Moral and Ceremonial Laws

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(A)‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

^3 (B)‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and ^(C)keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

^4 (D)‘Do not turn to idols, ^(E)nor make for yourselves ^[a]molded gods: I am the Lord your God.

⁵ ‘And ^(F)if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it of your own free will. ⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. ⁷ And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. ⁸ Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

^9 (G)‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

^11 (H)‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, ^(I)nor lie to one another. ¹² And you shall not ^(J)swear by My name falsely, ^(K)nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

^13 (L)‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. ^(M)The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. ¹⁴ You shall not curse the deaf, ^(N)nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

¹⁵ ‘You shall do no injustice in ^(O)judgment. You shall not ^(P)be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. ¹⁶ You shall not go about as a ^(Q)talebearer among your people; nor shall you ^(R)take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

^17 (S)‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. ^(T)You shall surely ^[b]rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. ^18 (U)You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, ^(V)but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

¹⁹ ‘You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.

²⁰ ‘Whoever lies carnally with a woman who is ^(W)betrothed to a man as a concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom, for this there shall be ^[c]scourging; but they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. ²¹ And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram as a trespass offering. ²² The priest shall make ^[d]atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed. And the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.

²³ ‘When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as ^[e]uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. ²⁴ But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the Lord. ²⁵ And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the Lord your God.

²⁶ ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. ²⁷ You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. ²⁸ You shall not ^(X)make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.

^29 (Y)‘Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.

³⁰ ‘You shall ^[f]keep My Sabbaths and ^(Z)reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

³¹ ‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after ^(AA)them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.

^32 (AB)‘You shall ^[g]rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and ^(AC)fear your God: I am the Lord.

³³ ‘And ^(AD)if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. ^34 (AE)The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as ^[h]one born among you, and ^(AF)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 injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. ³⁶ You shall have ^(AG)honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

^37 (AH)‘Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them: I am the Lord.’ ”

Jesus the True Shepherd

10 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by ^(A)name and leads them out. ⁴ And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵ Yet they will by no means follow a ^(B)stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

⁷ Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who ever came ^[a]before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. ^9 (C)I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

^11 (D)“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. ¹² But a ^[b]hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and ^(E)leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. ¹³ The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; and ^(F)I know My sheep, and ^(G)am known by My own. ^15 (H)As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; ^(I)and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And ^(J)other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; ^(K)and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

¹⁷ “Therefore My Father ^(L)loves Me, ^(M)because I lay down My life that I may take it again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I ^(N)have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. ^(O)This command I have received from My Father.”

¹⁹ Therefore ^(P)there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. ²⁰ And many of them said, ^(Q)“He has a demon and is ^[c]mad. Why do you listen to Him?”

²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. ^(R)Can a demon ^(S)open the eyes of the blind?”

The Sabbath of the Seventh Year^(A)

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount ^(B)Sinai, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall ^(C)keep a sabbath to the Lord. ³ Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; ⁴ but in the ^(D)seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn ^(E)rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ^5 (F)What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. ⁶ And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, ⁷ for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.

The Year of Jubilee

⁸ ‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. ⁹ Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; ^(G)on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. ¹⁰ And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and ^(H)proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; ^(I)and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. ¹¹ That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it ^(J)you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. ¹² For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; ^(K)you shall eat its produce from the field.

^13 (L)‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. ¹⁴ And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not ^(M)oppress one another. ^15 (N)According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. ¹⁶ According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. ¹⁷ Therefore ^(O)you shall not ^[a]oppress one another, ^(P)but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

Provisions for the Seventh Year

^18 (Q)‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; ^(R)and you will dwell in the land in safety. ¹⁹ Then the land will yield its fruit, and ^(S)you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.

²⁰ ‘And if you say, ^(T)“What shall we eat in the seventh year, since ^(U)we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” ²¹ Then I will ^(V)command My blessing on you in the ^(W)sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. ^22 (X)And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat ^(Y)old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.

Redemption of Property

²³ ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for ^(Z)the land is Mine; for you are ^(AA)strangers and sojourners with Me. ²⁴ And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.

Honor Masters

6 Let as many ^(A)bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. ² And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

Error and Greed

³ If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to ^(B)wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(C)and to the ^[a]doctrine which accords with godliness, ⁴ he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, ^5 [b]useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. ^[c]From ^(D)such withdraw yourself.

⁶ Now godliness with ^(E)contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, ^[d]and it is ^(F)certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be ^(G)content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

The Good Confession

¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus ^(H)who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, ¹⁵ which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only ^[e]Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, dwelling in ^(I)unapproachable light, ^(J)whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

Instructions to the Rich

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain ^(K)riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things ^(L)to enjoy. ¹⁸ Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, ^19 (M)storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Guard the Faith

²⁰ O Timothy! ^(N)Guard what was committed to your trust, ^(O)avoiding the profane and ^[f]idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— ²¹ by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.

Grace be with you. Amen.