Beginning
Israel Belongs to God
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell all the Israelites: I am the Lord your God. I am holy, so you must be holy.
3 “Each of you must honor your mother and father and keep my special days of rest.[a] I am the Lord your God!
4 “Do not worship idols. Do not make statues of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 “When you offer a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord, you must offer it in the right way so that you will be accepted. 6 You may eat it the same day you offer it and on the next day. But if any of that sacrifice is left on the third day, you must burn it in the fire. 7 You must not eat any of that sacrifice on the third day. It will be unclean,[b] and it will not be accepted. 8 You will be guilty of sin if you do that because you did not respect the holy things that belong to the Lord. If you do that, you will be separated from your people.
9 “When you cut your crops at harvest time, don’t cut all the way to the corners of your fields. And if grain falls on the ground, you must not gather up that grain. 10 Don’t pick all the grapes in your vineyards or pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. You must leave those things for your poor people and for people traveling through your country. I am the Lord your God.
11 “You must not steal. You must not cheat people. You must not lie to each other. 12 You must not use my name to make false promises. If you do that, you will show that you don’t respect the name of your God. I am the Lord!
13 “You must not cheat or rob your neighbor. You must not hold a hired worker’s salary overnight until morning.[c]
14 “You must not curse anyone who is deaf. You must not do anything to make a blind person fall. But you must respect your God. I am the Lord.
15 “You must be fair in judgment. You must not show special favor to the poor. And you must not show special favor to important people. You must be fair when you judge your neighbor. 16 You must not go around spreading false stories against other people. Don’t do anything that would put your neighbor’s life in danger. I am the Lord.
17 “Don’t secretly hate any of your neighbors. But tell them openly what they have done wrong so that you will not be just as guilty of sin as they are. 18 Forget about the wrong things people do to you. Don’t try to get even. Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
19 “You must obey my laws. You must not let your animals mate with animals of a different kind. You must not sow your field with two kinds of seed. You must not wear clothing made from two kinds of material mixed together.
20 “It may happen that a man has sexual relations with a woman who is the slave of another man. But this slave woman has not been bought or given her freedom. If this happens, there must be punishment. But they will not be put to death because the woman was not free. 21 The man must bring his guilt offering to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. He must bring a ram for a guilt offering. 22 The priest will make him pure by offering the ram as a guilt offering before the Lord. The offering is for the man’s sins, which will then be forgiven.
23 “In the future, when you enter your country, you will plant many kinds of trees for food. After planting a tree, you must wait three years before you can use any of the fruit from that tree. You must not use that fruit. 24 In the fourth year, the fruit from that tree will belong to the Lord, a holy offering of praise to him. 25 Then, in the fifth year, you can eat the fruit from that tree. And the tree will produce more and more fruit for you. I am the Lord your God.
26 “You must not eat any meat with blood still in it.
“You must not try to use different kinds of magic to tell the future.
27 “You must not round off the hair that grows on the side of your face. You must not cut your beard that grows on the side of your face. 28 You must not cut your body as a way to remember the dead. You must not make any tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.
29 “Do not dishonor your daughters by making them become prostitutes. If you do that, your whole country will turn away from God and be filled with all kinds of sinful things.
30 “You must not work on my special days of rest. You must honor my holy place. I am the Lord.
31 “Do not go to mediums or wizards for advice—they will only make you unclean. I am the Lord your God.
32 “Show honor to old people. Stand up when they come into the room. And show respect to your leaders.[d] I am the Lord.
33 “Do not do bad things to foreigners living in your country. 34 You must treat them the same as you treat your own citizens. Love them as you love yourselves. Remember, you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God!
35 “You must be fair when you judge people, and you must be fair when you measure and weigh things. 36 Your baskets should be the right size. Your jars should hold the right amount of liquids. Your weights and balances should weigh things correctly. I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 “You must remember all my laws and rules. And you must obey them. I am the Lord.”
Warning Against Worshiping Idols
20 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “You must also tell the Israelites these things: Anyone living in Israel who gives one of their children to the false god Molech must be killed! It doesn’t matter if they are a citizen of Israel or a foreigner, you must throw stones at them and kill them. 3 I will be against them and separate them from their people, because they gave their children to Molech. They showed that they did not respect my holy name. And they made my holy place unclean. 4 Maybe the common people will ignore them. Maybe they will not kill those who gave their children to Molech. 5 But I will be against these people and their families. I will separate them from their people. I will separate anyone who is unfaithful to me and chases after Molech.
6 “I will be against anyone who goes to mediums and wizards for advice. Whoever does this is being unfaithful to me. So I will separate them from their people.
7 “Be special. Make yourselves holy, because I am the Lord your God. 8 Remember and obey my laws. I am the Lord. And I have made you my special people.
9 “Whoever curses their father or mother must be put to death. They cursed their father or mother, so they are responsible for their own death![e]
Punishments for Sexual Sins
10 “If a man has sexual relations with his neighbor’s wife, both the man and the woman are guilty of adultery and must be put to death! 11 If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.[f] It is as if that man had sexual relations with his father![g]
12 “If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed a terrible sexual sin! They are responsible for their own death.
