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.”

Molech Worship and Spiritism

20 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or alien residing in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech^(BA) must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him.^{(BB) 3} I will turn^[l] against that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary^(BC) and profaning my holy name.^{(BD) 4} But if the people of the country look the other way when that man^[m] gives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, ⁵ then I will turn against that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow^[n] him in prostituting^(BE) themselves with Molech.

⁶ “Whoever turns to mediums^[o](BF) or spiritists^[p] and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn against that person and cut him off from his people. ⁷ Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sets you apart.

Family and Sexual Offenses

⁹ “If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.^(BG) He has cursed his father or mother; his death is his own fault.^[q]

¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery^(BH) with a married woman—if he commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. ¹¹ If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his father.^[r](BI) Both of them must be put to death; their death is their own fault.^{[s] 12} If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law,^(BJ) both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their death is their own fault. ¹³ If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman,^(BK) they have both committed a detestable act.^(BL) They must be put to death; their death is their own fault. ¹⁴ If a man marries^[t] a woman and her mother,^(BM) it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned,^(BN) so that there will be no depravity among you. ¹⁵ If a man has sexual intercourse with^[u] an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal. ¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal.^(BO) They must be put to death; their death is their own fault. ¹⁷ If a man marries his sister,^(BP) whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have sexual relations,^[v](BQ) it is a disgrace.^(BR) They are to be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his iniquity. ¹⁸ If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood.^(BS) Both of them are to be cut off from their people. ¹⁹ You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister,^(BT) for it is exposing one’s own blood relative; both people will bear their iniquity. ²⁰ If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his uncle;^[w](BU) they will bear their guilt and die childless. ²¹ If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity.^(BV) He has violated the intimacy that belongs to his brother;^[x](BW) they will be childless.

Holiness in the Land

²² “You are to keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.^{(BX) 23} You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.^{(BY) 24} And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(BZ) I am the Lord your God who set you apart from the peoples. ²⁵ Therefore you are to distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. Do not become contaminated^(CA) by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.^{(CB) 26} You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be mine.^(CC)

²⁷ “A man or a woman who is^[y] a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their death is their own fault.”

The Greatness of Melchizedek

7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings, ² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace. ³ Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God,^(A) he remains a priest forever.

⁴ Now consider how great this man was: even Abraham the patriarch^(B) gave a tenth of the plunder to him. ⁵ The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people^(C)—that is, from their brothers and sisters—though they have also descended from Abraham. ⁶ But one without this^[a] lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.^{(D) 7} Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior. ⁸ In the one case, men who will die receive a tenth, but in the other case, Scripture testifies that he lives.^{(E) 9} And in a sense Levi himself, who receives a tenth, has paid a tenth through Abraham, ¹⁰ for he was still within his ancestor^[b] when Melchizedek met him.

A Superior Priesthood

¹¹ Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law^(F)), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron?^{(G) 12} For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well. ¹³ For the one these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar. ¹⁴ Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah,^(H) and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.

¹⁵ And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, ¹⁶ who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical^[c] descent but based on the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it has been testified:

¹⁸ So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable^{(J) 19} (for the law perfected^(K) nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.^(L)

²⁰ None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath, ²¹ but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him:

²² Because of this oath, Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.^(N)

²³ Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. ²⁴ But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. ²⁵ Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede^(O) for them.

²⁶ For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.^{(P) 27} He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself.^{(Q) 28} For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son,^(R) who has been perfected^(S) forever.