Leviticus 18-27

New King James Version

Laws of Sexual Morality

18 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(A)‘I am the Lord your God. ^3 (B)According to ^[a]the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and ^(C)according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ^[b]ordinances. ^4 (D)You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. ⁵ You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

⁶ ‘None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord. ⁷ The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. ⁸ The nakedness of your ^(E)father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness. ^9 (F)The nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or elsewhere, their nakedness you shall not uncover. ¹⁰ The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for theirs is your own nakedness. ¹¹ The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, begotten by your father—she is your sister—you shall not uncover her nakedness. ^12 (G)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is near of kin to your father. ¹³ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is near of kin to your mother. ^14 (H)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. ¹⁵ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law—she is your son’s wife—you shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. ¹⁷ You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her ^(I)daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near of kin to her. It is wickedness. ¹⁸ Nor shall you take a woman ^(J)as a rival to her sister, to uncover her nakedness while the other is alive.

¹⁹ ‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as ^(K)long as she is in her ^(L)customary impurity. ^20 (M)Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your ^(N)neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her. ²¹ And you shall not let any of your descendants ^(O)pass through ^(P)the fire to ^(Q)Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. ²² You shall not lie with ^(R)a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. ²³ Nor shall you mate with any ^(S)animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.

^24 (T)‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; ^(U)for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. ²⁵ For ^(V)the land is defiled; therefore I ^(W)visit^[c] the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land ^(X)vomits out its inhabitants. ^26 (Y)You shall therefore ^[d]keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you ²⁷ (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), ²⁸ lest ^(Z)the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹ For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be ^[e]cut off from among their people.

³⁰ ‘Therefore you shall keep My ^[f]ordinance, so ^(AA)that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: ^(AB)I am the Lord your God.’ ”

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: ^(AC)‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

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

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

⁵ ‘And ^(AH)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 (AI)‘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 (AJ)‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, ^(AK)nor lie to one another. ¹² And you shall not ^(AL)swear by My name falsely, ^(AM)nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

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

¹⁵ ‘You shall do no injustice in ^(AQ)judgment. You shall not ^(AR)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 ^(AS)talebearer among your people; nor shall you ^(AT)take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

^17 (AU)‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. ^(AV)You shall surely ^[h]rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. ^18 (AW)You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, ^(AX)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 ^(AY)betrothed to a man as a concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom, for this there shall be ^[i]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 ^[j]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 ^[k]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 ^(AZ)make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.

^29 (BA)‘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 ^[l]keep My Sabbaths and ^(BB)reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

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

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

³³ ‘And ^(BF)if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. ^34 (BG)The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as ^[n]one born among you, and ^(BH)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 ^(BI)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 (BJ)‘Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them: I am the Lord.’ ”

Penalties for Breaking the Law

20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (BK)“Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ^(BL)‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who ^[o]dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall ^(BM)stone him with stones. ^3 (BN)I will set My face against that man, and will ^[p]cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name. ⁴ And if the people of the land should in any way ^[q]hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, ⁵ then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.

⁶ ‘And ^(BO)the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. ^7 (BP)Consecrate^[r] yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ And you shall keep ^(BQ)My statutes, and perform them: ^(BR)I am the Lord who ^[s]sanctifies you.

⁹ ‘For ^(BS)everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. ^(BT)His blood shall be upon him.

^10 (BU)‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. ¹¹ The man who lies with his ^(BV)father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. ¹² If a man lies with his ^(BW)daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them. ^13 (BX)If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. ¹⁴ If a man marries a woman and her ^(BY)mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. ¹⁵ If a man mates with an ^(BZ)animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. ¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

¹⁷ ‘If a man takes his ^(CA)sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. And they shall be ^[t]cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his ^[u]guilt. ^18 (CB)If a man lies with a woman during her ^[v]sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has ^[w]exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be ^[x]cut off from their people.

¹⁹ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your ^(CC)mother’s sister nor of your ^(CD)father’s sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt. ²⁰ If a man lies with his ^(CE)uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. ²¹ If a man takes his ^(CF)brother’s wife, it is an ^[y]unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.

