Leviticus

Chapter 1

¹ Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, ² "Speak to the people of Israel and tell them, 'When any man from among you brings an offering to Yahweh, bring as your offering one of your animals, either from the herd or from the flock.

³ If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he must offer a male without blemish. He is to offer it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, so that it may be accepted before Yahweh. ⁴ He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and then it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for himself. ⁵ Then he must kill the bull before Yahweh. Aaron's sons, the priests, will present the blood and sprinkle it on the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁶ Then he must skin the burnt offering and cut it to pieces. ⁷ Then the sons of Aaron the priest will put fire on the altar and place wood to feed the fire. ⁸ Aaron's sons, the priests, are to place the pieces, the head and the fat, in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar. ⁹ But its inner parts and its legs he must wash with water. Then the priest will burn everything on the altar as a burnt offering. It will produce a sweet aroma for me; it will be an offering made to me by fire.

¹⁰ If his offering for the burnt offering is from the flock, one of the sheep or one of the goats, he must offer a male without blemish. ¹¹ He must kill it on the north side of the altar before Yahweh. Aaron's sons, the priests, will sprinkle its blood on every side of the altar. ¹² Then he must cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest will lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire, which is on the altar, ¹³ but the inner parts and the legs he must wash with water. Then the priest will offer the whole, and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, and it will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh; it will be an offering made to him by fire.

¹⁴ If his offering to Yahweh is to be a burnt offering of birds, then he must bring as his offering either a dove or a young pigeon. ¹⁵ The priest must bring it to the altar, wring off its head, and burn it on the altar. Then its blood must be drained out on the side of the altar. ¹⁶ He must remove its crop with its contents, and throw it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for the ashes. ¹⁷ He must tear it open by its wings, but he must not divide it into two parts. Then the priest will burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It will be a burnt offering, and it will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh; it will be an offering made to him by fire.

Chapter 2

¹ When anyone brings a grain offering to Yahweh, his offering must be fine flour, and he will pour oil on it and put incense on it. ² He is to take the offering to Aaron's sons the priests, and there the priest will take out a handful of the fine flour with the oil and the incense on it. Then the priest will burn the offering on the altar as a representative offering. It will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh; it will be an offering made to him by fire. ³ Whatever is left of the grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons. It is very holy to Yahweh from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire.

⁴ When you offer a grain offering without yeast that is baked in an oven, it must be soft bread of fine flour mixed with oil, or hard bread without yeast, which is spread with oil. ⁵ If your grain offering is baked with a flat iron pan, it must be of fine flour without yeast that is mixed with oil. ⁶ You are to divide it into pieces and pour oil on it. This is a grain offering. ⁷ If your grain offering is cooked in a pan, it must be made with fine flour and oil. ⁸ You must bring the grain offering made from these things to Yahweh, and it will be presented to the priest, who will bring it to the altar. ⁹ Then the priest will take some from the grain offering as a representative offering, and he will burn it on the altar. It will be an offering made by fire, and it will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. ¹⁰ What is left of the grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons. It is very holy to Yahweh from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire.

¹¹ No grain offering that you offer to Yahweh is to be made with yeast, for you must burn no leaven, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire to Yahweh. ¹² You will offer them to Yahweh as an offering of firstfruits, but they will not be used to produce a sweet aroma on the altar. ¹³ You must season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must never allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be missing from your grain offering. With all your offerings you must offer salt.

¹⁴ If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to Yahweh, offer fresh grain that is roasted with fire and then crushed into meal. ¹⁵ Then you must put oil and incense on it. This is a grain offering. ¹⁶ Then the priest will burn part of the crushed grain and oil and incense as a representative offering. This is an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

Chapter 3

¹ If someone offers a sacrifice which is a fellowship offering of an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he must offer an animal without blemish before Yahweh. ² He will lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the door of the tent of meeting. Then Aaron's sons the priests will sprinkle its blood on the sides of the altar. ³ The man will offer the sacrifice of a fellowship offering by fire to Yahweh. The fat that covers or is connected to the inner parts, ⁴ and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the loins, and the lobe of the liver, with the kidneys—he will remove all of this. ⁵ Aaron's sons will burn that on the altar with the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire. This will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh; it will be an offering made to him by fire.

⁶ If the man's sacrifice of a fellowship offering to Yahweh is from the flock; male or female, he must offer a sacrifice without blemish. ⁷ If he offers a lamb for his sacrifice, then he must offer it before Yahweh. ⁸ He will lay his hand on the head of his sacrifice and kill it before the tent of meeting. Then Aaron's sons will sprinkle its blood on the sides of the altar. ⁹ The man will offer the sacrifice of fellowship offerings as an offering made by fire to Yahweh. The fat, the entire fat tail cut away close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the inner parts and all the fat that is near the inner parts, ¹⁰ and the two kidneys and the fat that is with them, which is by the loins, and the lobe of the liver, with the kidneys—he will remove all of this. ¹¹ Then the priest will burn it all on the altar as a burnt offering of food to Yahweh.

¹² If the man's offering is a goat, then he will offer it before Yahweh. ¹³ He must lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it before the tent of meeting. Then the sons of Aaron will sprinkle its blood on the sides of the altar. ¹⁴ The man will offer his sacrifice made by fire to Yahweh. He will remove the fat that covers the inner parts, and all the fat near the inner parts. ¹⁵ He will also remove the two kidneys and the fat that is with them, which is by the loins, and the lobe of the liver with the kidneys. ¹⁶ The priest will burn all that on the altar as a burnt offering of food, to produce a sweet aroma. All the fat belongs to Yahweh. ¹⁷ It will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations in every place you make your home, that you must not eat fat or blood.'"

Chapter 4

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Tell the people of Israel, 'When anyone sins without wanting to sin, doing any of the things that Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and if he does something that is prohibited, the following must be done. ³ If it is the high priest who sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin which he has committed a young bull without blemish to Yahweh as a sin offering. ⁴ He must bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before Yahweh, lay his hand on its head, and kill the bull before Yahweh. ⁵ The anointed priest will take some of the blood of the bull and take it to the tent of meeting. ⁶ The priest will dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before Yahweh, before the curtain of the most holy place. ⁷ Then the priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before Yahweh, which is in the tent of meeting, and he will pour out all the rest of the blood of the bull at the base of the altar for burnt offerings, which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸ He will cut away all the fat of the bull of the sin offering; the fat that covers the inner parts, all the fat that is attached to the inner parts, ⁹ the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the lobe of the liver, with the kidneys—he will cut away all this. ¹⁰ He will cut it all away, just as he cuts it off from the bull of the sacrifice of peace offerings. Then the priest will burn these parts on the altar for burnt offerings. ¹¹ The skin of the bull and any remaining meat, with its head and with its legs and its inner parts and its dung, ¹² all the rest of the parts of the bull—he will carry all these parts outside the camp to a place that they have cleansed for me, where they pour out the ashes; they will burn those parts there on wood. They must burn those parts where they pour out the ashes.

¹³ If the whole assembly of Israel sins without wanting to sin, and the assembly is unaware that they have sinned and done any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and if they are guilty, ¹⁴ then, when the sin they have committed becomes known, then the assembly must offer a young bull for a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ The elders of the assembly will lay their hands on the head of the bull before Yahweh, and the bull will be killed before Yahweh. ¹⁶ The anointed priest will bring some of the blood of the bull to the tent of meeting, ¹⁷ and the priest will dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before Yahweh, before the curtain. ¹⁸ He will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before Yahweh, which is in the tent of meeting, and he will pour out all the blood at the base of the altar for burnt offerings, which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹⁹ He will cut off all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. ²⁰ That is what he must do with the bull. Just as he did with the bull of the sin offering, so will he also do with this bull, and the priest will make atonement for the people, and they will be forgiven. ²¹ He will carry the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the assembly.

²² When a ruler sins without intending to sin, doing any one of all the things that Yahweh his God has commanded not to be done, and he is guilty, ²³ then his sin which he has committed is made known to him, he must bring for his sacrifice a goat, a male without blemish. ²⁴ He will lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before Yahweh. This is a sin offering. ²⁵ The priest will take the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings, and he will pour out its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. ²⁶ He will burn all the fat on the altar, just like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest will make atonement for the ruler concerning his sin, and the ruler will be forgiven.

²⁷ If anyone of the common people sins without intending to sin, doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded him not to be done, and when he realizes his guilt, ²⁸ then his sin which he has committed is made known to him, then he will bring a goat for his sacrifice, a female without blemish, for the sin that he has committed. ²⁹ He will lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering at the place of burnt offering. ³⁰ The priest will take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ³¹ He will cut away all the fat, just as the fat is cut away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest will burn it on the altar to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. The priest will make atonement for the man, and he will be forgiven.

³² If the man brings a lamb as his sacrifice for a sin offering, he will bring a female without blemish. ³³ He will lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering. ³⁴ The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings, and he will pour out all its blood at the base of the altar. ³⁵ He will cut away all the fat, just as the fat of the lamb is cut away from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest will burn it on the altar on top of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. The priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and the man will be forgiven.

Chapter 5

¹ If anyone sins because he does not testify when he has witnessed something about which he is required to testify, whether he has seen it or heard about it, he will be responsible. ² Or if anyone touches anything God has designated as unclean, whether it be the carcass of an unclean wild animal or the carcass of any livestock that has died, or creeping animal, even if the person did not intend to touch it, he is unclean and guilty. ³ Or if he touches the uncleanness of someone, whatever that uncleanness is, and if he is unaware of it, then he will be guilty when he learns about it. ⁴ Or if anyone swears rashly with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatever it is that a man swears rashly with an oath, even if he is unaware of it, when he learns about it, then he will be guilty, in any of these things. ⁵ When someone is guilty in any of these things, he must confess whatever sin he has committed. ⁶ Then he must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh for the sin that he has committed, a female animal from the flock, either a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering, and the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin.

⁷ If he cannot afford to buy a lamb, then he can bring as his guilt offering for his sin two doves or two young pigeons to Yahweh, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸ He must bring them to the priest, who will offer one for the sin offering first—he will wring off its head from its neck but will not remove it completely from the body. ⁹ Then he will sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and he will drain the rest of the blood out at the base of the altar. This is a sin offering. ¹⁰ Then he must offer the second bird as a burnt offering, as described in the instructions, and the priest will make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and the person will be forgiven.

¹¹ But if he cannot afford to buy two doves or two young pigeons, then he must bring as his sacrifice for his sin a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He must not put oil or any incense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹² He must bring it to the priest, and the priest will take a handful of it as a representative offering and then burn it on the altar, on top of the offerings made by fire for Yahweh. This is a sin offering. ¹³ The priest will make atonement for any sin that the person has committed, and that person will be forgiven. The leftovers from the offering will belong to the priest, as with the grain offering.'"

