Bible in 90 Days

The Law About Leprous Houses

³³ The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: ³⁴ When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving to you for a possession, and I put a leprous disease in a house of the land of your possession, ³⁵ then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, “It seems to me there is some disease in the house.” ³⁶ Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes into it to examine the disease, so that all that is in the house is not made unclean. Afterwards, the priest shall go in to examine the house. ³⁷ He shall examine the disease and see if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, which appear to go deeper than the wall. ³⁸ Then the priest shall go out to the door of the house and close off the house seven days. ³⁹ The priest shall return on the seventh day and shall examine and see if the disease has spread in the walls of the house. ⁴⁰ Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the disease appears and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ And he shall cause the house to be scraped all around, and they shall pour out the plaster that they scrape off outside the city into an unclean place. ⁴² And they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and shall plaster the house.

⁴³ If the disease comes again and breaks out in the house after he has taken away the stones and after he has scraped the house and after it is plastered, ⁴⁴ then the priest shall come and examine and see if the disease has spread in the house. If the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprosy in the house; it is unclean. ⁴⁵ He shall break down the house, the stones and the timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city into an unclean place.

⁴⁶ Moreover, he who goes into the house while it is closed off shall be unclean until the evening. ⁴⁷ And he who sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ If the priest comes in and examines it and sees the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the disease is healed. ⁴⁹ He shall take two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop to cleanse the house. ⁵⁰ Then he shall kill one of the birds in a clay vessel over running water. ⁵¹ He shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² Then he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet. ⁵³ But he shall let the living bird loose outside the city into the open fields and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.

⁵⁴ This is the law for all manner of leprous sore and scale, ⁵⁵ and for the disease of a garment, or of a house, ⁵⁶ and for a swelling, or for a scab, or for a spot, ⁵⁷ to discern when it is unclean and when it is clean.

This is the law of leprosy.

The Law About Bodily Discharges

15 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: ² Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When any man has a discharge out of his body, his discharge is unclean. ³ This is the instruction for his uncleanness in his discharge, whether the discharge from his body flows or his body is stopped up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness.

⁴ Every bed on which the man with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. ⁵ Whoever touches the bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ⁶ And whoever sits on anything where the man sat who has the discharge shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.

⁷ And whoever touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.

⁸ If the man with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.

⁹ Any saddle on which the man with a discharge rides shall be unclean. ¹⁰ Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening, and he who carries any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.

¹¹ Whomever he who has the discharge touches, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

¹² The earthen vessel that he who has the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

¹³ When he who has a discharge is cleansed of his issue, then he shall count to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his body in running water, and shall be clean. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. ¹⁵ And the priest shall offer them, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord for his discharge.

¹⁶ If any man has a seminal emission, then he shall wash all his body in water and be unclean until the evening. ¹⁷ Every garment and all leather on which there is seminal emission shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. ¹⁸ If a man lies with a woman, and there is an emission of semen, they shall both bathe themselves in water and be unclean until the evening.

¹⁹ If a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be set apart for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.

²⁰ Everything that she lies on in her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Also, everything that she sits on shall be unclean. ²¹ Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ²² Whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ²³ Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening.

²⁴ If any man lies with her, and her menstrual impurity is on him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed where he lies shall be unclean.

²⁵ If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall be in uncleanness, as in the days of her impurity. She shall be unclean. ²⁶ Every bed that she lies on all the days of her discharge shall be for impurity, and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. ²⁷ Whoever touches those things shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.

²⁸ But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall count to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. ²⁹ On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ³⁰ The priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.

³¹ Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by defiling My tabernacle that is among them.

³² This is the law for him who has a discharge and for him who has a seminal emission and thus becomes unclean, ³³ and for her who is sick from her menstruation, and for him who has a discharge, for anyone male or female, and for the man who lies with a woman who is unclean.

The Day of Atonement^(A)

16 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near to the Lord and died. ² The Lord said to Moses: Speak to Aaron your brother so that he does not come at any time into the Holy Place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is on the ark, so that he will not die, for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.

³ Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and he shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and shall be girded with a linen sash, and shall be wearing the linen turban. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water and then put them on. ⁵ He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶ Aaron shall offer his bull for the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷ Then he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸ Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. ⁹ Aaron shall bring the goat on which the lot of the Lord falls and offer him for a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot falls to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement with it, that it may be sent away as a scapegoat into the wilderness.

¹¹ Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering for himself. ¹² And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil. ¹³ And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. ¹⁴ And he shall take of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the eastern side, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle from the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵ Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it over and in front of the mercy seat. ¹⁶ And he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins, and so he shall do for the tent of meeting that remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. ¹⁷ There shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out and has made atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and he shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. ¹⁹ He shall sprinkle from the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

²⁰ When he has made an end of atonement for the Holy Place, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, then he shall bring the live goat. ²¹ And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away by the hand of a designated man into the wilderness. ²² And the goat shall bear on it all their iniquities to a desolate land, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

²³ Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting, and shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. ²⁴ And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come out, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.

²⁶ He who releases the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp. ²⁷ The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. They shall burn in the fire their hides, their flesh, and their refuse. ²⁸ He who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

²⁹ This shall be a perpetual statute for you so that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble yourselves, and do no work of any kind, whether it is the native citizen or the stranger who sojourns among you. ³⁰ For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you to cleanse you, so that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. ³¹ It shall be a sabbath, a solemn rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves. It is a perpetual statute. ³² The priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as a priest in the place of his father, shall make atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, the holy garments. ³³ And he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, for the tent of meeting, and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.

³⁴ This shall be a perpetual statute for you to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year.

And Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

The Law About Eating Blood

17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, saying: ³ If anyone of the house of Israel ritually slaughters an ox, a lamb, or goat in the camp, or slaughters it outside of the camp, ⁴ and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, then blood guilt shall be accounted to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people. ⁵ This is so that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them to the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, to the priest, and offer them for peace offerings to the Lord. ⁶ The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and burn the fat for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ⁷ They shall no more offer their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they have acted like whores. This shall be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations.

⁸ You shall say to them: Any man from the house of Israel, or from the foreigners who sojourn among you, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, ⁹ and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord, even that man shall be cut off from among his people.

¹⁰ Whoever from the house of Israel, or from the strangers who sojourn among you, who eats any manner of blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. ¹¹ For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. ¹² Therefore I said to the children of Israel: No person among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

¹³ Whoever from the children of Israel, or from the foreigners who sojourn among you, who hunts and catches any wild animal or fowl that may be eaten, he shall even pour out the blood and cover it with dirt. ¹⁴ For the life of every creature is its blood; in its blood is its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.

¹⁵ Every person who eats that which died of itself, or that which was torn by animals, whether he is a native citizen or a foreigner, he shall both wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. Then he shall be clean. ¹⁶ But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then he shall bear his iniquity.

Laws on Immoral Relations

18 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: I am the Lord your God. ³ After the practices of the land of Egypt, from where you lived, you shall not follow, and after the practices of the land of Canaan, to where I will bring you, you shall not follow; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. ⁴ You shall follow My decrees and keep My ordinances to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. ⁵ You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does them, then he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

⁶ None of you shall approach any of his near relatives to have relations: I am the Lord.

⁷ You shall not have relations with your father or have relations with your mother. She is your mother. You shall not have relations with her.

⁸ You shall not have relations with your father’s wife, for this exposes your father’s nakedness.

⁹ You shall not have relations with your sister, whether your father’s or mother’s daughter, whether raised in the family or another home.

¹⁰ You shall not have relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for this exposes your own nakedness.

¹¹ You shall not have relations with your father’s wife’s daughter who is raised in your father’s family, for she is your sister.

¹² You shall not have relations with your father’s sister, for she is your father’s relative.

¹³ You shall not have relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative.

¹⁴ You shall not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife for relations; she is your aunt.

