1    2   The Lord spoke to Moses and said, Speak to all the community of the Israelites in these words: You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 3   You shall revere, every man of you, his mother and his father. You shall keep my sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. 4   Do not resort to idols; you shall not make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.

5   When you sacrifice a shared-offering to the Lord, you shall slaughter it so as to win acceptance for yourselves. 6   It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice or the next day. Whatever is left over till the third day shall be destroyed by fire; 7   it is tainted, and if any of it is eaten on the third day, it will not be acceptable. 8   He who eats it must accept responsibility, because he has profaned the holy-gift to the Lord: that person shall be cut off from his father's kin.

9   When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap right into the edges of your field; neither shall you glean the loose ears of your crop; 10   you shall not completely strip your vineyard nor glean the fallen grapes. You shall leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.

11   You shall not steal; you shall not cheat or deceive a fellow-countryman. 12   You shall not swear in my name with intent to deceive and thus profane the name of your God. 13   I am the Lord. You shall not oppress your neighbour, nor rob him. You shall not keep back a hired man's wages till next morning. 14   You shall not treat the deaf with contempt, nor put an obstruction in the way of the blind. You shall fear your God. I am the Lord.

15   You shall not pervert justice, either by favouring the poor or by subservience to the great. You shall judge your fellow-countryman with strict justice. 16   You shall not go about spreading slander among your father's kin, nor take sides against your neighbour on a capital charge. 17   I am the Lord. You shall not nurse hatred against your brother. You shall reprove your fellow-countryman frankly and so you will have no share in his guilt. ^note 18   You shall not seek revenge, or cherish anger towards your kinsfolk; you shall love your neighbour as a man like yourself. I am the Lord.

19   You shall keep my rules. You shall not allow two different kinds of beast to mate together. You shall not plant your field with two kinds of seed. You shall not put on a garment woven with two kinds of yarn.

20   When a man has intercourse with a slave-girl who has been assigned to another man and neither ransomed nor given her freedom, inquiry shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she has not been freed. 21   The man shall bring his guilt-offering, a ram, to the Lord to the entrance of the Tent of the Presence, 22   and with it the priest shall make

The law of holiness expiation for him before the Lord for his sin, and he shall be forgiven the sin he has committed.

23   When you enter the land, and plant any kind of tree for food, you shall treat it as bearing forbidden ^note fruit. For three years it shall be forbidden and may not be eaten. 24   In the fourth year all its fruit shall be a holy-gift to the Lord, and this releases it for use. ^note 25   In the fifth year you may eat its fruit, and thus the yield it gives you shall be increased. I am the Lord your God.

26   You shall not eat meat with the blood in it. You shall not practise divination or soothsaying. 27   You shall not round off your hair from side to side, and you shall not shave the edge of your beards. 28   You shall not gash yourselves in mourning for the dead; you shall not tattoo yourselves. I am the Lord.

29   Do not prostitute your daughter and so make her a whore; thus the land shall not play the prostitute and be full of lewdness. 30   You shall keep my sabbaths, and revere my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

31   Do not resort to ghosts and spirits, nor make yourselves unclean by seeking them out. I am the Lord your God.

32   You shall rise in the presence of grey hairs, give honour to the aged, and fear your God. I am the Lord.

33   When an alien settles with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. 34   He shall be treated as a native born among you, and you shall love him as a man like yourself, because you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

35   You shall not pervert justice in measurement of length, weight, or quantity. 36   You shall have true scales, true weights, true measures dry and liquid. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. You shall observe all my rules and laws and carry them out. I am the Lord.

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