¹⁴ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁵ "If anyone sins and acts unfaithfully in regard to the things that belong to Yahweh, but did so unintentionally, then he must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh. This offering must be a ram without blemish from the flock; its value must be appraised in silver shekels—the shekel of the sanctuary—as a guilt offering. ¹⁶ He must satisfy Yahweh for what he had done wrong in connection with what is holy, and he must add one-fifth to it and give it to the priest. Then the priest will make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and that person will be forgiven.

¹⁷ If anyone sins and does anything that Yahweh has commanded not to be done, even if he was unaware of it, he is still guilty and must carry his own guilt. ¹⁸ He must bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, worth the current value, as a guilt offering to the priest. Then the priest will make atonement for him concerning the sin he has committed, of which he was unaware, and he will be forgiven. ¹⁹ It is a guilt offering, and he is certainly guilty before Yahweh."

Chapter 6

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "If anyone sins and acts unfaithfully against Yahweh by deceiving his neighbor regarding something held in trust, or was left in his care, or about something that was stolen, or if he has oppressed his neighbor, ³ or he has found something that his neighbor lost and lies about it, or if he swears falsely, or in any matters like these by which people sin, ⁴ and if he has sinned and is found to be guilty, he must restore whatever he took by robbery or oppression, or that which was entrusted to him, or that which was lost but that he had found. ⁵ In addition, in any matter in which he swore falsely, he must restore it in full and he must add one-fifth of the value of it and pay it all to the owner on the day that he is found guilty. ⁶ Then he must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh, a ram without blemish from the flock that is worth the current value, as a guilt offering to the priest. ⁷ The priest will make atonement for him before Yahweh, and he will be forgiven concerning whatever he has become guilty of doing."

⁸ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁹ "Command Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering must be on the hearth of the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar will be kept burning. ¹⁰ The priest will put on his linen clothes, and he will also put on his linen underclothes. He will pick up the ashes that are left after the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and he will put the ashes beside the altar. ¹¹ He will take off his garments and put on other garments to carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is clean. ¹² The fire on the altar will be kept burning. It must not go out, and the priest will burn wood on it every morning. He will arrange the burnt offering as required on it, and he will burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. ¹³ Fire must be kept burning on the altar continually. It must not go out.

¹⁴ This is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron will offer it before Yahweh before the altar. ¹⁵ The priest will take up a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and of the oil and the incense which is on the grain offering, and he will burn it on the altar to produce a sweet aroma as a representative offering. ¹⁶ Aaron and his sons will eat whatever is left of the offering. It must be eaten without yeast in a holy place. They will eat it in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. ¹⁷ It must not be baked with yeast. I have given it as their part of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy, as the sin offering and the guilt offering. ¹⁸ For all time to come throughout your people's generations, any male descended from Aaron may eat it as his share, taken from the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Whoever touches them will become holy.'"

¹⁹ So Yahweh spoke to Moses again, saying, ²⁰ "This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they will offer to Yahweh on the day when each son is anointed: a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. ²¹ It will be made with oil in a baking pan. When it is soaked, you will bring it in. In baked pieces you will offer the grain offering to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. ²² The son of the high priest who is becoming the new high priest from among his sons will offer it. As commanded forever, all of it shall be burned to Yahweh. ²³ Every grain offering of the priest will be completely burned up. It must not be eaten."

²⁴ Yahweh spoke to Moses again, saying, ²⁵ "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the sin offering: The sin offering must be killed at the place where the burnt offering is killed before Yahweh. It is most holy. ²⁶ The priest who offers it for sin will eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. ²⁷ Whatever touches its meat will become holy, and if the blood is sprinkled on any garment, you must wash it, the part that was sprinkled on, in a holy place. ²⁸ But the clay pot in which it is boiled must be broken. If it is boiled in a bronze pot, it must be scrubbed and rinsed clean in water. ²⁹ Any male among the priests may eat some of it because it is most holy. ³⁰ But any sin offering whose blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place must not be eaten. It must be burned.

Chapter 7

¹ This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy. ² They must kill the guilt offering in the place for killing it, and they must sprinkle its blood against every side of the altar. ³ All the fat in it will be offered: the fat tail, the fat that is over the inner parts, ⁴ the two kidneys and the fat on them, which is next to the loins, and what covers the liver, with the kidneys—all this must be removed. ⁵ The priest must burn these parts on the altar as an offering made with fire to Yahweh. This is the guilt offering. ⁶ Every male among the priests may eat part of this offering. It must be eaten in a holy place because it is most holy. ⁷ The sin offering is like the guilt offering. The same law applies to both of them. They belong to the priest who makes atonement with them. ⁸ The priest who offers anyone's burnt offering may have for himself the hide of that offering. ⁹ Every grain offering that is baked in an oven, and every such offering that is cooked in a frying pan or in a baking pan will belong to the priest who offers it. ¹⁰ Every grain offering, either dry or mixed with oil, will belong equally to all the descendants of Aaron.

¹¹ This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which people will offer to Yahweh. ¹² If anyone offers it in order to give thanks, then he must offer it with a sacrifice of cakes made without yeast, but mixed with oil, of cakes made without yeast, but spread with oil, and of cakes made with fine flour that is mixed with oil. ¹³ Also for the purpose of giving thanks, he must offer with his peace offering cakes of bread made with yeast. ¹⁴ He is to offer one of each kind of these sacrifices as an offering presented to Yahweh. It will belong to the priests who sprinkle the blood of the peace offerings onto the altar.

¹⁵ The person presenting a peace offering for the purpose of giving thanks must eat the meat of his offering on the day of the sacrifice. He must not leave any of it until the next morning. ¹⁶ But if the sacrifice of his offering is for the purpose of a vow, or for the purpose of a freewill offering, the meat must be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, but whatever remains of it may be eaten on the next day. ¹⁷ However, whatever meat of the sacrifice remains on the third day must be burned. ¹⁸ If any of the meat of the sacrifice of one's peace offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted, neither will it be credited to the one who offered it. It will be a disgusting thing, and the person who eats it will carry the guilt of his sin.

¹⁹ Any meat that touches an unclean thing must not be eaten. It must be burned. As for the rest of the meat, anyone who is clean may eat it. ²⁰ However, an unclean person who eats any meat from the sacrifice of a peace offering that belongs to Yahweh—that person must be cut off from his people. ²¹ If anyone touches any unclean thing—whether uncleanness of man, or of unclean beast, or of some unclean and disgusting thing, and if he then eats some of the meat of a sacrifice of peace offering that belongs to Yahweh, that person must be cut off from his people.'"

²² Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ "Speak to the people of Israel and say, 'You must eat no fat of an ox or a sheep or a goat. ²⁴ The fat of an animal that died without being a sacrifice, or the fat of an animal torn by wild animals, may be used for other purposes, but you must certainly not eat it. ²⁵ Whoever eats the fat of an animal that men can offer as a sacrifice by fire to Yahweh, that person must be cut off from his people. ²⁶ You must eat no blood whatsoever in any of your houses, whether it is from a bird or an animal. ²⁷ Whoever eats any blood, that person must be cut off from his people.'"

²⁸ So Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, ²⁹ "Speak to the people of Israel and say, 'He who offers the sacrifice of a peace offering to Yahweh must bring part of his sacrifice to Yahweh. ³⁰ The offering for Yahweh to be made by fire, his own hands must bring it. He must bring the fat with the breast, so that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before Yahweh. ³¹ The priest must burn the fat on the altar, but the breast will belong to Aaron and his descendants. ³² You must give the right thigh to the priest as an offering presented out of the sacrifice of your peace offerings. ³³ The priest, one of Aaron's descendants, who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat—he will have the right thigh as his share of the offering. ³⁴ For I have taken from the people of Israel, the breast of the wave offering, and the thigh that is the contribution, and they have been given to Aaron the priest and his sons as their regular share.

³⁵ This is the share for Aaron and his descendants from the offerings for Yahweh made by fire, on the day when Moses presented them to serve Yahweh in the work of priest. ³⁶ This is the share that Yahweh commanded to be given them from the people of Israel, on the day that he anointed the priests. It will always be their share throughout all generations.

³⁷ This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the consecration offering, and of the sacrifice of peace offerings, ³⁸ about which Yahweh gave commands to Moses on Mount Sinai on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to offer their sacrifices to Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai.'"

Chapter 8

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Take Aaron and his sons with him, the garments and the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread. ³ Assemble all the assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting." ⁴ So Moses did as Yahweh commanded him, and the assembly came together at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁵ Then Moses said to the assembly, "This is what Yahweh has commanded to be done."

⁶ Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. ⁷ He put on Aaron the tunic and tied the sash around his waist, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him, and then he tied the ephod around him with the finely-woven waistband and bound it to him. ⁸ He placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. ⁹ He set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as Yahweh had commanded him.

¹⁰ Moses took the anointing oil, anointed the tabernacle and everything in it and set them apart to Yahweh. ¹¹ He sprinkled the oil on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the washbasin and its base, to set them apart to Yahweh. ¹² He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to set him apart. ¹³ Moses brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with tunics. He tied sashes around their waists and wrapped linen cloth around their heads, as Yahweh had commanded him.

¹⁴ Moses brought the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull that they had brought for the sin offering. ¹⁵ He killed it, and he took the blood and put it on the horns of the altar with his finger, purified the altar, poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and set it apart for God in order to make atonement for it. ¹⁶ He took all the fat that was on the inner parts, the covering of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and Moses burned it all on the altar. ¹⁷ But the bull, its hide, its meat, and its dung he burned outside the camp, as Yahweh had commanded him.

¹⁸ Moses presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ¹⁹ He killed it and sprinkled its blood against every side of the altar. ²⁰ He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head and the pieces and the fat. ²¹ He washed the inner parts and the legs with water, and he burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering and produced a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

²² Then Moses presented the other ram, the ram of consecration, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ²³ Aaron killed it, and Moses took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴ He brought Aaron's sons, and he put some of the blood on the tip of their right ear, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot. Then Moses sprinkled its blood against every side of the altar. ²⁵ He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat that was on the inner parts, the covering of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh. ²⁶ Out of the basket of bread without yeast that was before Yahweh, he took one loaf without yeast, and one loaf of oiled bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat and on the right thigh. ²⁷ He put it all in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and waved them before Yahweh as a wave offering. ²⁸ Then Moses took them from off their hands and burned them on the altar for the burnt offering. They were a consecration offering and produced a sweet aroma. It was an offering made by fire to Yahweh. ²⁹ Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering to Yahweh. It was Moses' share of the ram for the priests' ordination, as Yahweh had commanded him.

³⁰ Moses took some of the anointing oil and the blood that was on the altar; he sprinkled these on Aaron, on his clothes, on his sons, and on his sons' clothes with him. In this way he set apart Aaron and his clothes, and his sons and their clothes to Yahweh.

³¹ So Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, "Boil the meat at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of consecration, as I commanded, saying, 'Aaron and his sons will eat it.' ³² Whatever remains of the meat and of the bread you must burn. ³³ You must not go out from the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are fulfilled. For Yahweh will consecrate you for seven days. ³⁴ What has been done this day— Yahweh has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. ³⁵ You will stay day and night for seven days at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and keep the command of Yahweh, so you will not die, because this is what I have been commanded." ³⁶ So Aaron and his sons did all the things which Yahweh had commanded them through Moses.

