Leviticus 19
19
Yahweh Is Holy
1Then#Or “And” Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to all the community of the Israelites,#Literally “sons/children of Israel” and say to them, ‘You#Plural must be holy, because I, Yahweh your#Plural God, am holy. 3Each of you must revere your mother#Hebrew “his mother” and your father,#Hebrew “his father” and you#Plural must keep my Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your#Plural God. 4You#Plural must not turn to idols, and you#Plural must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal; I am Yahweh your#Plural God.
5“ ‘And when you#Plural sacrifice a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to Yahweh, you#Plural must sacrifice it for your#Plural acceptance. 6It must be eaten on the day of your#Plural sacrifice and the next day; but#Or “and” the remainder must be burned up in the fire by the third day. 7And if it is indeed eaten on the third day, it is unclean meat; it shall not be regarded as accepted. 8And the one who eats it shall bear his guilt, because he has profaned Yahweh’s holiness, and that person shall be cut off from his people.
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
9“ ‘And at your#Plural reaping the harvest of your#Plural land you#Singular must not finish reaping the edge of your#Singular field, and you#Singular must not glean the remnants of your#Singular harvest. 10And you#Singular must not glean your#Singular vineyard, and you#Singular must not gather your#Singular vineyard’s fallen grapes; you#Singular must leave them behind for the needy and for the alien; I am Yahweh your#Plural God.
11“ ‘You#Plural shall not steal, and you#Plural shall not deceive, and you#Plural shall not lie to one another;#Literally “a man to his fellow citizen” 12and you#Plural shall not swear falsely#Literally “to the deception” in my name, and so one of you#Singular profane#Or “you shall profane” the name of your#Singular God; I am Yahweh.
13“ ‘You#Singular shall not exploit your#Singular neighbor, and you#Singular shall not rob him; a hired worker’s wage you#Singular shall not withhold#Literally “leave with you” overnight until morning. 14You#Singular shall not curse the deaf, and you#Singular shall not put a stumbling block before#Literally “to the faces of” a blind person, but#Or “and” you#Singular shall revere your#Singular God; I am Yahweh.
15“ ‘You#Plural shall not do injustice in judgment; you#Singular shall not show partiality to the powerless;#Literally “you shall not lift up the faces of the poor/powerless” you#Singular shall not give preference to the powerful;#Literally “faces of the great” you#Singular shall judge your#Singular fellow citizen with justice. 16You#Singular shall not go about with slander among your#Singular people; you#Singular shall not endanger your#Singular neighbor’s life;#Literally “you shall not stand on the blood of your neighbor” I am Yahweh.
17“ ‘You#Singular shall not hate your#Singular brother in your#Singular heart; you#Singular shall surely rebuke your#Singular fellow citizen, so that you#Singular do not incur sin along with#Or “in addition to him”; literally “upon him” him. 18You#Singular shall not seek vengeance, and you#Singular shall not harbor a grudge against your#Singular fellow citizens;#Literally “the sons of your people” and you#Singular shall love your#Singular neighbor like yourself; #Singular I am Yahweh.
You Shall Keep My Statutes
19“ ‘You#Plural must keep my statutes: as for your#Singular domestic animals, you#Singular shall not cause two differing kinds to breed; as for your#Singular field, you#Singular shall not sow two differing kinds of seed; and, a garment of two differing kinds of woven material should not be worn on you.#Singular
20“ ‘And when a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen and she is a female slave promised to a man, but#Or “and” she indeed has not been ransomed or freedom has not be given to her, there shall be an obligation to compensate; they shall not be put to death, because she has not been freed. 21And he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh at the tent of assembly’s entrance: a ram for a guilt offering. 22And the priest shall make atonement for him before#Literally “to the faces of” Yahweh with the ram of the guilt offering for his sin that he committed,#Literally “sinned” and so his sin that he committed#Literally “sinned” shall be forgiven him.
23“ ‘And when you#Plural have come into the land and you#Plural plant any tree for#Hebrew “of” food, you#Plural shall regard its fruit as unharvestable;#Literally “and you shall regard its foreskin as uncircumcised its fruit” for three years it shall be forbidden for you; #Plural it shall not be eaten. 24But#Or “And” in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, offerings of praise for Yahweh. 25And in the fifth year you#Plural shall eat its fruit to increase its yield for you; #Plural I am Yahweh your#Plural God.
