Study Desk

The Lord spoke to Moses:

"Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy^(a) because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.^(b)

"Each of you is to respect his mother and father.^(c) You are to keep My Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God.

Do not turn to idols^(d) or make cast images^(e) of gods for yourselves;^(f) I am Yahweh your God.

"When you offer a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord , sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.

It is to be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day, but what remains on the third day must be burned up.^(g)

If any is eaten on the third day, it is a repulsive thing; it will not be accepted.^(h)

Anyone who eats it will bear his punishment, for he has profaned what is holy to the Lord . That person must be cut off from his people.⁽ⁱ⁾

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings^(j) of your harvest.

You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor^(k) and the foreign resident;^(l) I am Yahweh your God.

"You must not steal.^(m) You must not act deceptively⁽ⁿ⁾ or lie^(o) to one another.

You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God;^(p) I am Yahweh.

"You must not oppress^(q) your neighbor or rob^(r) him. The wages due a hired hand^(s) must not remain with you until morning.

You must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind,^(t) but you are to fear your God;^(u) I am Yahweh.^(v)

"You must not act unjustly^(w) when deciding a case. Do not be partial^(x) to the poor or give preference to the rich;^(y) judge your neighbor fairly.

You must not go about spreading slander^(z) among your people; you must not jeopardize^[a] your neighbor's life; I am Yahweh.

"You must not harbor hatred against your brother.^[b](aa) Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him.^(ab)

Do not take revenge^(ac) or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself;^(ad) I am Yahweh.

"You are to keep My statutes. You must not crossbreed two different kinds of your livestock, sow your fields with two kinds of seed, or put on a garment made of two kinds of material.^(ae)

"If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman who is a slave designated for another man, but she has not been redeemed^(af) or given her freedom, there must be punishment.^[c] They are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.

However, he must bring a ram as his restitution offering to the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.^(ag)

The priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord with the ram of the restitution offering for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven for the sin he committed.

"When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden.^[d] It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten.

In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering^(ah) to the Lord .

But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you;^(ai) I am Yahweh your God.

"You are not to eat anything with blood in it.^[e](aj) You are not to practice divination^(ak) or sorcery.^(al)

You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard.^(am)

You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead^(an) or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am Yahweh.

"Do not debase^[f](ao) your daughter by making her a prostitute,^(ap) or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.

You must keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary;^(aq) I am Yahweh.

"Do not turn to mediums^[g](ar) or consult spiritists,^[h](as) or you will be defiled by them; I am Yahweh your God.

"You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old.^(at) Fear your God; I am Yahweh.

"When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress^(au) him.

You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself,^(av) for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt;^(aw) I am Yahweh your God.

"You must not be unfair^(ax) in measurements of length, weight, or volume.

You are to have honest balances,^(ay) honest weights, an honest dry measure,^[i] and an honest liquid measure;^[j](az) I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am Yahweh."

The Lord spoke to Moses:

"Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech^(a) must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him.^(b)

I will turn^[a] against that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling My sanctuary^(c) and profaning My holy name.^(d)

But if the people of the country look the other way when that man^[b] gives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,

then I will turn^[c] against that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow^[d] him in prostituting^(e) themselves with Molech.

"Whoever turns to mediums^[e](f) or spiritists^[f] and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn^[g] against that person and cut him off from his people.

Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God.

Keep My statutes and do them; I am Yahweh who sets you apart.

"If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.^(g) He has cursed his father or mother; his blood is on his own hands.^[h]

If a man commits adultery^(h) with a married woman—if he commits adultery with his neighbor's wife—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has shamed his father.⁽ⁱ⁾ Both of them must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.^[i]

If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law,^(j) both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own hands.^[j]

If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman,^(k) they have both committed a detestable thing.^(l) They must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.^[k]

If a man marries a woman and her mother,^(m) it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned with fire,⁽ⁿ⁾ so that there will be no depravity among you.

If a man has sexual intercourse with^[l] an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal.

If a woman comes near any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal.^(o) They must be put to death; their own blood is on them.

If a man marries his sister,^(p) whether his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and they have sexual relations,^[m](q) it is a disgrace.^(r) They must be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his punishment.

If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood.^(s) Both of them must be cut off from their people.

You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother's sister or your father's sister,^(t) for it is exposing one's own blood relative; both people will bear their punishment.

If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has shamed his uncle;^(u) they will bear their guilt and die childless.

If a man marries his brother's wife, it is impurity.^(v) He has shamed his brother;^(w) they will be childless.

"You are to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.^(x)

You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.^(y)

And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(z) I am Yahweh your God who set you apart from the peoples.

Therefore you must distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. Do not become contaminated^(aa) by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.^(ab)

You are to be holy to Me because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be Mine.^(ac)

A man or a woman who is^[n] a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their blood is on their own hands."^[o]

The Lord said to Moses: "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives,^(a)

except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother.

He may make himself unclean for his young unmarried sister in his immediate family.

He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage^[a] and so defile himself.

"Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies.^(b)

They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God.^(c) For they present the fire offerings to Yahweh, the food of their God, and they must be holy.

They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution.^[b](d) They are not to marry one divorced^(e) by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

You are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, Yahweh who sets you apart, am holy.

If a priest's daughter defiles herself by promiscuity,^[c](f) she defiles her father; she must be burned up.^(g)

"The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained^[d] to wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair^[e] or tear his garments.^(h)

He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or mother.⁽ⁱ⁾

He must not leave the sanctuary or he will desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him;^(j) I am Yahweh.

"He is to marry a woman who is a virgin.

He is not to marry a widow,^(k) a divorced woman,^(l) or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people,

so that he does not corrupt his bloodline^[f] among his people, for I am Yahweh who sets him apart."

The Lord spoke to Moses:

"Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect^(m) is to come near to present the food⁽ⁿ⁾ of his God.

No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed;

no man who has a broken foot or hand,

or who is a hunchback or a dwarf,^[g](o) or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs,^(p) or a crushed testicle.^(q)

No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to present the fire offerings to the Lord . He has a defect and is not to come near to present the food of his God.

He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy.

But because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain^(r) or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate My sanctuaries, for I am Yahweh who sets them apart."^(s)

Moses said this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.