Laws for Cleansing Lepers

LEVITICUS 14 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing.  s He shall be brought to the priest, 3and the priest shall go  t out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, 4the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live [1] clean birds and  u cedarwood and  v scarlet yarn and  w hyssop. 5And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh [2] water. 6He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7And he shall  x sprinkle it  y seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall  z let the living bird go  a into the open field. 8And he who is to be cleansed  b shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but  c live outside his tent seven days. 9And  d on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he  b shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.

10“And on the eighth day he  e shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a  f grain offering of three tenths of an ephah [3] of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log [4] of oil. 11And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 12And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and  g offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and  h wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. 13And he shall kill the lamb  i in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For  j the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest;  k it is most holy. 14The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it  l on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 15Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand 16and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the LORD. 17And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. 18And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed.  m Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD. 19The priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. 20And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the  f grain offering on the altar.  m Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

21“But  n if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering  h to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil; 22 o also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 23 p And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the LORD. 24 q And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. 25And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering.  r And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 26And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, 27and shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD. 28And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the guilt offering was put. 29And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD. 30And he shall offer, of the  s turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford, 31one [5] for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering.  m And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for him who is being cleansed. 32This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford  t the offerings for his cleansing.”

Laws for Cleansing Houses

33The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 34“When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you  u for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession, 35then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘There seems to me to be some case of  v disease in my house.’ 36Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the house be declared unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house. 37And he shall examine the disease. And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface, 38then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days. 39And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the disease has spread in the walls of the house, 40then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. 41And he shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. 42Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and plaster the house.

43“If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, 44then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a  w persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean. 45And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place. 46Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening, 47and whoever sleeps in the house  x shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

48“But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed. 49And for the  y cleansing of the house he shall take  z two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop, 50and shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water 51and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and sprinkle the house seven times. 52Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn. 53And he shall let the live bird go out of the city  a into the open country. So he shall  b make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”

54This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for  c an itch, 55for  d leprous disease in a garment or in  e a house, 56and  f for a swelling or an eruption or a spot, 57to  g show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.

Laws About Bodily Discharges

LEVITICUS 15 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,  h When any man has a discharge from his body, [1] his discharge is unclean. 3And this is the law of his uncleanness for a discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. 4Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. 5And anyone who touches his bed  i shall wash his clothes and  j bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 6And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 7And whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 8And if the one 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. 9And any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean. 10And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 11Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 12And an  k earthenware vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

13“And when the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then  l he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes. And he shall bathe his body in fresh water and shall be clean. 14And on the eighth day he shall take two  m turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the LORD to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. 15And the priest shall use them,  n one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.  o And the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD for his discharge.

16 p “If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening. 17And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. 18If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe themselves in water and  q be unclean until the evening.

19“When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. 20 r And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean. 21And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 22And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 23Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. 24And  s if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

25“If  t 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 continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. 26Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. 27And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 28But  u if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29And on the eighth day she shall take two  v turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. 30And the priest shall use 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 keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by  w defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.”

32This is the law  x for him who has a discharge and  y for him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby; 33 z also for her who is unwell with her menstrual impurity, that is, for anyone,  x male or  a female, who has a discharge, and for the  b man who lies with a woman who is unclean.

The Day of Atonement

LEVITICUS 16 The LORD spoke to Moses after  c the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died, 2and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to  d come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For  e I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place:  f with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and  g a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on  h the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments.  i He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5And he shall take from  j the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

6“Aaron shall  k offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall  l make atonement for himself and for his house. 7Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for  m Azazel. [1] 9And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, 10but the goat on which the lot fell for  m Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to  m Azazel.

11“Aaron shall present  k the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12And he shall take  n a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13 o and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover  p the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 14And  q he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 r “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood  s inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16Thus he shall  t make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 u No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. 18Then he shall go out to the altar that is  v before the LORD and  w make atonement for it, and 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. 19And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.