¹⁵ You shall not have relations with your daughter-in-law, for she is your son’s wife—you shall not have relations with her.

¹⁶ You shall not have relations with your brother’s wife, for this exposes your brother’s nakedness.

¹⁷ You shall not have relations with a woman and her daughter, nor shall you have her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, for this exposes the woman’s nakedness. They are all near relatives. It is depravity.

¹⁸ And you shall not have a woman as a rival wife, who is the sister of your other wife, for this is to expose her nakedness while her sister, your other wife, is still alive.

¹⁹ Also you shall not approach a woman to have relations as long as she is in her menstrual uncleanness.

²⁰ Moreover, you shall not have relations with your neighbor’s wife to defile yourself with her.

²¹ You shall not let any of your children be offered through the fire to Molek, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

²² You shall not lie with a man as one does with a woman. It is an abomination.

²³ You shall not lie with an animal to defile yourself, nor shall any woman lie with an animal. It is a perversion.

²⁴ Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in these practices the nations I am casting out before you have defiled themselves. ²⁵ And the land has become defiled; therefore I have punished its iniquity, and the land has vomited out her inhabitants. ²⁶ But you shall therefore keep My statutes and My decrees, and you shall not commit any of these abominations, either the native citizen or any foreigner who sojourns among you ²⁷ (for the people of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled), ²⁸ lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

²⁹ For whoever shall commit any of these abominations, those persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. ³⁰ Therefore you shall keep My ordinances, that you do not commit any one of these abominable customs which were committed before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.

Moral and Ceremonial Laws

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

³ Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you will keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

⁴ Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves cast metal gods: I am the Lord your God.

⁵ When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you might be accepted. ⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the next day, and if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. ⁷ If it is eaten at all on the third day, then it is contaminated. It shall not be accepted. ⁸ Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has defiled what is holy of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people.

⁹ When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap up to the edge of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ You shall not glean bare your vineyard, nor shall you gather every fallen grape of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

¹² You shall not swear falsely by My name, and so defile the name of your God: I am the Lord.

¹³ You shall not defraud your neighbor or rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not stay with you all night until the morning.

¹⁴ You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

¹⁵ You shall do no unrighteousness in a court. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person who is great, but in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.

¹⁶ You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, nor shall you stand by while the life of your neighbor is in danger: I am the Lord.

¹⁷ You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely reason honestly with your neighbor, and not suffer sin because of him.

¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

¹⁹ You shall keep My statutes.

You shall not let your livestock breed with a different kind.

You shall not sow your field with mixed seed, nor shall your garment be mixed from two types of fabric.

²⁰ Whoever lies with a slave woman who is betrothed to another man and not yet ransomed or given freedom, compensation will be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free. ²¹ He shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. ²² The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin which he has done, and he will be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

²³ When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall count the fruit as forbidden.^[a] Three years it shall be forbidden to you. It shall not be eaten. ²⁴ But in the fourth year all the fruit shall be holy and an offering of praise to the Lord. ²⁵ And in the fifth year you shall eat of the fruit that it may yield an increase to you: I am the Lord your God.

²⁶ You shall not eat anything with the blood in it, nor shall you practice divination or fortune-telling.

²⁷ You shall not round the corners of the hair on your head, nor shall you mar the edges of your beard.

²⁸ You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.

²⁹ Do not prostitute your daughter and cause her to be defiled, lest the land fall into whoredom and become full of wickedness.

³⁰ You shall keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

³¹ Do not turn to spirits through mediums or necromancers. Do not seek after them to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.

³² You shall rise up before a gray head, and honor the face of an old man, and fear your God: I am the Lord.

³³ When a foreigner sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ³⁴ The foreigner who dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

³⁵ You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment regarding measures in length, weight, or quantity. ³⁶ You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah,^[b] and an honest hin:^[c] I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

³⁷ Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments and do them: I am the Lord.