Chapter 9

¹ On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. ² He said to Aaron, "Take a calf from the herd for a sin offering, and a ram without blemish for a burnt offering, and offer them before Yahweh. ³ You must speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb, both a year old and without blemish, for a burnt offering; ⁴ also take an ox and a ram for peace offerings to sacrifice before Yahweh, and a grain offering mixed with oil, because today Yahweh will appear to you.'" ⁵ So they brought all that Moses commanded to the tent of meeting, and all the assembly of Israel approached and stood before Yahweh. ⁶ Then Moses said, "This is what Yahweh commanded you to do, so that his glory may appear to you." ⁷ Moses said to Aaron, "Come near the altar and offer your sin offering and burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and offer the sacrifice for the people to make atonement for them, as Yahweh has commanded."

⁸ So Aaron went near the altar and killed the calf for the sin offering, which was for himself. ⁹ The sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger into it and put it on the horns of the altar; then he poured out the blood at the base of the altar. ¹⁰ However, he burned the fat, the kidneys, and the covering of the liver on the altar as a sin offering, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ¹¹ The meat and the hide he burned outside the camp.

¹² Aaron killed the burnt offering, and his sons gave him the blood, which he splashed against every side of the altar. ¹³ Then they gave him the burnt offering, piece by piece, together with the head, and he burned them on the altar. ¹⁴ He washed the inner parts and the legs and burned them on top of the burnt offering on the altar.

¹⁵ Aaron presented the people's sacrifice—a goat, then took it as the sacrifice for their sin and killed it; he sacrificed it for sin, as he had done with the first goat. ¹⁶ He presented the burnt offering and offered it as Yahweh had commanded. ¹⁷ He presented the grain offering; he filled his hand with it and burned it on the altar, along with the morning's burnt offering.

¹⁸ He killed also the ox and the ram, the sacrifice for the peace offering, which was for the people. Aaron's sons gave him the blood, which he sprinkled against every side of the altar. ¹⁹ However, they cut out the fat of the bull and the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the inner parts, the kidneys, and the covering of the liver. ²⁰ They took the parts that were cut out and put these on the breasts, and then Aaron burned the fat on the altar. ²¹ Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before Yahweh, as Moses had commanded.

²² Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them; then he came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering. ²³ Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, then came out again and blessed the people, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the people. ²⁴ Fire came out from Yahweh and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw this, they shouted and lay facedown.

Chapter 10

¹ Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, each took his censer, put fire in it, and then incense. Then they offered unapproved fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them to offer. ² So fire came out from before Yahweh and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what Yahweh was talking about when he said,

     'I will reveal my holiness to those who come near me.

     I will be glorified before all the people.'"

Aaron did not say anything. ⁴ Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, "Come here and carry your brothers out of the camp from before the tabernacle." ⁵ So they came near and carried them, still wearing their priestly tunics, out of the camp, as Moses had instructed. ⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, "Do not let your hair on your heads hang loosely, and do not tear your clothes, so that you may not die, and so that Yahweh may not be angry with all the assembly. But allow your relatives, the entire house of Israel, to mourn for those whom the fire of Yahweh has set ablaze. ⁷ You must not go out from the entrance of the tent of meeting, or you will die, for the anointing oil of Yahweh is on you." So they acted according to Moses' instructions.

⁸ Yahweh spoke to Aaron, saying, ⁹ "Do not drink wine or strong drink, you, or your sons who remain with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, so you will not die. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations, ¹⁰ to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ so that you may teach the people of Israel all the statutes that Yahweh has commanded through Moses."

¹² Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his remaining sons, "Take the grain offering that remains from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire, and eat it without yeast beside the altar, for it is most holy. ¹³ You must eat it in a holy place, because it is your share and your sons' share of the offerings to Yahweh made by fire, for this is what I have been commanded to tell you. ¹⁴ The breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented to Yahweh, you must eat in a clean place acceptable to God. You and your sons and daughters with you should eat those portions, for they are given as your share and your sons' share out of the sacrifices of the fellowship offerings of the people of Israel. ¹⁵ The thigh that is presented and the breast that is waved, they must bring with the offerings of fat made by fire, to wave before Yahweh. They will be yours and your sons' with you as a share forever, as Yahweh has commanded."

¹⁶ Then Moses asked about the goat for the sin offering, and found that it was burned up. So he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the remaining sons of Aaron; he said, ¹⁷ "Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the area of the tabernacle, since it is most holy, and since Yahweh has given it to you to take away the iniquity of the assembly, to make atonement for them before him? ¹⁸ Look, its blood was not brought inside the tabernacle, so you should certainly have eaten it in the tabernacle area, as I commanded." ¹⁹ Then Aaron answered Moses, "See, today they made their sin offering and burnt offering before Yahweh, and this thing has happened to me today. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been pleasing in the sight of Yahweh?" ²⁰ When Moses heard that, he was satisfied.

Chapter 11

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, 'These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. ³ You may eat any animal that has a split hoof and that also chews the cud. ⁴ However, some animals either chew the cud or have a split hoof, and you must not eat them, animals such as the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have a split hoof. So the camel is unclean to you. ⁵ Also the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not have a split hoof, it is also unclean to you. ⁶ The rabbit, because it chews the cud, but does not have a split hoof, is unclean to you. ⁷ The pig, although it has a split hoof, does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. ⁸ You must not eat any of their meat, nor touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you.

⁹ The animals living in the water that you may eat are all those that have fins and scales, whether in the ocean or in the rivers. ¹⁰ But all living creatures that do not have fins and scales in the ocean or rivers, including all that move in the water and all the living creatures that are in the water— they must be detested by you. ¹¹ Since they must be detested, you must not eat of their meat; also, their carcasses must be detested. ¹² Whatever has no fins or scales in the water must be detested by you.

¹³ The birds you must detest and that you must not eat are these: the eagle, the vulture, ¹⁴ the kite, any kind of falcon, ¹⁵ every kind of raven, ¹⁶ the horned owl and the screech owl, the seagull, and any kind of hawk. ¹⁷ You must also detest the little owl and the great owl, the cormorant, ¹⁸ the white owl and the barn owl, the osprey, ¹⁹ the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and also the bat.

²⁰ All winged insects that walk on four legs are detestable to you. ²¹ Yet you may eat any of the flying insects that also walk on four legs if they have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. ²² You may also eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket, or grasshopper. ²³ But all the flying insects that have four feet must be detested by you.

²⁴ You will become unclean until evening by these animals if you touch a carcass of one of them. ²⁵ Whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes and remain unclean until evening. ²⁶ Every animal which has a split hoof that is not completely divided or which does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them will be unclean. ²⁷ Whatever walks on its paws among all the animals that walk on all four legs, they are unclean to you. Whoever touches such a carcass will be unclean until the evening. ²⁸ Whoever picks up such a carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. These animals will be unclean to you.

²⁹ Of the animals that creep on the ground, these are the animals that will be unclean to you: the weasel, the rat, every kind of large lizard, ³⁰ the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the skink, and the chameleon. ³¹ Of all the animals that creep, these are the animals which will be unclean to you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean until evening. ³² If any of them dies and falls on anything, that thing will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, leather, or sackcloth. Whatever it is and whatever it is used for, it must be put into water; it will be unclean until evening. Then it will be clean. ³³ For every clay pot into or onto which any unclean animal falls, whatever is in the pot will become unclean, and you must destroy that pot. ³⁴ Any food that could be eaten but has water on it from such a pot is unclean. Any liquid that is for drinking from such a pot is unclean. ³⁵ Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; if it is an oven or small stove, it must be broken to pieces. They are unclean and they must remain unclean to you. ³⁶ A spring or cistern for collecting water remains clean; but anyone who touches their carcass is unclean. ³⁷ If any part of their carcass falls upon any seeds for planting, those seeds will still be clean. ³⁸ But if water is put on the seeds, and if any part of their carcass falls on them, then they will be unclean to you.

³⁹ If any animal that you may eat dies, then he who touches the carcass will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁰ Whoever eats any of that carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. Anyone who picks up such a carcass will wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

⁴¹ Every animal that creeps on the ground is to be detested; it must not be eaten. ⁴² Whatever crawls on its belly, and whatever walks on all four legs, or whatever has many feet—all the animals that creep on the ground, these you must not eat, for they are to be detested. ⁴³ You must not make yourselves unclean with any living creatures that creep; you must not make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be made impure by them. ⁴⁴ For I am Yahweh your God. You are to keep yourselves holy, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves with any kind of animal that moves about on the ground. ⁴⁵ For I am Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You must therefore be holy, for I am holy.

⁴⁶ This is the law regarding the animals, the birds, every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the ground, ⁴⁷ for which a distinction is to be made between the unclean and the clean, and between the living things that may be eaten and the living things that may not be eaten.'"

Chapter 12

¹ Yahweh said to Moses, ² "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, 'If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male child, then she will be unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during the days of her monthly period. ³ On the eighth day the flesh of a baby boy's foreskin must be circumcised. ⁴ Then the mother's purification from her bleeding will continue for thirty-three days. She must not touch any holy thing or come into the tabernacle area until the days of her purification are finished. ⁵ But if she gives birth to a female child, then she will be unclean for two weeks, as she is during her period. Then the mother's purification will continue for sixty-six days.

⁶ When the days of her purification are finished, for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one year old lamb as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or dove as a sin offering, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, to the priest. ⁷ Then he will offer it before Yahweh and make atonement for her, and she will be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law regarding a woman who gives birth to either a male or a female child. ⁸ If she is not able to afford a lamb, then she must take two doves or two young pigeons, one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering, and the priest will make atonement for her; then she will be clean.'"

Chapter 13

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² "When anyone has on the skin of his body a swelling or scab or a bright spot, and it becomes infected and there is a skin disease in his body, then he must be brought to Aaron the high priest, or to one of his sons the priests. ³ Then the priest will examine the disease in the skin of his body. If the hair in the diseased area has turned white, and if the disease appears to be deeper than just on the skin, then it is an infectious disease. After the priest examines him, he must pronounce him unclean. ⁴ If the bright spot in his skin is white, and the appearance of it is no deeper than the skin, and if the hair in the diseased area has not turned white, then the priest must isolate the one with the disease for seven days. ⁵ On the seventh day, the priest must examine him to see if in his opinion the disease is not any worse, and if it has not spread in the skin. If it has not, then the priest must isolate him seven days more. ⁶ The priest will examine him again on the seventh day to see if the disease is better and has not spread farther in the skin. If it has not, then the priest will pronounce him clean. It is a rash. He must wash his clothes, and then he is clean. ⁷ But if the rash has spread in the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he must then show himself to the priest again. ⁸ The priest will examine him to see if the rash has spread farther in the skin. If it has spread, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an infectious disease.

