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Beginning

Read the Bible from start to finish, from Genesis to Revelation.

Duration: 365 days

Leviticus 19-21

Chapter 19

Various Rules of Conduct. ¹The Lord said to Moses: ²Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.^[a]^(A) ³^[b]Each of you revere your mother and father,^(B) and keep my sabbaths.^(C) I, the Lord, am your God.

⁴Do not turn aside to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves.^(D) I, the Lord, am your God.

⁵When you sacrifice your communion sacrifice to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that it is acceptable on your behalf. ⁶It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice or on the following day. Whatever is left over until the third day shall be burned in fire. ⁷If any of it is eaten on the third day, it will be a desecrated offering and not be accepted;^(E) ⁸whoever eats of it then shall bear the penalty for having profaned what is sacred to the Lord. Such a one shall be cut off^(F) from the people.

⁹^[c]When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.^(G) ¹⁰Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the Lord, am your God.

¹¹^[d]You shall not steal. You shall not deceive or speak falsely to one another.^(H) ¹²You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God.^(I) I am the Lord.

¹³You shall not exploit your neighbor. You shall not commit robbery. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your laborer.^(J) ¹⁴^[e]You shall not insult the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the Lord.

¹⁵You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your neighbor justly.^(K) ¹⁶You shall not go about spreading slander among your people; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the Lord.

¹⁷^[f]You shall not hate any of your kindred in your heart. Reprove your neighbor openly so that you do not incur sin because of that person.^(L) ¹⁸Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.^(M)

¹⁹^[g]Keep my statutes: do not breed any of your domestic animals with others of a different species; do not sow a field of yours with two different kinds of seed; and do not put on a garment woven with two different kinds of thread.^(N)

²⁰^[h]^(O)If a man has sexual relations with a female slave who has been acquired by another man but has not yet been redeemed or given her freedom, an investigation shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she has not been freed. ²¹The man shall bring to the entrance of the tent of meeting as his reparation to the Lord a ram as a reparation offering.^(P) ²²With the ram of the reparation offering the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the wrong the man has committed, so that he will be forgiven for the wrong he has committed.

²³When you come into the land and plant any fruit tree there,^(Q) first look upon its fruit as if it were uncircumcised. For three years, it shall be uncircumcised for you; it may not be eaten. ²⁴In the fourth year, however, all of its fruit shall be dedicated to the Lord in joyous celebration. ²⁵Not until the fifth year may you eat its fruit, to increase the yield for you. I, the Lord, am your God.

²⁶Do not eat anything with the blood still in it.^(R) Do not recite charms or practice soothsaying.^[i]^(S) ²⁷Do not clip your hair at the temples, nor spoil the edges of your beard. ²⁸Do not lacerate your bodies for the dead, and do not tattoo yourselves.^[j]^(T) I am the Lord.

²⁹You shall not degrade your daughter by making a prostitute of her;^(U) otherwise the land will prostitute itself and become full of lewdness. ³⁰Keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary.^(V) I am the Lord.

³¹Do not turn to ghosts or consult spirits, by which you will be defiled.^(W) I, the Lord, am your God.

³²Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the old, and fear your God. I am the Lord.

³³When an alien resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a one.^(X) ³⁴You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.^(Y) I, the Lord, am your God.

³⁵Do not act dishonestly in using measures of length or weight or capacity. ³⁶You shall have a true scale and true weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin.^[k]^(Z) I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷Be careful, then, to observe all my statutes and decrees. I am the Lord.

Chapter 20

Penalties for Various Sins. ¹^[l]The Lord said to Moses: ²Tell the Israelites: Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives offspring to Molech shall be put to death.^(AA) The people of the land shall stone that person. ³^(AB)I myself will turn against and cut off^(AC) that individual from among the people; for in the giving of offspring to Molech, my sanctuary was defiled^(AD) and my holy name was profaned. ⁴If the people of the land condone the giving of offspring to Molech, by failing to put the wrongdoer to death, ⁵I myself will turn against that individual and his or her family, and I will cut off from their people both the wrongdoer and all who follow this person by prostituting themselves with Molech.

⁶Should anyone turn to ghosts and spirits and prostitute oneself with them,^(AE) I will turn against that person and cut such a one off from among the people. ⁷Sanctify yourselves, then, and be holy; for I, the Lord, your God,^(AF) am holy. ⁸Be careful, therefore, to observe my statutes. I, the Lord, make you holy.