Penalties for Violating the Law

20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: Whoever from the children of Israel or from the foreigners who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molek, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him. ³ I will set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molek to defile My sanctuary and to defile My holy name. ⁴ If the people of the land in any way hide their eyes from the man when he gives of his children to Molek and do not put him to death, ⁵ then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut them off from their people, both him and those who follow after him as whores after Molek.

⁶ The person who turns to spirits through mediums and necromancers in order to whore after them, I will even set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

⁷ Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ You shall keep My statutes, and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

⁹ For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood guilt shall be upon him.

¹⁰ If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

¹¹ If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood guilt shall be upon them.

¹² If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed a perversion. Their blood guilt shall be upon them.

¹³ If a man lies with another man as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood guilt shall be upon them.

¹⁴ If a man lies with a woman and also her mother, it is wickedness. Both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there is no wickedness among you.

¹⁵ If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.

¹⁶ If a woman approaches an animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood guilt shall be upon them.

¹⁷ If a man lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or mother, they have exposed each other’s nakedness; it is a wicked thing and they shall be cut off from the sight of their people. He has exposed his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity.

¹⁸ If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and exposes her nakedness, her fountain of blood is then exposed. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

¹⁹ You shall not have relations with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, for this is to expose the nakedness of one’s relative. They shall bear their iniquity.

²⁰ If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin. They shall die childless.

²¹ If a man lies with his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has exposed his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.

²² You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My decrees and do them, so that the land to where I am bringing you will not vomit you out. ²³ You shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. ²⁴ But I have said to you: You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land that flows with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from other peoples.

²⁵ You shall therefore make distinction between the clean animal from the unclean, and the unclean fowl from the clean, and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that crawls on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. ²⁶ You shall be holy unto Me; for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from other peoples, that you should be Mine.

²⁷ A man or woman who speaks to spirits as a medium or necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them. Their blood guilt shall be upon them.

Rules for Priestly Conduct

21 Then the Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, ² but for his closest relatives, that is, for his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, ³ and his virgin sister (who is near him because she has not had a husband), for her he may be made unclean. ⁴ And he shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people because of the dead and so defile himself.

⁵ They shall not make bald areas on their heads, nor shall they shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh. ⁶ They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the food of their God. Therefore they shall be holy.

⁷ They shall not take a wife who is a whore or has been defiled, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband, for he is holy unto his God. ⁸ You shall sanctify him, for he offers the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy.

⁹ The daughter of any priest, if she defiles herself by being a whore, she also defiles her father. She shall be burned with fire.

¹⁰ He who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not dishevel his hair, nor tear his clothes; ¹¹ nor shall he approach any dead body, nor make himself unclean, even for his father or his mother; ¹² nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, so as not to defile the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord.

¹³ He shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴ A widow, or a divorced woman, or a defiled woman, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take for a wife a virgin of his own people, ¹⁵ so that he does not defile his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁷ Speak to Aaron, saying: None of your offspring in their generations who has any blemish may approach to offer the food of his God. ¹⁸ For whoever has a blemish, he shall not approach, whether a blind or lame man, or one who has a physical flaw on his face or a limb that is too long, ¹⁹ or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scabs, or is a eunuch. ²¹ No man who has a blemish from the offspring of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the food offerings of the Lord made by fire. He has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²² He shall eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy. ²³ Only he shall not go in through the veil or come to the altar, because he has a blemish, so that he does not defile My sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

²⁴ Moses spoke this to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

Holy Offerings

22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to Aaron and to his sons that they should be very respectful with the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they do not defile My holy name with those things which the people have consecrated to Me: I am the Lord.

³ Say to them: Whoever from your offspring through your generations approaches the holy things, which the children of Israel have dedicated to the Lord, while he has uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from My presence: I am the Lord.