20“And when he has made an end of  x atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall  y put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22The goat shall  z bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and  a he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

23“Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and  b shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. 24And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and  c offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25And  d the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26And he who lets the goat go to  e Azazel shall wash his clothes and  f bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27 g And 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. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. 28And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

29“And it shall be a statute to you forever that  h in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall  i afflict yourselves [2] and shall do no work, either  j the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30For on this day shall atonement be made for you  k to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. 31 l It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall  i afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 m And the priest who is anointed and  n consecrated as priest in his father’s place  o shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. 33He shall make atonement for  p the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for  q the altar, and he shall make atonement for  r the priests and for  s all the people of the assembly. 34And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel  t once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron [3] did as the LORD commanded Moses.

The Place of Sacrifice

LEVITICUS 17 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel and say to them, This is the thing that the LORD has commanded. 3If any one of the house of Israel  u kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp, 4and  v does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the LORD in front of the tabernacle of the LORD, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man  w shall be cut off from among his people. 5This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice  x in the open field, that they may bring them to the LORD, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them  y as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD. 6And the priest shall  y throw the blood on the altar of the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat  z for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 7So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they  a whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.

8“And you shall say to them, Any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who  b offers a burnt offering or sacrifice 9and  c does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it to the LORD,  w that man shall be cut off from his people.

Laws Against Eating Blood

10“If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them  d eats any blood, I will  e set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11 f For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar  g to make atonement for your souls,  h for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. 12Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

13“Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall  i pour out its blood and  j cover it with earth. 14For the life of every creature [1] is its  k blood: its blood is its life. [2] Therefore I have said to the people 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 l And every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts,  m whether he is a native or a sojourner,  n shall wash his clothes and  o bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean. 16But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh,  p he shall bear his iniquity.”

Unlawful Sexual Relations

LEVITICUS 18 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,  q I am the LORD your God. 3 r You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and  s you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 t You shall follow my rules [1] and keep my statutes and walk in them.  q I am the LORD your God. 5 t You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules;  u if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

6“None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD. 7 v You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 w You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 x You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. 12You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. 13You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. 14You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 y You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 z You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18And you shall not take a woman as a  a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness  b while her sister is still alive.

19 c “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 d And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21You shall not give any of your children to  e offer them [2] to  f Molech, and so  g profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. 22 h You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 i And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is  j perversion.

24 k “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things,  l for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25and the  m land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land  n vomited out its inhabitants. 26But  o you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the  p native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27(for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 q So keep my charge never to practice  r any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them:  s I am the LORD your God.”

The LORD Is Holy

LEVITICUS 19 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them,  t You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. 3 u Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and  v you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. 4 w Do not turn to idols  x or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.

5 y “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so  z that you may be accepted. 6It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. 7If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is  a tainted; it will not be accepted, 8and everyone who eats it shall  b bear his iniquity, because  c he has profaned what is holy to the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

9 d “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.

11 e “You shall not steal;  f you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 g You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so  h profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

13 i “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him.  j The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 k You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall  l fear your God: I am the LORD.

15 m “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 n You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not  o stand up against the life [1] of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

17 p “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but  q you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you  r incur sin because of him. 18 s You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but  t you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

You Shall Keep My Statutes

19 u “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind.  v You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

20“If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; 21but  w he shall bring his compensation to the LORD, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. 22And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin that he has committed, and he shall 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 regard its fruit as forbidden. [2] Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. 24And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD. 25But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the LORD your God.

26 x “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it.  y You shall not interpret omens or  z tell fortunes. 27 a You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28You shall not make any  b cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.

29 c “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. 30 d You shall keep my Sabbaths and  e reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

31 f “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.

32 g “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall  h fear your God: I am the LORD.

33 i “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 j You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and  k you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

35 l “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36 m You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: [3] I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37And  n you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the LORD.”

Punishment for Child Sacrifice

LEVITICUS 20 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Say to the people of Israel,  o Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 p I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary  q unclean and  r to profane my holy name. 4And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not  s put him to death, 5then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in  t whoring after Molech.