⁹Anyone who curses father or mother shall be put to death;^[m]^(AG) and having cursed father or mother, such a one will bear the bloodguilt.^[n] ¹⁰^[o]If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife,^(AH) both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. ¹¹If a man disgraces his father by lying with his father’s wife,^(AI) the two of them shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them. ¹²If a man lies with his daughter-in-law,^(AJ) both of them shall be put to death; they have done what is perverse; their bloodguilt is upon them. ¹³If a man lies with a male as with a woman,^(AK) they have committed an abomination; the two of them shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them. ¹⁴If a man marries a woman and her mother also,^(AL) that is shameful conduct; the man and the two women as well shall be burned to death, so that shamefulness may not be found among you. ¹⁵If a man has sexual relations with an animal,^(AM) the man shall be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. ¹⁶If a woman goes up to any animal to mate with it,^(AN) you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall both be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them. ¹⁷If a man marries his sister,^(AO) his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have intercourse with each other, that is disgraceful; they shall be publicly cut off^[p] from the people; the man shall bear the penalty of having had intercourse with his own sister. ¹⁸If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and has intercourse with her, he has laid bare the source of her flow and she has uncovered it.^(AP) The two of them shall be cut off from the people. ¹⁹You shall not have intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister,^(AQ) because that dishonors one’s own flesh; they shall bear their penalty. ²⁰If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he disgraces his uncle;^(AR) they shall bear the penalty; they shall die childless. ²¹If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is severe defilement and he has disgraced his brother;^(AS) they shall be childless.

²²Be careful to observe all my statutes and all my decrees; otherwise the land where I am bringing you to dwell will vomit you out.^(AT) ²³Do not conform, therefore, to the customs of the nations^(AU) whom I am driving out of your way, because all these things that they have done have filled me with disgust for them. ²⁴But to you I have said:^(AV) You shall take possession of their land. I am giving it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I, the Lord, am your God, who have set you apart from other peoples. ²⁵^(AW)You, too, must set apart, then, the clean animals from the unclean, and the clean birds from the unclean, so that you do not make yourselves detestable through any beast or bird or any creature which creeps on the ground that I have set apart for you as unclean. ²⁶To me, therefore, you shall be holy; for I, the Lord, am holy,^(AX) and I have set you apart from other peoples to be my own.

²⁷A man or a woman who acts as a medium or clairvoyant^(AY) shall be put to death. They shall be stoned to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.

Chapter 21

Sanctity of the Priesthood. ¹^[q]The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and tell them: None of you shall make himself unclean for any dead person among his kindred,^(AZ) ²except for his nearest relatives, his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother^(BA) ³or his unmarried sister, who is of his own family while she remains single; for these he may make himself unclean. ⁴But as a husband among his kindred^[r] he shall not make himself unclean and thus profane himself.

⁵The priests shall not make bald the crown of their head, nor shave the edges of their beard, nor lacerate their body.^(BB) ⁶They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane their God’s name, since they offer the oblations of the Lord, the food of their God; so they must be holy.

⁷^[s]A priest shall not marry a woman debased by prostitution, nor a woman who has been divorced by her husband; for the priest is holy to his God.^(BC) ⁸Honor him as holy for he offers the food^(BD) of your God; he shall be holy to you, because I, the Lord, am holy who make you holy.

⁹If a priest’s daughter debases herself by prostitution, she thereby debases her father; she shall be burned with fire.^(BE)

¹⁰The most exalted of the priests, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the special vestments, shall not dishevel his hair or rend his garments, ¹¹nor shall he go near any dead person.^(BF) Not even for his father or mother may he thus become unclean; ¹²nor shall he leave the sanctuary and profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him.^(BG) I am the Lord.

¹³He shall marry only a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴He shall not marry a widow or a woman who has been divorced or one who has been debased by prostitution, but only a virgin, taken from his kindred, he shall marry,^(BH) ¹⁵so that he not profane his offspring among his kindred. I, the Lord, make him holy.

Priestly Blemishes.^[t] ¹⁶The Lord said to Moses: ¹⁷Say to Aaron: None of your descendants, throughout their generations, who has any blemish shall come forward to offer the food of his God. ¹⁸Anyone who has any of the following blemishes may not come forward:^(BI) he who is blind, or lame, or who has a split lip, or a limb too long, ¹⁹or a broken leg or arm, ²⁰or who is a hunchback or dwarf or has a growth in the eye, or who is afflicted with sores, scabs, or crushed testicles. ²¹No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any such blemish may draw near to offer the oblations of the Lord; on account of his blemish he may not draw near to offer the food of his God. ²²He may, however, eat the food of his God: of the most sacred as well as sacred offerings.^(BJ) ²³Only, he may not enter through the veil nor draw near to the altar on account of his blemish; he shall not profane my sacred precincts, for it is I, the Lord, who make them holy.