⁴ If a man of the offspring of Aaron is a leper or has a discharge, he shall not eat of the holy offerings until he is clean. And whoever touches anything that is unclean by contact with the dead or a man who had an emission of semen, ⁵ or whoever touches any crawling thing whereby he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may receive uncleanness, whatever uncleanness he has, ⁶ the person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy things unless he washes his body with water. ⁷ When the sun goes down, he shall be clean, and afterward he shall eat of the holy things, because it is his food. ⁸ That which dies of itself or is torn by animals he shall not eat, becoming unclean by it: I am the Lord.

⁹ They shall therefore keep My ordinance, lest they bear sin from it and therefore die if they defile it: I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁰ There shall be no outsider^[d] who eats of a holy thing, whether a foreign guest of the priest or a hired servant, he shall not eat of a holy offering. ¹¹ But if a priest buys a person with his money, the person acquired shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house shall eat of his food. ¹² If the priest’s daughter marries an outsider, she may not eat of an offering of the holy things. ¹³ But if the priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and has no child and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; but no outsider may eat of it.

¹⁴ If a man eats the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall add a fifth of the value to it and shall give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵ They shall not defile the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶ and cause them to suffer and to bear the iniquity of guilt when they eat their holy things, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

Acceptable Offerings

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁸ Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: Whoever from the house of Israel or from the foreigners in Israel who offers his burnt offering for any vows or freewill offerings that he offers to the Lord, ¹⁹ then if it is to be accepted for you, the offering shall be a male without blemish, a bull, sheep, or goat. ²⁰ But whatever has a blemish you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable for you. ²¹ Whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill his vow or a freewill offering, whether from the herd or flock, to be accepted it shall be perfect, with no blemish on it. ²² Blind, or disabled, or maimed, or having an ulcer or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer these to the Lord, nor make a food offering by fire on the altar to the Lord. ²³ A herd animal or a flock animal that has a limb that is too long or short you may offer for a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted. ²⁴ You shall not offer to the Lord an animal that is bruised or crushed or torn or cut; nor shall you make any offering of them in your land. ²⁵ Nor from a foreigner shall you offer an animal as the food of your God, because a blemish is in them from their mutilation. They shall not be accepted for you.

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁷ When an ox, or a sheep, or a goat is born, then it shall be seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day and thereafter it shall be accepted for a food offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ But you shall not slaughter on the same day an ox or a sheep and her young.

²⁹ When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, offer it so that it may be accepted. ³⁰ On the same day it shall be eaten. You shall leave none of it until the next day: I am the Lord.

³¹ Therefore you shall keep My commandments and do them: I am the Lord. ³² You shall not defile My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the children of Israel: I am the Lord who sanctifies you, ³³ who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord.

The Appointed Feasts

23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: Concerning the feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My appointed feasts.

The Sabbath

³ For six days work shall be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread^(B)

⁴ These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed times. ⁵ On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶ On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ⁷ On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. ⁸ But you shall offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.

Offering the First Fruits

⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁰ Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you have come into the land that I am giving to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf bundle of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹ And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹² You shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf a year-old male lamb without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³ The grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah^[e] of wheat flour mixed with oil, a food offering made by fire to the Lord for a pleasing aroma; its drink offering shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.^{[f] 14} You shall eat neither bread nor grain, parched or fresh, until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

The Feast of Weeks^(C)

¹⁵ You shall count seven full weeks from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf bundle of the wave offering. ¹⁶ You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷ You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of wheat flour, baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Lord. ¹⁸ You shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one bull, and two rams. They shall be for a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, that is, a food offering made by fire, of a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹ Then you shall sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. ²⁰ The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹ You shall make a proclamation on the same day and shall hold a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. It shall be a perpetual statute in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

²² When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field up to the edge, nor shall you gather any gleaning of your harvest. You shall leave them to the poor and to the foreigner: I am the Lord your God.

The Feast of Trumpets^(D)

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁴ Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵ You shall do no regular work, and you shall offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord.

The Day of Atonement^(E)

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁷ Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall humble yourselves, and offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ You shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ For whoever is not humbled on that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. ³⁰ And whoever does any work in that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹ You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³² It shall be to you a sabbath of complete rest, and you shall afflict your souls. On the ninth day of the month starting at the evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.