6“If  u a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them,  v I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. 7 w Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8 x Keep my statutes and do them;  y I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 9For  z anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother;  a his blood is upon him.

Punishments for Sexual Immorality

10“If a  b man commits adultery with the wife of [1] his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 c If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12 d If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed  e perversion; their blood is upon them. 13 f If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14 g If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. 15 h If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 h If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

17 i “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18 j If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 k You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked  l one’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20 m If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 n If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity. [2] He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

You Shall Be Holy

22 o “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not  p vomit you out. 23 q And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24But  r I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land  s flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God,  t who has separated you from the peoples. 25 u You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 v You shall be holy to me,  w for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

27 x “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be  y stoned with stones;  z their blood shall be upon them.”

Holiness and the Priests

LEVITICUS 21 And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them,  a No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5 b They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6They shall be holy to their God and  c not profane the name of their God. For they offer the LORD’s food offerings,  d the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 e They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman  f divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for  g I, the LORD, who sanctify you,  h am holy. 9And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father;  i she shall be burned with fire.

10 j “The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments,  k shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11He shall not  l go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 m He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he  n profane the sanctuary of his God, for the  o consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the LORD. 13And he shall take a wife in her virginity. [1] 14A widow,  p or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin [2] of his own people, 15that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for  g I am the LORD who sanctifies him.”

16And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17“Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may  q approach to offer the bread of his God. 18For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man  r blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face  s or a limb too long, 19or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a  r defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or  t crushed testicles. 21No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to  u offer the LORD’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22He may eat the bread of his God, both of  v the most holy and of the  w holy things, 23but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not  x profane my sanctuaries,  y for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” 24So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.

LEVITICUS 22 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they  z abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they  a dedicate to me, so that they do not  b profane my holy name: I am the LORD. 3Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while  c he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD. 4None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a  d discharge may eat of the holy things  e until he is clean.  f Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or  g a man who has had an emission of semen, 5and  h whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or  i a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— 6the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has  j bathed his body in water. 7When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because  k they are his food. 8 l He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the LORD.’ 9They shall therefore keep my charge,  m lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it:  n I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

10 o “A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, 11but if a priest buys a slave [1] as his property for money, the slave [2] may eat of it, and  p anyone born in his house may eat of his food. 12If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. 13But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and  q returns to her father’s house,  r as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. 14 s And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add  t the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. 15They  u shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the LORD, 16and so cause them  m to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things:  n for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”

Acceptable Offerings

17And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 18“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them,  v When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the LORD, 19if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a  w male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. 20 x You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. 21And when anyone  y offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD  z to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. 22Animals  a blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or  b an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the LORD or give them to the LORD as a food  c offering on the altar. 23You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part  d too long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. 24Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the LORD; you shall not do it within your land, 25neither shall you offer as  e the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a  f blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”

26And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27 g “When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the LORD. 28But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep  h and her young in one day. 29And when you sacrifice a  i sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 30It shall be eaten on the same day;  j you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the LORD.

31 k “So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the LORD. 32 l And you shall not profane my holy name, that  m I may be sanctified among the people of Israel.  n I am the LORD who sanctifies you, 33who brought you out of the land of Egypt  o to be your God: I am the LORD.”

Feasts of the LORD

LEVITICUS 23 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,  p These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall  q proclaim as  r holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.

The Sabbath

3 s “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places.

The Passover

4 p “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the  t holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5 u In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, [1] is the LORD’s Passover. 6And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 v On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 8But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

The Feast of Firstfruits

9And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,  w When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of  x the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11and he shall  y wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12And on the day when you  y wave the sheaf, you shall offer a  z male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 a And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah [2] of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma,  b and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. [3] 14And you shall eat neither bread nor grain  c parched or  c fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

The Feast of Weeks

15 d “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the  y wave offering. 16You shall count  e fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of  f new grain to the LORD. 17You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as  g firstfruits to the LORD. 18And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 19And you shall offer one  h male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of  i peace offerings. 20And the priest shall  y wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs.  j They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

22“And  k when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.”

