^19:26“ ‘You must not eat anything with the blood still in it.⁴⁵ You must not practice either divination or soothsaying.⁴⁶^19:27You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard.⁴⁷^19:28You must not slash your body for a dead person⁴⁸ or incise a tattoo on yourself.⁴⁹ I am the Lord. ^19:29Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute,⁵⁰ so that the land does not practice prostitution and become full of lewdness.⁵¹

Purity, Honor, Respect, and Honesty

^19:30“ ‘You must keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary. I am the Lord. ^19:31Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek familiar spirits⁵² to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God.

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Footnotes

45 Heb “You shall not eat on the blood.” See the extensive remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (), , and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (), . The has “on the mountains,” suggesting that this is a prohibition against illegitimate places and occasions of worship, not the eating of blood.
46 Heb “You shall not practice divination and you shall not practice soothsaying”; cf. “practice augury or witchcraft.” For suggestions regarding the practices involved see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (), , and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (), .
47 Heb “and you [singular] shall not ruin the corner of your [singular] beard.” , , , and . have the plural pronouns (i.e., “you” and “your” plural) rather than the singular of the .
48 Heb “And slash for the soul you shall not give.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, person, life”) can sometimes refer to a “dead person” (cf. Lev 21:1, 5; 22:5). See J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (), , .
49 Heb “and a writing of incision you shall not give in you.”
50 Heb “to make her practice harlotry.” Some recent English versions regard this as religious or temple prostitution (cf. , ).
51 Heb “and the land become full of lewdness.” Regarding the term “lewdness,” see the note on above.
52 The prohibition here concerns those who would seek special knowledge through the spirits of the dead, whether the dead in general or dead relatives in particular (i.e., familiar spirits; see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ). Cf. Lev 20:6 below.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes. You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

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

“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.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“ ‘Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.

“ ‘Do not practice divination or seek omens.

“ ‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

“ ‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.

“ ‘Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.

“ ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

“ ‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“You are not to eat anything with blood in it. You are not to practice divination or witchcraft. You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard. You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the Lord.

“Do not debase your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity. Keep my Sabbaths and revere my sanctuary; I am the Lord.

“Do not turn to mediums or consult spiritists, or you will be defiled by them; I am the Lord your God.

NLTNew Living Translation

“Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood.

“Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft.

“Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.

“Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.

“Do not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be filled with prostitution and wickedness.

“Keep my Sabbath days of rest, and show reverence toward my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

“Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“ ‘You must not eat anything with the blood; you shall not practice divination, nor shall you interpret signs. You shall not round off the corner hair of your head, and you shall not trim the corner of your beard. And you shall not make a slash in your body for a dead person, nor shall you make on yourselves a tattoo’s mark; I am Yahweh.

“ ‘You shall not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land be prostituted and the land fill up with depravity. You shall keep my Sabbaths, and you shall revere my sanctuary; I am Yahweh.

“ ‘You shall not turn to the mediums and to the soothsayers; you shall not seek them to become unclean with them; I am Yahweh your God.

KJV 1900King James Version

Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord. Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.

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