²² ‘You shall therefore keep all My ^(CG)statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell ^(CH)may not vomit you out. ^23 (CI)And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and ^(CJ)therefore I abhor them. ²⁴ But ^(CK)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, ^(CL)who has separated you from the peoples. ^25 (CM)You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, ^(CN)and you shall not make yourselves ^[z]abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as ^[aa]unclean. ²⁶ And you shall be holy to Me, ^(CO)for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

^27 (CP)‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ ”

Regulations for Conduct of Priests^(CQ)

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ^(CR)‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, ² except for his relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; ³ also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. ⁴ Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a ^[ab]chief man among his people, to profane himself.

^5 (CS)‘They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh. ⁶ They shall be ^(CT)holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the ^(CU)bread of their God; ^(CV)therefore they shall be holy. ^7 (CW)They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman ^(CX)divorced from her husband; for ^[ac]the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ Therefore you shall ^[ad]consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ^(CY)I the Lord, who ^(CZ)sanctify you, am holy. ⁹ The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be ^(DA)burned with fire.

¹⁰ ‘He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was ^(DB)poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not ^(DC)uncover^[ae] his head nor tear his clothes; ¹¹ nor shall he go ^(DD)near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; ^12 (DE)nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the ^(DF)consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. ¹³ And he shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴ A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. ¹⁵ Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the Lord sanctify him.’ ”

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸ For any man who has a ^(DG)defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb ^(DH)too long, ¹⁹ a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰ or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch. ²¹ No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²² He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; ²³ only he shall not go near the ^(DI)veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest ^(DJ)he profane My sanctuaries; for I the Lord sanctify them.’ ”

²⁴ And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

The Holiness of the Offerings

22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to Aaron and his sons, that they ^(DK)separate^[af] themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they ^(DL)do not profane My holy name by what they ^(DM)dedicate to Me: I am the Lord. ³ Say to them: ‘Whoever of all your descendants throughout your generations, who goes near the holy things which the children of Israel dedicate to the Lord, ^(DN)while he has ^[ag]uncleanness upon him, that person shall be cut off from My presence: I am the Lord.

⁴ ‘Whatever man of the descendants of Aaron, who is a ^(DO)leper or has ^(DP)a discharge, shall not eat the holy offerings ^(DQ)until he is clean. And ^(DR)whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or ^(DS)a man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵ or ^(DT)whoever touches any creeping thing by which he would be made unclean, or ^(DU)any person by whom he would become unclean, whatever his uncleanness may be— ⁶ the person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat the holy offerings unless he ^(DV)washes his body with water. ⁷ And when the sun goes down he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat the holy offerings, because ^(DW)it is his food. ^8 (DX)Whatever dies naturally or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself with it: I am the Lord.

⁹ ‘They shall therefore keep ^(DY)My ^[ah]ordinance, ^(DZ)lest they bear sin for it and die thereby, if they profane it: I the Lord sanctify them.

^10 (EA)‘No outsider shall eat the holy offering; one who ^[ai]dwells with the priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat the holy thing. ¹¹ But if the priest ^(EB)buys a person with his money, he may eat it; and one who is born in his house may eat his food. ¹² If the priest’s daughter is married to an outsider, she may not eat of the holy offerings. ¹³ But if the priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food; but no outsider shall eat it.

¹⁴ ‘And if a man eats the holy offering unintentionally, then he shall restore a holy offering to the priest, and add one-fifth to it. ¹⁵ They shall not profane the ^(EC)holy offerings of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶ or allow them to bear the guilt of trespass when they eat their holy offerings; for I the Lord sanctify them.’ ”

Offerings Accepted and Not Accepted

¹⁷ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(ED)‘Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who ^[aj]offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the Lord as a burnt offering— ^19 (EE)you shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats. ^20 (EF)Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. ²¹ And ^(EG)whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, ^(EH)to fulfill his vow, or a freewill offering from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it. ^22 (EI)Those that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ^[ak]ulcer or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make ^(EJ)an offering by fire of them on the altar to the Lord. ²³ Either a bull or a lamb that has any limb ^(EK)too long or too short you may offer as a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

²⁴ ‘You shall not offer to the Lord what is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut; nor shall you make any offering of them in your land. ²⁵ Nor ^(EL)from a foreigner’s hand shall you offer any of these as ^(EM)the bread of your God, because their ^(EN)corruption is in them, and defects are in them. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.’ ”

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^27 (EO)“When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall be seven days with its mother; and from the eighth day and thereafter it shall be accepted as an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ Whether it is a cow or ewe, do not kill both her ^(EP)and her young on the same day. ²⁹ And when you ^(EQ)offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, offer it of your own free will. ³⁰ On the same day it shall be eaten; you shall leave ^(ER)none of it until morning: I am the Lord.

