Leviticus 11:1-12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Clean and Unclean Foods
11 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the Israelites:
“From among all the land animals, these are the creatures that you may eat.(A) 3 Any animal that has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed and chews the cud—such you may eat. 4 But among those that chew the cud or have divided hoofs, you shall not eat the following: the camel, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. 5 The rock badger, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. 6 The hare, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. 7 The pig, for even though it has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.(B) 8 Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean for you.(C)
9 “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams—such you may eat.(D) 10 But anything in the seas or the streams that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and among all the other living creatures that are in the waters—they are detestable to you,(E) 11 and detestable they shall remain. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall regard as detestable. 12 Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.
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Leviticus 17:10-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Eating Blood Prohibited
10 “If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut that person off from the people.(A) 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar, for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement.(B) 12 Therefore I have said to the Israelites, ‘No person among you shall eat blood, nor shall any alien who resides among you eat blood.’
13 “And anyone of the Israelites or of the aliens who reside among them who hunts down an animal or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.(C) 14 For the life of every creature—its blood is its life; therefore I have said to the Israelites, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’(D) 15 All persons, native-born or alien, who eat what dies of itself or what has been torn by wild animals shall wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water and be unclean until the evening; then they shall be clean.(E) 16 But if they do not wash themselves or bathe their body, they shall bear their guilt.”
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Leviticus 18:19-20:27
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
19 “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.(A) 20 You shall not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.(B) 21 You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them[a] to Molech and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.(C) 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.(D) 23 You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; it is perversion.(E)
24 “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for by all these practices the nations I am casting out before you have defiled themselves.(F) 25 Thus the land became defiled, and I punished it for its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.(G) 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the native-born or the alien who resides among you 27 (for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled); 28 otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from their people. 30 So keep my charge not to commit any of these abominations that were done before you and not to defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.”(H)
Ritual and Moral Holiness
19 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 “Speak to all the congregation of the Israelites and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.(I) 3 You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.(J) 4 Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.(K)
5 “When you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it in such a way that it is acceptable on your behalf. 6 It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day, and anything left over until the third day shall be consumed in fire. 7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is an abomination; it will not be acceptable. 8 All who eat it shall be subject to punishment, because they have profaned what is holy to the Lord, and any such person shall be cut off from the people.
9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.(L) 10 You shall not strip your vineyard bare or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.(M) 12 And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.(N)
13 “You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.(O) 14 You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.(P)
15 “You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.(Q) 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand idly by when the blood[b] of your neighbor is at stake: I am the Lord.(R)
17 “You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.(S) 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.(T)
19 “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your animals breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.(U)
20 “If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave, designated for another man but not ransomed or given her freedom, an inquiry shall be held. They shall not be put to death, since she has not been freed, 21 but he shall bring a guilt offering for himself to the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram as guilt offering.(V) 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he committed, and the sin he committed shall be forgiven him.
23 “When you come into the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall regard their fruit as forbidden;[c] three years it shall be forbidden[d] to you; it must not be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all their fruit shall be set apart for rejoicing in the Lord.(W) 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of their fruit, that their yield may be increased for you: I am the Lord your God.
26 “You shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice augury or witchcraft.(X) 27 You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.(Y) 28 You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.(Z)
29 “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, that the land not become prostituted and full of depravity.(AA) 30 You shall keep my Sabbaths and revere my sanctuary: I am the Lord.(AB)
31 “Do not turn to mediums and spiritualists; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.(AC)
32 “You shall rise before the aged and defer to the old, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
33 “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien.(AD) 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.(AE)
35 “You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight, or quantity. 36 You shall have honest balances, 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 You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and observe them: I am the Lord.”
Penalties for Violations of Holiness
20 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Say further to the Israelites:
“Any of the Israelites or of the aliens who reside in Israel who give any of their offspring to Molech shall be put to death; the people of the land shall stone them to death.(AF) 3 I myself will set my face against them and will cut them off from the people, because they have given of their offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary and profaning my holy name.(AG) 4 And if the people of the land should ever close their eyes to them, when they give of their offspring to Molech, and do not put them to death,(AH) 5 I myself will set my face against them and against their family and will cut them off from among their people, them and all who follow them in prostituting themselves to Molech.
6 “If any turn to mediums or spiritualists, prostituting themselves to them, I will set my face against them and will cut them off from the people.(AI) 7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.(AJ) 8 Keep my statutes and observe them: I am the Lord; I sanctify you.(AK) 9 All who curse father or mother shall be put to death; having cursed father or mother, their bloodguilt is upon them.(AL)
10 “If a man commits adultery with the wife of[e] his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.(AM) 11 The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.(AN) 12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed perversion; their bloodguilt is upon them.(AO) 13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.(AP) 14 If a man takes a wife and her mother also, it is depravity; they shall be burned to death, both he and they, that there may be no depravity among you.(AQ) 15 If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he shall be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.(AR) 16 If a woman approaches any animal and has sexual relations with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.
17 “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people; he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall be subject to punishment.(AS) 18 If a man lies with a woman during her period and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow, and she has laid bare her flow of blood; both of them shall be cut off from their people.(AT) 19 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to lay bare one’s own flesh; they shall be subject to punishment.(AU) 20 If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall be subject to punishment; they shall die childless.(AV) 21 If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.(AW)
22 “You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and observe them, so that the land to which I bring you to settle in may not vomit you out.(AX) 23 You shall not follow the practices of the nation that I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.(AY) 24 But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God; I have separated you from the peoples.’(AZ) 25 You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not bring abomination on yourselves by animal or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.(BA) 26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine.(BB)
27 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritualist shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.”(BC)
Genesis 1:26-31
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
26 Then God said, “Let us make humans[a] in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth[b] and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”(A)
27 So God created humans[c] in his image,
in the image of God he created them;[d]
male and female he created them.(B)
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”(C) 29 God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.(D) 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.(E) 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.(F)
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Genesis 19:1-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Depravity of Sodom
19 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.(A) 2 He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.”(B) 3 But he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house, and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.(C) 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house, 5 and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”(D) 6 Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him,(E) 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”(F) 9 But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot and came near the door to break it down.(G) 10 But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.(H)
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place.(I) 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”(J)
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.