Parashat Kedoshim

Holiness Code

19 Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ² “Speak to all the congregation of Bnei-Yisrael and tell them: You shall be kedoshim, for I, Adonai your God, am holy.

³ “Each one of you is to respect his mother and his father, and keep My Shabbatot. I am Adonai your God.

⁴ “Do not turn to idols, or make molten gods for yourselves. I am Adonai your God.

⁵ “When you bring a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to Adonai, you are to offer it so that you may be accepted. ⁶ It is to be eaten the same day you offer it, and the next day. But if anything remains until the third day, it is to be burned with fire. ⁷ If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is disgusting. It will not be accepted. ⁸ Rather, anyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, since he has profaned what is holy to Adonai, and that soul will be cut off from his people.

⁹ “When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very corners of your field, nor are you to gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ You are not to pick the remnants of your vineyard, nor are you to gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. Instead, you are to leave them for the poor and for the outsider. I am Adonai your God.

¹¹ “You are not to steal. You are not to lie. You are not to deceive one another.

¹² “You are not to swear by My Name falsely, and so profane the Name of your God. I am Adonai.

¹³ “You are not to oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired servant are not to remain with you all night until the morning.

¹⁴ “You are not to curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am Adonai.

¹⁵ “You are to do no injustice in judgment. You are not to be partial toward the poor nor show favoritism toward the great, but you are to judge your neighbor with fairness.

¹⁶ “You are not to go up and down as a talebearer among your people. You are not to endanger the life of your neighbor. I am Adonai.

¹⁷ “You are not to hate your brother in your heart. Instead, you are to firmly rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. ¹⁸ You are not to take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.^[a] I am Adonai.

¹⁹ “You must keep My statutes. You are not to crossbreed different kinds of animals. You are not to sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor are you to wear a garment woven of two kinds of material.

²⁰ “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave girl, pledged to be married to another man, but not ransomed or given her freedom, they are both to be punished. But they are not to be put to death, because she was not free. ²¹ He is to bring his trespass offering to Adonai, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting—a ram for a guilt offering. ²² The kohen is to make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before Adonai for his sin that he committed, and the sin that he committed will be forgiven him.

²³ “When you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, you are to consider their fruit as forbidden. Three years it will be forbidden to you. It is not to be eaten. ²⁴ Then in the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, for giving praise to Adonai. ²⁵ In the fifth year you may eat its fruit. So it will yield its increase to you. I am Adonai your God.

²⁶ “You are not to eat any meat with the blood still in it, nor are you to use enchantments, or practice sorcery.

²⁷ “You are not to round off the hair on the sides of your heads, nor are you to mar the edge of your beard. ²⁸ You are not to make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead or make any tattoo marks upon yourself. I am Adonai.

²⁹ “Do not defile your daughter, to make her a prostitute, so that the land does not fall into prostitution, and become full of wickedness.

³⁰ “You are to keep My Shabbatot, and reverence My Sanctuary. I am Adonai.

³¹ “Do not turn to those who are mediums or to soothsayers. Do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am Adonai your God.

³² “You are to rise up in the presence of the gray-haired and honor the presence of the elderly. So you will fear your God. I am Adonai.

³³ “If an outsider dwells with you in your land, you should do him no wrong. ³⁴ The outsider dwelling among you shall be to you as the native-born among you. You should love him as yourself—for you dwelled as outsiders in the land of Egypt. I am Adonai your God.

³⁵ “You must not be dishonest in judgment—in measurements of length, weight or of quantity. ³⁶ You are to have honest balances, honest weights, honest bushel-measure and an honest gallon.^[b] I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷ You must observe all My statutes and all My ordinances—do them. I am Adonai.”

Idols and the Occult

20 Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ² “Moreover, you are to tell Bnei-Yisrael: Anyone from Bnei-Yisrael or from the outsiders dwelling in Israel, who gives any of his children to Molech, shall surely be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him with rocks. ³ I also will set My face against such a person and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given his children to Molech, defiling My Sanctuary and profaning My holy Name. ⁴ But if the people of the land all hide their eyes from that person, when he gives of his seed to Molech, and do not put him to death, ⁵ then I will set My face against that man and against his family, and will cut him off, along with all who play the prostitute after him with Molech, from among their people.

⁶ “The soul that turns to mediums or to soothsayers, prostituting himself with them, I will set My face against that soul and will cut him off from among his people. ⁷ So consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am Adonai your God. ⁸ You are to keep My statutes, and do them. I am Adonai who sanctifies you.

⁹ “Any man who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother, and his blood should be on him.

