Leviticus 19-20

New International Reader's Version

Other Laws

19 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ² “Speak to the whole community of Israel. Tell them, ‘Be holy, because I am holy. I am the Lord your God.

³ “ ‘All of you must have respect for your mother and father. You must always keep my Sabbath days. I am the Lord your God.

⁴ “ ‘Do not turn away from me to worship statues of gods. Do not make for yourselves metal statues of gods. I am the Lord your God.

⁵ “ ‘Suppose you sacrifice a friendship offering to me. Then do it in the right way. And I will accept it from you. ⁶ You must eat it on the same day you sacrifice it or on the next day. Anything left over until the third day must be burned up. ⁷ If you eat any of it on the third day, it is not pure. I will not accept it. ⁸ Whoever eats it will be held responsible. They have misused what is holy to me. They will be separated from their people.

⁹ “ ‘Suppose you are harvesting your crops. Then do not harvest all the way to the edges of your field. And do not pick up the grain you missed. ¹⁰ Do not go over your vineyard a second time. Do not pick up the grapes that have fallen to the ground. Leave them for poor people and outsiders. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ “ ‘Do not steal.

“ ‘Do not tell lies.

“ ‘Do not cheat one another.

¹² “ ‘Do not give your word in my name and then be a false witness. That would be treating the name of your God as if it were not holy. I am the Lord.

¹³ “ ‘Do not cheat your neighbor. Do not rob him.

“ ‘Do not hold back the pay of a hired worker until morning.

¹⁴ “ ‘Do not ask for bad things to happen to deaf people. Do not put anything in front of blind people that will make them trip. Instead, have respect for me. I am the Lord your God.

¹⁵ “ ‘Do not make something wrong appear to be right. Treat poor people and rich people in the same way. Do not favor one person over another. Instead, judge everyone fairly.

¹⁶ “ ‘Do not go around spreading lies among your people.

“ ‘Do not do anything that puts your neighbor’s life in danger. I am the Lord.

¹⁷ “ ‘Do not hate another Israelite in your heart. Correct your neighbor boldly when they do something wrong. Then you will not share their guilt.

¹⁸ “ ‘Do not try to get even. Do not hold anything against any of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord.

¹⁹ “ ‘Obey my rules.

“ ‘Do not let different kinds of animals mate with each other.

“ ‘Do not mix two kinds of seeds and then plant them in your field.

“ ‘Do not wear clothes that are made out of two kinds of cloth.

²⁰ “ ‘Suppose a man sleeps with a female slave. But she and another man have promised to get married to each other. And her freedom has not yet been paid for or given to her. Then she and the man who slept with her must be punished. But they must not be put to death, because she had not been set free. ²¹ The man must bring a ram to the entrance to the tent of meeting. It is for a guilt offering to me. ²² The priest must take the ram for the guilt offering. He must sacrifice it to pay for the man’s sin in my sight. Then his sin will be forgiven.

²³ “ ‘When you enter the land, suppose you plant a fruit tree. Then do not eat its fruit for the first three years. The fruit is “unclean.” ²⁴ In the fourth year all the fruit will be holy. Offer it as a way of showing praise to me. ²⁵ But in the fifth year you can eat the fruit. Then you will gather more and more fruit. I am the Lord your God.

²⁶ “ ‘Do not eat any meat that still has blood in it.

“ ‘Do not practice any kind of evil magic.

²⁷ “ ‘Do not cut the hair on the sides of your head. Do not clip off the edges of your beard.

²⁸ “ ‘Do not make cuts on your bodies when someone dies. Do not put marks on your skin. I am the Lord.

²⁹ “ ‘Do not dishonor your daughter’s body by making a prostitute out of her. If you do, the Israelites will start going to prostitutes. The land will be filled with evil.

³⁰ “ ‘You must always keep my Sabbath days. Have respect for my sacred tent. I am the Lord.

³¹ “ ‘Do not look for advice from people who get messages from those who have died. Do not go to people who talk to the spirits of the dead. If you do, they will make you “unclean.” I am the Lord your God.

³² “ ‘Stand up in order to show your respect for old people. Also have respect for me. I am the Lord your God.

