Study Desk

"Tell all the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God. You must be holy because I am holy.

Anyone who eats it then will be guilty of sin, because he did not respect the holy things that belong to the Lord . He must be cut off from the people.

"‘If a man has sexual relations with a slave girl of another man, but this slave girl has not been bought or given her freedom, there must be punishment. But they are not to be put to death, because the woman was not free.

but treat them just as you treat your own citizens. Love foreigners as you love yourselves, because you were foreigners one time in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

I will be against him and cut him off from his people, because he gave his children to Molech. He showed that he did not respect my holy name, and he made my Holy Place unclean.

"‘I will be against anyone who goes to mediums and fortune-tellers for advice, because that person is being unfaithful to me. So I will cut him off from his people.

"‘Be my holy people. Be holy because I am the Lord your God.

"‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period, both the woman and the man must be cut off from their people. They sinned because they showed the source of her blood.

"‘Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister or your father's sister, because that would shame a close relative. Both of you are guilty of this sin.

I am forcing out ahead of you the people who live there. Because they did all these sins, I have hated them. Do not live the way those people lived.

So you must be holy to me because I, the Lord , am holy, and I have set you apart from other people to be my own.

unmarried sister who is close to him because she has no husband. The priest may make himself unclean for her if she dies.

They must be holy to their God and show respect for God's name, because they present the offerings made by fire to the Lord , which is the food of their God. So they must be holy.

"‘A priest must not marry an unclean prostitute or a divorced woman, because he is holy to his God.

Treat him as holy, because he offers up the food of your God. Think of him as holy; I am the Lord who makes you holy, and I am holy.

The high priest must not go out of the Holy Place, because if he does and becomes unclean, he will make God's Holy Place unclean. The special oil used in appointing priests was poured on his head to separate him from the rest of the people. I am the Lord .

But he may not go through the curtain into the Most Holy Place, and he may not go near the altar, because he has something wrong with him. He must not make my Holy Place unfit. I am the Lord who makes these places holy.'"

and you must not take such animals from foreigners as sacrifices to the Lord . Because the animals have been hurt in some way and have something wrong with them, they will not be accepted for you.'"

Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Cleansing. On that day the priests will go before the Lord and perform the acts to make you clean from sin so you will belong to the Lord .

That bread will belong to Aaron and his sons. They will eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the Lord . That bread is their share forever."