Leviticus 19
Worship
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:
2 Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them: “Be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
3 Each of you must respect his father and mother. “And you must keep my sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God.
6 It must be eaten the same day or the day after; whatever is left the day after must be burnt.
7 If eaten on the third day it would be a corrupt offering, it would not be acceptable.
8 Anyone who eats it must bear the consequences of his fault, for he will have profaned the holiness of Yahweh; this person shall be outlawed from his people.
9 When you gather the harvest of your land, you are not to harvest to the very end of the field. You are not to gather the gleanings of the harvest.
10 You are neither to strip your vine bare nor to collect the fruit that has fallen in your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Yahweh your God.
11 You must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour.
12 You must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
13 You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must not keep back the labourer’s wage until next morning.
14 You must not curse the dumb, nor put an obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God. I am Yahweh.
15 You must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour according to justice.
16 You must not slander your own people, and you must not jeopardise your neighbour’s life. I am Yahweh.
17 You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself.
18 You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am Yahweh.
19 You must keep my laws. “You are not to mate your cattle with those of another kind; you are not to sow two kinds of grain in your field; you are not to wear a garment made from two kinds of fabric.
20 If a man sleeps with a woman as though married to her, she being another’s concubine slave not yet purchased or given her freedom, then the man is to be answerable for infringement of rights, but he shall not be put to death, since she was not a free woman.
21 He must bring a sacrifice of reparation for Yahweh to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. This is to be a ram of reparation.
22 With this ram of reparation the priest must perform the rite of atonement over the man before Yahweh for the sin committed; and the sin he has committed will be forgiven.
23 Once you have entered this land and planted a fruit tree of any sort, you are to regard its fruits as its foreskin.[*a] For three years it shall be a thing uncircumcised, and you must not eat it.
24 In the fourth year, all the fruit shall be consecrated to Yahweh in a feast of praise.
25 In the fifth year you may eat the fruit and gather the produce for yourselves. I am Yahweh your God.
26 You must eat nothing with blood in it. You must not practice divination or magic.
27 [*b] “You are not to round off your hair at the edges nor trim the edges of your beard.
28 You are not to gash your bodies when someone dies, and you are not to tattoo yourselves. I am Yahweh.
29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute; thus the land will not be prostituted and filled with incest.
31 Do not have recourse to the spirits of the dead or to magicians; they will defile you. I am Yahweh your God.
32 You are to rise up before grey hairs, you are to honour old age and fear your God. I am Yahweh.
34 You must count him as one of your own countrymen and love him as yourself – for you were once strangers yourselves in Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
35 Your legal verdicts, your measures – length, weight and capacity – must all be just.
36 Your scales and weights must be just, a just ephah and a just hin. I am Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 Keep all my laws and customs, put them into practice. I am Yahweh.”‘
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