Leviticus 17-19

Amplified Bible

Blood for Atonement

17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded, saying, ³ “Any man from the house of Israel who kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp ⁴ and has not brought it to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting to ^[a]offer it as an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, that man shall be guilty of bloodshed. He has shed blood and shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them]. ⁵ This is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing [to idols] in the open field [where they killed them], that they may bring them in to the Lord, at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting to the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord. ⁶ The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the Lord at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting and offer the fat up in smoke as a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁷ So they shall no longer offer their sacrifices to goat-idols or demons or field spirits with which they have played the prostitute. This shall be a permanent statute for them throughout their generations.”’

⁸ “Then you shall say to them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel or any of the strangers living temporarily among you, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice ⁹ and does not bring it to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting to offer it to the Lord shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

¹⁰ ‘Any man from the house of Israel, or any stranger living temporarily among you, who eats any blood, against that person I shall set My face and I will cut him off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].^{(A) 11} For the ^[b]life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life [which it represents].’^{(B) 12} Therefore I have said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any stranger living temporarily among you eat blood.’ ¹³ So when any Israelite or any stranger living temporarily among them, catches ^[c]any ceremonially clean animal or bird when hunting, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

¹⁴ “For in regard to the life of all flesh, its blood is [the same] as its life; therefore I said to the Israelites, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the ^[d]life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off [excluding him from the atonement made for them].’ ¹⁵ Every person who eats an animal which dies [of natural causes] or was torn by a predator, whether he is native-born or a stranger, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be [ceremonially] unclean until evening; then he will become clean.^{(C) 16} But if he does not wash his clothes or bathe his body, he shall bear his guilt [for it will not be borne by the sacrifice of atonement].”

Laws on Immoral Relations

18 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God. ³ You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, and you shall not do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes (practices, customs). ⁴ You are to follow My judgments (precepts, ordinances) and keep My statutes and live by them. I am the Lord your God. ⁵ So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which, if a person keeps them, he shall live; I am the Lord.^(D)

⁶ ‘^[e]No one shall approach any blood relative of his ^[f]to uncover nakedness (have intimate relations). I am the Lord. ⁷ You shall not uncover the ^[g]nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness. ⁸ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. ⁹ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, either the daughter of your father or of your mother, whether born at home or born elsewhere. ¹⁰ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; their nakedness you shall not uncover, for they are your own nakedness [that is, your own descendants]. ¹¹ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter; born to your father, she is your sister. ¹² You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s blood relative. ¹³ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s blood relative. ¹⁴ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother’s wife; you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. ¹⁵ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. ¹⁷ You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover their nakedness (have intimate relations with them); they are [her] blood relatives; it is an outrageous offense. ¹⁸ You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.

¹⁹ ‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity and ceremonial uncleanness. ²⁰ You shall not have intimate relations with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her. ²¹ You shall not give any of your children to offer them [by fire as a sacrifice] to Molech [the god of the Ammonites], nor shall you profane the name of your God [by honoring idols as gods]. I am the Lord. ²² You shall not lie [intimately] with a male as one lies with a female; it is repulsive.^{(E) 23} You shall not have intimate relations with any animal to be defiled with it; nor shall a woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.

²⁴ ‘Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. ²⁵ For the land has become defiled; therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments (precepts) and shall not commit any of these repulsive acts, neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives temporarily among you ²⁷ (for all these repulsive acts have been done by the men who lived in the land before you, and the land has become defiled); ²⁸ [do none of these things] so that the land will not vomit you out, should you defile it, as it has vomited out the nation which has been before you. ²⁹ For whoever commits any of these repulsive acts, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people [excluding them from the atonement made for them]. ³⁰ So keep My command: do not practice any of the repulsive customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves by them; I am the Lord your God.’”

Idolatry Forbidden

19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

² “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.^{(F) 3} Each of you shall ^[h]respect his mother and his father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. ⁴ Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods (images cast in metal); 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 the same day you offer it and on the day following; and if anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. ⁷ But if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is repulsive; it will not be accepted [by God as an offering]. ⁸ Everyone who eats it will bear [the responsibility for] his wickedness, for he has profaned a holy thing of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

Various Laws

⁹ ‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings (grain left after reaping) of your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather its fallen grapes; you shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ ‘You shall not steal, nor deal deceptively, nor lie to one another.^{(G) 12} You shall not swear [an oath] falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.

¹³ ‘You shall not oppress or exploit your neighbor, nor rob him. You shall not withhold the wages of a hired man overnight until morning. ¹⁴ You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; I am the Lord.

¹⁵ ‘You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor show a preference for the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶ You shall not go around as a gossip among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor [with slander or false testimony]; I am the Lord.

¹⁷ ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you may most certainly rebuke your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.^{(H) 18} You shall not take revenge nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor (acquaintance, associate, companion) as yourself; I am the Lord.^(I)

¹⁹ ‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear clothing of two kinds of material mixed together.

²⁰ ‘Now if a man has intimate relations with a woman who is a slave acquired for [marriage to] another man, but who has not been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment [after an investigation]; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free; ²¹ but he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, a ram as a guilt offering. ²² The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed; and he shall be forgiven for his sin.

²³ ‘When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall consider their fruit ^[i]forbidden. For three years the fruit shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten. ²⁴ In the fourth year all the fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. ²⁵ In the fifth year you may eat the fruit [of the trees], this is so that their yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God.

²⁶ ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination [using omens or witchcraft] or soothsaying. ²⁷ You shall not trim and round off the side-growth of [the hair on] your heads, nor mar the edges of your beard. ²⁸ You shall not make any cuts on your body [in mourning] for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the Lord.

²⁹ ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land will not fall to prostitution and become full of wickedness. ³⁰ You shall keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary. I am the Lord.

³¹ ‘Do not turn to mediums [who pretend to consult the dead] or to spiritists [who have spirits of divination]; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

³² ‘You shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; I am the Lord.

³³ ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress or mistreat him. ³⁴ But the stranger who resides with you shall be to you like someone native-born among you; and 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 wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight or quantity. ³⁶ You shall have just and accurate balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just ^[j]hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷ You shall observe and keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them. I am the Lord.’”