26“ ‘You#Plural must not eat anything with the blood; you#Plural shall not practice divination, nor shall you#Plural interpret signs. 27You#Plural shall not round off the corner hair of your#Plural head, and you#Singular shall not trim the corner of your#Singular beard. 28And you#Plural shall not make a slash in your#Plural body for a dead person, nor shall you#Plural make on yourselves a tattoo’s mark; I am Yahweh.
29“ ‘You#Singular shall not profane your#Singular daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land be prostituted and the land fill up with depravity.#Literally “and the land does not prostitute and the land fills up depravity” or “so that the land does not prostitute and the land fills up depravity” 30You#Plural shall keep my Sabbaths, and you#Plural shall revere my sanctuary; I am Yahweh.
31“ ‘You#Plural shall not turn to the mediums and to the soothsayers; you#Plural shall not seek them to become unclean with them; I am Yahweh your#Plural God.
32“ ‘Before#Literally “from the faces of” old age you#Singular shall get up, and you#Singular shall show respect for an old person; and you#Singular shall revere your God; I am Yahweh.
33“ ‘And when an alien dwells with you#Singular in your#Plural land, you#Plural shall not oppress him. 34The alien who is dwelling with you#Plural shall be like a native among you,#Plural and you#Singular shall love him like yourself, #Singular because you#Plural were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your#Plural God.
35“ ‘You#Plural shall not commit injustice in regulation, in measurement, in weight, or#Or “and” volume. 36You#Plural must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin; I am Yahweh your#Plural God who brought you#Plural out from the land of Egypt.
37“ ‘Thus you#Plural shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations, and you#Plural shall do them; I am Yahweh.’ ”
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Leviticus 19: LEB
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Leviticus 19
19
Various Rules of Conduct. 1The Lord said to Moses: 2Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.#Be holy, for I…am holy: in the writings commonly attributed to the Priestly collection, Israel is called to be holy through obeying God’s precepts (11:44–45; 20:7–8, 24–26; Nm 15:40–41). Cf. Dt 14:2, 21; 26:19; and Ex 19:6. #Lv 11:44. 3#Cf. the Decalogue laws on revering parents (Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16), keeping sabbaths (Ex 20:8–11; Dt 5:12–15), and not making or worshiping idols (Ex 20:2–6; Dt 5:7–10). Each of you revere your mother and father,#Lv 20:9; Ex 20:12. and keep my sabbaths.#Lv 23:3. I, the Lord, am your God.
4Do not turn aside to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves.#Lv 26:1; Ex 20:3–5; 34:17; Dt 5:8; 27:15. I, the Lord, am your God.
5When you sacrifice your communion sacrifice to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that it is acceptable on your behalf. 6It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice or on the following day. Whatever is left over until the third day shall be burned in fire. 7If any of it is eaten on the third day, it will be a desecrated offering and not be accepted;#Lv 7:15–18. 8whoever eats of it then shall bear the penalty for having profaned what is sacred to the Lord. Such a one shall be cut off#Lv 7:20. from the people.
9#The Israelites maintain the poor in part by letting them gather unharvested portions of fields and vineyards. Cf. 23:22; Ru 2:1–10. When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.#Lv 23:22; Dt 24:19–22. 10Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the Lord, am your God.
11#Cf. the Decalogue commandments against stealing (Ex 20:15; Dt 5:19), wrongly using God’s name (Ex 20:7; Dt 5:11), and swearing falsely against another (Ex 20:16; Dt 5:20). You shall not steal. You shall not deceive or speak falsely to one another.#Ex 20:15–16. 12You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God.#Ex 20:7; Mt 5:33–37. I am the Lord.
13You shall not exploit your neighbor. You shall not commit robbery. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your laborer.#Dt 24:14–15. 14#In Dt 27:18 a curse falls on the head of the one who misleads the blind. You shall not insult the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the Lord.
15You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your neighbor justly.#Ex 23:2–3; Dt 1:17; 16:19; Ps 82:2; Prv 24:23. 16You shall not go about spreading slander among your people; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the Lord.
