⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground.

² “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

² “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

¹⁵ But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. ¹⁶ For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”^[a]

⁷ So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God.

⁷ God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.

²⁶ You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own.

⁹ But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,^[a] a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

⁸ You must treat them as holy because they offer up food to your God. You must consider them holy because I, the Lord, am holy, and I make you holy.

² You have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure.