Beginning
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.”
Holiness for All the Priests
21 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Tell the priests, Aaron’s sons: None of you should become unclean by touching one of your relatives who has died. 2 However, you are allowed to become unclean when one of your nearest relatives dies. These relatives include your mother, father, son, daughter, or brother, 3 and especially an unmarried virgin sister who is still close to you. 4 As the head of your people, you should never become unclean. That would make you unholy.
5 “You should never mourn by shaving bald spots on your heads, shaving the edges of your beards, or slashing your bodies.
6 “Be Elohim’s holy men, and don’t dishonor the name of your Elohim. Be holy because you bring sacrifices by fire to Yahweh. It is the food of your Elohim. 7 You should never marry prostitutes, those who have lost their virginity, or divorced women because a priest is Elohim’s holy man. 8 Be holy because you offer the food of your Elohim. Be holy because I, Yahweh, am holy. I set you apart as holy. 9 When a priest’s daughter dishonors herself by becoming a prostitute, she dishonors her father. She must be burned.
Holiness for the Chief Priest
10 “The priest who is anointed with oil and wears the chief priest’s clothes is chief over his brothers. He must never mourn by leaving his hair uncombed or by tearing his clothes. 11 He must never go near any dead bodies or become unclean, even for his father or mother. 12 He must not leave the holy tent of his Elohim. If he does, he will be dishonoring it, because he is dedicated with the anointing oil of his Elohim. I am Yahweh.
13 “The anointed priest must marry a virgin. 14 He must never marry a widow, a divorced woman, a woman who has lost her virginity, or a prostitute. He may only marry a virgin from his own people. 15 He must not dishonor his children among his people because I, Yahweh, set him apart as holy.”
16 Yahweh spoke to Moses, 17 “Tell Aaron: If any of your descendants (now or in future generations) has a physical defect, he must never bring food to offer to Elohim. 18 Indeed, no one who has a physical defect may ever come near the altar. That means anyone who is blind or lame, who has a disfigured face, a deformity, 19 or a crippled hand or foot, 20 who is a hunchback or dwarf, who has defective sight, skin diseases, or crushed testicles. 21 If a descendant of the priest Aaron has a physical defect, he must never bring sacrifices by fire to Yahweh. He has a defect. He must never bring food to offer to Elohim. 22 He may eat the food of his Elohim—what is holy and what is very holy. 23 However, he must never come up to the canopy or to the altar, since he has a physical defect. He must never dishonor the holy places because I, Yahweh, set them apart as holy.”
24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.