⁹ When an infectious skin disease is in someone, then he must be brought to the priest. ¹⁰ The priest will examine him to see if there is a white swelling in the skin, if the hair has turned white, or if there is raw flesh in the swelling. ¹¹ If there is, then it is a chronic skin disease, and the priest must pronounce him unclean. He will not isolate him, because he is already unclean. ¹² If the disease breaks out widely in the skin and covers all the skin of the person with the disease from his head to his feet, as far as it appears to the priest, ¹³ then the priest must examine him to see if the disease has covered all his body. If it has, then the priest must pronounce the person who has the disease as clean. If it has all turned white, then he is clean. ¹⁴ But if raw flesh appears on him, he will be unclean. ¹⁵ The priest must look at the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean because the raw flesh is unclean. It is an infectious disease. ¹⁶ But if the raw flesh turns white again, then the person must go to the priest. ¹⁷ The priest will examine him to see if the flesh has turned white. If it has then the priest will pronounce that person to be clean.

¹⁸ When a person has a boil on the skin and it has healed, ¹⁹ and in place of the boil there is white swelling or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it must be shown to the priest. ²⁰ The priest will examine it to see if it appears deeper under the skin, and if the hair there has turned white. If so, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an infectious disease, if it has developed in the place where the boil was. ²¹ But if the priest examines it and sees that there is no white hair in it, and that it is not under the skin but has faded, then the priest must isolate him for seven days. ²² If it spreads widely in the skin, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an infectious disease. ²³ But if the bright spot stays in its place and has not spread, then it is the scar of the boil, and the priest must pronounce him clean.

²⁴ When the skin has a burn and the raw flesh of the burn has become a reddish-white or white spot, ²⁵ then the priest will examine it to see if the hair in that spot has turned white, and if it appears to be deeper than the skin. If it has, then it is an infectious disease. It has broken out in the burn, and the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an infectious disease. ²⁶ But if the priest examines it and finds that there is no white hair in the spot, and it is not under the skin but has faded, then the priest must isolate him for seven days. ²⁷ Then the priest must examine him on the seventh day. If it has spread widely in the skin, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an infectious disease. ²⁸ If the spot stays in its place and has not spread in the skin but has faded, then it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest must pronounce him clean, for it is nothing more than the scar of the burn.

²⁹ If a man or woman has an infectious disease on the head or chin, ³⁰ then the priest must examine the person for an infectious disease to see if it appears to be deeper than the skin, and if there is yellow, thin hair in it. If there is, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an itch, an infectious disease on the head or the chin. ³¹ If the priest examines the itching disease and sees that it is not under the skin, and if there is no black hair in it, then the priest will isolate the person with the itching disease for seven days. ³² On the seventh day the priest will examine the disease to see if it has spread. If there is no yellow hair, and if the disease appears to be only skin deep, ³³ then he must be shaved, but the diseased area must not be shaved, and the priest must isolate the person with the itching disease for seven more days. ³⁴ On the seventh day the priest will examine the disease to see if it has stopped spreading in the skin. If it appears to be no deeper than the skin, then the priest must pronounce him clean. The person must wash his clothes, and then he will be clean. ³⁵ But if the itching disease has spread widely in the skin after the priest said he was clean, ³⁶ then the priest must examine him again. If the disease has spread in the skin, the priest does not need to seek for yellow hair. The person is unclean. ³⁷ But if in the priest's view the itching disease has stopped spreading and black hair has grown in the area, then the disease has healed. He is clean, and the priest must pronounce him clean.

³⁸ If a man or a woman has white spots on the skin, ³⁹ then the priest must examine the person to see if the spots are a dull white, which is only a rash that has broken out in the skin. He is clean.

⁴⁰ If a man's hair has fallen out of his head, he is bald, but he is clean. ⁴¹ If his hair has fallen out of the front part of his head, and if his forehead is bald, he is clean. ⁴² But if there is a reddish-white sore on his bald head or forehead, it is an infectious disease that has broken out. ⁴³ Then the priest must examine him to see if the swelling of the diseased area on his bald head or forehead is reddish-white, like the appearance of an infectious disease in the skin. ⁴⁴ If it is, then he has an infectious disease and he is unclean. The priest must surely pronounce him unclean because of his disease on his head.

⁴⁵ The person who has an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, his hair must hang loosely, and he must cover his face up to his nose and call out, 'Unclean, unclean.' ⁴⁶ All the days that he has the infectious disease he will be unclean. Because he is unclean with a disease that can spread, he must live alone. He must live outside the camp.

⁴⁷ A garment that is contaminated with mildew, whether it is a wool or linen garment, ⁴⁸ or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen, or leather or anything made with leather— ⁴⁹ if there is a greenish or reddish contamination in the garment, the leather, the woven or knitted material, or anything made of leather, then it is a mildew that spreads; it must be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰ The priest must examine the item for mildew; he must isolate anything that has mildew for seven days. ⁵¹ He must examine the mildew again on the seventh day. If it has spread in the garment or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen material, or leather or anything in which leather is used, then it is harmful mildew, and the item is unclean. ⁵² He must burn the garment, or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen material, or leather or anything made with leather, anything in which the harmful mildew is found, for it can lead to disease. The item must be completely burned up.

⁵³ If the priest examines the item and sees that the mildew has not spread in the garment or material woven or knitted from wool or linen, or leather goods, ⁵⁴ then he will command them to wash the item in which the mildew was found, and he must isolate it for seven more days. ⁵⁵ Then the priest will examine the item after the mildewed item was washed. If the mildew has not changed its color, even though it has not spread, it is unclean. You must burn the item, no matter where the mildew has contaminated it.

⁵⁶ If the priest examines the item, and if the mildew has faded after it was washed, then he must tear out the contaminated part from the garment or from the leather, or from the woven or knitted material. ⁵⁷ If the mildew still appears in the garment, either in the woven or knitted material, or in anything made of leather, it is spreading. You must burn any item that has the mildew. ⁵⁸ The garment or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen material, or leather or anything made with leather—if you wash the item and the mildew is gone, then the item must be washed a second time, and it will be clean.

⁵⁹ This is the law about mildew in a garment of wool or linen, or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen material, or leather or anything made with leather, so that you may pronounce it clean or unclean."

Chapter 14

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "This will be the law for the diseased person on the day of his cleansing. He must be brought to the priest. ³ The priest will go out of the camp to examine the person to see if the infectious skin disease is healed. ⁴ Then the priest will command that the one to be cleansed must take two live, clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop. ⁵ The priest will command him to kill one of the birds over fresh water that is in a clay pot. ⁶ The priest will then take the live bird and the cedar wood, and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and he will dip all these things, including the live bird, in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. ⁷ Then the priest will sprinkle this water seven times onto the person who is to be cleansed from the disease, and then the priest will pronounce him to be clean. Then the priest will release the living bird into the open fields. ⁸ The person who is being cleansed will wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and then he will be clean. After that he must come into the camp, but he will live outside his tent for seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day he must shave all his hair off his head, and he must also shave off his beard and eyebrows. He must shave off all his hair, and he must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; then he will be clean.

¹⁰ On the eighth day he must take two male lambs without blemish, one female lamb a year old without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil. ¹¹ The priest who cleanses him will stand the person who is to be cleansed, along with those things, before Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹² The priest will take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering, together with the log of oil; he will wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. ¹³ He must kill the male lamb in the place where they kill the sin offerings and the burnt offerings, in the area of the tabernacle, for the sin offering belongs to the priest, as does the guilt offering, because it is most holy. ¹⁴ The priest will take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the person who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ Then the priest will take oil from the log and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, ¹⁶ and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh. ¹⁷ The priest will put the rest of the oil in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the person to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. He must put this oil on top of the blood from the guilt offering. ¹⁸ As for the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand, he will put it on the head of the person who is to be cleansed, and the priest will make atonement for him before Yahweh. ¹⁹ Then the priest will offer the sin offering and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness, and afterward he will kill the burnt offering. ²⁰ Then the priest will offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. The priest will make atonement for the person, and then he will be clean.

²¹ However, if the person is poor and cannot afford these sacrifices, then he may take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for himself, and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a log of oil, ²² together with two doves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; one bird will be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. ²³ On the eighth day he must bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance to the tent of meeting, before Yahweh. ²⁴ The priest will take the lamb for an offering, and he will take with it the log of olive oil, and he will lift them high as he presents them to Yahweh. ²⁵ He will kill the lamb for the guilt offering, and he will take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the one who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ Then the priest will pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, ²⁷ and he will sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Yahweh. ²⁸ The priest will then put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the one who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, the same places where he put the blood of the guilt offering. ²⁹ He will put the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the head of the one who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Yahweh. ³⁰ He must offer one of the doves or young pigeons, such as the person has been able to get— ³¹ one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, along with the grain offering. Then the priest will make atonement for the one who is to be cleansed before Yahweh. ³² This is the law for a person in whom there is an infectious skin disease, who is not able to afford the standard offerings for his cleansing."

³³ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ³⁴ "When you have come into the land of Canaan which I gave to you as a possession, and if I put mildew that spreads in a house in the land of your possession, ³⁵ then he who owns the house must come and tell the priest. He must say, 'There seems to me to be something like mildew in my house.' ³⁶ Then the priest will command that they empty the house before he goes in to see the evidence of mildew, so that nothing in the house will be made unclean. Afterward the priest must go in to see the house. ³⁷ He must examine the mildew to see if it is in the house walls, and to see whether it appears greenish or reddish in the depressions in the wall's surface. ³⁸ If the house does have mildew, then the priest will go out of the house and shut the door to the house for seven days. ³⁹ Then the priest will return again on the seventh day and examine it to see if the mildew has spread in the walls of the house. ⁴⁰ If it has, then the priest will command that they take out the stones in which the mildew has been found and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ He will require all the inside walls of the house to be scraped, and they must take the contaminated material that is scraped off outside the city and dump it into the unclean place. ⁴² They must take other stones and put them in the place of the stones that were removed, and they must use new clay to plaster the house.

⁴³ If mildew comes again and breaks out in the house in which the stones have been taken away and the walls have been scraped and then replastered, ⁴⁴ then the priest must come in and examine the house to see if mildew has spread in the house. If it has, then it is harmful mildew, and the house is unclean. ⁴⁵ The house must be torn down. The stones, timber, and all the plaster in the house must be carried away out of the city to the unclean place. ⁴⁶ In addition, whoever goes into the house during the time it is closed up will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ Anyone who slept in the house must wash his clothes, and anyone who ate in the house must wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ If the priest enters the house to examine it to see whether the mildew has spread in the house after the house was plastered, then, if the mildew is gone, he will pronounce the house clean. ⁴⁹ Then the priest must take two birds to cleanse the house, and cedar wood, and scarlet yarn, and hyssop. ⁵⁰ He will kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay jar. ⁵¹ He will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the killed bird, into the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² He will cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water, with the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn. ⁵³ But he will let the live bird go out of the city into the open fields. In this way he must make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

⁵⁴ This is the law for all types of infectious skin disease and things that cause such disease, and for an itch, ⁵⁵ and for mildew in clothing and in a house, ⁵⁶ for swelling, for a rash, and for a bright spot, ⁵⁷ to determine when any of these cases is unclean or when it is clean. This is the law for infectious skin diseases and mildew."