The Feast of Trumpets

23And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In  l the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest,  m a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD.”

The Day of Atonement

26And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27“Now  n on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves [4] and present a food offering to the LORD. 28And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. 29For whoever is not afflicted on that very day  o shall be cut off from his people. 30And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.”

The Feast of Booths

33And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 34“Speak to the people of Israel, saying,  p On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths [5] to the LORD. 35On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 36For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD.  q On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a  r solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.

37 s “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, 38 t besides the LORD’s Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.

39“On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have  u gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40And  v you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and  w you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. 41 x You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 y You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43that  z your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”

44Thus Moses  a declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the LORD.

The Lamps

LEVITICUS 24  b The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the LORD regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4He shall arrange the lamps on the  c lampstand of pure gold [1] before the LORD regularly.

Bread for the Tabernacle

5“You shall take fine flour and bake twelve  d loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah [2] shall be in each loaf. 6And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile,  e on the table of pure gold [3] before the LORD. 7And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the LORD. 8 f Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the LORD regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. 9And  g it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and  h they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the LORD’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”

Punishment for Blasphemy

10Now an Israelite woman’s son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, 11and the Israelite woman’s son  i blasphemed the  j Name, and cursed. Then they  k brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12And  l they put him in custody,  m till the will of the LORD should be clear to them.

13Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 14 n “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him  o lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall  p bear his sin. 16Whoever  q blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

An Eye for an Eye

17 r “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. 18 s Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. 19If anyone injures his neighbor,  t as he has done it shall be done to him, 20fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. 21 s Whoever kills an animal shall make it good,  r and whoever kills a person shall be put to death. 22You shall have the  u same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the LORD your God.” 23So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and  v they brought out of the camp the one who had cursed and stoned him with stones. Thus the people of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.

The Sabbath Year

LEVITICUS 25  w The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into  x the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. 3For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 y You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6The Sabbath of the land [1] shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves [2] and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land:  z all its yield shall be for food.

The Year of Jubilee

8“You shall count seven weeks [3] of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9Then you shall sound  a the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month.  b On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and  c proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of  d you shall return to his clan. 11That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it  e you shall neither sow nor reap  y what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you.  f You may eat the produce of the field. [4]

13 d “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. 14And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor,  g you shall not wrong one another. 15 h You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops. 16If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you. 17 i You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the LORD your God.

18 j “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then  k you will dwell in the land securely. 19 l The land will yield its fruit, and  m you will eat your fill  k and dwell in it securely. 20And if you say,  n ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if  o we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21I will  p command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 q When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of  r the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.

Redemption of Property

23“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for  s the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. 24And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.

25“If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property,  t then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, 27let  u him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. 28But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall  v be released, and  w he shall return to his property.

29“If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may redeem it within a year of its sale. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption. 30If it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong in perpetuity to the buyer, throughout his generations;  v it shall not be released in the jubilee. 31But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them shall be classified with the fields of the land. They may be redeemed, and  v they shall be released in the jubilee. 32As for  x the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem at any time the houses in the cities they possess. 33And if one of the Levites exercises his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city they possess shall be released in the jubilee. For the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel. 34But the fields  y of pastureland belonging to their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession forever.

Kindness for Poor Brothers

35“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you,  z you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36 a Take no interest from him or profit, but  b fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. 37 a You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 38 c 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.

39 d “If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: 40he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 v Then he shall go out from you,  e he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return  f to the possession of his fathers. 42For they are  g my servants, [5] whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 h You shall not rule over him  i ruthlessly but  j shall fear your God. 44As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. 45 k You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. 46You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel  l you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.