13 “If a man has sexual relations with another man as with a woman, they have committed a terrible sin. They must be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.
14 “It is a sexual sin if a man has sexual relations with a woman and her mother. The people must burn that man and the two women in fire! Don’t let this sexual sin happen among your people.
15 “If a man has sexual relations with an animal, both the man and the animal must be put to death. 16 If a woman has sexual relations with an animal, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.
17 “It is a shameful thing for a brother and his sister or half-sister to marry each other and have sexual relations with each other.[h] They must be punished in public. They must be separated from their people. The man who has sexual relations with his sister must be punished for his sin.[i]
18 “If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly time of bleeding, both the woman and the man must be separated from their people. They sinned because they exposed her source of blood.
19 “You must not have sexual relations with[j] your mother’s sister or your father’s sister. That is a sin of incest.[k] You must be punished for your sins.[l]
20 “A man must not have sexual relations with his uncle’s wife. It would be like having sexual relations with his uncle. That man and his uncle’s wife will be punished for their sins. They will die without children.[m]
21 “It is wrong for a man to take his brother’s wife. It would be like having sexual relations with his brother! They will have no children.
22 “You must remember all my laws and rules. And you must obey them. I am leading you to your land. You will live in that country. If you obey my laws and rules, that land will not vomit you out. 23 I am forcing other people to leave that country because they committed all those sins. I hate those sins! So don’t live the way those people lived. 24 But I have told you that you will get their land. I will give their land to you. It will be your land! It is a land filled with many good things.[n] I am the Lord your God.
“I have treated you differently from other people. 25 So you must treat clean animals differently from unclean animals. You must also treat clean birds differently from unclean birds. Don’t eat any of these unclean birds or animals or things that crawl on the ground. I have made these things unclean. 26 I have separated you from other nations to be my own special people. So you must be holy because I am the Lord, and I am holy.
27 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard must be put to death. The people must kill them with stones. They are responsible for their own death.”
Rules for Priests
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell these things to Aaron’s sons, the priests: A priest must not make himself unclean by touching a dead person. 2 But if the dead person was one of his close relatives, he can touch the dead body. The priest can make himself unclean if the dead person is his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother or 3 his unmarried[o] sister. (This sister is close to him because she has no husband. So the priest may make himself unclean for her if she dies.) 4 But a priest must not make himself unclean if the dead person was only one of his slaves.[p]
5 “Priests must not shave their heads bald. They must not shave off the edges of their beards. They must not make any cuts in their bodies. 6 Priests must be holy for their God. They must show respect for God’s name. They offer the bread and special gifts to the Lord, so they must be holy.
7 “A priest serves God in a special way, so he must not marry a woman who has had sexual relations with any other man. He must not marry a prostitute or a divorced woman. 8 A priest serves God in a special way. So you must treat him in a special way, because he carries holy things. He brings the holy bread to me, and I am holy. I am the Lord, and I make you holy.
9 “If a priest’s daughter becomes a prostitute, she ruins her reputation and brings shame to her father. She must be burned to death in the fire!
10 “The high priest was chosen from among his brothers. The anointing oil was poured on his head. In this way he was chosen for the special job of being high priest. He was chosen to wear the special clothes, so he must not do things to show his sadness in public. He must not let his hair grow wild. He must not tear his clothes. 11 He must not make himself unclean by touching a dead body. He must not go near a dead body, even if it is his own father or mother. 12 The high priest must not leave God’s holy place, because he might become unclean and then make God’s holy place unclean. The anointing oil was poured on the high priest’s head. This separated him from the rest of the people. I am the Lord.
13 “The high priest must marry a woman who is a virgin. 14 He must not marry a woman who has had sexual relations with any man. He must not marry a prostitute, a divorced woman, or a widow. The high priest must marry a virgin from his own people. 15 In this way people will show respect for his children.[q] I, the Lord, have separated the high priest for his special work.”
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Tell Aaron: If any of your descendants have anything wrong with them, they must not carry the special bread to God. 18 Any man who has something wrong with him must not serve as priest and bring sacrifices to me. These men cannot serve as priests: blind men, crippled men, men with bad scars on their faces, men with arms or legs that are too long, 19 men with broken feet or hands, 20 men with bent backs, men who are dwarfs,[r] men who are cross-eyed, men with rashes or bad skin diseases, and men with crushed testicles.
21 “If one of Aaron’s descendants has something wrong with him, he cannot approach the altar to bring gifts to the Lord. And he cannot carry the special bread to God. 22 He is from the family of priests, so he can eat the holy bread. He can also eat the very holy bread. 23 But he cannot go through the curtain into the Most Holy Place and he cannot go near the altar. This is because he has something wrong with him. He must not make my holy places unholy. I am the Lord, and I make these places holy.”
24 So Moses told these things to Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and all the Israelites.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International