Moral and Ceremonial Laws

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(A)‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

^3 (B)‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and ^(C)keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

^4 (D)‘Do not turn to idols, ^(E)nor make for yourselves ^[a]molded gods: I am the Lord your God.

⁵ ‘And ^(F)if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it of your own free will. ⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. ⁷ And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. ⁸ Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

^9 (G)‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and 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 you shall not ^(J)swear by My name falsely, ^(K)nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

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

¹⁵ ‘You shall do no injustice in ^(O)judgment. You shall not ^(P)be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. ¹⁶ You shall not go about as a ^(Q)talebearer among your people; nor shall you ^(R)take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

^17 (S)‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. ^(T)You shall surely ^[b]rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. ^18 (U)You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, ^(V)but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

¹⁹ ‘You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.

²⁰ ‘Whoever lies carnally with a woman who is ^(W)betrothed to a man as a concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom, for this there shall be ^[c]scourging; but they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. ²¹ And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram as a trespass offering. ²² The priest shall make ^[d]atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed. And the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.

²³ ‘When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as ^[e]uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. ²⁴ But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the Lord. ²⁵ And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the Lord your God.

²⁶ ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. ²⁷ You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. ²⁸ You shall not ^(X)make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.

^29 (Y)‘Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.

³⁰ ‘You shall ^[f]keep My Sabbaths and ^(Z)reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

³¹ ‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after ^(AA)them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.

^32 (AB)‘You shall ^[g]rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and ^(AC)fear your God: I am the Lord.

³³ ‘And ^(AD)if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. ^34 (AE)The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as ^[h]one born among you, and ^(AF)you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

³⁵ ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. ³⁶ You shall have ^(AG)honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

^37 (AH)‘Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them: I am the Lord.’ ”

Penalties for Breaking the Law

20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (AI)“Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ^(AJ)‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who ^[i]dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall ^(AK)stone him with stones. ^3 (AL)I will set My face against that man, and will ^[j]cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name. ⁴ And if the people of the land should in any way ^[k]hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, ⁵ then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.

⁶ ‘And ^(AM)the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. ^7 (AN)Consecrate^[l] yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ And you shall keep ^(AO)My statutes, and perform them: ^(AP)I am the Lord who ^[m]sanctifies you.

⁹ ‘For ^(AQ)everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. ^(AR)His blood shall be upon him.

^10 (AS)‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. ¹¹ The man who lies with his ^(AT)father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. ¹² If a man lies with his ^(AU)daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them. ^13 (AV)If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. ¹⁴ If a man marries a woman and her ^(AW)mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. ¹⁵ If a man mates with an ^(AX)animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. ¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

¹⁷ ‘If a man takes his ^(AY)sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. And they shall be ^[n]cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his ^[o]guilt. ^18 (AZ)If a man lies with a woman during her ^[p]sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has ^[q]exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be ^[r]cut off from their people.

¹⁹ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your ^(BA)mother’s sister nor of your ^(BB)father’s sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt. ²⁰ If a man lies with his ^(BC)uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. ²¹ If a man takes his ^(BD)brother’s wife, it is an ^[s]unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.

²² ‘You shall therefore keep all My ^(BE)statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell ^(BF)may not vomit you out. ^23 (BG)And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and ^(BH)therefore I abhor them. ²⁴ But ^(BI)I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, ^(BJ)who has separated you from the peoples. ^25 (BK)You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, ^(BL)and you shall not make yourselves ^[t]abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as ^[u]unclean. ²⁶ And you shall be holy to Me, ^(BM)for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

^27 (BN)‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ ”

The King of Righteousness^(A)

7 For this ^(B)Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ² to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” ³ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.

⁴ Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the ^[a]spoils. ⁵ And indeed ^(C)those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; ⁶ but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham ^(D)and blessed ^(E)him who had the promises. ⁷ Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. ⁸ Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, ^(F)of whom it is witnessed that he lives. ⁹ Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, ¹⁰ for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

Need for a New Priesthood^(G)

^11 (H)Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? ¹² For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. ¹³ For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has ^[b]officiated at the altar.

¹⁴ For it is evident that ^(I)our Lord arose from ^(J)Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning ^[c]priesthood. ¹⁵ And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest ¹⁶ who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. ¹⁷ For ^[d]He testifies:

¹⁸ For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of ^(L)its weakness and unprofitableness, ¹⁹ for ^(M)the law made nothing ^[e]perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of ^(N)a better hope, through which ^(O)we draw near to God.

Greatness of the New Priest

²⁰ And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath ²¹ (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him:

²² by so much more Jesus has become a ^[g]surety of a ^(Q)better covenant.

²³ Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. ²⁴ But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore He is also ^(R)able to save ^[h]to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives ^(S)to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For such a High Priest was fitting for us, ^(T)who is holy, ^[i]harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, ^(U)and has become higher than the heavens; ²⁷ who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His ^(V)own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.