LeviticusChapter 19

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¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²"Speak to all the people of Israel and tell them this: Be holy, because I, the LORD your God, am holy. ³Each of you must respect his mother and father. You must keep my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God. ⁴Do not turn to idols. Do not make gods out of melted metal for yourselves. I am the LORD your God. ⁵When you offer a peace offering to the LORD, offer it in the right way so that you will be accepted. ⁶It must be eaten on the day you offer it or on the next day. Anything left over on the third day must be burned up. ⁷If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is spoiled. It will not be accepted. ⁸Anyone who eats it will carry the guilt for his sin. For he has treated as common what is holy to the LORD. That person must be cut off from his people. ⁹When you gather the harvest of your land, do not harvest all the way to the edges of your field. Do not pick up the grain that is left behind. ¹⁰You must not strip your vineyard bare. Do not pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am the LORD your God. ¹¹You must not steal. You must not lie or trick one another. ¹²You must not make a false promise in my name. That would dishonor the name of your God. I am the LORD. ¹³You must not cheat your neighbor or rob him. You must not keep back a hired worker's pay overnight until morning. ¹⁴You must not curse a deaf person. You must not put something in front of a blind person to make him trip. Instead, you must fear your God. I am the LORD. ¹⁵You must not twist justice. You must not take the side of the poor just because they are poor. You must not favor the rich. You must judge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶You must not go around spreading lies about others among your people. You must not put your neighbor's life in danger. I am the LORD. ¹⁷You must not hate your brother in your heart. Correct your neighbor openly. Then you will not share in his guilt. ¹⁸Do not try to get even with anyone among your people. Do not hold a grudge against them. But love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. ¹⁹You must keep my laws. You must not breed two different kinds of animals together. You must not plant your fields with two kinds of seed. You must not wear clothing made of two kinds of material. ²⁰If a man has sex with a slave woman who is promised to another man, but she has not been bought back or set free, they must be punished. But they must not be put to death, because she had not been set free. ²¹But the man must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. It is his guilt offering to the LORD. ²²The priest must make atonement for him before the LORD with the ram of the guilt offering. This is for the sin he has done. Then he will be forgiven for the sin he did. ²³You will go into the land and plant all kinds of fruit trees. You must treat their fruit as forbidden. For three years it will be forbidden to you. It must not be eaten. ²⁴In the fourth year all its fruit must be set apart as holy. It is a praise offering to the LORD. ²⁵But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will grow larger. I am the LORD your God. ²⁶You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not try to tell the future or use magic. ²⁷You must not cut off the hair at the sides of your head. You must not trim the edges of your beard. ²⁸You must not cut your bodies for the dead. You must not put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD. ²⁹You must not dishonor your daughter by making her a prostitute. If you do, the land will turn to prostitution. It will be filled with wickedness. ³⁰You must keep my Sabbaths. You must show deep respect for my sanctuary. I am the LORD. ³¹You must not turn to people who call up the dead or to people who talk with spirits. Do not go looking for them, or they will make you impure. I am the LORD your God. ³²Stand up when an older person comes near. Honor old people. Fear your God. I am the LORD. ³³A foreigner may live with you in your land. You must not treat him badly. ³⁴You must treat the foreigner living among you as if he were born in Israel. Love him as yourself. For you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. ³⁵You must not cheat when you measure how long, how heavy, or how much something is. ³⁶You must use honest scales and honest weights. You must use an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt.a ³⁷You must keep all my laws and all my rules and obey them. I am the LORD."