Chapter 15

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² "Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, 'When any man has an infected fluid that comes out of his body, he becomes unclean. ³ His uncleanness is due to this infected fluid. Whether his body flows with fluid or is stopped up, it is unclean. ⁴ Every bed on which he lies will be unclean, and everything on which he sits will be unclean. ⁵ Whoever touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁶ Anyone who sits on anything on which the man with the flow of infected fluid sat, that person must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until evening. ⁷ Anyone who touches the body of the one who has a flow of infected fluid must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁸ If the person who has such a flow of fluid spits on someone who is clean, then that person must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until evening. ⁹ Any saddle which he who has a flow rides upon will be unclean. ¹⁰ Whoever touches anything that was under that person will be unclean until evening, and anyone who carries those things must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; he will be unclean until evening. ¹¹ Whomever he who has such a flow touches without first having rinsed his hands in water, the person who was touched must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until evening. ¹² Any clay pot that the one with such a flow of fluid touches must be broken, and every container of wood must be rinsed in water.

¹³ When he who has a flow is cleansed from his flow, then he must count for himself seven days for his cleansing; then he must wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water. Then he will be clean. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come before Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting; there he must give the birds to the priest. ¹⁵ The priest must offer them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and the priest must make atonement for him before Yahweh for his flow.

¹⁶ If any man has an emission of semen, then he must bathe his whole body in water; he will be unclean until evening. ¹⁷ Every garment or leather on which there is semen must be washed with water; it will be unclean until evening. ¹⁸ If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water and be unclean until evening.

¹⁹ When a woman menstruates, her impurity will continue for seven days, and whoever touches her will be unclean until evening. ²⁰ Everything she lies on during her period will be unclean; everything that she sits on will also be unclean. ²¹ Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; that person will be unclean until evening. ²² Whoever touches anything that she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; that person will be unclean until evening. ²³ Whether it is on the bed or on anything on which she sits, if he touches it, that person will be unclean until evening. ²⁴ If any man lies with her, and if her impure flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days. Every bed on which he lies will be unclean.

²⁵ If a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is not in the time of her menstruation, or if she has a flow beyond the time of her menstruation, during all the days of the flow of her uncleanness, she will be as if she were in the days of her period. She is unclean. ²⁶ Every bed on which she lies all during her flow of blood will be to her just like the bed on which she lies during her menstruation, and everything on which she sits will be unclean, just like the uncleanness of her menstruation. ²⁷ Whoever touches any of those things will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until evening. ²⁸ But if she is cleansed from her flow of blood, then she will count for herself seven days, and after that she will be clean. ²⁹ On the eighth day she will take to her two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ³⁰ The priest will offer one bird as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and he will make atonement for her before Yahweh for her unclean flow of blood.

³¹ This is how you must separate the people of Israel from their uncleanness, so they will not die due to their uncleanness, by defiling my tabernacle, where I live among them.

³² These are the regulations for anyone who has a flow of fluid, for any man whose semen goes out of him and makes him unclean, ³³ for any woman who has a menstrual period, for anyone with a flow of fluid, whether male or female, and for any man who lies with an unclean woman.'"

Chapter 16

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses—this was after the death of Aaron's two sons, when they had gone near to Yahweh and then died. ² Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron your brother and tell him not to come at just any time into the most holy place inside the curtain, before the atonement lid that is on the ark. If he does, he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement lid. ³ So here is how Aaron must come into the most holy place. He must enter with a young bull as a sin offering, and a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴ He must put on the holy linen tunic, and he must put the linen undergarments on himself, and he must wear the linen sash and linen turban. These are the holy garments. He must bathe his body in water and then dress himself with these clothes. ⁵ He must take from the assembly of the people of Israel two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering.

⁶ Then Aaron must present the bull as the sin offering, which will be for himself, to make atonement for himself and his family. ⁷ Then he must take the two goats and set them before Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸ Then Aaron must cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat. ⁹ Aaron must then present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer that goat as a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat must be brought alive before Yahweh, to make atonement by sending him away as a scapegoat into the wilderness.

¹¹ Then Aaron must present the bull for the sin offering, which will be for himself. He must make atonement for himself and for his family, so he must kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. ¹² Aaron must take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, with his hands full of finely ground sweet incense, and bring these things inside the curtain. ¹³ There he must put the incense on the fire before Yahweh so that the cloud from the incense may cover the atonement lid over the covenant decrees. He must do this so he will not die. ¹⁴ Then he must take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the atonement lid. He must sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times before the atonement lid.

¹⁵ Then he must kill the goat for the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the curtain. There he must do with the blood as he did with the blood of the bull: He must sprinkle it on the atonement lid and then before the atonement lid. ¹⁶ He must make atonement for the holy place because of the unclean actions of the people of Israel, and because of their rebellion and all their sins. He must also do this for the tent of meeting, where Yahweh lives among them, in the presence of their unclean actions. ¹⁷ No one must be in the tent of meeting when Aaron enters it to make atonement in the most holy place, and until he comes out and has finished making atonement for himself and for his family, and for all the assembly of Israel. ¹⁸ He must go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and he must take some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on the horns of the altar all around. ¹⁹ He must sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and set it apart to Yahweh, away from the unclean actions of the people of Israel.

²⁰ When he has finished atoning for the most holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he must present the live goat. ²¹ Aaron must lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over him all the wickedness of the people of Israel, all their rebellion, and all their sins. Then he must put that sinfulness on the head of the goat and send the goat away in the care of a man who is ready to lead the goat into the wilderness. ²² The goat must carry on himself all the people's wickedness to a solitary place. There in the wilderness, the man must let the goat go free.

²³ Then Aaron must go back into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments that he had put on before going into the most holy place, and he must leave those garments there. ²⁴ He must bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his normal garments; then he must go out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering for the people, and in this way make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ He must burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar. ²⁶ The man who let the scapegoat go free must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that, he may come back into the camp. ²⁷ The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, must be carried outside the camp. There they must burn their hides, flesh, and dung. ²⁸ The man who burns those parts must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that, he may come back into the camp.

²⁹ It will always be a statute for you that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves and do no work, whether the native born or a foreigner who is living among you. ³⁰ This is because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you from all your sins so you will be clean before Yahweh. ³¹ It is a solemn Sabbath of rest for you, and you must humble yourselves and do no work. This will always be a statute among you. ³² The high priest, the one who will be anointed and ordained to be high priest in his father's place, he must make this atonement and put on the linen garments, that is, the holy garments. ³³ He must make atonement for the most holy place; he must make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he must make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. ³⁴ This will always be a statute for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel because of all their sins, once in every year." This was done as Yahweh commanded Moses.

Chapter 17

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the people of Israel. Tell them what Yahweh has commanded: ³ 'Any man from Israel who kills an ox, lamb, or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp, in order to sacrifice it— ⁴ if he does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a sacrifice to Yahweh before his tabernacle, that man is guilty of bloodshed. He has shed blood, and that man must be cut off from among his people. ⁵ The purpose of this command is so that the people of Israel will bring their sacrifices to Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting, to the priest to be sacrificed as fellowship offerings to Yahweh, instead of offering sacrifices in an open field. ⁶ The priest will sprinkle the blood on Yahweh's altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting; he will burn the fat for it to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. ⁷ The people must no longer offer their sacrifices to goat idols, for which they act as prostitutes. This will be a permanent statute for them throughout their people's generations.'

⁸ You must say to them, 'Any man of Israel, or any foreigner who lives among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice ⁹ and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting in order to sacrifice it to Yahweh, that man must be cut off from his people.

¹⁰ If any person of the house of Israel, or any foreigner who lives among them consumes any blood, I will set my face against that person who consumes blood and I will cut him off from among his people. ¹¹ For the life of an animal is in its blood. I have given its blood to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, because it is the blood that makes atonement, for it is the blood that atones for the life. ¹² Therefore I said to the people of Israel that no one among you must eat blood, neither may any foreigner who lives among you eat blood. ¹³ Anyone of the people of Israel, or any of the foreigners who live among them, who hunts and kills an animal or bird that may be eaten, that person must pour out its blood and cover the blood with earth.

¹⁴ For the life of each creature is its blood. That is why I said to the people of Israel, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every living creature is its blood. Whoever eats it must be cut off." ¹⁵ Every person who eats an animal that has died or that has been torn by wild animals, whether that person is native born or a foreigner living among you, he must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until the evening. Then he will be clean. ¹⁶ But if he does not wash his clothes or bathe his body, then he must carry his guilt.'"

Chapter 18

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'I am Yahweh your God. ³ You must not do the things that the people do in Egypt, where you lived previously. You must not do the things that the people do in Canaan, the land to which I am taking you. Do not follow their customs. ⁴ My laws are what you must do, and my commandments are what you must keep, so that you walk in them, because I am Yahweh your God. ⁵ Therefore you must keep my decrees and my laws. If a person obeys them, he will live because of them. I am Yahweh.

⁶ Do not approach any close relatives to uncover nakedness, I am Yahweh. ⁷ Do not uncover the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you must not uncover her nakedness. ⁸ Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's wives; it is your father's nakedness. ⁹ Do not uncover the nakedness of your sister, whether she is the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother, whether she was raised at your home or distant from you. ¹⁰ Do not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. ¹¹ Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, brought up in your father's family, since she is your sister. ¹² Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's relative. ¹³ Do not uncover the nakedness your mother's sister, she is your mother's relative. ¹⁴ Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, that is, you must not approach his wife; she is your aunt. ¹⁵ Do not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife; you must not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶ Do not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; that is your brother's nakedness. ¹⁷ Do not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter; and you must not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; that is wickedness. ¹⁸ You must not marry your wife's sister as a second wife and uncover her nakedness while your first wife is alive.

¹⁹ Do not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during the time of her uncleanness. ²⁰ Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her in this way. ²¹ You must not give any of your children to put them into the fire, so that you sacrifice them to Molech, because you must not profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh. ²² Do not lie with other men as with a woman. This would be wicked. ²³ Do not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it. Neither should any woman present herself to an animal to lie with it. That is a perversion.

²⁴ Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in all these ways the nations are defiled, the nations that I will drive out from before you. ²⁵ The land became defiled, so I punished their sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶ You, therefore, must keep my commandments and decrees, and you must not do any of these detestable things, neither the native-born Israelite nor the foreigner who lives among you. ²⁷ For this is the wickedness that the people in the land have committed, those who lived here before you, and now the land is defiled. ²⁸ Therefore be careful so that the land does not vomit you up also after you have defiled it, as it vomited out the people who were before you. ²⁹ Whoever does any of these detestable things, the persons who do such things will be cut off from among their people. ³⁰ Therefore you must keep my command not to practice any of these detestable customs which were practiced here before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am Yahweh your God.'"

Chapter 19

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Speak to all the assembly of the people of Israel and say to them, 'You must be holy, for I Yahweh your God am holy. ³ Everyone must respect his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God. ⁴ Do not turn to worthless idols, nor make for yourselves gods out of metal. I am Yahweh your God.

