Leviticus 19-21
New Century Version
Other Laws
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell all the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God. You must be holy because I am holy.
3 “‘You must respect your mother and father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
4 “‘Do not worship idols or make statues or gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 “‘When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, offer it in such a way that will be accepted. 6 You may eat it the same day you offer it or on the next day. But if any is left on the third day, you must burn it up. 7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is unclean, and it will not be accepted. 8 Anyone who eats it then will be guilty of sin, because he did not respect the holy things that belong to the Lord. He must be cut off from the people.
9 “‘When you harvest your crops on your land, do not harvest all the way to the corners of your fields. If grain falls onto the ground, don’t gather it up. 10 Don’t pick all the grapes in your vineyards, and don’t pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. You must leave those things for poor people and for people traveling through your country. I am the Lord your God.
11 “‘You must not steal. You must not cheat people, and you must not lie to each other. 12 You must not make a false promise by my name, or you will show that you don’t respect your God. I am the Lord.
13 “‘You must not cheat your neighbor or rob him. You must not keep a hired worker’s salary all night until morning. 14 You must not curse a deaf person or put something in front of a blind person to make him fall. But you must respect your God. I am the Lord.
15 “‘Be fair in your judging. You must not show special favor to poor people or great people, but be fair when you judge your neighbor. 16 You must not spread false stories against other people, and you must not do anything that would put your neighbor’s life in danger. I am the Lord.
17 “‘You must not hate your fellow citizen in your heart. If your neighbor does something wrong, tell him about it, or you will be partly to blame. 18 Forget about the wrong things people do to you, and do not try to get even. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord.
19 “‘Obey my laws. You must not mate two different kinds of cattle or sow your field with two different kinds of seed. You must not wear clothing made from two different kinds of material mixed together.
20 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a slave girl of another man, but this slave girl has not been bought or given her freedom, there must be punishment. But they are not to be put to death, because the woman was not free. 21 The man must bring a male sheep as his penalty offering to the Lord at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. 22 The priest will offer the sheep as a penalty offering before the Lord for the man’s sin, to remove the sins of the man so he will belong to the Lord. Then he will be forgiven for his sin.
23 “‘In the future, when you enter your country, you will plant many kinds of trees for food. After planting a tree, wait three years before using its fruit. 24 In the fourth year the fruit from the tree will be the Lord’s, a holy offering of praise to him. 25 Then in the fifth year, you may eat the fruit from the tree. The tree will then produce more fruit for you. I am the Lord your God.
26 “‘You must not eat anything with the blood in it.
“‘You must not try to tell the future by signs or black magic.
27 “‘You must not cut the hair on the sides of your heads or cut the edges of your beard. 28 You must not cut your body to show sadness for someone who died or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.
29 “‘Do not dishonor your daughter by making her become a prostitute. If you do this, the country will be filled with all kinds of sin.
30 “‘Obey the laws about Sabbaths, and respect my Most Holy Place. I am the Lord.
31 “‘Do not go to mediums or fortune-tellers for advice, or you will become unclean. I am the Lord your God.
32 “‘Show respect to old people; stand up in their presence. Show respect also to your God. I am the Lord.
33 “‘Do not mistreat foreigners living in your country, 34 but treat them just as you treat your own citizens. Love foreigners as you love yourselves, because you were foreigners one time in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
35 “‘Do not cheat when you measure the length or weight or amount of something. 36 Your weights and balances should weigh correctly, with your weighing baskets the right size and your jars holding the right amount of liquid. I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 “‘Remember all my laws and rules, and obey them. I am the Lord.’”
Warnings About Various Sins
20 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “You must also tell the people of Israel these things: ‘If a person in your country gives one of his children to Molech, that person must be killed. It doesn’t matter if he is a citizen or a foreigner living in Israel; you must throw stones at him and kill him. 3 I will be against him and cut him off from his people, because he gave his children to Molech. He showed that he did not respect my holy name, and he made my Holy Place unclean. 4 The people of the community might ignore that person and not kill the one who gave his children to Molech. 5 But I will be against him and his family, and I will cut him off from his people. I will do this to anyone who follows him in being unfaithful to me by worshiping Molech.
6 “‘I will be against anyone who goes to mediums and fortune-tellers for advice, because that person is being unfaithful to me. So I will cut him off from his people.
7 “‘Be my holy people. Be holy because I am the Lord your God. 8 Remember and obey my laws. I am the Lord, and I have made you holy.
