Leviticus 19
Christian Standard Bible
Laws of Holiness
19 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy(A) because I, the Lord your God, am holy.(B)
3 “Each of you is to respect his mother and father.(C) You are to keep my Sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to worthless idols(D) or make cast images(E) of gods for yourselves;(F) I am the Lord your God.
5 “When you offer a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 6 It is to be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day, but what remains on the third day must be burned.(G) 7 If any is eaten on the third day, it is a repulsive thing; it will not be accepted.(H) 8 Anyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned what is holy to the Lord. That person is to be cut off from his people.(I)
9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings(J) of your harvest. 10 Do not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor(K) and the resident alien;(L) I am the Lord your God.
11 “Do not steal.(M) Do not act deceptively(N) or lie(O) to one another. 12 Do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God;(P) I am the Lord.
13 “Do not oppress(Q) your neighbor or rob(R) him. The wages due a hired worker(S) must not remain with you until morning. 14 Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind,(T) but you are to fear your God;(U) I am the Lord.(V)
15 “Do not act unjustly(W) when deciding a case. Do not be partial(X) to the poor or give preference to the rich;(Y) judge your neighbor fairly. 16 Do not go about spreading slander(Z) among your people; do not jeopardize[a] your neighbor’s life; I am the Lord.
17 “Do not harbor hatred against your brother.[b](AA) Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him.(AB) 18 Do not take revenge(AC) or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself;(AD) I am the Lord.
19 “You are to keep my statutes. Do not crossbreed two different kinds of your livestock, sow your fields with two kinds of seed, or put on a garment made of two kinds of material.(AE)
20 “If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman who is a slave designated for another man, but she has not been redeemed(AF) or given her freedom, there must be punishment.[c] They are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. 21 However, he must bring a ram as his guilt[d] offering to the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.(AG) 22 The priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord with the ram of the guilt offering for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven for the sin he committed.
23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden.[e] It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all its fruit is to be consecrated as a praise offering(AH) to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you;(AI) I am the Lord your God.
26 “You are not to eat anything with blood in it.[f](AJ) You are not to practice divination(AK) or witchcraft.(AL) 27 You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard.(AM) 28 You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead(AN) or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the Lord.
29 “Do not debase[g](AO) your daughter by making her a prostitute,(AP) or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity. 30 Keep my Sabbaths and revere my sanctuary;(AQ) I am the Lord.
31 “Do not turn to mediums[h](AR) or consult spiritists,[i](AS) or you will be defiled by them; I am the Lord your God.
32 “You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old.(AT) Fear your God; I am the Lord.
33 “When an alien resides with you in your land, you must not oppress(AU) him. 34 You will regard the alien who resides with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself,(AV) for you were aliens in the land of Egypt;(AW) I am the Lord your God.
35 “Do not be unfair(AX) in measurements of length, weight, or volume. 36 You are to have honest balances,(AY) honest weights, an honest dry measure,[j] and an honest liquid measure;[k](AZ) I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 Keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and do them; I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19
Common English Bible
Living as holy people
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to the whole community of the Israelites: You must be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 3 Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must keep my sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves; I am the Lord your God. 5 When you sacrifice a communal sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it so that it will be accepted on your account. 6 It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice or the following day; whatever is left over on the third day must be burned with fire. 7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is foul; it will not be accepted. 8 Anyone who eats it will be liable to punishment, because they defiled what is holy to the Lord. That person will be cut off from their people. 9 When you harvest your land’s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don’t gather up every remaining bit of your harvest. 10 Also do not pick your vineyard clean or gather up all the grapes that have fallen there. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God.
11 You must not steal nor deceive nor lie to each other. 12 You must not swear falsely by my name, desecrating your God’s name in doing so; I am the Lord. 13 You must not oppress your neighbors or rob them. Do not withhold a hired laborer’s pay overnight. 14 You must not insult a deaf person or put some obstacle in front of a blind person that would cause them to trip. Instead, fear your God; I am the Lord.
15 You must not act unjustly in a legal case. Do not show favoritism to the poor or deference to the great; you must judge your fellow Israelites fairly. 16 Do not go around slandering your people.[a] Do not stand by while your neighbor’s blood is shed;[b] I am the Lord. 17 You must not hate your fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your fellow Israelite strongly, so you don’t become responsible for his sin.[c] 18 You must not take revenge nor hold a grudge against any of your people; instead, you must love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
19 You must keep my rules. Do not crossbreed your livestock, do not plant your field with two kinds of seed, and do not wear clothes made from two kinds of material. 20 If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave engaged to another man, who hasn’t yet been released or given her freedom, there must be a punishment.[d] But they will not be put to death because she had not yet been freed. 21 The man must bring as his compensation to the Lord at the meeting tent’s entrance a ram for a compensation offering. 22 The priest will use the ram for the compensation offering to make reconciliation for him before the Lord on account of the sin he committed. Then he will be forgiven of the sin that he committed.
23 When you enter the land and plant any fruit tree, you must consider its fruit off-limits.[e] For three years it will be off-limits to you;[f] it must not be eaten. 24 In the fourth year, all of the tree’s fruit will be holy, a celebration for the Lord. 25 In the fifth year you can eat the fruit. This is so as to increase its produce for you; I am the Lord your God.
26 You must not eat anything with its blood. You must not participate in divination or fortune-telling. 27 You must not cut off the hair on your forehead or clip the ends of your beard. 28 Do not cut your bodies for the dead[g] or put marks on[h] yourselves; I am the Lord. 29 Do not defile your daughter by making her sexually promiscuous or else the land will become promiscuous[i] and full of shame. 30 You must keep my sabbaths and treat my sanctuary with respect; I am the Lord. 31 Do not resort to dead spirits or inquire of spirits of divination—you will be made unclean by them; I am the Lord your God. 32 You must rise in the presence of an old person and respect the elderly. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.
33 When immigrants live in your land with you, you must not cheat them. 34 Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. 35 You must not act unjustly in a legal case involving measures of length, weight, or volume. 36 You must have accurate scales and accurate weights, an accurate ephah[j] and an accurate hin.[k] I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 You must keep all my rules and all my regulations, and do them; I am the Lord.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 19:16 Heb uncertain
- Leviticus 19:16 Heb uncertain
- Leviticus 19:17 Or strongly, but don’t become liable for punishment because of it; Heb uncertain
- Leviticus 19:20 Or an inquiry
- Leviticus 19:23 Or treat its fruit as a foreskin
- Leviticus 19:23 Or uncircumcised to you
- Leviticus 19:28 Or for the living
- Leviticus 19:28 Or tattoo; Heb uncertain
- Leviticus 19:29 Or making her a prostitute so that the land won’t become a prostitute
- Leviticus 19:36 Approximately twenty quarts
- Leviticus 19:36 Approximately one gallon of liquid
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