Study Desk

"Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

'Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods (images cast in metal); I am the LORD your God.

'Everyone who eats it will bear [the responsibility for] his wickedness, for he has profaned a holy thing of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

'And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather its fallen grapes; you shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.

'You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor show a preference for the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

'Now if a man has intimate relations with a woman who is a slave acquired for [marriage to] another man, but who has not been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment [after an investigation]; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free;

'The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed; and he shall be forgiven for his sin.

'When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall consider their fruit forbidden. For three years the fruit shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten.

'In the fifth year you may eat the fruit [of the trees], this is so that their yield may increase for you; I am the LORD your God.

'You shall not make any cuts on your body [in mourning] for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the LORD.

'But the stranger who resides with you shall be to you like someone native-born among you; and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

'I will also set My face against that man [opposing him, withdrawing My protection from him] and will cut him off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them], because he has given some of his children to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name.

'As for the person who turns to mediums [who consult the dead] or to spiritists, to play the prostitute after them, I shall set My face against that person and will cut him off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

'You shall consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God.

'If anyone curses his father or mother, he shall most certainly be put to death; he has cursed his father or mother; his blood is on him [that is, he bears full responsibility for the consequences].

'If a man takes his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness; he bears [responsibility for] his guilt.

'If a man lies [intimately] with a woman during her menstrual cycle and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood; both of them shall be cut off from their people [excluding them from the atonement made for them].

'You shall not uncover the nakedness of (have intimate relations with) your mother's sister or your father's sister, for such a one has uncovered his blood relative; they will bear their guilt.

'You shall not follow the statutes (laws, practices, customs) of the nation which I am driving out before you; for they did all these things, and therefore I have loathed them.

'You are to be holy to Me; for I the LORD am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples (nations) to be Mine.