¹⁰ “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

¹¹ “If a man lies with his father’s wife, and has uncovered his father’s nakedness, both of them shall surely be put to death, and their blood shall be on them. ¹² If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed a perversion, and their blood shall be on them. ¹³ If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination, and they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be on them. ¹⁴ If a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire—both he and they, so that there may be no wickedness among you. ¹⁵ If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you are to kill the animal. ¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal, and lies down with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death, and their blood shall be on them. ¹⁷ If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness, and she his, it is a shameful thing. They are to be cut off in the sight of the children of their people, for he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and will bear his iniquity. ¹⁸ If a man lies with a woman during her niddah and exposes her nakedness, he has exposed her flow and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them are to be cut off from among their people. ¹⁹ You are not to uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, or your father’s sister, for the one who does that has made his close relative naked, and will bear his iniquity. ²⁰ If a man lies with his aunt, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin, and die childless. ²¹ If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness, and they will be childless.

²² “Now you are to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to dwell will not vomit you out. ²³ You are not to walk in the ways of the nation which I am casting out before you, for they did all these things and therefore I abhorred them. ²⁴ But I have said to you, ‘You will inherit their land and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am Adonai your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.

²⁵ “Also you are to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean. And you are not to make your souls detestable by an animal or by a bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart as unclean for you. ²⁶ You are to be holy to Me, for I, Adonai, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, so that you would be Mine.

²⁷ “A man or a woman who is a medium or is a soothsayer shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with rocks, and their blood shall be on them.’”

² The word of Adonai came to me saying: ³ “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel. Say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live’—it is a declaration of Adonai—‘I will not be inquired of by you.’

⁴ “Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Make them know the detestable practices of their fathers. ⁵ Say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: On the day I chose Israel, I lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I lifted up My hand to them saying, ‘I am Adonai your God.’ ⁶ On that day I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had sought out for them, flowing with milk and honey, the splendor of all lands. ⁷ I said to them, ‘Each of you must throw away every detestable thing from his eyes, and not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Adonai your God.’

⁸ “But they rebelled against Me and were unwilling to listen to Me. None of them cast away the detestable things that were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My fury upon them, to expend My anger upon them in the midst of the land of Egypt. ⁹ But I acted, for the sake of My Name, to keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations, where they were, in whose sight I made Myself known to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ So I led them out from the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹ I gave them My laws and taught them My judgments, which if a man does, he will live by them. ¹² I also gave them My Shabbatot, as a sign between Me and them, so that they would know that I am Adonai who made them holy.

¹³ “But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes. They rejected My judgments, which if a man does, he will live by them. They greatly profaned My Shabbatot. Then I resolved to pour out My fury on them in the wilderness to consume them. ¹⁴ But for the sake of My Name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. ¹⁵ Yet I also lifted My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the splendor of all lands. ¹⁶ For they rejected My laws, did not walk in My rulings and profaned My Shabbatot—for their heart went after their idols. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, My eye spared them from destruction, so I did not make a full end of them in the wilderness.

¹⁸ “I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, do not keep their ordinances, do not defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I am Adonai your God. Walk in My statutes, keep My ordinances and do them. ²⁰ Keep My Shabbatot holy, so they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am Adonai your God.’

Blood and Injustice

22 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? So explain to her all her abominations. ³ Say, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘City that spills blood in her midst and makes idols for herself that defile—her time has come! ⁴ You have become guilty in your blood that you have spilled, and are defiled by your idols that you have made. So you have brought your days near, and have come up to your years. Therefore I have made you a disgrace to the nations and a mockery to all the lands. ⁵ Those near and far from you will mock you—with a defiled name and full of turmoil.’

⁶ “Behold, each prince of Israel has used his own arm’s strength in you to shed blood. ⁷ Father and mother have been treated with contempt; the outsider has been oppressed in your midst; the orphan and the widow have been mistreated in you. ⁸ You have despised My holy things and profaned My Shabbatot. ⁹ Slanderous men are in you in order to shed blood. They have eaten at the mountain shrines; they commit immoral acts in your midst. ¹⁰ They have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness in you; they violate women that are in niddah within you. ¹¹ One has been detestable with his neighbor’s wife; another has wickedly defiled his daughter-in-law; yet another has violated his sister, his father’s daughter, in you. ¹² They accept bribes in order to shed blood in you; you have taken usurious interest. You have greedily gained by oppressing your neighbors, and you have forgotten Me.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹³ “Now look, I clap My hands at your dishonest gain that you have made and at your bloodshed in your midst. ¹⁴ Will your heart’s courage stand or your hands be strong in the days when I deal with you? I, Adonai, have spoken it and will do it. ¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you throughout the lands. I will purge your uncleanness from you. ¹⁶ You will be defiled in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am Adonai.”

David’s Sukkah Restored

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than anyone else? Even the pagans do that, don’t they? ⁴⁸ Therefore be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”