²⁴Moses, therefore, told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Footnotes

19:2 Be holy, for I…am holy: in the writings commonly attributed to the Priestly collection, Israel is called to be holy through obeying God’s precepts (11:44–45; 20:7–8, 24–26; Nm 15:40–41). Cf. Dt 14:2, 21; 26:19; and Ex 19:6.
19:3–4 Cf. the Decalogue laws on revering parents (Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16), keeping sabbaths (Ex 20:8–11; Dt 5:12–15), and not making or worshiping idols (Ex 20:2–6; Dt 5:7–10).
19:9–10 The Israelites maintain the poor in part by letting them gather unharvested portions of fields and vineyards. Cf. 23:22; Ru 2:1–10.
19:11–13 Cf. the Decalogue commandments against stealing (Ex 20:15; Dt 5:19), wrongly using God’s name (Ex 20:7; Dt 5:11), and swearing falsely against another (Ex 20:16; Dt 5:20).
19:14 In Dt 27:18 a curse falls on the head of the one who misleads the blind.
19:17–18 These verses form a unit and describe different attitudes and actions towards one’s fellow Israelites. A separate passage is necessary to advise a similar attitude toward aliens (vv. 33–34). Cf. 25:39–46. The admonition at the end of v. 18 came to be viewed in Judaism and Christianity as one of the central commandments. (See Mt 22:34–40; Mk 12:28–34; Lk 10:25–28; cf. Mt 19:19; Rom 13:8–10; Gal 5:14). The New Testament urges love for enemies as well as neighbors (Mt 5:43–48; Lk 6:27–36; cf. Prv 25:21–22).
19:19 One reason why mixtures are prohibited seems to be that they are holy (see Dt 22:9, 10–11). Israelites are allowed mixtures in the wearing of fringes on the edges or corners of their clothing (Nm 15:37–41; Dt 22:12). Some mixtures are considered abominations (cf. Lv 18:23; Dt 22:5).
19:20–22 On adultery, see note on 18:20. Here it is not adultery in the technical sense since the woman is not free. A reparation offering is required as a penalty (see 5:14–26).
19:26 Recite charms…soothsaying: methods of divination (cf. Gn 44:5, 15; Is 2:6; Ez 21:26–28). Legitimate means of learning the future or God’s will were through the Urim and Thummim stones (see Lv 8:8), lots (see Lv 16:8) and prophets (cf. Dt 18:9–22; 1 Sm 28:6–7).
19:28 Do not tattoo yourselves: see note on Gn 4:15. This prohibition probably refers only to the common ancient Near Eastern practice of branding a slave with its owner’s name as well as branding the devotees of a god with its name.
19:36 Ephah: see note on Is 5:10; hin: see note on Ez 45:24.
20:1–5 The term Molech may refer to a deity, perhaps with an underworld association, and the activity forbidden here may be connected with divination. Cf. Dt 18:10; 2 Kgs 17:17; 21:6. In the kingdom of Judah the cult appears to have been practiced in the Valley of Hinnom, just outside Jerusalem on the west and south (2 Kgs 23:10; Jer 32:35).
20:9 Curses father or mother…put to death: this is more than a simple expletive uttered in anger against one’s parents. See note on Ex 21:17.
20:9–21 Bloodguilt: these penalties, beginning with cursing one’s parents, reflect the concerns of a patriarchal society that the breakdown of one’s relations with one’s parents can lead to the breakdown of all other familial relationships, resulting in the breakdown of society.
20:10–21 See 18:6–23 and notes there. It appears that the inclusion of various penalties in 20:10–21 accounts for the different order of the cases here compared to the order found in 18:6–23. The reason why the offenses in 20:10–21 carry different penalties, however, is not clear. Perhaps the cases in vv. 17–21 were considered slightly less serious, being condemned but not criminally prosecuted.
20:17 Cut off: see note on 7:20.
21:1–12 While off duty the regular priests are not to become corpse-contaminated except for the close relatives listed in vv. 2–3. While on duty they presumably could not become impure at all. The high priest is restricted from all corpse contamination, on or off duty (vv. 11–12). Lay Israelites are not restricted from corpse contamination, except when in contact with what is holy (cf. Dt 26:14). See note on Lv 11:39–40. Israelites who undertake a nazirite vow enter into a sanctified state and cannot contact corpses (Nm 6:6–12). Cf. Ez 44:25–27.
21:4 Husband among his kindred: this probably refers to relatives by marriage and may even include his wife.
21:7 The ideal seems to be that a priest marry a virgin. This is explicitly stated for the high priest (cf. vv. 13–14; so also Ez 44:22, except there priests may marry widows of priests). The high priest has the added limitation that his wife must come from his kindred, i.e., the priestly family (cf. Ez 44:22).
21:16–23 Though priests with certain bodily imperfections cannot serve at the altar (vv. 18–20), they are not impure, since they may still eat of the offerings, which are holy, and do so within the sanctuary precincts since it is there the most holy offerings are to be eaten (v. 22).

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.