LEVITICUS 19

Then Yehowah spoke to Moses, and said, 2 Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy; for I Yehowah your God am holy. 3 Everyone of you shall respect his mother and father, and shall keep my sabbaths; I am Yehowah your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make gods for yourselves with cast metal; I am Yehowah your God.

5 And when you make a sacrifice of communion-offerings to Yehowah, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 6 It shall be eaten on the day of your sacrifice or on the day after; but what remains till the third day shall be burnt in a fire. 7 For if any of it is eaten on the third day, it is an abhorrence; it shall not be accepted; 8 and he who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy thing of Yehowah; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

9 And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap right up to the edges of your fields, nor gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor gather the odd grapes in your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the settlers; I am Yehowah your God.

11 You shall not steal, nor act falsely, nor lie to one another. 12 And you shall not swear falsely by my name, and so profane the name of your God; I am Yehowah.

13 You shall not oppress your neighbour or rob him; wages due to one who has been hired shall not be kept by you all night till the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling-block before the blind; but you shall fear your God; I am Yehowah.

15 You shall not be unjust when you pass judgments; you shall not pay undue regard to the poor, nor undue respect to the great; you shall judge your neighbour according to what is right. 16 You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people; nor shall you testify against your neighbor's life;* I am Yehowah. * lit stand against your neighbor's blood

17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you may certainly reprove your neighbour, but shall not bear sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people; but you shall love your neighbour as yourself; I am Yehowah.

19 You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your fields with different kinds of seed; nor shall clothing of different kinds of material be worn by you.

20 And if a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave assigned to a man but not yet bought, and her release has not been given to her, there shall be an inquiry; they shall not be put to death, since she was not free. 21 But he shall bring a guilt-offering to Yehowah to the door of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt-offering. 22 And the priest shall make a reconciliation for him through the ram of the guilt-offering before Yehowah, for the sin which he has committed; then the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.

23 And when you come into the land, and shall plant all kinds of trees for food, you shall reckon their fruit as uncircumcised; for three years it shall be like uncircumcised fruit to you; it shall not be eaten. 24 Then in the fourth year all the fruit shall be holy for praise-offerings to Yehowah. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat the fruit, so that they may yield their produce to you; I am Yehowah your God.

26 You shall not eat anything with the blood in it; you shall not tell fortunes or practise witchcraft. 27 You shall not trim the hair on your temples,* nor clip the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuts in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks upon yourselves; I am Yehowah. * lit round off the edges of your heads

29 Do not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or else the land will fall into prostitution, and the land will become full of wickedness. 30 You shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary; I am Yehowah.

31 Do not turn to spirits or follow wizards, to be defiled by them; I am Yehowah your God.

32 You shall show respect to the white-haired and honour the face of an old man, and fear your God; I am Yehowah.

33 And if a person settles with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. 34 One who settles with you shall be to you like one born in your home, and you shall love him as your own; for you were settlers in the land of Egypt; I am Yehowah your God.

35 You shall not be unjust when you pass judgments, in length, weight, or quantity. 36 You shall have accurate balances, accurate weights, a true ephah, and a true hin; I am Yehowah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 Therefore you shall keep all my statutes and regulations, and observe them; I am Yehowah.