Leviticus 19

1 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “Speak to all the people of Israel and tell them this: You must be holy, because I, Yahweh your God, am holy, [and I want you to be like me].

Speak to the congregation of the children of Israel, and you shall say to them, You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God [am] holy.

3 ‘Each of you must respect your father and your mother. And you must (honor/treat respectfully) the Sabbath days. I am Yahweh, your God, [and that is what I am commanding you to do].

Let every one of you reverence his father and his mother; and you shall keep my sabbaths: I [am] the Lord your God.

4 ‘Do not worship idols or make metal statues of gods for yourselves. I am Yahweh, your God, [and I am the only one you must worship].

You shall not follow idols, and you shall not make to yourselves molten gods: I [am] the Lord your God.

5 ‘Then you bring an offering to maintain fellowship with me, offer it in a way that will cause me to accept it.

And if you will sacrifice a peace-offering to the Lord, you shall offer it acceptable from yourselves.

6 The meat should be eaten on the day that you sacrifice it, but you are permitted to eat some of it on the next day. Anything that remains until the third/next day must be completely burned.

In what day soever you shall sacrifice it, it shall be eaten; and on the following day, and if any of it should be left till the third day, it shall be thoroughly burnt with fire.

7 For any of it to be eaten on the third day is very displeasing to me, and I will not accept that offering.

And if it should be at all eaten on the third day, it is unfit for sacrifice: it shall not be accepted.

8 I will punish anyone who eats it [after the second day], because he will not have respected that what I say is holy. And that person must no longer be allowed to associate with my people.

And he that eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy things of the Lord; and the souls that eat it shall be destroyed from among their people.

9 ‘Then you harvest your grain, leave the grain at the very edge of the field, and do not pick up the grain that has fallen on the ground.

And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not complete the reaping of your field with exactness, and you shall not gather that which falls from your reaping.

10 And when you harvest your grapes, do not go back a second time to try to harvest some more, and do not pick up the grapes that have fallen on the ground. Leave those things for the poor people and for foreigners who are living among you. I, Yahweh your God, [am commanding those things].

And you shall not go over the gathering of your vineyard, neither shall you gather the remaining grapes of your vineyard: you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

11 ‘Do not steal anything. ‘Do not tell lies. ‘Do not deceive each other.

You shall not steal, you shall not lie, neither shall one bear false witness as an informer against his neighbor.

12 ‘Do not show that you do not respect me by using/saying my name to falsely promise that you will do something. [Do not forget that] I am Yahweh, your God.

And you shall not swear unjustly by my name, and you shall not profane the holy name of your God: I am the Lord your God.

13 ‘Do not cheat anyone or steal from anyone. [‘If you have agreed to] pay your workers at the end of the day, [do what you have promised]; do not keep those wages until the next day.

You shall not injure your neighbor, neither do you rob [him], neither shall the wages of your hireling remain with you until the morning.

14 ‘Do not curse deaf people, and do not put things in the path of blind people to cause them to stumble.

You shall not revile the deaf, neither shall you put a stumbling block in the way of the blind; and you shall fear the Lord your God: I am the Lord your God.

15 ‘Always [LIT] judge people fairly [DOU]. Do not do special favors for either poor people or rich people.

You shall not act unjustly in judgment: you shall not accept the person of the poor, nor admire the person of the mighty; with justice shall you judge your neighbor.

16 ‘Do not spread false rumors about other people. ‘Do not say anything [in court] that would result in some [innocent] person being executed. I, Yahweh, [am commanding this].

You shall not walk deceitfully among your people; you shall not rise up against the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord your God.

17 ‘Do not hate anyone. Instead, honestly rebuke those who ought to be rebuked, in order that you also will not be guilty.

You shall not hate your brother in your heart: you shall in any wise rebuke your neighbor, so you shall not bear sin on his account.

18 ‘Do not try to get revenge against someone or be angry with someone for a long time. Instead, love other people like you love yourself. I, Yahweh your God, [am commanding this].

And your hand shall not avenge you; and you shall not be angry with the children of your people; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

19 ‘Obey my laws. ‘Do not allow two different kinds of animals to mate with each other. ‘Do not plant two different kinds of seed in the [same] field. ‘Do not wear clothing made from two different kinds of material.