⁵ When you offer a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to Yahweh, you must offer it that you may be accepted. ⁶ It must be eaten the same day you offer it, or on the next day. If anything remains until the third day, it must be burned up with fire. ⁷ If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is unclean meat; it must not be accepted, ⁸ and everyone who eats it must carry his own guilt because he has defiled what is holy to Yahweh, and that person must be cut off from his people.

⁹ When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not completely reap the corners of your field, neither will you gather all the produce of your harvest. ¹⁰ You must not gather every grape from your vineyard, nor gather the grapes that have fallen on the ground in your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.

¹¹ Do not steal.

Do not lie.

Do not deceive each other.

¹² Do not swear by my name falsely and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.

¹³ Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant must not stay with you all night until the morning.

¹⁴ Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind. Instead, you must fear your God. I am Yahweh.

¹⁵ Do not cause judgment to be false. You must not show favoritism to someone because he is poor, and you must not show favoritism to someone because he is important. Instead, judge your neighbor righteously.

¹⁶ Do not walk around spreading slander among your people, but seek to protect your neighbor's life. I am Yahweh.

¹⁷ Do not hate your brother in your heart. You must honestly rebuke your neighbor so as not to share in sin because of him.

¹⁸ Do not take vengeance or hold any grudge against any of your people, but instead love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.

¹⁹ You must keep my commands.

Do not try to breed your animals with different kinds of other animals.

Do not mix two different kinds of seeds when planting your field.

Do not wear clothing made of two kinds of material mixed together.

²⁰ Whoever lies with a slave girl who is promised to a husband, but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, must be punished. They must not be put to death because she was not free.

²¹ A man must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh to the entrance to the tent of meeting—a ram as a guilt offering. ²² Then the priest will make atonement for him with the ram for the guilt offering before Yahweh, for the sin that he has committed. Then the sin which he has committed will be forgiven.

²³ When you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you must regard the fruit they produce as forbidden to be eaten. The fruit must be forbidden to you for three years. It must not be eaten. ²⁴ But in the fourth year all the fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to Yahweh. ²⁵ In the fifth you may eat the fruit, having waited so that the trees might produce more. I am Yahweh your God.

²⁶ Do not eat any meat with blood still in it.

Do not consult spirits about the future, and do not seek to control others by supernatural powers.

²⁷ You will not round off the corners of the hair on the sides of your head or shave off the edge of your beard.

²⁸ Do not cut your body for the dead or put tattoo marks on your body. I am Yahweh.

²⁹ Do not disgrace your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the nation will fall to prostitution and the land will become full of wickedness.

³⁰ You must keep my Sabbaths and honor the sanctuary of my tabernacle. I am Yahweh.

³¹ Do not turn to those who talk with the dead or with spirits. Do not seek them out, or they will defile you. I am Yahweh your God.

³² You must rise before the gray-headed person and honor the presence of an old man. You must fear your God. I am Yahweh.

³³ If a foreigner lives among you in your land, you must not do him any wrong. ³⁴ The foreigner who lives with you must be to you like the native-born Israelite who lives among you, and you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.

³⁵ Do not use false measures when measuring length, weight, or quantity. ³⁶ You must use just scales, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷ You must obey all my decrees and all my laws, and do them. I am Yahweh.'"

Chapter 20

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Say to the people of Israel, 'Anyone among the people of Israel, or any foreigner who lives in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech, must certainly be put to death. The people in the land must stone him with stones. ³ I also will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he has given his child to Molech, so as to defile my holy place and profane my holy name. ⁴ If the people of the land close their eyes to that man when he gives any of his children to Molech, if they do not put him to death, ⁵ then I myself will set my face against that man and his clan, and I will cut him off and everyone else who prostitutes himself in order to play the harlot with Molech.

⁶ The person who turns to those who talk with the dead, or to those who talk with spirits so as to prostitute themselves with them, I will set my face against that person; I will cut him off from among his people. ⁷ Therefore consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am Yahweh your God. ^[1]

⁸ You must keep my commands and carry them out. I am Yahweh who sets you apart as holy.

⁹ Everyone who curses his father or his mother must surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, so he is guilty and deserves to die.

¹⁰ The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, that is, anyone who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife—the adulterer and the adulteress must both certainly be put to death.

¹¹ If a man lies with his father's wife, he uncovers his father's nakedness. Both the son and his father's wife must certainly be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

¹² If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them must certainly be put to death. They have committed perversion. They are guilty and deserve to die.

¹³ If a man lies with another man, as with a woman, both of them have done something detestable. They must surely be put to death. They are guilty and deserve to die.

¹⁴ If a man marries a woman and also marries her mother, this is wickedness. They must be burned, both he and the women, so that there will be no wickedness among you.

¹⁵ If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must surely be put to death, and you must kill the animal.

¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must certainly be put to death. They are guilty and deserve to die.

¹⁷ If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and he uncovers her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a shameful thing. They must be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister, and he must carry his guilt.

¹⁸ If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and has uncovered her nakedness, he has uncovered her flow, the fountain of her blood. Both the man and woman must be cut off from among their people.

¹⁹ You must not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, or your father's sister, because you would disgrace your close relative. You must carry your own guilt.

²⁰ If a man lies with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will bear responsibility for their sin, and they will die without children.

²¹ If a man marries his brother's wife while his brother is still living, that is disgraceful. He has dishonored his brother, and I will take away from their children any property they may have inherited from their parents.

²² You must therefore keep all my statutes and all my decrees; you must obey them so that the land into which I am bringing you to live will not vomit you up.

²³ You must not walk in the customs of the nations that I will drive out before you, for they have done all these things, and I detest them.

²⁴ I said to you, "You will inherit their land; I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am Yahweh your God, who has separated you from the other peoples. ²⁵ You must therefore distinguish between the clean animals and the unclean, and between the unclean birds and the clean. You must not defile yourselves with unclean animals or birds or with any creature that crawls along the ground, which I have separated as unclean from you.

²⁶ You must be holy, for I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples, for you belong to me.

²⁷ A man or a woman who talks with the dead or who talks with spirits must certainly be put to death. The people must stone them with stones. They are guilty and deserve to die.'"

Chapter 21

¹ Yahweh said to Moses: "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'No one among you shall make himself unclean for those who die 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 dependent on him, since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean. ⁴ But he must not make himself unclean for other relatives and so defile himself.

⁵ Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the corners of their beards, nor cut their bodies. ⁶ They must be holy to their God and not disgrace the name of their God, because the priests offer Yahweh's food offerings, the bread of their God. Therefore the priests must be holy. ⁷ They must not marry any woman who is a prostitute and who is defiled, and they must not marry a woman divorced from her husband, for they are separate for their God.

⁸ You will set him apart, for he is the one who offers bread to your God. He must be holy to you, because I, Yahweh who makes you holy, am holy.

⁹ Any daughter of any priest who defiles herself by becoming a prostitute disgraces her father. She must be burned.

¹⁰ The one who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and who has been consecrated to wear the special garments of the high priest, must not wear his hair loose or tear his clothes. ¹¹ He must not go anywhere that a dead body is present and defile himself, even for his father or his mother. ¹² The high priest must not leave the sanctuary area of the tabernacle or profane the sanctuary of his God, because he has been consecrated as high priest by the anointing oil of his God. I am Yahweh.

¹³ The high priest must marry a virgin as his wife. ¹⁴ He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman who is a prostitute. He will not marry these kinds of women. He may only marry a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵ so he will not defile his children among his people, for I am Yahweh, who makes him holy.'"

¹⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ "Speak to Aaron and tell him, 'Whoever of your descendants throughout their generations has a bodily defect, he must not approach to offer the food to his God. ¹⁸ Any man who has a bodily defect must not approach Yahweh, such as a blind man or a man who is unable to walk, one who is disfigured or deformed, ¹⁹ a man with a crippled hand or foot, ²⁰ a man who has a hump in his back or is abnormally thin or short, or a man with a defect in his eyes, or with a disease, sore, scabs, or whose testicles have been crushed. ²¹ No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest with a bodily defect may come near to perform the offerings made by fire for Yahweh. Such a man has a bodily defect; he must not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²² He may eat the food of his God, whether some of the most holy or some of the holy. ²³ However, he must not enter inside the curtain or come near the altar, because he has a bodily defect, so that he does not defile my holy place, for I am Yahweh, who makes them holy.'" ²⁴ So Moses spoke these words to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the people of Israel.

Chapter 22

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, tell them to keep away from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they set apart to me. They must not profane my holy name. I am Yahweh. ³ Say to them, 'If any of your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel have set apart to Yahweh, while he is unclean, that person must be cut off from before me: I am Yahweh.

⁴ None of the descendants of Aaron who has an infectious skin disease, or an infection flowing from his body, may eat any of the sacrifices made to Yahweh until he is clean. Whoever touches anything unclean through contact with the dead, or by contact with a man who has a flow of semen, ⁵ or whoever touches any creeping animal that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever kind of uncleanness it may be— ⁶ then the priest who touches anything unclean will be unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy things, unless he has bathed his body in water.

⁷ When the sun has set, he will then be clean. After sunset he may eat from the holy things, because they are his food. ⁸ He must not eat anything found dead or killed by wild animals, by which he would defile himself. I am Yahweh.

⁹ The priests must follow my instructions, or they will be guilty of sin and could die for profaning me. I am Yahweh who makes them holy.

¹⁰ No one outside the priest's family, including guests of a priest or his hired servants, may eat anything that is holy. ¹¹ But if a priest buys any slave with his own money, that slave may eat from the things set apart to Yahweh. The priest's family members and slaves born in his house, they also may eat with him from those things.

¹² If a priest's daughter married someone who is not a priest, she may not eat any of the holy contribution offerings. ¹³ But if a priest's daughter is a widow, or divorced, and if she has no child, and if she returns to live in her father's house as in her youth, she may eat from her father's food. But no one who is not in the priestly family may eat from the priest's food.

¹⁴ If a man eats a holy food without knowing it, then he must repay the priest for it; he must add one-fifth to it and give it back to the priest.

¹⁵ The people of Israel must not profane the holy things that they have raised high and presented to Yahweh, ¹⁶ and cause themselves to carry the sin that would make them guilty of eating the holy food, for I am Yahweh who makes them holy.'"

¹⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ "Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the people of Israel. Say to them, 'Any Israelite, or an alien living in Israel, when they present a sacrifice—whether it is to fulfill a vow, or whether it is a freewill offering, or they present to Yahweh a burnt offering, ¹⁹ if it is to be accepted, they must offer a male animal without blemish from the cattle, sheep, or goats. ²⁰ But you must not offer whatever has a blemish. I will not accept it on your behalf.

²¹ Whoever offers a sacrifice of fellowship offerings from the herd or the flock to Yahweh to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering, it must be unblemished to be accepted. There must be no defect in the animal. ²² You must not offer animals that are blind, disabled, or maimed, or that have warts, sores, or scabs. You must not offer these to Yahweh as a sacrifice by fire on the altar. ²³ You may present as a freewill offering an ox or a lamb that is deformed or small, but an offering like that will not be accepted for a vow.