³³ “ ‘Suppose an outsider lives with you in your land. Then do not treat them badly. ³⁴ Treat them as if they were one of your own people. Love them as you love yourself. Remember that all of you were outsiders in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

³⁵ “ ‘Be honest when you measure lengths, weights or amounts. ³⁶ Use honest scales and honest weights. Use honest dry measures. And use honest liquid measures. I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt.

³⁷ “ ‘Obey all my rules and laws. Follow them. I am the Lord.’ ”

Israel Will Be Punished for Their Sins

20 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ² “Say to the Israelites, ‘Suppose a person sacrifices one of his children to the god Molek. It does not matter whether that person is an Israelite or an outsider who lives in Israel. He must be put to death. The members of the community must kill him by throwing stones at him. ³ I will turn against that man. I will separate him from his people. That’s because he has sacrificed his child to Molek. He has made my sacred tent “unclean.” He has treated my name as if it were not holy. ⁴ Suppose the members of the community act like they don’t know that the man has sacrificed his child to Molek. And suppose they don’t put him to death. ⁵ Then I will turn against that man and his family. I will separate them from their people. I will also separate all those who follow him by joining themselves to Molek. They are not faithful to me.

⁶ “ ‘Suppose someone looks for advice from people who get messages from those who have died. Or they go to people who talk to the spirits of the dead. And they do what those people say. Then they have not been faithful to me. So I will turn against them. I will separate them from their people.

⁷ “ ‘Set yourselves apart for me. Be holy, because I am the Lord your God. ⁸ Obey my rules. Follow them. I am the Lord. I make you holy.

⁹ “ ‘Anyone who asks for bad things to happen to their father or mother must be put to death. They have cursed their father or mother. So anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹⁰ “ ‘Suppose a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife. Then the man and the woman must be put to death.

¹¹ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his father’s wife. Then he has brought shame on his father. The man and the woman must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹² “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his daughter-in-law. Then they must be put to death. They have used sex in the wrong way. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹³ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with another man as he would have sex with a woman. I hate what they have done. They must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹⁴ “ ‘Suppose a man gets married to both a woman and her mother. That is evil. All of them must be burned to death. Then there will not be any evil among you.

¹⁵ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with an animal. Then he must be put to death. You must also kill the animal.

¹⁶ “ ‘Suppose a woman has sex with an animal. Then kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.

¹⁷ “ ‘Suppose a man gets married to his sister and has sex with her. That is a shameful thing to do. It does not matter whether she is the daughter of his father or of his mother. They must be separated from their community in front of everyone. That man has brought shame on his sister. He will be responsible for what he has done.

¹⁸ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with a woman during her monthly period. He has uncovered the place where her bleeding was coming from. And she has let him do it. So both of them must be separated from their people.

¹⁹ “ ‘Do not have sex with the sister of either your mother or your father. That would bring shame on a close relative. Both of you would be held responsible for what you have done.

²⁰ “ ‘Suppose a man has sex with his aunt. Then he has brought shame on his uncle. Both of them will be held accountable for what they have done. They will die without having any children.

²¹ “ ‘Suppose a man gets married to his brother’s wife. That is something that should never be done. He has brought shame on his brother. Neither of them will have any children.

²² “ ‘Obey all my rules and laws. Follow them. Then the land where I am bringing you to live will not throw you out. ²³ To make room for you, I am going to drive out the nations that are in the land. You must not follow the practices of those nations. I hated those nations because they did all those things. ²⁴ But I said to you, “You will take over their land as your own. I will give it to you. It will belong to you. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God. I have set you apart from the other nations.

²⁵ “ ‘So you must be able to tell the difference between animals that are “clean” and those that are not. You must know which birds are “clean” and which are not. Do not make yourselves “unclean” by eating any “unclean” animal or bird. Do not make yourselves “unclean” by eating anything that moves along the ground. I have set all of them apart as “unclean” for you. ²⁶ You must be holy. You must be set apart to me. I am the Lord. I am holy. I have set you apart from the other nations to be my own people.

²⁷ “ ‘Suppose a man or woman gets messages from those who have died. Or suppose a man or woman talks to the spirits of the dead. Then you must put that man or woman to death. You must kill them by throwing stones at them. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.’ ”