Unlawful Sexual Relations 18 And the Lord spoke to Moses , saying , 2 “ Speak to the people of Israel and say to them , q I am the Lord your God . 3 r You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt , where you lived , and s you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan , to which I am bringing you . You shall not walk in their statutes . 4 t You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them . q I am the Lord your God . 5 t You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules ; u if a person does them , he shall live by them : I am the Lord . 6 “ None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness . I am the Lord . 7 v You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father , which is the nakedness of your mother ; she is your mother , you shall not uncover her nakedness . 8 w You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife ; it is your father’s nakedness . 9 x You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister , your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter , whether brought up in the family or in another home . 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter , for their nakedness is your own nakedness . 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter , brought up in your father’s family , since she is your sister . 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister ; she is your father’s relative . 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister , for she is your mother’s relative . 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother , that is , you shall not approach his wife ; she is your aunt . 15 y You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law ; she is your son’s wife , you shall not uncover her nakedness . 16 z You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife ; it is your brother’s nakedness . 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter , and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness ; they are relatives ; it is depravity . 18 And you shall not take a woman as a a rival wife to her sister , uncovering her nakedness b while her sister is still alive . 19 c “ You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness . 20 d And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her . 21 You shall not give any of your children to e offer them to f Molech , and so g profane the name of your God : I am the Lord . 22 h You shall not lie with a male as with a woman ; it is an abomination . 23 i And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it , neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it : it is j perversion . 24 k “ Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things , l for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean , 25 and the m land became unclean , so that I punished its iniquity , and the land n vomited out its inhabitants . 26 But o you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations , either the p native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 ( for the people of the land , who were before you , did all of these abominations , so that the land became unclean ) , 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean , as it vomited out the nation that was before you . 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations , the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people . 30 q So keep my charge never to practice r any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you , and never to make yourselves unclean by them : s I am the Lord your God . ”

The Lord Is Holy 19 And the Lord spoke to Moses , saying , 2 “ Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them , t You shall be holy , for I the Lord your God am holy . 3 u Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father , and v you shall keep my Sabbaths : I am the Lord your God . 4 w Do not turn to idols x or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal : I am the Lord your God . 5 y “ When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord , you shall offer it so z that you may be accepted . 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after , and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire . 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day , it is a tainted ; it will not be accepted , 8 and everyone who eats it shall b bear his iniquity , because c he has profaned what is holy to the Lord , and that person shall be cut off from his people . Love Your Neighbor as Yourself 9 d “ When you reap the harvest of your land , you shall not reap your field right up to its edge , neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest . 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare , neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard . You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner : I am the Lord your God . 11 e “ You shall not steal ; f you shall not deal falsely ; you shall not lie to one another . 12 g You shall not swear by my name falsely , and so h profane the name of your God : I am the Lord . 13 i “ You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him . j The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning . 14 k You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind , but you shall l fear your God : I am the Lord . 15 m “ You shall do no injustice in court . You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great , but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor . 16 n You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people , and you shall not o stand up against the life of your neighbor : I am the Lord . 17 p “ You shall not hate your brother in your heart , but q you shall reason frankly with your neighbor , lest you r incur sin because of him . 18 s You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people , but t you shall love your neighbor as yourself : I am the Lord . You Shall Keep My Statutes 19 u “ You shall keep my statutes . You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind . v You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed , nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material . 20 “ If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave , assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom , a distinction shall be made . They shall not be put to death , because she was not free ; 21 but w he shall bring his compensation to the Lord , to the entrance of the tent of meeting , a ram for a guilt offering . 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed , and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed . 23 “ When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food , then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden . Three years it shall be forbidden to you ; it must not be eaten . 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy , an offering of praise to the Lord . 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit , to increase its yield for you : I am the Lord your God . 26 x “ You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it . y You shall not interpret omens or z tell fortunes . 27 a You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard . 28 You shall not make any b cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves : I am the Lord . 29 c “ Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute , lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity . 30 d You shall keep my Sabbaths and e reverence my sanctuary : I am the Lord . 31 f “ 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 . 32 g “ You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man , and you shall h fear your God : I am the Lord . 33 i “ When a stranger sojourns with you in your land , you shall not do him wrong . 34 j You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you , and k you shall love him as yourself , for you were strangers in the land of Egypt : I am the Lord your God . 35 l “ You shall do no wrong in judgment , in measures of length or weight or quantity . 36 m You shall have just balances , just weights , a just ephah , and a just hin : I am the Lord your God , who brought you out of the land of Egypt . 37 And n you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules , and do them : I am the Lord . ”