²⁴ Do not offer any animal to Yahweh that has bruised, crushed, torn, or cut testicles. Do not do this within your land. ²⁵ You must not present the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner. Those animals are deformed and have defects in them, they will not be accepted for you.'"

²⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, ²⁷ "When a calf or a sheep or a goat is born, it must remain seven days with its mother. Then from the eighth day on, it may be accepted as a sacrifice for an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

²⁸ Do not kill a cow or ewe along with its young, both on the same day. ²⁹ When you sacrifice a thank offering to Yahweh, you must sacrifice it in an acceptable way. ³⁰ It must be eaten on the same day that it is sacrificed. You must leave none of it until the next morning. I am Yahweh.

³¹ So you must keep my commandments and carry them out. I am Yahweh.

³² You must not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the people of Israel. I am Yahweh who makes you holy, ³³ who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am Yahweh."

Chapter 23

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses: ² "Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, 'These are the appointed festivals for Yahweh, which you must proclaim as holy assemblies; they are my regular festivals. ³ You may work for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy assembly. You must do no work because it is a Sabbath for Yahweh in all the places where you live.

⁴ These are the appointed festivals of Yahweh, the holy assemblies that you must announce at their appointed times: ⁵ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is Yahweh's Passover. ⁶ On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread for Yahweh. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ⁷ The first day you must set apart to gather together; you will not do any of your regular work. ⁸ You will present a food offering to Yahweh for seven days. The seventh day is an assembly set apart to Yahweh, and on that day you must not do any regular work.'"

⁹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you have come into the land that I will give you, and when you reap its harvest, then you must bring a bundle of the firstfruit of the grain to the priest. ¹¹ He will raise the bundle of grain before Yahweh and present it to him, for it to be accepted on your behalf. It is on the day after the Sabbath that the priest will raise it and present it to me. ¹² On the day when you raise the bundle of grain and present it to me, you must offer a male lamb one year old and without blemish as a burnt offering to Yahweh. ¹³ The grain offering must be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh, to produce a sweet aroma, and with it a drink offering of wine, a fourth of a hin. ¹⁴ You must eat no bread, nor roasted or fresh grain, until the same day you have brought this offering to your God. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations, in every place that you live.

¹⁵ Beginning from the day after the Sabbath—that was the day you brought the bundle of grain as the wave offering—count seven full weeks. ¹⁶ You must count fifty days, which would be the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you must present an offering of new grain to Yahweh. ¹⁷ You must bring out of your houses two loaves made from two-tenths of an ephah. They must be made from fine flour and baked with yeast; they will be a wave offering of the firstfruits to Yahweh. ¹⁸ You must present with the bread seven lambs one year old and without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They must be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire and producing a sweet aroma for Yahweh. ¹⁹ You must offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice, as fellowship offerings. ²⁰ The priest must wave them together with the bread of the firstfruits before Yahweh, and present them to him as an offering with the two lambs. They will be holy offerings to Yahweh for the priest. ²¹ You must make a proclamation on that same day. There will be a holy assembly, and you must do no ordinary work. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations in all the places where you live.

²² When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not completely reap the corners of your fields, and you must not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.'"

²³ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ "Speak to the people of Israel and say, 'In the seventh month, the first day of that month will be a solemn rest for you, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets, and a holy assembly. ²⁵ You must do no ordinary work, and you must offer a sacrifice made by fire to Yahweh.'"

²⁶ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ "Now the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It is to be a holy assembly, and you must humble yourselves and present to Yahweh an offering by fire. ²⁸ You must do no work on that day because it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for yourselves before Yahweh your God. ²⁹ Whoever does not humble himself on that day must be cut off from his people. ³⁰ Whoever does any work on that day, I, Yahweh, will destroy him from among his people. ³¹ You must do no work of any kind on that day. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations in all the places where you live. ³² This day must be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you must humble yourselves the ninth day of the month at the evening. From evening to evening you are to observe your Sabbath."

³³ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month will be the Festival of Shelters for Yahweh. It will last seven days. ³⁵ On the first day there must be a holy assembly. You must do no ordinary work. ³⁶ For seven days you must offer a sacrifice made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day there must be a holy assembly, and you must make a sacrifice offered with fire to Yahweh. This is a solemn assembly, and you must not do any ordinary work.

³⁷ These are the appointed festivals for Yahweh, which you must proclaim as holy assemblies to offer sacrifice by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering and a grain offering, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its own day. ³⁸ These festivals will be in addition to the Sabbaths of Yahweh and your gifts, all your vows, and all your freewill offerings that you give to Yahweh.

³⁹ Regarding the Festival of Shelters, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you must keep this festival of Yahweh for seven days. The first day will be a solemn rest, and the eighth day will also be a solemn rest. ⁴⁰ On the first day you must take the best fruit from the trees, branches of palm trees, and leafy branches of thick trees, and willows from streams, and you will rejoice before Yahweh your God for seven days. ⁴¹ For seven days each year, you must celebrate this festival for Yahweh. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations in all the places where you live. You must celebrate this festival in the seventh month. ⁴² You must live in small shelters for seven days. All native-born Israelites must live in small shelters for seven days, ⁴³ so that your descendants, generation after generation, may learn how I made the people of Israel live in such shelters when I led them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'" ⁴⁴ In this way, Moses announced to the people of Israel the appointed festivals for Yahweh.

Chapter 24

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil beaten from olives to be used in the lamp, that the light may burn continually. ³ Outside the curtain before the covenant decrees in the tent of meeting, Aaron must continually, from evening to morning, keep the lamp lit before Yahweh. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations. ⁴ The high priest must always keep the lamps lit before Yahweh, the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold.

⁵ You must take fine flour and bake twelve loaves with it. There must be two-tenths of an ephah in each loaf. ⁶ Then you must set them in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold before Yahweh. ⁷ You must put pure incense along each row of loaves as a representative offering. This incense will be burnt for Yahweh. ⁸ Every Sabbath day the high priest must regularly set out the bread before Yahweh on behalf of the people of Israel, as a sign of an everlasting covenant. ⁹ This offering will be for Aaron and his sons, and they are to eat it in a place that is holy, for it is a portion from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire."

¹⁰ Now it happened that the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went among the people of Israel. This son of the Israelite woman fought against an Israelite man in the camp. ¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the name of Yahweh and cursed God, so the people brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, from the tribe of Dan. ¹² They held him in custody until Yahweh himself should declare his will to them.

¹³ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁴ "Take the man who has cursed God outside the camp. All who heard him must lay their hands on his head, and then the entire assembly must stone him. ¹⁵ You must explain to the people of Israel and say, 'Whoever curses his God must carry his own guilt. ¹⁶ He who blasphemes the name of Yahweh must surely be put to death. All the assembly must certainly stone him, whether he is a foreigner or a native-born Israelite. If anyone blasphemes the name of Yahweh, he must be put to death. ¹⁷ If anyone strikes down another human being, he must certainly be put to death. ¹⁸ If anyone strikes down someone's animal, he must pay it back, life for life. ¹⁹ If anyone injures his neighbor, it must be done to him as he did to his neighbor: ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has caused an injury to a person, so must it also be done to him. ²¹ Anyone who kills an animal must pay it back, and anyone who kills a person must be put to death. ²² You must have the same law for both the foreigner and the native-born Israelite, for I am Yahweh your God.'" ²³ So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and the people brought the man outside the camp, the one who had cursed Yahweh. They stoned him with stones. The people of Israel carried out the command of Yahweh to Moses.

Chapter 25

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, ² "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land that I give you, then the land must be made to keep a Sabbath for Yahweh. ³ You must plant your field for six years, and for six years you must prune your vineyard and gather the produce. ⁴ But in the seventh year, a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land must be observed, a Sabbath for Yahweh. You must not plant your field or prune your vineyard. ⁵ You must not conduct an organized harvest of whatever grows by itself, and you must not conduct an organized harvest of whatever grapes grow on your unpruned vines. This will be a year of solemn rest for the land. ⁶ Whatever the unworked land grows during the Sabbath year will be food for you. You, your male and female servants, your hired servants and the foreigners who live with you may gather food, ⁷ and your livestock and also wild animals may eat whatever the land produces.

⁸ You must count off seven Sabbaths of years, that is, seven times seven years, so that there will be seven Sabbaths of years, totaling forty-nine years. ⁹ Then you must blow a loud trumpet everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you must blow a trumpet throughout all your land. ¹⁰ You must set apart the fiftieth year to Yahweh and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee for you, in which property and slaves must be returned to their families. ¹¹ The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you. You must not plant or conduct an organized harvest. Eat whatever grows by itself, and gather the grapes that grow on the unpruned vines. ¹² For it is a Jubilee, which will be holy for you. You must eat the produce that grows by itself out of the fields.

¹³ You must return everyone to his own property in this year of Jubilee.

¹⁴ If you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any land from your neighbor, you must not cheat or wrong each other. ¹⁵ If you buy land from your neighbor, consider the number of years and crops that can be harvested until the next Jubilee. Your neighbor selling the land must consider that also. ¹⁶ A larger number of years until the next Jubilee will increase the value of land, and a smaller number of years until the next Jubilee will decrease the value, because the number of harvests the land will produce for the new owner is related to the number of years before the next Jubilee. ¹⁷ You must not cheat or wrong one another; instead, you must honor your God, for I am Yahweh your God.

¹⁸ Therefore you must obey my decrees, keep my laws, and carry them out. Then you will live in the land in safety. ¹⁹ The land will yield its produce, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. ²⁰ You might say, "What will we eat during the seventh year? Look, we cannot plant or gather our produce." ²¹ I will command my blessing to come upon you in the sixth year, and it will produce harvest enough for three years. ²² You will plant in the eighth year and continue to eat from the previous years' produce and the stored food. Until the harvest of the ninth year comes in, you will be able to eat from the provisions stored in the previous years.

²³ The land must not be sold to a new permanent owner, because the land is mine. You are all foreigners and temporary residents on my land. ²⁴ You must observe the right of redemption for all the land that you acquire; you must allow the land to be bought back by the family from whom you bought it. ²⁵ If your fellow Israelite became poor and for that reason sold some of his property, then his nearest relative may come and buy back the property that he sold to you. ²⁶ If a man has no relative to redeem his property, but if he has prospered and has the ability to redeem it, ²⁷ then he may calculate the years since the land was sold and repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it. Then he may return to his own property. ²⁸ But if he is not able to get the land back for himself, then the land he has sold will remain in the ownership of the one who bought it until the year of Jubilee. At the year of Jubilee, the land will be returned to the man who sold it, and the original owner will return to his property.

²⁹ If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may buy it back within a whole year after it was sold. For a full year he will have the right of redemption. ³⁰ If the house is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city will become the permanent property of the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the year of Jubilee. ³¹ But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them will be considered as the field of the land. They may be redeemed, and they must be returned during the year of Jubilee. ³² However, the houses owned by the Levites in their cities may be redeemed at any time. ³³ If one of the Levites does not redeem a house he sold, then the house that was sold in the city where it is located must be returned in the year of Jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property among the people of Israel. ³⁴ But the fields around their cities may not be sold because they are the permanent property of the Levites.

