Leviticus 22-24

Common English Bible

Priestly uncleanness

22 The Lord said to Moses: ² Tell Aaron and his sons to be very careful how they treat the holy things that the Israelites devote to me so that they do not make my holy name impure: I am the Lord. ³ Say to them: If any descendant of yours should ever come near the holy things that the Israelites have dedicated to the Lord while he is in an unclean state, he will be cut off from before me; I am the Lord. ⁴ Any descendant of Aaron who is afflicted with skin disease^[a] or has a discharge cannot eat of the holy things until he is clean. Anyone who touches anything made unclean by a dead body, or who has an emission of semen, ⁵ or who touches any swarming creature or another person who makes him unclean—whatever the uncleanness might be— ⁶ the person who touches these things will be unclean until evening. He must not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water. ⁷ Once the sun has set and he has become clean again, he may eat of the holy things, for that is his food. ⁸ He must not eat an animal that has died naturally or that was killed by another animal, becoming unclean by doing so; I am the Lord. ⁹ The priests must keep my requirement so that they don’t become liable to punishment and die for having made it impure.^[b] I am the Lord, who makes them holy.

Unauthorized eating

¹⁰ No layperson is allowed to eat the holy offerings. No foreign guest or hired laborer of a priest can eat it. ¹¹ But if a priest purchases a servant, that person can eat it, and servants born into the priest’s household can also eat his food. ¹² If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she is not allowed to eat the holy offerings. ¹³ But if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced and has no children and so returns to her father’s household as when she was young, she can eat her father’s food. But, again, no layperson is allowed to eat it. ¹⁴ If someone eats a holy offering unintentionally, they must provide the priest with an equal item, plus one-fifth. ¹⁵ The Israelites must not make the holy offerings impure that they offer up to the Lord ¹⁶ or make themselves liable to punishment requiring compensation by eating their own holy offerings. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.

Unacceptable animal offerings

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses: ¹⁸ Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites: Whenever someone from Israel’s house or from the immigrants in Israel presents their offering to the Lord as an entirely burned offering—whether it is payment for a solemn promise or a spontaneous gift— ¹⁹ for it to be acceptable on your behalf, it must be a flawless male from the herd, the sheep, or the goats. ²⁰ You must not present anything that has an imperfection, because it will not be acceptable on your behalf. ²¹ Whenever someone presents a communal sacrifice of well-being to the Lord from the herd or flock—whether it is payment for a solemn promise or a spontaneous gift—it must be flawless to be acceptable; it must not have any imperfection. ²² You must not present to the Lord anything that is blind or that has an injury, mutilation, warts, a rash, or scabs. You must not put any such animal on the altar as a food gift for the Lord. ²³ You can, however, offer an ox or sheep that is deformed or stunted as a spontaneous gift, but it will not be acceptable as payment for a solemn promise. ²⁴ You must not offer to the Lord anything with bruised, crushed, torn, or cut-off testicles. You must not do that in your land. ²⁵ You are not allowed to offer such animals as your God’s food even if they come from a foreigner. Because these animals have blemishes and imperfections in them, they will not be acceptable on your behalf.

Additional rules for sacrifice

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses: ²⁷ When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on it will be acceptable as an offering, a food gift for the Lord. ²⁸ But you will not slaughter an ox or sheep and its offspring on the same day. ²⁹ When you sacrifice a communal sacrifice of thanksgiving for the Lord, you must sacrifice it so that it will be acceptable on your behalf. ³⁰ It must be eaten on the same day; you must not leave any of it until morning; I am the Lord. ³¹ You must keep my commands and do them; I am the Lord. ³² You must not make my holy name impure so that I will be treated as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord—the one who makes you holy ³³ and who is bringing you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord.

Sacred times

23 The Lord said to Moses: ² Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed times, the Lord’s appointed times, which you will declare to be holy occasions: ³ Work can be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of special rest, a holy occasion. You must not do any work on it; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord. ⁴ These are the Lord’s appointed times, holy occasions, which you will celebrate at their appointed times:

⁵ The Lord’s Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month^[c] at twilight. ⁶ The Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread is on the fifteenth day of the same month. You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. ⁷ On the first day you will hold a holy occasion and must not do any job-related work. ⁸ You will offer food gifts to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day will be a holy occasion; you must not do any job-related work.

⁹ The Lord said to Moses: ¹⁰ Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and harvest its produce, you must bring the first bundle of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹ The priest will lift up the bundle before the Lord so that it will be acceptable on your behalf. The priest will do this on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day the bundle is lifted up for you, you must offer a flawless one-year-old lamb as an entirely burned offering to the Lord. ¹³ The accompanying grain offering must be two-tenths of an ephah^[d] of choice flour mixed with oil, as a food gift for the Lord, a soothing smell. The accompanying drink offering must be a quarter of a hin of wine. ¹⁴ You must not eat any bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until the exact day when you bring your God’s offering. This is a permanent rule throughout your future generations, wherever you live.

¹⁵ You must count off seven weeks starting with the day after the Sabbath, the day you bring the bundle for the uplifted offering; these must be complete. ¹⁶ You will count off fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷ From wherever you live, you will bring two loaves of bread as an uplifted offering. These must be made of two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour, baked with leaven, as early produce^[e] to the Lord. ¹⁸ Along with the bread you must present seven flawless one-year-old lambs, one bull from the herd, and two rams. These will be an entirely burned offering to the Lord, along with their grain offerings and drink offerings, as a food gift of soothing smell to the Lord. ¹⁹ You must also offer one male goat as a purification offering and two one-year-old lambs as a communal sacrifice of well-being. ²⁰ The priest will lift up the two sheep, along with the bread of the early produce, as an uplifted offering before the Lord. These will be holy to the Lord and will belong to the priest. ²¹ On that very same day you must make a proclamation; it will be a holy occasion for you. You must not do any job-related work. This is a permanent rule wherever you live throughout your future generations. ²² When you harvest your land’s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don’t gather every remaining bit of your harvest. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God.

²³ The Lord said to Moses: ²⁴ Say to the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month,^[f] you will have a special rest, a holy occasion marked by a trumpet signal. ²⁵ You must not do any job-related work, and you must offer a food gift to the Lord.

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses: ²⁷ Note that the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Reconciliation. It will be a holy occasion for you. You must deny yourselves and offer a food gift to the Lord. ²⁸ You must not do any work that day because it is a Day of Reconciliation to make reconciliation for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ Anyone who does not deny themselves on that day will be cut off from their people. ³⁰ Moreover, I will destroy from their people anyone who does any work on that day. ³¹ You must not do any work! This is a permanent rule throughout your future generations wherever you live. ³² This is a Sabbath of special rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. You will observe your Sabbath on the ninth day of the month from evening to the following evening.

³³ The Lord said to Moses: ³⁴ Say to the Israelites: The Festival of Booths to the Lord will start on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and will last for seven days. ³⁵ The first day is a holy occasion. You must not do any job-related work. ³⁶ For seven days you will offer food gifts to the Lord. On the eighth day you will have a holy occasion and must offer a food gift to the Lord. It is a holiday: you must not do any job-related work.

³⁷ These are the Lord’s appointed times that you will proclaim as holy occasions, offering food gifts to the Lord: entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, communal sacrifices, and drink offerings—each on its proper day. ³⁸ This is in addition to the Lord’s sabbaths and in addition to your presents, all the payments for solemn promises, and all the spontaneous gifts that you give to the Lord.

³⁹ Note that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the land’s crops, you will celebrate the Lord’s festival for seven days. The first day and the eighth day are days of special rest. ⁴⁰ On the first day you must take fruit from majestic trees,^[g] palm branches, branches of leafy trees,^[h] and willows of the streams, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ You will celebrate this festival to the Lord for seven days each year; this is a permanent rule throughout your future generations. You will celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴² For seven days you must live in huts. Every citizen of Israel must live in huts ⁴³ so that your future generations will know that I made the Israelites live in huts when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

⁴⁴ So Moses announced the Lord’s appointed times to the Israelites.

The sanctuary’s lamp and bread

24 The Lord said to Moses: ² Command the Israelites to bring pure, pressed olive oil to you for the lamp, to keep a light burning constantly. ³ Aaron will tend the lamp, which will be inside the meeting tent but outside the inner curtain of the covenant document, from evening until morning before the Lord. This is a permanent rule throughout your future generations. ⁴ Aaron must continually tend the lights on the pure lampstand^[i] before the Lord.

⁵ You will take choice flour and bake twelve loaves of flatbread, two-tenths of an ephah^[j] for each loaf. ⁶ You must place them in two stacks, six in a stack, on the pure table^[k] before the Lord. ⁷ Put pure frankincense on each stack, as a token portion for the bread; it is a food gift for the Lord. ⁸ Aaron will always set it out before the Lord, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of^[l] the Israelites, as a permanent covenant. ⁹ It will belong to Aaron and his sons. They must eat it in a holy place because it is the most holy part of their share of the Lord’s food gifts, a permanent portion.

Assault and blasphemy

¹⁰ The son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father came out among the Israelites. A fight broke out between this half-Israelite^[m] and another Israelite man in the camp, ¹¹ during which the half-Israelite blasphemed the Lord’s name and cursed. So he was brought to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, Dibri’s daughter from the tribe of Dan.) ¹² He was put under guard until they could determine the Lord’s verdict.

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses: ¹⁴ Take the one who cursed outside the camp. All who heard him will press their hands on his head. Then the whole community will stone him. ¹⁵ Tell the Israelites: Anyone who curses God will be liable to punishment. ¹⁶ And anyone who blasphemes the Lord’s name must be executed. The whole community will stone that person. Immigrant and citizen alike: whenever someone blasphemes the Lord’s name, that person will be executed.

¹⁷ If anyone kills another person, they must be executed. ¹⁸ Someone who kills an animal may make amends for it: a life for a life. ¹⁹ If someone injures a fellow citizen, they will suffer the same injury they inflicted: ²⁰ broken bone for broken bone, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The same injury the person inflicted on the other will be inflicted on them. ²¹ Someone who kills an animal must make amends for it, but whoever kills a human being must be executed. ²² There is but one law on this matter for you, immigrant or citizen alike, because I am the Lord your God.

²³ Moses told this to the Israelites. So they took the one who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did just as the Lord commanded Moses.