Leviticus 19

Laws of Holiness

19The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy ^cbecause I, Yahweh your God, am holy. ^d

³“Each of you is to respect his mother and father. ^eYou are to keep My Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God. ⁴Do not turn to idols ^for make cast images ^gof gods for yourselves; ^hI am Yahweh your God.

⁵“When you offer a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ⁶It 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. ⁱ⁷If any is eaten on the third day, it is a repulsive thing; it will not be accepted. ^j8Anyone 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. ^k

⁹“When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings ^lof your harvest. ¹⁰You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor ^mand the foreign resident; ⁿI am Yahweh your God.

¹¹“You must not steal. ^oYou must not act deceptively ^por lie ^qto one another. ¹²You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God; ^rI am Yahweh.

¹³“You must not oppress ^syour neighbor or rob ^thim. The wages due a hired hand ^umust not remain with you until morning. ¹⁴You must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, ^vbut you are to fear your God; ^wI am Yahweh. ^x

¹⁵“You must not act unjustly ^ywhen deciding a case. Do not be partial ^zto the poor or give preference to the rich; ^ajudge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶You must not go about spreading slander ^bamong your people; you must not jeopardize ^cyour neighbor’s life; I am Yahweh.

¹⁷“You must not harbor hatred against your brother. ^deRebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him. ^f18Do not take revenge ^gor bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; ^hI am Yahweh.

¹⁹“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. ⁱ

²⁰“If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman who is a slave designated for another man, but she has not been redeemed ^jor given her freedom, there must be punishment. ^kThey are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. ²¹However, he must bring a ram as his restitution offering to the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ^l22The 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.

²³“When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden. ^mIt will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten. ²⁴In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering ⁿto the Lord. ²⁵But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you; ^oI am Yahweh your God.

²⁶“You are not to eat anything with blood in it. ^pqYou are not to practice divination ^ror sorcery. ^s27You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard. ^t28You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead ^uor put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am Yahweh.

²⁹“Do not debase ^vwyour daughter by making her a prostitute, ^xor the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity. ³⁰You must keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; ^yI am Yahweh.

³¹“Do not turn to mediums ^zaor consult spiritists, ^bcor you will be defiled by them; I am Yahweh your God.

³²“You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. ^dFear your God; I am Yahweh.

³³“When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress ^ehim. ³⁴You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, ^ffor you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; ^gI am Yahweh your God.

³⁵“You must not be unfair ^hin measurements of length, weight, or volume. ³⁶You are to have honest balances, ⁱhonest weights, an honest dry measure, ^jand an honest liquid measure; ^klI am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am Yahweh.”