9 “‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother, so he has brought his own death on himself.
Punishments for Sexual Sins
10 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his neighbor’s wife, both the man and the woman are guilty of adultery and must be put to death. 11 If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has shamed his father, and both the man and his father’s wife must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.
12 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is not natural. They have brought their own deaths on themselves.
13 “‘If a man has sexual relations with another man as a man does with a woman, these two men have done a hateful sin. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.
14 “‘If a man has sexual relations with both a woman and her mother, this is evil. The people must burn that man and the two women in fire so that your people will not be evil.
15 “‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death. You must also kill the animal. 16 If a woman approaches an animal and has sexual relations with it, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.
17 “‘It is shameful for a brother to marry his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and to have sexual relations with her. In front of everyone they must both be cut off from their people. The man has shamed his sister, and he is guilty of sin.
18 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period, both the woman and the man must be cut off from their people. They sinned because they showed the source of her blood.
19 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, because that would shame a close relative. Both of you are guilty of this sin.
20 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his uncle’s wife, he has shamed his uncle. That man and his uncle’s wife will die without children; they are guilty of sin.
21 “‘It is unclean for a man to marry his brother’s wife. That man has shamed his brother, and they will have no children.
22 “‘Remember all my laws and rules, and obey them. I am leading you to your own land, and if you obey my laws and rules, that land will not throw you out. 23 I am forcing out ahead of you the people who live there. Because they did all these sins, I have hated them. Do not live the way those people lived.
24 “‘I have told you that you will get their land, which I will give to you as your very own; it is a fertile land. I am the Lord your God, and I have set you apart from other people and made you my own. 25 So you must treat clean animals and birds differently from unclean animals and birds. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these unclean birds or animals or things that crawl on the ground, which I have made unclean for you. 26 So you must be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from other people to be my own.
27 “‘A man or woman who is a medium or a fortune-teller must be put to death. You must stone them to death; they have brought it on themselves.’”
How Priests Must Behave
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell these things to Aaron’s sons, the priests: ‘A priest must not make himself unclean by touching a dead person. 2 But if the dead person was one of his close relatives, he may touch him. The priest may make himself unclean if the dead person is his mother or father, son or daughter, brother or 3 unmarried sister who is close to him because she has no husband. The priest may make himself unclean for her if she dies. 4 But a priest must not make himself unclean if the dead person was only related to him by marriage.
5 “‘Priests must not shave their heads, or shave off the edges of their beards, or cut their bodies. 6 They must be holy to their God and show respect for God’s name, because they present the offerings made by fire to the Lord, which is the food of their God. So they must be holy.
7 “‘A priest must not marry an unclean prostitute or a divorced woman, because he is holy to his God. 8 Treat him as holy, because he offers up the food of your God. Think of him as holy; I am the Lord who makes you holy, and I am holy.
9 “‘If a priest’s daughter makes herself unclean by becoming a prostitute, she shames her father. She must be burned with fire.
10 “‘The high priest, who was chosen from among his brothers, had the special olive oil poured on his head. He was also appointed to wear the priestly clothes. So he must not show his sadness by letting his hair go uncombed or tearing his clothes. 11 He must not go into a house where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even if it is for his own father or mother. 12 The high priest must not go out of the Holy Place, because if he does and becomes unclean, he will make God’s Holy Place unclean. The special oil used in appointing priests was poured on his head to separate him from the rest of the people. I am the Lord.
13 “‘The high priest must marry a woman who is a virgin. 14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a prostitute. He must marry a virgin from his own people 15 so the people will respect his children as his own. I am the Lord. I have set the high priest apart for his special job.’”
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Tell Aaron: ‘If any of your descendants have something wrong with them, they must never come near to offer the special food of their God. 18 Anyone who has something wrong with him must not come near: blind men, crippled men, men with damaged faces, deformed men, 19 men with a crippled foot or hand, 20 hunchbacks, dwarfs, men who have something wrong with their eyes, men who have an itching disease or a skin disease, or men who have damaged sex glands.
21 “‘If one of Aaron’s descendants has something wrong with him, he cannot come near to make the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has something wrong with him; he cannot offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the most holy food and also the holy food. 23 But he may not go through the curtain into the Most Holy Place, and he may not go near the altar, because he has something wrong with him. He must not make my Holy Place unfit. I am the Lord who makes these places holy.’”
24 So Moses told these things to Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and all the people of Israel.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Bible Gateway Recommends