17#These verses form a unit and describe different attitudes and actions towards one’s fellow Israelites. A separate passage is necessary to advise a similar attitude toward aliens (vv. 33–34). Cf. 25:39–46. The admonition at the end of v. 18 came to be viewed in Judaism and Christianity as one of the central commandments. (See Mt 22:34–40; Mk 12:28–34; Lk 10:25–28; cf. Mt 19:19; Rom 13:8–10; Gal 5:14). The New Testament urges love for enemies as well as neighbors (Mt 5:43–48; Lk 6:27–36; cf. Prv 25:21–22). You shall not hate any of your kindred in your heart. Reprove your neighbor openly so that you do not incur sin because of that person.#Mt 18:15; Lk 17:3; Gal 6:1. 18Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.#Mt 5:43; 19:19; 22:39; Mk 12:31; Rom 13:9; Gal 5:14; Jas 2:8; 1 Jn 3:14.
19#One reason why mixtures are prohibited seems to be that they are holy (see Dt 22:9, 10–11). Israelites are allowed mixtures in the wearing of fringes on the edges or corners of their clothing (Nm 15:37–41; Dt 22:12). Some mixtures are considered abominations (cf. Lv 18:23; Dt 22:5). Keep my statutes: do not breed any of your domestic animals with others of a different species; do not sow a field of yours with two different kinds of seed; and do not put on a garment woven with two different kinds of thread.#Dt 22:9–12.
20#On adultery, see note on 18:20. Here it is not adultery in the technical sense since the woman is not free. A reparation offering is required as a penalty (see 5:14–26). #Dt 22:22–29. If a man has sexual relations with a female slave who has been acquired by another man but has not yet been redeemed or given her freedom, an investigation shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she has not been freed. 21The man shall bring to the entrance of the tent of meeting as his reparation to the Lord a ram as a reparation offering.#Lv 5:14–26. 22With the ram of the reparation offering the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the wrong the man has committed, so that he will be forgiven for the wrong he has committed.
23When you come into the land and plant any fruit tree there,#Dt 20:19–20. first look upon its fruit as if it were uncircumcised. For three years, it shall be uncircumcised for you; it may not be eaten. 24In the fourth year, however, all of its fruit shall be dedicated to the Lord in joyous celebration. 25Not until the fifth year may you eat its fruit, to increase the yield for you. I, the Lord, am your God.
26Do not eat anything with the blood still in it.#Lv 17:10. Do not recite charms or practice soothsaying.#Recite charms…soothsaying: methods of divination (cf. Gn 44:5, 15; Is 2:6; Ez 21:26–28). Legitimate means of learning the future or God’s will were through the Urim and Thummim stones (see Lv 8:8), lots (see Lv 16:8) and prophets (cf. Dt 18:9–22; 1 Sm 28:6–7). #Dt 18:10; 2 Kgs 17:17; 21:6; 2 Chr 33:6. 27Do not clip your hair at the temples, nor spoil the edges of your beard. 28Do not lacerate your bodies for the dead, and do not tattoo yourselves.#Do not tattoo yourselves: see note on Gn 4:15. This prohibition probably refers only to the common ancient Near Eastern practice of branding a slave with its owner’s name as well as branding the devotees of a god with its name. #Lv 21:5. I am the Lord.
29You shall not degrade your daughter by making a prostitute of her;#Lv 21:7, 14. otherwise the land will prostitute itself and become full of lewdness. 30Keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary.#Lv 19:3. I am the Lord.
31Do not turn to ghosts or consult spirits, by which you will be defiled.#Lv 20:6, 27; Dt 18:11; Is 8:19. I, the Lord, am your God.
32Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the old, and fear your God. I am the Lord.
33When an alien resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a one.#Ex 22:20; 23:9; Jer 22:3; Mal 3:5. 34You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.#Dt 10:19. I, the Lord, am your God.
35Do not act dishonestly in using measures of length or weight or capacity. 36You shall have a true scale and true weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin.#Ephah: see note on Is 5:10; hin: see note on Ez 45:24. #Dt 25:13–16; Prv 16:11; Am 8:5; Mi 6:10–11. I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37Be careful, then, to observe all my statutes and decrees. I am the Lord.
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