Leviticus 18–20

Chapter 18

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am Jehovah your God. ³After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their customs. ⁴Mine ordinances shall ye do and my statutes shall ye observe to walk therein: I am Jehovah your God. ⁵And ye shall observe my statutes and my judgments, by which the man that doeth them shall live: I am Jehovah.

⁶No one shall approach to any that is his near relation, to uncover his nakedness: I am Jehovah. ⁷The nakedness of thy father, and the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother: thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. ⁸The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness. ⁹The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, born at home, or born abroad—their nakedness shalt thou not uncover. ¹⁰The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter—their nakedness shalt thou not uncover; for theirs is thy nakedness. ¹¹The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father: she is thy sister: thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. ¹²The nakedness of thy father’s sister shalt thou not uncover: she is thy father’s near relation. ¹³The nakedness of thy mother’s sister shalt thou not uncover; for she is thy mother’s near relation. ¹⁴The nakedness of thy father’s brother shalt thou not uncover; thou shalt not approach his wife: she is thine aunt. ¹⁵The nakedness of thy daughter-in-law shalt thou not uncover: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶The nakedness of thy brother’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy brother’s nakedness. ¹⁷The nakedness of a woman and her daughter shalt thou not uncover; thou shalt not take her son’s daughter, nor her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness: they are her near relations: it is wickedness. ¹⁸And thou shalt not take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness beside her, during her life.

¹⁹And thou shalt not approach a woman in the separation of her uncleanness to uncover her nakedness. ²⁰And thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to become unclean with her. ²¹And thou shalt not give of thy seed to let them pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am Jehovah. ²²And thou shalt not lie with mankind as one lieth with a woman: it is an abomination. ²³And thou shalt lie with no beast to become unclean therewith; and a woman shall not stand before a beast to lie down with it: it is confusion. ²⁴Make not yourselves unclean in any of these things; for in all these have the nations which I am casting out before you made themselves unclean. ²⁵And the land hath become unclean; and I visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land vomiteth out its inhabitants. ²⁶But ye shall observe my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of all these abominations: the home-born, and the stranger that sojourneth among you; ²⁷(for all these abominations have the men of the land done, who were before you, and the land hath been made unclean); ²⁸that the land vomit you not out, when ye make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ²⁹For whoever committeth any of these abominations, …the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. ³⁰And ye shall observe my charge, that ye commit not any of the abominable customs which were committed before you; and ye shall not make yourselves unclean therein: I am Jehovah your God.

Chapter 19

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak unto all the assembly of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Holy shall ye be, for I Jehovah your God am holy. ³Ye shall reverence every man his mother, and his father, and my sabbaths shall ye keep: I am Jehovah your God. ⁴Ye shall not turn unto idols, and ye shall not make to yourselves molten gods: I am Jehovah your God. ⁵And if ye sacrifice a sacrifice of peace-offering to Jehovah, ye shall sacrifice it for your acceptance. ⁶On the day when ye sacrifice it shall it be eaten, and on the morrow; and that which remaineth until the third day shall be burned with fire. ⁷And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is an unclean thing: it shall not be accepted. ⁸And he that eateth it shall bear his iniquity; for he hath profaned the hallowed thing of Jehovah; and that soul shall be cut off from among his peoples. ⁹And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, and the gleaning of thy harvest thou shalt not gather. ¹⁰And thy vineyard shalt thou not glean, neither shalt thou gather what hath been left of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am Jehovah your God.

¹¹Ye shall not steal, and ye shall not deal falsely, and ye shall not lie one to another. ¹²And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of thy God: I am Jehovah. ¹³Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour, neither rob him. The wages of the hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. ¹⁴Thou shalt not revile a deaf person, and thou shalt not put a stumbling-block before a blind one; but thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah. ¹⁵Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the lowly, nor honour the person of the great; in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. ¹⁶Thou shalt not go about as a talebearer among thy people; thou shalt not stand up against the life of thy neighbour: I am Jehovah. ¹⁷Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart; thou shalt earnestly rebuke thy neighbour, lest thou bear sin on account of him. ¹⁸Thou shalt not avenge thyself, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am Jehovah.

¹⁹My statutes shall ye observe. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with another sort; thou shalt not sow thy field with seed of two sorts; and a garment woven of two materials shall not come upon thee. ²⁰And if a man lie with a woman for copulation, and she is a bondwoman betrothed to a husband, but not at all ransomed, nor hath freedom been given to her, there shall be a chastisement: they shall not be put to death, for she was not free. ²¹And he shall bring his trespass-offering to Jehovah, unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a trespass-offering. ²²And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass-offering before Jehovah for his sin which he hath done; and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him. ²³And when ye come into the land and plant all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count its fruit as uncircumcised, three years shall it be uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of; ²⁴and in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy for praise to Jehovah; ²⁵and in the fifth year shall ye eat the fruit thereof, that it may increase unto you the produce thereof: I am Jehovah your God. ²⁶Ye shall eat nothing with the blood. —Ye shall not practise enchantment, nor use auguries. ²⁷—Ye shall not shave the corners of your head round, neither shalt thou mutilate the corners of thy beard. ²⁸And cuttings for a dead person shall ye not make in your flesh, nor put any tattoo writing upon you: I am Jehovah. ²⁹—Do not profane thy daughter, to give her up to whoredom; lest the land practise whoredom, and the land become full of infamy.

³⁰—My sabbaths shall ye keep, and my sanctuary shall ye reverence: I am Jehovah. ³¹—Turn not unto necromancers and unto soothsayers; seek not after them to make yourselves unclean: I am Jehovah your God. ³²Before the hoary head thou shalt rise up, and shalt honour the face of an old man; and thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah. ³³And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not molest him. ³⁴As one born among you shall the stranger who sojourneth with you be unto you; and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God. ³⁵Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measure of length, in weight, and in measure of capacity: ³⁶just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall ye have: I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷And ye shall observe all my statutes, and all mine ordinances, and do them: I am Jehovah.

Chapter 20

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Thou shalt say also to the children of Israel, Every one of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, that giveth of his seed unto Molech, shall certainly be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. ³And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, so as to make my sanctuary unclean, and to profane my holy name. ⁴And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from that man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, that they kill him not, ⁵then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. ⁶—And the soul that turneth unto necromancers and unto soothsayers, to go a whoring after them, I will set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. ⁷Hallow yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Jehovah your God. ⁸And ye shall observe my statutes, and do them: I am Jehovah who hallow you. ⁹Whatever man revileth his father and his mother shall certainly be put to death: he hath reviled his father and his mother; his blood is upon him.

¹⁰And a man that committeth adultery with a man’s wife, who committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, —the adulterer and…