The Feast of Tabernacles^(F)

³³ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ³⁴ Speak to the children of Israel, saying: The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. ³⁵ On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. ³⁶ For seven days you shall offer food offerings made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day it shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and you shall do no regular work.

³⁷ These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, ³⁸ besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord,

³⁹ On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep a feast to the Lord for seven days. On the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. ⁴⁰ You shall take on the first day the branches of majestic trees—branches of palm trees, branches of leafy trees, and willows from a brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴² You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native children of Israel shall dwell in booths, ⁴³ that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

⁴⁴ Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

The Tabernacle Lamps^(G)

24 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the lamp, to cause the lamps to burn continually. ³ Outside the veil of the sanctuary, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it continually, from the evening until the morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual statute in your generations. ⁴ He shall arrange the lamps continually on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord.

The Bread of the Tabernacle

⁵ You shall take wheat flour and bake twelve cakes. Two-tenths of an ephah^[g] shall be in each cake. ⁶ You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. ⁷ You shall put pure frankincense on each row, so that it may be on the bread for a memorial, a food offering made by fire to the Lord. ⁸ Every Sabbath he shall set it in order continually before the Lord, with the portion taken from the children of Israel by a perpetual covenant. ⁹ It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him of the food offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute.

The Punishment for Blasphemy

¹⁰ The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel, and this son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel fought together in the camp. ¹¹ And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed. And they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) ¹² And they put him in custody, so that the words of the Lord might be shown to them.

¹³ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁴ Bring outside the camp him who has cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let the entire congregation stone him. ¹⁵ You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. ¹⁶ Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and the entire congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native in the land, when he blasphemes the name, then he shall be put to death.

¹⁷ Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸ Whoever kills an animal shall make restitution, animal for animal. ¹⁹ If anyone causes injury to his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him, ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused an injury to another, so shall it be done to him. ²¹ Whoever kills an animal shall make restitution. And whoever kills a man shall be put to death. ²² You shall have one manner of law for the foreigner as for the native, for I am the Lord your God.

²³ So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they brought outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him. And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Sabbath Year

25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: ² Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. ³ For six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruit, ⁴ but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ⁵ That which grows by itself from your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your unpruned vines, for it is a year of complete rest for the land. ⁶ The sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, and for your male and female servants, and for your hired servant, and for your stranger who sojourns with you, ⁷ and for your livestock, and for the wild animals in your land, shall all its increase be food.

The Year of Jubilee^(H)

⁸ You shall count seven sabbath weeks of years, seven times seven years, and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. ⁹ Then you shall sound the horn blasts on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall make the sound of the horn throughout all your land. ¹⁰ You shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee to you, and each of you shall return to his possession, and every person shall return to his family. ¹¹ That fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you. You shall neither sow nor reap that which grows by itself, nor gather the grapes of your unpruned vines. ¹² For it is the Jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat the produce of the field.

¹³ In the Year of Jubilee you shall return to your property.

¹⁴ If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from your neighbor, you shall not oppress one another. ¹⁵ According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall pay your neighbor, and according to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you. ¹⁶ According to the increase of years you shall increase the price, and according to the decrease of years you shall diminish the price of it. For he shall sell to you according to the number of years of crops. ¹⁷ You shall not therefore oppress one another, but you shall fear your God. For I am the Lord your God.

¹⁸ Therefore you shall do My statutes, and keep My decrees, and do them, and you shall dwell securely in the land. ¹⁹ The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill and live securely in it. ²⁰ If you shall say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we shall not sow nor gather in our crop?” ²¹ then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for three years. ²² You shall sow in the eighth year, and eat yet of old crops until the ninth year until its crops come in for you.

Redemption of Property

²³ The land shall not be permanently sold, for the land is Mine. For you are foreigners and sojourners with Me. ²⁴ In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.