You shall observe my law: you shall not let your cattle gender with one of a different kind, and you shall not sow your vineyard with diverse seed; and you shall not put upon yourself a mingled garment woven of two [materials].

20 ‘If a man has sex with a slave woman who has been promised to marry some other man, but she has not been bought by that man and is still a slave, the man who had sex with her must be punished. But because she is still a slave, she and the man who had sex with her must not be killed.

And if any one lie carnally with a woman, and she should be a home-servant kept for a man, and she has not been ransomed, [and] her freedom has not been given to her, they shall be visited [with punishment]; but they shall not die, because she was not set at liberty.

21 However, that man must bring a ram to [be slaughtered at] the entrance of the Sacred Tent area, to be an offering in order that he no longer be guilty for his sin.

And he shall bring for his trespass to the Lord to the door of the tabernacle of witness, a ram for a trespass-offering.

22 The priest will offer that ram to me in order that the man will be forgiven for the sin that he committed, and I will forgive him.

And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass-offering, before the Lord, for the sin which he sinned; and the sin which he sinned shall be forgiven him.

23 ‘When you enter the land [that I have promised to give to you], and when you plant various kinds of fruit trees, you must not eat any of their fruit for three years [DOU].

And whenever you shall enter into the land which the Lord your God gives you, and shall plant any fruit tree, then shall you purge away its uncleanness; its fruit shall be three years uncleansed to you, it shall not be eaten.

24 In the fourth year all of their fruit must be set aside to belong to me; it must be brought to me to be an offering to praise me.

And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a subject of praise to the Lord.

25 But in the fifth/next year, you will be permitted to eat their fruit. If you do that, your trees will produce much fruit. I, Yahweh your God, [am promising that].

And in the fifth year you shall eat the fruit, its produce is an increase to you. I am the Lord your God.

26 ‘Do not eat any meat that still has [the animal’s] blood in it. ‘Do not consult spirits to find out what will happen in the future, and do not practice sorcery.

Eat not on the mountains, nor shall you employ auguries, nor divine by inspection of birds.

27 ‘Do not shave the hair at the sides of your heads [like pagan people do].

You shall not make a round cutting of the hair of your head, nor disfigure your beard.

28 ‘Do not cut your bodies [when you are mourning] for people who have died, and do not put tattoos on your bodies. I, Yahweh your God, [am commanding this].

And you shall not make cuttings in your body for a [dead] body, and you shall not inscribe on yourselves any marks. I am the Lord your God.

29 ‘Do not disgrace your daughters by forcing them to become prostitutes. If you cause them to become prostitutes, soon the land will be filled with prostitutes and all other kinds of people’s wicked behavior.

You shall not profane your daughter to prostitute her; so the land shall not go a whoring, and the land be filled with iniquity.

30 ‘Honor my Sabbath days and revere my Sacred Tent, because I, Yahweh, [live there].

You shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuaries: I am the Lord.

31 ‘Do not seek advice from those who (consult/talk with) the spirits of dead people [DOU], because if you do that, they will defile you. I, Yahweh your God, [am the one you should consult].

You shall not attend to those who have in them divining spirits, nor attach yourselves to enchanters, to pollute yourselves with them: I am the Lord your God.

32 ‘Stand up when old people [enter the room], and show that you respect them, and also revere me, your God; [that is what] I, Yahweh, [am commanding].

You shall rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and shall fear your God: I am the Lord your God.

33 ‘When foreigners live among you [in your land], do not mistreat them.

And if there should come to you a stranger in your land, you shall not afflict him.

34 You must treat them like you treat your fellow-citizens. Love them like you love yourselves, and do not forget that once, when you were foreigners in Egypt, [you were badly mistreated by the people of Egypt]. I, Yahweh your God, [am commanding you to do this].

The stranger that comes to you shall be among you as the native, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

35 ‘When you are measuring things, to see how long they are or how much they weigh or how many there are,

You shall not act unrighteously in judgment, in measures and weights and scales.

36 use correct [measuring sticks and] scales and weights [on the scales] and measuring baskets and other measuring containers. I Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, [am giving you these laws].

There shall be among you just balances and just weights and just liquid measure. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

37 ‘Obey carefully [DOU] all my laws and decrees, because I, Yahweh, [am the one who am commanding them].’”

And you shall keep all my law and all my ordinances, and you shall do them: I am the Lord your God.