ¹⁹ (for ^(W)the Law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, there is the introduction of a better ^(X)hope, through which we ^(Y)come near to God. ²⁰ And to the extent that it was not without an oath ²¹ (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him,

²² by the same extent Jesus also has become the ^[i](AC)guarantee of ^(AD)a better covenant.

^23 [j]The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing; ^24 [k]Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues ^(AE)forever, holds His priesthood permanently. ²⁵ Therefore He is also able to ^(AF)save ^[l]forever those who ^(AG)come to God through Him, since He always lives to ^(AH)make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was fitting for us to have such a ^(AI)high priest, ^(AJ)holy, ^(AK)innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and ^(AL)exalted above the heavens; ²⁷ who has no daily need, like those high priests, to ^(AM)offer up sacrifices, ^(AN)first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because He did this ^(AO)once for all time when He ^(AP)offered up Himself. ²⁸ For the Law appoints men as high priests ^(AQ)who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints ^(AR)a Son, who has been ^(AS)made perfect forever.