²⁵ If your brother becomes poor and has sold some of his possession, then his nearest redeemer will come to redeem it, and buy back that which his brother sold. ²⁶ If the man has none to redeem it, but he himself is able to redeem it, ²⁷ then let him count the years since the sale and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, so that he may return to his property. ²⁸ But if he is not able to restore it to himself, then that which he sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee, and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

²⁹ If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a year after it is sold, within a full year he may have the right to buy it back. ³⁰ If it is not redeemed within the time of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be given permanently to him who bought it throughout his generations. It shall not be returned in the Jubilee. ³¹ But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the land. They may be redeemed, and they shall be returned in the Jubilee.

³² For the cities of the Levites, they may redeem at any time the houses in the cities that they possess. ³³ If a Levite purchases back the house that was sold in the city of his possession, then it shall be returned in the Jubilee. For the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. ³⁴ But the fields of the land of their cities may not be sold, for they are their perpetual possession.

Helping the Poor

³⁵ If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, then you shall support him as if he were a foreigner or a sojourner, so that he may live with you. ³⁶ Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, so that your brother may live with you. ³⁷ You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor lend him your food for profit. ³⁸ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

The Law About Slavery

³⁹ If your brother who dwells near you becomes poor and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant. ⁴⁰ But as a hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with you. He shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ And then he shall depart from you, both he and his children with him, and he shall return to his own family and to the possession of his fathers. ⁴² For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves. ⁴³ You shall not rule over him with harshness, but you shall fear your God.

⁴⁴ Both your male and female slaves, whom you may have, they shall be bought from the nations that are around you. ⁴⁵ Moreover of the foreigners who sojourn among you and of their families who are with you, who were born in your land, you may also buy from them, and they may be your possession. ⁴⁶ You may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, for their possession. They shall be your slaves forever. But over your brothers, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.

⁴⁷ If a sojourner or foreigner becomes rich by you, and your brother who dwells beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the foreigner or sojourner with you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, ⁴⁸ then after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him, ⁴⁹ or either his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or any who is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him. Or if he is able, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ He shall calculate with him who bought him from the year that he was sold to the Year of Jubilee, and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant. ⁵¹ If there are still many years left until the Jubilee, he shall pay the price proportionately for his redemption as some of the price that he was bought for. ⁵² If there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall calculate and pay the price proportionately for his redemption according to his years of service. ⁵³ As a yearly hired servant he shall be treated, and the other shall not rule harshly over him in your sight.

⁵⁴ If he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the Year of Jubilee, both he and his children with him. ⁵⁵ For to Me the children of Israel are servants. They are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Rewards for Obedience

26 You shall not make for yourselves idols; neither set up a carved image nor a standing stone, nor shall you set up any sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.

² You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

³ If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, ⁴ then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing shall last till the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last till the time for sowing, and you shall eat your bread till you are full and dwell in your land safely.

⁶ I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down for sleep, and none shall make you afraid; I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. ⁷ You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. ⁸ Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

⁹ I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. ¹⁰ You shall eat the old harvest long stored, and clear out the old to make way for the new. ¹¹ I will set My tabernacle among you, and I shall not abhor you. ¹² I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. ¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves, and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.

Punishment for Disobedience

¹⁴ But if you will not listen to Me, and will not do all these commandments, ¹⁵ if you despise My statutes, or if you abhor My judgments, so that you will not do all My commandments, but you break My covenant, ¹⁶ then I will do this to you: I will visit you with terror, with wasting disease, and with a fever that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart, and you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ I will set My face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.

¹⁸ If you will not yet listen to Me after all this, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. ¹⁹ I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven as iron and your land as bronze. ²⁰ Your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield her increase, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.

²¹ If you continue to walk contrary to Me and will not listen to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. ²² I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. And your roads shall be desolate.

²³ And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but walk contrary to Me, ²⁴ then I will also walk contrary to you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. ²⁵ I will bring a sword upon you that shall extract vengeance for My covenant. And when you are gathered together within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. ²⁶ When I have broken the supply of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall ration your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.