- Leviticus
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19
1 The Lord told Moses, 2 “Tell all the Israelites: You must be holy because I am holy; I am the Lord your God.
3 Show respect for your mother and father, and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
4 Don't turn to idols for help or make metal images of gods. I am the Lord your God.
5 When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, make sure you do it correctly so God will accept you. 6 It needs to be eaten the day you sacrifice it, or the next day. Whatever is left over on the third day must be burned. 7 If you do eat some of it on the third day, the sacrifice becomes repulsive and won't be accepted. 8 Anyone who eats it will bear responsibility for their guilt, for they have made unclean what is holy to the Lord. They must be expelled from their people.
9 When you harvest the crops grown on your land, don't harvest right up to the edges of your field, or collect what has been missed. 10 Don't take every last grape from your vineyard or pick up the ones that have fallen. Leave them for the poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.
11 Don't steal. Don't lie. Don't deceive each other.
12 Don't swear oaths in my name that are not true, otherwise you defame the character*Literally, “name.” Throughout Scripture “name” is related to aspects of character. of your God. I am the Lord.
13 Don't cheat others or rob them. Don't refuse to pay wages due to workers until the morning.
14 Don't speak badly about deaf people. Don't put objects in the way of blind people to trip them up. Instead show respect to your God. I am the Lord.
15 Don't be a corrupt judge. Don't show favoritism to the poor or to the rich. Judge others fairly.
16 Don't go around spreading false rumors about people. Don't keep quiet when the lives of others are at risk.†Literally, “don't stand still on the blood of your neighbor.” I am the Lord.
17 Don't hold onto hateful feelings towards others. Talk honestly with your neighbors, so that you don't sin because of them. 18 Don't look for revenge or hold a grudge against anybody, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
19 Do what I tell you! Don't make different kinds of livestock breed together. Don't sow your fields with two different kinds of seed. Don't wear clothes made of two different kinds of material.
20 If a man has sex with a servant girl promised to become another man's wife, but who hasn't yet been bought or set free, then compensation has to be paid. However, they are not to be killed, because she hadn't been set free. 21 But the man must bring a ram as his guilt offering to the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 22 The priest will set things right for him before the Lord using the ram of the guilt offering for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven.
23 When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, treat the fruit at first as unclean.‡“Unclean”: literally, “uncircumcised.” For three years you are forbidden to eat it. 24 The fourth year all the fruit must be dedicated to the Lord as a praise offering. 25 However, the fifth year you may eat the fruit and in this way you will have an even greater harvest. I am the Lord your God.
26 Don't eat meat with blood in it. Don't use fortune-telling or witchcraft.
27 Don't cut your hair on the sides of your head or trim the sides of your beard,§It is thought that this prohibition is associated with the next regarding some pagan ceremony. 28 don't cut your bodies in some pagan ritual for the dead, and don't get yourselves tattoos. I am the Lord.
29 Don't bring shame on your daughter by making her a prostitute, otherwise the land will become morally and spiritually depraved.
30 Keep my Sabbaths and show respect for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
31 Don't try and find help from mediums or spiritists—don't even go looking for them, otherwise they will corrupt you. I am the Lord your God.
32 Stand up and be respectful of older people. Show reverence for your God. I am the Lord.
33 Don't mistreat foreigners who live in your country. 34 Treat them in the same way as a fellow citizen, and love them as you love yourself, because you were once foreigners living in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
35 Don't use dishonest weights and measures. 36 Make sure your scales and weights are accurate, that your measures of ephah and hin are correct. I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt.
37 Keep all my rules and regulations, and make sure you follow them. I am the Lord.”

- Leviticus
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*19:12 Literally, “name.” Throughout Scripture “name” is related to aspects of character.

†19:16 Literally, “don't stand still on the blood of your neighbor.”

‡19:23 “Unclean”: literally, “uncircumcised.”

§19:27 It is thought that this prohibition is associated with the next regarding some pagan ceremony.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher