Leviticus 19-21 (Contemporary English Version)

Leviticus 19

Moral and Religious Laws

 ¹The LORD told Moses ²to say to the community of Israel:

   I am the LORD your God. I am holy, and you must be holy too! ^3-4Respect your father and your mother, honor the Sabbath, and don't make idols or images. I am the LORD your God.

    ⁵When you offer a sacrifice to ask my blessing, ^[a] be sure to follow my instructions. ⁶You may eat the meat either on the day of the sacrifice or on the next day, but you must burn anything left until the third day. ⁷If you eat any of it on the third day, the sacrifice will be disgusting to me, and I will reject it. ⁸In fact, you will be punished for not respecting what I say is holy, and you will no longer belong to the community of Israel. ⁹When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing along the edges of your fields and don't pick up what falls on the ground. ¹⁰Don't strip your grapevines clean or gather the grapes that fall off the vines. Leave them for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the LORD your God.

    ¹¹Do not steal or tell lies or cheat others.

    ¹²Do not misuse my name by making promises you don't intend to keep. I am the LORD your God.

    ¹³Do not steal anything or cheat anyone, and don't fail to pay your workers at the end of each day. ^{[b] 14}I am the LORD your God, and I command you not to make fun of the deaf or to cause a blind person to stumble.

    ¹⁵Be fair, no matter who is on trial--don't favor either the poor or the rich.

    ¹⁶Don't be a gossip, but never hesitate to speak up in court, especially if your testimony can save someone's life. ^{[c] 17}Don't hold grudges. On the other hand, it's wrong not to correct someone who needs correcting. ¹⁸Stop being angry and don't try to take revenge. I am the LORD, and I command you to love others as much as you love yourself.

    ¹⁹Breed your livestock animals only with animals of the same kind, and don't plant two kinds of seed in the same field or wear clothes made of different kinds of material.

    ²⁰If a man has sex with a slave woman who is promised in marriage to someone else, he must pay a fine, but they are not to be put to death. After all, she was still a slave at the time. ^{[d] 21-22}The man must bring a ram to the entrance of the sacred tent and give it to a priest, who will then offer it as a sacrifice to me, so the man's sins will be forgiven. ²³After you enter the land, you will plant fruit trees, but you are not to eat any of their fruit for the first three years. ²⁴In the fourth year the fruit must be set apart, as an expression of thanks ²⁵to me, the LORD God. Do this, and in the fifth year, those trees will produce an abundant harvest of fruit for you to eat.

    ²⁶Don't eat the blood of any animal.

   Don't practice any kind of witchcraft.

    ^27-28I forbid you to shave any part of your head or beard or to cut and tattoo yourself as a way of worshiping the dead.

    ²⁹Don't let your daughters serve as temple prostitutes--this would bring disgrace both to them and the land.

    ³⁰I command you to respect the Sabbath and the place where I am worshiped.

    ³¹Don't make yourselves disgusting to me by going to people who claim they can talk to the dead.

    ³²I command you to show respect for older people and to obey me with fear and trembling.

    ³³Don't mistreat any foreigners who live in your land. ³⁴Instead, treat them as well as you treat citizens and love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    ^35-36Use honest scales and don't cheat when you weigh or measure anything.

   I am the LORD your God. I rescued you from Egypt, ³⁷and I command you to obey my laws.

   

Leviticus 20

Penalties for Disobeying God's Laws

 ¹The LORD told Moses ²to say to the community of Israel:

   Death by stoning is the penalty for any citizens or foreigners in the country who sacrifice their children to the god Molech. ³They have disgraced both the place where I am worshiped and my holy name, and so I will turn against them and no longer let them belong to my people. ⁴Some of you may let them get away with human sacrifice, ⁵but not me. If any of you worship Molech, I will turn against you and your entire family, and I will no longer let you belong to my people.

    ⁶I will be your enemy if you go to someone who claims to speak with the dead, and I will destroy you from among my people. ⁷Dedicate yourselves to me and be holy because I am the LORD your God. ⁸I have chosen you as my people, and I expect you to obey my laws.

    ⁹If you curse your father or mother, you will be put to death, and it will be your own fault.

    ¹⁰If any of you men have sex with another man's wife, both you and the woman will be put to death.

    ¹¹Having sex with one of your father's wives disgraces him. So both you and the woman will be put to death, just as you deserve. ¹²It isn't natural to have sex with your daughter-in-law, and both of you will be put to death, just as you deserve. ¹³It's disgusting for men to have sex with one another, and those who do will be put to death, just as they deserve. ¹⁴It isn't natural for a man to marry both a mother and her daughter, and so all three of them will be burned to death. ^15-16If any of you have sex with an animal, both you and the animal will be put to death, just as you deserve.

    ¹⁷If you marry one of your sisters, you will be punished, and the two of you will be disgraced by being openly forced out of the community. ¹⁸If you have sex with a woman during her monthly period, both you and the woman will be cut off from the people of Israel. ¹⁹The sisters of your father and mother are your own relatives, and you will be punished for having sex with any of them. ²⁰If you have sex with your uncle's wife, neither you nor she will ever have any children. ²¹And if you marry your sister-in-law, neither of you will ever have any children. ^{[e] 22}Obey my laws and teachings. Or else the land I am giving you will become sick of you and throw you out. ²³The nations I am chasing out did these disgusting things, and I hated them for it, so don't follow their example. ²⁴I am the LORD your God, and I have promised you their land that is rich with milk and honey. I have chosen you to be different from other people. ²⁵That's why you must make a difference between animals and birds that I have said are clean and unclean ^[f] --this will keep you from becoming disgusting to me. ²⁶I am the LORD, the holy God. You have been chosen to be my people, and so you must be holy too. ²⁷If you claim to receive messages from the dead, you will be put to death by stoning, just as you deserve.

   

Leviticus 21

Instructions for Priests

 ¹The LORD gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests:

   Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative, ²except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother, ³or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her. ⁴Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage. ^{[g] 5}Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning. ⁶I am the LORD your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That's why you must keep yourselves holy. ⁷Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy, ⁸because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness. ⁹If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death.

    ¹⁰If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead. ¹¹Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother. ¹²If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest.

    ¹³If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin ¹⁴from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute. ¹⁵In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember--I am the LORD, and I have chosen you.

    ¹⁶The LORD told Moses ^17-18to say to Aaron:

   No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other, ¹⁹if either a foot or a hand is crippled, ²⁰if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged. ²¹These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me. ²²They may eat the food offerings presented to me, ²³but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember--I am the LORD, the one who makes a priest holy.

    ²⁴Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.