Redeeming a Poor Man

47“If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and  m your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s clan, 48then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49or his uncle or his cousin may  n redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he  o grows rich he may redeem himself. 50He shall calculate with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall vary with the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be  p rated as the time of a hired worker. 51If there are still many years left, he shall pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price. 52If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall calculate and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years of service. 53He shall treat him as a worker hired year by year.  l He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight. 54And if he is not redeemed by these means, then  q he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee. 55For it is  r to me that the people of Israel are servants. [6] They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Blessings for Obedience

LEVITICUS 26 “You shall not make  s idols for yourselves or erect an  t image or  u pillar, and you shall not set up a  v figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God. 2 w You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

3 x “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4then  y I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 z Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And  a you shall eat your bread to the full and  b dwell in your land securely. 6 c I will give peace in the land, and  d you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And  e I will remove harmful beasts from the land,  f and the sword shall not go through your land. 7You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 g Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 h I will turn to you and  i make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10You shall eat  j old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 k I will make my dwelling [1] among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 l And I  m will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 n I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves.  o And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Punishment for Disobedience

14 p “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but  q break my covenant, 16then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with  r wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And  s you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17I will  t set my face against you, and  u you shall be struck down before your enemies.  v Those who hate you shall rule over you, and  w you shall flee when none pursues you. 18And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again  x sevenfold for your sins, 19and I will break  y the pride of your power, and I  z will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 20And  a your strength shall be spent in vain, for  b your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.

21 c “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22And  d I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that  e your roads shall be deserted.

23“And  f if by this discipline you are not turned to me  c but walk contrary to me, 24 g then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. 25And  h I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities,  i I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 j When I break your supply [2] of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and  k you shall eat and not be satisfied.

27“But  l if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28then I will walk contrary to you  m in fury, and I myself will discipline you  x sevenfold for your sins. 29 n You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30And  o I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and  p cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. 31And I will  q lay your cities waste and will  r make your sanctuaries desolate, and  s I will not smell your pleasing aromas. 32And  t I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be  u appalled at it. 33And  v I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

34 w “Then the land shall enjoy [3] its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it. 36And as for those of you who are left,  x I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The  y sound of a  z driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues. 37They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And  a you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39And those of you who are left shall  b rot away in your enemies’ lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.

40“But if  c they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they  d committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their  e uncircumcised heart is  f humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42then I will  g remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will  h remember the land. 43But  w the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies,  i I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and  j break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. 45But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers,  k whom I brought out of the land of Egypt  l in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.”

46 m These are the statutes and rules and laws that the LORD made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses  n on Mount Sinai.

Laws About Vows

LEVITICUS 27 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone  o makes a special vow to the LORD involving the valuation of persons, 3then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels [1] of silver, according to the  p shekel of the sanctuary. 4If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.

9“If the vow [2] is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the LORD, all of it that he gives to the LORD is holy. 10 q He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. 11And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the LORD, then he shall stand the animal before the priest, 12and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be. 13 r But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a  s fifth to the valuation.

14“When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the LORD, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. 15 t And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a  s fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his.

16“If a man dedicates to the LORD part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer [3] of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17If he dedicates his field from the year of jubilee, the valuation shall stand, 18but if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall  u calculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation. 19 v And if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a  s fifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his. 20But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore. 21But the field,  w when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the LORD, like a field that has been  x devoted. The priest shall be in  y possession of it. 22If he dedicates to the LORD a field that he has bought,  z which is not a part of his possession, 23 a then the priest shall calculate the amount of the valuation for it up to the year of jubilee, and the man shall give the valuation on that day as a holy gift to the LORD. 24 b In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession. 25Every valuation shall be according to  c the shekel of the sanctuary:  d twenty gerahs [4] shall make a shekel.

26“But a  e firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the LORD, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the LORD’s. 27And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation,  f and add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation.

28“But  g no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD. 29 h No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction [5] from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.

30 i “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD’s; it is holy to the LORD. 31If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that  j pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the LORD. 33One shall not differentiate between good or bad,  k neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

34 l These are the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses for the people of Israel  m on Mount Sinai.