^31 (ES)“Therefore you shall keep My commandments, and perform them: I am the Lord. ^32 (ET)You shall not profane My holy name, but ^(EU)I will be ^[al]hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who ^(EV)sanctifies you, ^33 (EW)who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord.”

Feasts of the Lord

23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be ^(EX)holy convocations, these are My feasts.

The Sabbath

^3 (EY)‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

The Passover and Unleavened Bread^(EZ)

^4 (FA)‘These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. ^5 (FB)On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ^7 (FC)On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no ^[am]customary work on it. ⁸ But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’ ”

The Feast of Firstfruits

⁹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(FD)‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of ^(FE)the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹ He shall ^(FF)wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹² And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³ Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, for a ^[an]sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. ¹⁴ You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

The Feast of Weeks^(FG)

¹⁵ ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. ¹⁶ Count ^(FH)fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer ^(FI)a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷ You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are ^(FJ)the firstfruits to the Lord. ¹⁸ And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹ Then you shall sacrifice ^(FK)one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a ^(FL)peace offering. ²⁰ The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. ^(FM)They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹ And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

^22 (FN)‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’ ”

The Feast of Trumpets^(FO)

²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the ^(FP)seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, ^(FQ)a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵ You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’ ”

The Day of Atonement^(FR)

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^27 (FS)“Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, ^(FT)to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ For any person who is not ^(FU)afflicted in soul on that same day ^(FV)shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰ And any person who does any work on that same day, ^(FW)that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹ You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³² It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall ^[ao]afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall ^[ap]celebrate your sabbath.”

The Feast of Tabernacles^(FX)

³³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ^(FY)‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. ³⁵ On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. ³⁶ For seven days you shall offer an ^(FZ)offering made by fire to the Lord. ^(GA)On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a ^(GB)sacred^[aq] assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.

^37 (GC)‘These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day— ^38 (GD)besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.

³⁹ ‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have ^(GE)gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. ⁴⁰ And ^(GF)you shall take for yourselves on the first day the ^[ar]fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; ^(GG)and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ^41 (GH)You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ^42 (GI)You shall dwell in ^[as]booths for seven days. ^(GJ)All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, ^43 (GK)that your generations may ^(GL)know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when ^(GM)I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ ”

⁴⁴ So Moses ^(GN)declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

Care of the Tabernacle Lamps^(GO)

24 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^2 (GP)“Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. ³ Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. ⁴ He shall ^[at]be in charge of the lamps on ^(GQ)the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually.

The Bread of the Tabernacle

⁵ “And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve ^(GR)cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. ⁶ You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, ^(GS)on the pure gold table before the Lord. ⁷ And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a ^(GT)memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. ^8 (GU)Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. ⁹ And ^(GV)it shall be for Aaron and his sons, ^(GW)and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.”

The Penalty for Blasphemy

¹⁰ Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. ¹¹ And the Israelite woman’s son ^(GX)blasphemed the name of the Lord and ^(GY)cursed; and so they ^(GZ)brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) ¹² Then they ^(HA)put him ^[au]in custody, ^(HB)that ^[av]the mind of the Lord might be shown to them.

¹³ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁴ “Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him ^(HC)lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

¹⁵ “Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God ^(HD)shall ^[aw]bear his sin. ¹⁶ And whoever ^(HE)blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.

^17 (HF)‘Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. ^18 (HG)Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal.

¹⁹ ‘If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as ^(HH)he has done, so shall it be done to him— ²⁰ fracture for ^(HI)fracture, ^(HJ)eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. ²¹ And whoever kills an animal shall restore it; but whoever kills a man shall be put to death. ²² You shall have ^(HK)the^[ax] same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”

²³ Then Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they took outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him with stones. So the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Sabbath of the Seventh Year^(HL)

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount ^(HM)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 ^(HN)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 ^(HO)seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn ^(HP)rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ^5 (HQ)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; ^(HR)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 ^(HS)proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; ^(HT)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 ^(HU)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; ^(HV)you shall eat its produce from the field.

