Leviticus 19
How to please a holy God
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to all Israel's people. Tell them, “You must be holy because I am the Lord your God and I am holy.
3 Each of you must respect his mother and his father. You must keep the Sabbath day as a day of rest. I am the Lord your God.
4 Do not turn away from me to worship idols. Do not use metal to make images of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 When you offer a friendship offering as a sacrifice to me, do it in the right way. Then I will accept your gift. 6 When you kill an animal for the sacrifice, eat its meat on the same day. You may eat what remains on the second day but you must completely burn any meat that remains on the third day. 7 If anyone eats the meat on the third day, it will not please me. I will not accept their offering. 8 The person who has eaten the meat on the third day deserves punishment. He has caused a gift that is holy to the Lord to become unclean. That person can no longer belong to Israel's people.
Leave some of your crops for poor people
9 At harvest time, when you cut the crops on your land, do not cut to the edge of your field. Do not pick up the grain that falls onto the ground. 10 Do not pick all the grapes off your vines. Do not pick up the grapes that have fallen onto the ground. Leave some of these for the poor people and for the foreign people who live among you. I am the Lord your God.
Be honest with people
11 You must not take things that belong to other people. You must not deceive other people or tell them lies.
12 Do not use my name to promise something that you will not do. That would bring shame to the name of your God. I am the Lord.
13 Do not cheat anyone. Do not rob anyone. If you are paying someone to work for you, pay them the same day.
14 You must not curse a deaf person. Do not put something in front of a blind person, to make them fall down. Respect and obey me as your God. I am the Lord.
Be fair to people and help them
15 When you judge other people, do this in a way that is fair. Do not be more kind to a rich person than to a poor person. You must be fair to everyone.
16 Do not say bad things about anyone for other people to hear. If somebody is in danger of death, speak the truth to help them if you can. Do not keep quiet. I am the Lord.
17 You must not think of ways to hurt another person. If someone has done a wrong thing, warn them about it. Then you will not be guilty of a sin yourself.
18 Do not try to punish another Israelite who has done something wrong against you. Do not try to hurt them. Instead, you must love other people as much as you love yourself. I am the Lord.
19 You must obey my rules. You must not allow two different kinds of animals to have babies together. Do not put two different kinds of seeds in one field. Do not wear clothes that are made from two different kinds of material.
Do not have sex with a slave girl who belongs to another man
20 If a man has chosen a slave girl to marry, no other man may have sex with her. She may not have become a free woman. If so, any other man who has sex with her must pay money to the first man. But you must not punish them with death, because the girl was still a slave. 21 The man must bring a male sheep to the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. That will be his guilt offering. 22 The priest will offer the sheep to the Lord to make the man clean from his sin. Then the Lord will forgive the man for the sin that he has done.
Rules about trees that have fruit
23 When you go into Canaan, you will plant trees that have fruit to eat. But the fruit will not be clean for you to eat. You must not eat the fruit for three years. 24 In the fourth year, all the fruit will be holy. Use it as an offering to praise the Lord. 25 In the fifth year, you may eat the fruit from your trees. If you do this, you will have more food to eat at harvest time. I am the Lord your God.
Rules about other things
26 You must not eat any meat that still has blood in it. Do not use magic to learn about future times or other things.
27 Do not cut the hair from the sides of your head or from the edges of your beard.
28 Do not cut marks in your body to show that you are sad about a dead person. Do not cut pictures into your skin. I am the Lord.
29 Do not cause your daughter to be a prostitute. That would bring shame on her. It would also cause many people to turn away from me and do wicked things.
Things that please God
30 You must obey my rules about Sabbath days. Respect the holy place where you meet with me. I am the Lord.
31 Do not try to speak to the spirits of dead people. Do not ask other people to do this for you. That will make you unclean. I am the Lord your God.
32 You must stand up to give honour to old people. Respect and obey me, your God. I am the Lord.
33 Do not be cruel to foreign people who live among you. 34 Be kind to them, as you are to your own people. Love foreigners as much as you love yourselves. Remember that you yourselves lived in Egypt as foreigners. I am the Lord your God.
35 Always be fair when you measure things. When you measure how long, how heavy or how big something is, 36 always use correct weights and measures. Use the correct size of bowl to measure grain or oil. I am the Lord your God. I led you out of the land of Egypt.
37 You must always obey all my laws and my rules. I am the Lord.” ’