³⁵ If your fellow countryman becomes poor, so that he can no longer provide for himself, then you must help him as you would help a foreigner or anyone else living as an outsider among you. ³⁶ Do not charge him interest or try to profit from him in any way, but honor your God so that your brother may keep living with you. ³⁷ You must not give him a loan of money and charge interest, nor sell him your food to earn a profit. ³⁸ I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, in order that I might give you the land of Canaan, and that I might be your God.

³⁹ If your fellow countryman has become poor and sells himself to you, you must not make him work like a slave. ⁴⁰ Treat him as a hired servant. He must be like someone living temporarily with you. He will serve with you until the year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ Then he will go away from you, he and his children with him, and he will return to his own family and to his fathers' property. ⁴² For they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They will not be sold as slaves. ⁴³ You must not rule over them harshly, but you must honor your God. ⁴⁴ As for your male and female slaves, whom you can obtain from the nations who live around you, you may buy slaves from them. ⁴⁵ You may also buy slaves from the foreigners who are living among you, that is, from their families who are with you, children who have been born in your land. They may become your property. ⁴⁶ You may provide such slaves as an inheritance for your children after you, to hold as property, and make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your brothers among the people of Israel with harshness.

⁴⁷ If a foreigner or someone living temporarily with you has become wealthy, and if one of your fellow Israelites has become poor and sells himself to that foreigner, or to someone in a foreigner's family, ⁴⁸ after your fellow Israelite has been bought, he may be bought back. Someone in his family may redeem him. ⁴⁹ It might be the person's uncle, or his uncle's son, who redeems him, or anyone who is his close relative from his family. Or, if he has become prosperous, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ He must bargain with the man who bought him; they must count the years from the year he sold himself to his purchaser until the year of Jubilee. The price of his redemption must be figured in keeping with the rate paid to a hired servant, for the number of years he might continue to work for the one who bought him. ⁵¹ If there are still many years until the year of Jubilee, he must pay back as the price for his redemption an amount of money that is in proportion to the number of those years. ⁵² If there are only a few years to the year of Jubilee, then he must bargain with his purchaser to reflect the number of years left before the year of Jubilee, and he must pay for his redemption in keeping with the number of years. ⁵³ He is to be treated like a man hired year by year. You must make sure he is not treated with harshness. ⁵⁴ If he is not redeemed by these means, then he must serve until the year of Jubilee, he and his children with him. ⁵⁵ To me the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'"

Chapter 26

¹ "You must make no idols, and you must not lift up a carved figure or a sacred stone pillar, and you must not place any carved stone image in your land to which you bow down, for I am Yahweh your God. ² You must keep my Sabbaths and honor my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.

³ If you walk in my laws and keep my commandments and obey them, ⁴ then I will give you rain in its season; the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will yield their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing will continue to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will extend to the planting season. You will eat your bread to the full and live safely where you make your home in the land. ⁶ I will give peace in the land; you will lie down with nothing to make you afraid. I will take the dangerous animals away from the land, and the sword will not pass through your land. ⁷ You will chase your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. ⁸ Five of you will chase away a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand; your enemies will fall before you by the sword. ⁹ I will look at you with favor and make you fruitful and multiply you; I will establish my covenant with you. ¹⁰ You will eat food stored a long time. You will have to bring out the stored food because you will need the room for the new harvest. ¹¹ I will place my tabernacle among you, and I will not detest you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. ¹³ I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would not be their slaves. I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you to walk standing up straight.

¹⁴ But if you will not listen to me, and will not obey all these commandments, ¹⁵ and if you reject my decrees and detest my laws, so that you will not obey all my commandments, but break my covenant— ¹⁶ —if you do these things, then I will do this to you: I will inflict terror on you, diseases and fever that will destroy the eyes and will drain away your life. You will plant your seeds for nothing, because your enemies will eat their produce. ¹⁷ I will set my face against you, and you will be overpowered by your enemies. Men who hate you will rule over you, and you will run away, even when no one is chasing you. ¹⁸ If after all this you do not listen to me, then I will punish you seven times as severely for your sins. ¹⁹ I will break your pride in your power. I will make the sky over you like iron and your land like bronze. ²⁰ Your strength will be used up for nothing, because your land will not produce its harvest, and your trees in the land will not produce their fruit.

²¹ If you walk against me and will not listen to me, I will bring seven times more blows on you, in proportion to your sins. ²² I will send dangerous animals against you, which will steal your children, destroy your cattle, and make you few in number. So your roads will become deserted.

²³ If in spite of these things you still do not accept my correction and you continue to walk in opposition to me, ²⁴ then I will also walk in opposition to you, and I myself will punish you seven times because of your sins. ²⁵ I will bring a sword on you that will execute vengeance for breaking the covenant. You will be gathered together inside your cities, and I will send a disease among you there, and then you will be delivered into the hand of your enemy. ²⁶ When I cut off your food supply, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will distribute your bread by weight. You will eat but not be satisfied.

²⁷ If you do not listen to me despite these things, but continue to walk against me, ²⁸ then I will walk against you in anger, and I will punish you even seven more times as much for your sins. ²⁹ You will eat the flesh of your sons; you will eat the flesh of your daughters. ³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and throw your corpses on the corpses of your idols, and I myself will abhor you. ³¹ I will turn your cities into ruins and destroy your sanctuaries. I will not be pleased with the aroma of your offerings. ³² I will devastate the land. Your enemies who will live there will be shocked at the devastation. ³³ I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out my sword and follow you. Your land will be abandoned, and your cities will be ruined.

³⁴ Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths for as long as it lies abandoned and you are in your enemies' lands. During that time, the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as it lies abandoned, it will have rest, which will be the rest that it did not have with your Sabbaths, when you lived in it.

³⁶ As for those of you who are left in your enemies' lands, I will send fear into your hearts so that even the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will startle you, and you will flee as though you were fleeing from the sword. You will fall, even when no one is chasing you. ³⁷ You will stumble over each other as though you were running from the sword, even though no one is chasing you. You will have no power to stand before your enemies. ³⁸ You will perish among the nations, and your enemies' land will itself devour you. ³⁹ Those who are left among you will waste away in their sins, there in your enemies' lands, and because of their fathers' sins they will waste away as well.

⁴⁰ Yet if they confess their sins and their fathers' sin, and their treason by which they were unfaithful to me, and also their walking against me— ⁴¹ which caused me to turn against them and I brought them into the land of their enemies—if their uncircumcised hearts become humbled, and if they accept the punishment for their sins, ⁴² then will I call to mind my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham; also, I will call the land to mind. ⁴³ The land will be abandoned by them, so it will be pleased with its Sabbaths while it lies abandoned without them. They will have to pay the penalty for their sins because they themselves rejected my decrees and detested my laws. ⁴⁴ Yet despite all this, when they are in their enemies' land, I will not reject them, neither will I detest them so as to completely destroy them and do away with my covenant with them, for I am Yahweh their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sakes I will call to mind the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, so that I might be their God. I am Yahweh."

⁴⁶ These are the commandments, decrees, and laws that Yahweh made between himself and the people of Israel at Mount Sinai through Moses.

Chapter 27

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, ² "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'If anyone makes a special vow to Yahweh, use the following valuations. ³ Your standard value for a male from twenty to sixty years old must be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁴ For a female of the same ages your standard value must be thirty shekels. ⁵ From five years to twenty years old your standard value for a male must be twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. ⁶ From one month old to five years your standard value for a male must be five shekels of silver, and for a female three shekels of silver. ⁷ From sixty years old and up for a male your standard value must be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. ⁸ But if the person making the vow cannot pay the standard value, then the person being given must be presented to the priest, and the priest will value that person by the amount the one making the vow is able to afford.

⁹ If someone wants to sacrifice an animal to Yahweh, and if Yahweh accepts it, then that animal will be set apart to him. ¹⁰ The person must not alter or change such an animal, a good one for a bad one or a bad for a good. If he does at all change one animal for another, then both it and the one for which it is exchanged become holy. ¹¹ However, if what the person has vowed to give Yahweh is in fact unclean, so that Yahweh will not accept it, then the person must bring the animal to a priest. ¹² The priest will value it, by the market value of the animal. Whatever value the priest places on the animal, that will be its value. ¹³ If the owner wishes to redeem it, then a fifth of its value is to be added to its redemption price.

¹⁴ When a man sets apart his house as a holy gift to Yahweh, then the priest will set its value as either good or bad. Whatever the priest values it, so it will be. ¹⁵ But if the owner who set apart his home wishes to redeem it, he must add a fifth of its value to its redemption price, and it will belong to him.

¹⁶ If a man sets apart some of his own land, then the valuation of it will be in proportion to the amount of seed required to plant it—a homer of barley will be valued at fifty shekels of silver. ¹⁷ If he sets apart his field during the year of Jubilee, the valuation of it will stand. ¹⁸ But if he sets apart his field after the year of Jubilee, then the priest must calculate the value of the field by the number of years that remain until the next year of Jubilee, and the valuation of it must be reduced. ¹⁹ If the man who set apart the field wishes to redeem it, then he must add a fifth to the valuation, and it will belong to him. ²⁰ If he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it cannot be redeemed any more. ²¹ Instead, the field, when it is released in the year of Jubilee, will be a holy gift to Yahweh, like the field that has been completely given to Yahweh. It will belong to the priest. ²² If a man sets apart a field that he has bought, but that field is not part of his family's land, ²³ then the priest will figure the valuation of it up to the year of Jubilee, and the man must pay its value on that day as a holy gift to Yahweh. ²⁴ In the year of Jubilee, the field will return to the man from whom it was bought, to the land's owner. ²⁵ All the valuations must be set by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. Twenty gerahs must be the equivalent of one shekel.

²⁶ No one may set apart the firstborn among animals, since the firstborn already belongs to Yahweh; whether ox or sheep, it is Yahweh's. ²⁷ If it is an unclean animal, then the owner may buy it back at the valuation of it, and a fifth must be added to that value. If the animal is not redeemed, then it is to be sold at the set value.

²⁸ But nothing that a man devotes to Yahweh, from all that he has, whether human or animal, or his family land, may be sold or redeemed. Everything that is devoted is very holy to Yahweh. ²⁹ No ransom may be paid for the person who is devoted for destruction. That person must be put to death.

³⁰ All the tithe of the land, whether grain grown on the land or fruit from the trees, is Yahweh's. It is holy to Yahweh. ³¹ If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth to its value. ³² As for every tenth of the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the shepherd's rod, one-tenth must be set apart to Yahweh. ³³ The shepherd must not search for the better or the worse animals, and he must not substitute one for another. If he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed will be holy. It cannot be redeemed.'"

³⁴ These are the commandments that Yahweh gave at Mount Sinai to Moses for the people of Israel.