^13 (HW)‘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 ^(HX)oppress one another. ^15 (HY)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 ^(HZ)you shall not ^[ay]oppress one another, ^(IA)but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

Provisions for the Seventh Year

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

²⁰ ‘And if you say, ^(IE)“What shall we eat in the seventh year, since ^(IF)we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” ²¹ Then I will ^(IG)command My blessing on you in the ^(IH)sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. ^22 (II)And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat ^(IJ)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 ^(IK)the land is Mine; for you are ^(IL)strangers and sojourners with Me. ²⁴ And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.

^25 (IM)‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if ^(IN)his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. ²⁶ Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, ²⁷ then ^(IO)let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. ²⁸ But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; ^(IP)and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

²⁹ ‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. ³⁰ But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. ³¹ However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. ³² Nevertheless ^(IQ)the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. ³³ And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. ³⁴ But ^(IR)the field of the common-land of their cities may not be ^(IS)sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

Lending to the Poor

³⁵ ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and ^[az]falls into poverty among you, then you shall ^(IT)help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. ^36 (IU)Take no usury or interest from him; but ^(IV)fear your God, that your brother may live with you. ³⁷ You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. ^38 (IW)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

The Law Concerning Slavery

³⁹ ‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. ⁴⁰ As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ And then he shall depart from you—he and his children ^(IX)with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. ⁴² For they are ^(IY)My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. ^43 (IZ)You shall not rule over him ^(JA)with ^[ba]rigor, but you ^(JB)shall fear your God. ⁴⁴ And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. ⁴⁵ Moreover you may buy ^(JC)the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. ⁴⁶ And ^(JD)you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.

⁴⁷ ‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, ⁴⁸ after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; ⁴⁹ or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be ^(JE)according to the time of a hired servant for him. ⁵¹ If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. ⁵² And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. ⁵³ He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. ⁵⁴ And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. ⁵⁵ For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Promise of Blessing and Retribution^(JF)

^46 (LV)These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel ^(LW)on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Redeeming Persons and Property Dedicated to God

27 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(LX)‘When a man ^[bl]consecrates by a vow certain persons to the Lord, according to your ^[bm]valuation, ³ if your valuation is of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, ^(LY)according to the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁴ If it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels; ⁵ and if from five years old up to twenty years old, then your valuation for a male shall be twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels; ⁶ and if from a month old up to five years old, then your valuation for a male shall be five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver; ⁷ and if from sixty years old and above, if it is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

⁸ ‘But if he is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall set a value for ^(LZ)him; according to the ability of him who vowed, the priest shall value him.

⁹ ‘If it is an animal that men may bring as an offering to the Lord, all that anyone gives to the Lord shall be holy. ¹⁰ He shall not substitute it or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good; and if he at all exchanges animal for animal, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be ^(MA)holy. ¹¹ If it is an unclean animal which they do not offer as a sacrifice to the Lord, then he shall present the animal before the priest; ¹² and the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as you, the priest, value it, so it shall be. ^13 (MB)But if he wants at all to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth to your valuation.

¹⁴ ‘And when a man ^[bn]dedicates his house to be holy to the Lord, then the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. ¹⁵ If he who dedicated it wants to ^[bo]redeem his house, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.

¹⁶ ‘If a man ^[bp]dedicates to the Lord part of a field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. ¹⁷ If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand. ¹⁸ But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall ^(MC)reckon to him the money due according to the years that remain till the Year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your valuation. ¹⁹ And if he who dedicates the field ever wishes to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall belong to him. ²⁰ But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore; ²¹ but the field, ^(MD)when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a ^(ME)devoted field; it shall be ^(MF)the possession of the priest.

²² ‘And if a man dedicates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not the field of ^(MG)his possession, ²³ then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation, up to the Year of Jubilee, and he shall give your valuation on that day as a holy offering to the Lord. ^24 (MH)In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to the one who owned the land as a possession. ²⁵ And all your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: ^(MI)twenty gerahs to the shekel.

²⁶ ‘But the ^(MJ)firstborn of the animals, which should be the Lord’s firstborn, no man shall dedicate; whether it is an ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s. ²⁷ And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall redeem it according to your valuation, and ^(MK)shall add one-fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.

^28 (ML)‘Nevertheless no ^[bq]devoted offering that a man may devote to the Lord of all that he has, both man and beast, or the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted offering is most holy to the Lord. ^29 (MM)No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death. ³⁰ And ^(MN)all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord. ^31 (MO)If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. ³² And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever ^(MP)passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. ³³ He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, ^(MQ)nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.’ ”

^34 (MR)These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount ^(MS)Sinai.