Leviticus 19-20

Names of God Bible

Duties of the People Toward God

19 Yahweh spoke to Moses, ² “Tell the whole congregation of Israel: Be holy because I, Yahweh your Elohim, am holy.

³ “Respect your mother and father. Observe my days of worship. I am Yahweh your Elohim.

⁴ “Don’t turn to worthless gods or cast metal idols. Never make any gods for yourselves. I am Yahweh your Elohim.

⁵ “When you bring a fellowship offering to Yahweh, sacrifice it properly so that you will be accepted. ⁶ Eat your sacrifice on the day you bring it and on the next day. On the third day burn whatever is left over. ⁷ If you eat any of it on the third day, it is repulsive and will not be accepted. ⁸ Those who eat it will be punished because they have dishonored what is holy to Yahweh. They must be excluded from the people.

Duties of the People Toward Each Other

⁹ “When you harvest the grain in your land, don’t harvest the grain in the corners of your fields or gather what is left after you’re finished. ¹⁰ Don’t harvest your vineyard a second time or pick up fallen grapes. Leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am Yahweh your Elohim.

¹¹ “Never steal, lie, or deceive your neighbor.

¹² “Never swear by my name in order to deceive anyone. This dishonors the name of your Elohim. I am Yahweh.

¹³ “Never oppress or rob your neighbor. Never keep the pay you owe a hired worker overnight. ¹⁴ Never curse deaf people or put anything in the way of blind people to make them stumble. Instead, fear your Elohim. I am Yahweh.

¹⁵ “Don’t be corrupt when administering justice. Never give special favors to poor people, and never show preference to important people. Judge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶ Never gossip. Never endanger your neighbor’s life. I am Yahweh.

¹⁷ “Never hate another Israelite. Be sure to correct your neighbor so that you will not be guilty of sinning along with him. ¹⁸ Never get revenge. Never hold a grudge against any of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am Yahweh.

Other Duties

¹⁹ “Obey my laws. Never crossbreed different kinds of animals. Never plant two kinds of crops in your field. Never wear clothes made from two kinds of material.

²⁰ “If a man has sexual intercourse with a female slave who is engaged to another man and if her freedom was never bought or given to her, they should not be put to death. He will only pay a fine because she is a slave. ²¹ He must bring a ram for his guilt offering to Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²² In Yahweh’s presence the priest will use them to make peace with the Lord for this sin. The man will be forgiven for this sin.

²³ “When you come into the land and plant all kinds of fruit trees, you must not eat the fruit for the first three years. ²⁴ In the fourth year all the fruit will be a holy offering of praise to Yahweh. ²⁵ In the fifth year you may eat the fruit. Do this to make the trees produce more for you. I am Yahweh your Elohim.

²⁶ “Never eat any meat with blood still in it.

“Never cast evil spells, and never consult fortunetellers.

²⁷ “Never shave the hair on your foreheads, and never cut the edges of your beard. ²⁸ Never slash your body to mourn the dead, and never get a tattoo. I am Yahweh.

²⁹ “Never dishonor your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the country will turn to prostitution and be filled with people who are perverted.

³⁰ “Observe my days of worship and respect my holy tent. I am Yahweh.

³¹ “Don’t turn to psychics or mediums to get help. That will make you unclean. I am Yahweh your Elohim.

³² “Show respect to the elderly, and honor older people. In this way you show respect for your Elohim. I am Yahweh.

³³ “Never mistreat a foreigner living in your land. ³⁴ Foreigners living among you will be like your own people. Love them as you love yourself, because you were foreigners living in Egypt. I am Yahweh your Elohim.

³⁵ “Don’t be corrupt when administering justice concerning length, weight, or measuring liquid. ³⁶ Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. I am Yahweh your Elohim who brought you out of Egypt.

³⁷ “Obey all my laws and all my rules, and live by them. I am Yahweh.”

Punishment for Serious Crimes

20 Yahweh spoke to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites: If Israelites or foreigners living among you give one of their children as a sacrifice to the god Molech, they must be put to death. The common people must stone them to death. ³ I will condemn them and exclude them from the people. They gave one of their children to Molech, made my holy tent unclean, and dishonored my holy name. ⁴ If the common people ignore those who give their children to Molech and do not put them to death, ⁵ I will condemn them and their families. I will exclude them from the people. I will exclude from the people everyone who chases after Molech as if he were a prostitute.

⁶ “I will condemn people who turn to mediums and psychics and chase after them as though they were prostitutes. I will exclude them from the people.

⁷ “Live holy lives. Be holy because I am Yahweh your Elohim. ⁸ Obey my laws, and live by them. I am Yahweh who sets you apart as holy.

⁹ “Whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother and deserves to die.

¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife or with his neighbor’s wife, both he and the woman must be put to death for their adultery. ¹¹ Whoever has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife has violated his father’s marriage. Both he and his father’s wife must be put to death. They deserve to die. ¹² If a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have done a disgusting thing and deserve to die. ¹³ When a man has sexual intercourse with another man as with a woman, both men are doing something disgusting and must be put to death. They deserve to die. ¹⁴ When a man marries a woman and her mother, they have done a perverted thing. The man and the two women must be burned. Never do this perverted thing. ¹⁵ A man who has sexual intercourse with an animal must be put to death. You must kill the animal, too. ¹⁶ When a woman offers herself sexually to any animal, you must kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. They deserve to die. ¹⁷ Whoever takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and has sexual intercourse does a shameful thing. They both must be publicly excluded from the people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister and must be punished. ¹⁸ If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman while she has her monthly period, both of them have had sexual intercourse in blood. They must be excluded from the people. ¹⁹ Never have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister. Whoever has sexual intercourse with a close relative must be punished. ²⁰ Whoever has sexual intercourse with his uncle’s wife violates his uncle’s marriage. That man and woman are guilty of sin. They will die without children. ²¹ Whoever marries his brother’s wife violates his brother’s marriage and does an unclean thing. That man and woman will have no children.

²² “If you carefully obey all my laws and my rules, the land I am bringing you to live in will not vomit you out. ²³ Never follow the practices of the people I am forcing out of your way. I cannot stand them because they did all these things. ²⁴ I have told you that you will take their land. I will give it to you as your own. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. I am Yahweh your Elohim who separated you from other people. ²⁵ Separate clean and unclean^[a] animals and birds. Never become disgusting by eating any animal or bird or anything that crawls on the ground. I have separated you from every unclean thing. ²⁶ Be my holy people because I, Yahweh, am holy. I have separated you from other people to be my very own.

²⁷ “Every man or woman who is a medium or a psychic must be put to death. They must be stoned to death because they deserve to die.”