Punishment for Child Sacrifice 20 The Lord spoke to Moses , saying , 2 “ Say to the people of Israel , o Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death . The people of the land shall stone him with stones . 3 p I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people , because he has given one of his children to Molech , to make my sanctuary q unclean and r to profane my holy name . 4 And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech , and do not s put him to death , 5 then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people , him and all who follow him in t whoring after Molech . 6 “ If u a person turns to mediums and necromancers , whoring after them , v I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people . 7 w Consecrate yourselves , therefore , and be holy , for I am the Lord your God . 8 x Keep my statutes and do them ; y I am the Lord who sanctifies you . 9 For z anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death ; he has cursed his father or his mother ; a his blood is upon him . Punishments for Sexual Immorality 10 “ If a b man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor , both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death . 11 c If a man lies with his father’s wife , he has uncovered his father’s nakedness ; both of them shall surely be put to death ; their blood is upon them . 12 d If a man lies with his daughter-in-law , both of them shall surely be put to death ; they have committed e perversion ; their blood is upon them . 13 f If a man lies with a male as with a woman , both of them have committed an abomination ; they shall surely be put to death ; their blood is upon them . 14 g If a man takes a woman and her mother also , it is depravity ; he and they shall be burned with fire , that there may be no depravity among you . 15 h If a man lies with an animal , he shall surely be put to death , and you shall kill the animal . 16 h If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it , you shall kill the woman and the animal ; they shall surely be put to death ; their blood is upon them . 17 i “ If a man takes his sister , a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother , and sees her nakedness , and she sees his nakedness , it is a disgrace , and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people . He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness , and he shall bear his iniquity . 18 j If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness , he has made naked her fountain , and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood . Both of them shall be cut off from among their people . 19 k You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister , for that is to make naked l one’s relative ; they shall bear their iniquity . 20 m If a man lies with his uncle’s wife , he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness ; they shall bear their sin ; they shall die childless . 21 n If a man takes his brother’s wife , it is impurity . He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness ; they shall be childless . You Shall Be Holy 22 o “ You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them , that the land where I am bringing you to live may not p vomit you out . 23 q And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you , for they did all these things , and therefore I detested them . 24 But r I have said to you , ‘ You shall inherit their land , and I will give it to you to possess , a land s flowing with milk and honey . ’ I am the Lord your God , t who has separated you from the peoples . 25 u You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean , and the unclean bird from the clean . You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls , which I have set apart for you to hold unclean . 26 v You shall be holy to me , w for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples , that you should be mine . 27 x “ A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death . They shall be y stoned with stones ; z their blood shall be upon them . ”

Holiness and the Priests 21 And the Lord said to Moses , “ Speak to the priests , the sons of Aaron , and say to them , a No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people , 2 except for his closest relatives , his mother , his father , his son , his daughter , his brother , 3 or his virgin sister ( who is near to him because she has had no husband ; for her he may make himself unclean ) . 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself . 5 b They shall not make bald patches on their heads , nor shave off the edges of their beards , nor make any cuts on their body . 6 They shall be holy to their God and c not profane the name of their God . For they offer the Lord ’s food offerings , d the bread of their God ; therefore they shall be holy . 7 e They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled , neither shall they marry a woman f divorced from her husband , for the priest is holy to his God . 8 You shall sanctify him , for he offers the bread of your God . He shall be holy to you , for g I , the Lord , who sanctify you , h am holy . 9 And the daughter of any priest , if she profanes herself by whoring , profanes her father ; i she shall be burned with fire . 10 j “ The priest who is chief among his brothers , on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments , k shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes . 11 He shall not l go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean , even for his father or for his mother . 12 m He shall not go out of the sanctuary , lest he n profane the sanctuary of his God , for the o consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him : I am the Lord . 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity . 14 A widow , p or a divorced woman , or a woman who has been defiled , or a prostitute , these he shall not marry . But he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people , 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people , for g I am the Lord who sanctifies him . ” 16 And the Lord spoke to Moses , saying , 17 “ Speak to Aaron , saying , None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may q approach to offer the bread of his God . 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near , a man r blind or lame , or one who has a mutilated face s or a limb too long , 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand , 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a r defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or t crushed testicles . 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to u offer the Lord ’s food offerings ; since he has a blemish , he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God . 22 He may eat the bread of his God , both of v the most holy and of the w holy things , 23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar , because he has a blemish , that he may not x profane my sanctuaries , y for I am the Lord who sanctifies them . ” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel .