This book contains the account of God giving some more laws for his people

Leviticus

1

The burnt offering

1While Moses/I was standing near the entrance to the Sacred Tent, Yahweh called to him/me from inside the tent. He said to Moses/me, 2“Tell this to the Israeli people: ‘When any of you brings an offering to Yahweh, bring one of your sheep or goats or cattle.

3’If what you are offering is a bull that will be completely burned on the altar, it must not havet any defects. You must take it to the entrance to the Sacred Tent, in order that it will be acceptable to Yahweh. 4You must lay your hands on the head of the bull. When you do that, Yahweh will accept its death in your place to forgive/pardon you for the sins that you have committed. 5You must slaughter the bull in front of Yahweh. Then Aaron’s sons, who are priests, will bring the blood and sprinkle it against all sides of the altar near the entrance to the Sacred Tent. 6You must remove the skin of the animal and cut the animal into pieces. You must wash the inner parts and the legs of the bull. 7Then Aaron’s sons will put wood on the altar and light a fire. 8Then they will arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the burning wood. 9Then one of the priests will completely burn all of it on the altar. And the aroma will be pleasing to Yahweh.

10’If you are offering a sheep or a goat, it must be a male without any defect. 11You must slaughter it in front of Yahweh, on the north side of the altar, and drain all the blood into a bowl. Then Aaron’s sons will sprinkle the blood against all sides of the altar. 12You must cut the animal into pieces. You must wash the inner parts and the legs of the animal. Then the priests will arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the burning wood. 13Then one of the priests will take all of it and completely burn all of it on the altar. And the aroma as it burns will be pleasing to Yahweh.

14’If what you are offering to Yahweh is a bird, you must offer a dove or a young pigeon. 15The priest will take it to the altar and wring/twist off its head. Then he will burn the head on the altar. He will drain out the bird’s blood onto the side of the altar. 16Then he will remove the bird’s ◄craw/food-grinding pouch► and what is inside it, and throw it on the east side of the altar, where the ashes are thrown. 17Then he will grasp the bird’s wings and partially tear the bird open. Then he will burn it completely in the fire on the altar. And the aroma will be pleasing to Yahweh.’

2

The grain offering

1‘If you bring to Yahweh an offering of grain, it must consist of finely-ground flour. You must pour olive oil on it, and put some incense on it, 2and take it to one of the priests. The priest will take a handful of the flour and the oil with the incense and burn it on the altar. That part will symbolize that all of the offering truly belongs to Yahweh. And the aroma will be pleasing to Yahweh. 3The part of that offering that is not burned will belong to Aaron and his sons. It is a very holy part of the offerings that are given to Yahweh by burning them in a fire.

4’If you bring an offering that is made from grain, something that is baked in an oven, it must be made from finely-ground flour. You may bring loaves made from flour mixed with olive oil but without yeast, or you may bring wafers with olive oil smeared on them, but also made without yeast. 5If your offering is cooked ◄on a griddle/in a shallow pan►, it must be made from finely-ground flour mixed with olive oil and without yeast. 6You must crumble it and pour olive oil on it. That will be your offering made from grain. 7If your offering that is made from grain is cooked in a pan, it must be made of finely-ground flour mixed with olive oil. 8Bring to Yahweh your grain offering. Give it to the priest, and he will take it to the altar. 9He will take a part of it that will symbolize that all the offering belongs to Yahweh. He will burn that part on the altar, and the aroma as it burns will be pleasing to Yahweh. 10The part that is not burned will belong to Aaron and his sons. It is a very holy part of the offerings given to Yahweh by burning them in a fire.

11’Every offering that is made from grain and that you bring to Yahweh must be made without yeast, because you must not put any yeast or honey in any offering to Yahweh that is burned on the altar. 12You may bring to Yahweh an offering of the first part of your harvest, but that is not to be burned on the altar to produce an aroma that will be pleasing to Yahweh. 13Put salt on all your offerings that are made from grain. The salt represents the agreement that your God made with you, so be sure that you do not forget to put salt on those offerings.

14’If you bring to Yahweh an offering of the first part of your harvest of grain, offer some new grain that has been crushed and roasted in a fire. 15Put olive oil and incense on it, and that will be your offering made from grain. 16The priest will take a part of the flour and oil along with the incense. That will symbolize that all the offering truly belongs to Yahweh. He will burn that part on the altar, to be an offering given to Yahweh by burning it in a fire.’”

3

The fellowship offering

1“Also tell the people, ‘When the offering that you bring to Yahweh is to maintain good fellowship with him, you may bring a bull or a cow from your herd of cattle, but what you present to Yahweh must be an animal that has no defects. 2You must bring the animal to the entrance to the Sacred Tent. You must lay your hands on its head. Then you must slaughter it and drain some of its blood in a bowl. Then one of Aaron’s sons, one of the priests, will sprinkle the blood against all sides of the altar. 3From that offering, you must offer to Yahweh, as a sacrifice that will be burned in the fire, all the fat that covers the inner parts of the animal, or which is attached to them— 4the kidneys and the fat that is attached to them near the lower back muscle, and the fat that covers the liver. 5Then one of the priests will burn those things on the altar, along with the other parts of the animal that will be completely burned to be an offering to Yahweh. And the aroma while it burns will be pleasing to Yahweh.

6If that offering to maintain good fellowship with Yahweh is a sheep or a goat, it must also be an animal that has no defects. 7If you offer a lamb, you must present it to Yahweh at the entrance to the Sacred Tent. You must lay your hands on the lamb’s head and then slaughter it. ’You must drain some of its blood in a bowl. 8Then one of the priests will sprinkle that blood against all sides of the altar. 9You must dedicate these things to be a sacrifice to Yahweh that is burned: Its fat, the fat tail that you must cut off close to the backbone, and all the fat that covers the inner parts of the lamb or which is attached to them— 10the kidneys with the fat that is on them near the lower back muscle, and the fat that covers the liver. 11One of the priests will burn those things on the altar to be an offering to Yahweh; it will be as though they will be a special food given to Yahweh.

12’If your offering is a goat, you must take/present it to Yahweh. 13You must lay your hands on its head. Then you must slaughter it in front of the Sacred Tent. Then one of Aaron’s sons will sprinkle the blood against all sides of the altar. 14From that offering you must dedicate these things to be a sacrifice to Yahweh that is burned: All the fat that covers the inner parts of the animal or which is attached to them, 15the kidneys with the fat that is on them near the lower back muscle, and the fat that covers the liver. 16The priest will burn those things on the altar to be an offering to Yahweh; it will be as though they will be a special food given to Yahweh. And the aroma while it burns will be pleasing to Yahweh. All the fat of the animals that are sacrificed belongs to Yahweh.

17’This is a command that must be obeyed by you and your descendants forever, wherever you live: You must not eat the fat or the blood of any animal.’”

4

The sin offering

1Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, 2“Say this to the Israeli people: This is what must be done if someone sins without intending to sin, doing something that is forbidden in any of Yahweh’s commands.

3If the Supreme [MTY] Priest sins, and that causes all the people to be guilty, he must bring to Yahweh a young bull that has no defects. That will be an offering for the sin that he has committed. 4He must bring the bull to the entrance to the Sacred Tent. He must lay his hands on its head. Then he must slaughter it in front of Yahweh and drain some of the blood into a bowl. 5Then the Supreme Priest must take some of that blood into the Sacred Tent. 6He must dip one of his fingers into the blood and sprinkle it seven times in the presence of Yahweh, in front of the curtain that separates the Holy Place from the Very Holy Place. 7Then he must put some of the blood on the projections at the corners of the altar where fragrant incense is burned in the Sacred Tent in the presence of Yahweh. The remaining part of the bull’s blood that is still in the bowl, he must pour out at the base of the altar, where sacrifices are burned, at the entrance to the Sacred Tent. 8From that offering the Supreme Priest must separate these things from the bull that is to be burned: The fat that covers the inner parts of the bull or which is attached to them— 9the kidneys and the fat that is attached to them near the lower back muscle, and the fat that covers the liver. 10Then the Supreme Priest must completely burn those things on the altar. That will be just like when the fat is removed from an animal that is sacrificed to maintain good fellowship with Yahweh. 11But all the other parts of the animal—its skin/hide and all its other meat, its head and its legs, its inner parts and the intestines, 12he must take outside the camp and throw them in a place that is acceptable to Yahweh, where the ashes are thrown, and he must burn them in a fire on the pile of ashes.

13’If all the Israeli people sin without intending to sin, doing something that is forbidden in any of Yahweh’s commands, they will be guilty, even if they do not realize that they have sinned. 14When they realize that they have committed a sin, together they must bring a young bull to be an offering for their sin, to the front of the Sacred Tent. 15The elders must lay their hands on the bull’s head in the presence of Yahweh and slaughter it and catch some of the blood in a bowl. 16Then the Supreme [MTY] Priest must take some of that blood into the Sacred Tent. 17’He must dip one of his fingers into the blood and sprinkle it seven times in the presence of Yahweh, in front of the curtain that separates the Holy Place from the Very Holy Place. 18Then he must put some of the blood on the projections at the corners of the altar that is in the presence of Yahweh in the Sacred Tent. The remaining part of the bull’s blood, he must pour out at the base of the altar where sacrifices are burned, at the entrance of the Sacred Tent. 19He must remove all the animal’s fat and burn it on the altar. 20He must do with this bull the same things that he did with the bull that was an offering for his own sins, and they will be forgiven {Yahweh will forgive them}. 21Then the priest must take the other parts of the bull outside the camp and burn them, like he does when he himself has sinned. That will be the offering for the sin that all the people have committed, and they will be forgiven.

22’When one of the leaders sins without intending to sin, doing something that is forbidden in any of the commands of Yahweh his God, he will be guilty. 23When he realizes that he has committed a sin, he must bring as his offering a male goat that has no defects. 24He must lay his hands on the goat’s head in the presence of Yahweh and slaughter it at the place where they slaughter {are slaughtered} the animals that will be completely burned on the altar. That will be an offering for his sin. 25Then the priest must put some of the animal’s blood into a bowl and dip one of his fingers in it and put some of the blood on the corners of the projections of the altar. Then he must pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 26Then he must burn all the fat on the altar, as was done with the fat of the offering to maintain good fellowship with Yahweh. As a result of the priest’s doing that, the leader will no longer be guilty for his sin and he will be forgiven.

27’If one of the Israeli people who is not a priest sins without intending to sin, and does something that is forbidden in any of the commands of Yahweh his God, he will be guilty. 28When he realizes that he has committed a sin, he must bring as his offering a female goat that has no defects. 29He must lay his hands on the goat’s head and slaughter it at the place where they slaughter the animals that will be completely burned on the altar, and catch some of the blood in a bowl. 30Then the priest must dip one of his fingers in the blood, and put some of it on the projections at the corners of the altar. Then he must pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 31Then he must remove all the goat’s fat, and burn all the fat on the altar, like was done with the fat of the offering to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. And the aroma while it burns will be pleasing to Yahweh. As a result of the priest doing that, the person will no longer be guilty for his sin, and he will be forgiven.

32’If that person brings a lamb to be his offering for sin, he must bring a female lamb that has no defects. 33He must lay his hands on the lamb’s head and slaughter it at the place where they slaughter the animals that will be completely burned on the altar, and catch some of the blood in a bowl. 34Then the priest must dip one of his fingers in the blood and put some of it on the projections at the corners of the altar. Then he must pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 35Then he must remove all the lamb’s fat, and burn all the fat on the altar, like was done with the fat of the offering to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. He must burn it on top of the other offerings to Yahweh that are being burned. As a result, the priest will request God to forgive that person for his sin, and he will be forgiven.’”

5

1Yahweh also said to tell the people, “If a judge orders any of you to tell in court something that you have seen or something that you heard someone say, if you refuse to say what you know is true, you must ◄pay a penalty/be punished► [MTY] for refusing to tell what you know.

2If you accidentally touch something which God considers impure [DOU], such as the carcass of a wild animal or the carcass of a bull or cow, or of an animal that crawls along the ground, you must ◄pay a penalty/be punished►.

3If you touch any human feces, even if you do not intend to do that, when you realize what you have done, you must ◄pay a penalty/be punished►.

4If you carelessly make a solemn promise to do something that is good or that is bad, when you realize what you have done, you must ◄pay a penalty/be punished►.

5If you are guilty of committing any of those sins, you must confess what you have done. 6And for a penalty you must bring to Yahweh a female lamb or female goat, to be an offering for the sin that you have committed, and the priest will sacrifice it, and then you will no longer be guilty for your sin.

7If you are poor and cannot afford to bring a lamb, you must bring to Yahweh two doves or two young pigeons. One will be an offering for your sin and one will be an offering that will be completely burned on the altar. 8You must bring them to the priest. First he will offer one of them to be an offering for your sin. He will wring/twist its neck to kill it, but he must not pull off its head completely. 9Then he must sprinkle some of the blood against the side of the altar. The remaining blood must be drained out at the base of the altar. That will be an offering for your sin. 10The priest will then do what I have commanded and offer the other bird to be completely burned on the altar. Then you will no longer be guilty for the sin you have committed, and Yahweh will forgive you.

11However, if you are very poor and cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, you must bring to be an offering for your sin ◄2 pounds/1 kg.► of fine flour. You must not put olive oil or incense on it, because it is an offering for sin. 12You must take it to the priest. He will take a handful of it, to symbolize that the whole offering truly belongs to Yahweh, and burn it on the altar, on top of the other offerings. 13And by doing that, the priest will enable you to no longer be guilty for any of the sins that you have committed, and you will be forgiven. The part of the offering that is not burned will belong to the priest, like was true for the offerings made from grain.”

The guilt offering

14Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 15“When you sin, without intending to, by not giving to Yahweh the things that you are required to give to him, you must pay a penalty by bringing to Yahweh a ram that has no defects. You must determine how much silver it is worth, by using the official standard in the temple. It will be an offering to cause you to no longer be guilty. 16But you must also make restitution for what you failed to give to Yahweh, adding one-fifth of its value. You must give that to the priest. He will offer the ram as a sacrifice for the sin that you have committed, and cause you to no longer be guilty; and you will be forgiven.

17If you sin by doing something that is forbidden by any of Yahweh’s commands, even if you do not know that you have disobeyed one of my commands, you are guilty and must pay a penalty to me. 18When you realize what you have done, you must bring a ram to the Supreme Priest to be an offering in order that you will no longer be guilty. You must bring one that has no defects. He will offer the ram to be a sacrifice to me, and as a result you will no longer be guilty for the sin that you have committed, and you will be forgiven. 19It is an offering to cause you to no longer be guilty for sinning against me.”

6

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“If any one of you you sins against me by deceiving someone—if you refuse to return what someone has lent you, or if you steal something of his, or if you find something and claim that you do not have it, 3you are guilty. You must return to its owner what you have stolen or what someone has lent you and you have not returned, or what you found that someone else had lost, 4or whatever you lied about. 5You must not only return anything like that to its owner, but you must also pay to the owner one-fifth of its value. 6You must also bring to the Supreme Priest a ram to be an offering to me in order that you will no longer be guilty. The ram that you bring must be one that has no defects, one that has the value that has been officially determined. 7Then he will offer that ram to be a sacrifice that will cause you to no longer be guilty, and you will be forgiven for the wrong things that you did.”

Other instructions concerning the burnt offerings

8Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 9“Tell this to Aaron and his sons: These are the regulations concerning the offerings that will be completely burned on the altar: The offering must remain on the altar all during the night, and the fire on the altar must always be kept burning. 10The next morning the priest must put on his linen under-clothes and linen outer clothes. Then he must remove the ashes of the offering from the fire and put them beside the altar. 11Then he must take off those clothes and put on other clothes, and take the ashes outside the camp, to a place that is acceptable to me. 12The fire on the altar must always be kept burning; the priest must not allow it to ◄go out/quit burning►. Each morning the priest must put more firewood on the fire. Then he must arrange more offerings on the fire, and burn on the altar the fat of the offerings to be burned to maintain fellowship with me. 13The fire on the altar must be kept burning continually; the priest must not allow it to go out.”

Other instructions concerning the grain offerings

14“These are the regulations concerning the offerings made from grain: Aaron’s sons must bring them to me in front of the altar. 15The priest must take a handful of fine flour mixed with olive oil and incense and burn that on the altar. That handful will signify that the whole offering truly belongs to me. And the aroma while it burns will be pleasing to me. 16Aaron and his sons may eat the remaining part of the grain offering. But they must eat it in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Sacred Tent. 17It must not have yeast mixed with it. Like the offerings for sin and the offerings to cause people to no longer be guilty of sin, that offering is very holy. 18Any male descendants of Aaron are permitted to eat it, because it is forever their regular share of the offerings given to me and burned in the fire on the altar. Anyone else who touches those offerings made from grain will be punished by God.”

19Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 20“Tell Aaron and his sons that this is the offering that they must bring to Yahweh on the day that any of them ◄is ordained/becomes a priest►: That person must bring two quarts/liters of fine flour as an offering made from grain. He must bring half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. 21He must mix it well with olive oil and bake it in a shallow pan. He must then break it into small pieces to be burned on the altar. And the aroma while it burns will be pleasing to Yahweh. 22I have commanded that the descendants of Aaron who are appointed in turn to become the Supreme Priests after Aaron dies are the ones who must prepare those things. These offerings must be completely burned on the altar to be sacrifices to me, Yahweh. 23Every offering that a priest gives that is made from grain must be completely burned; none of it is to be eaten.”

Other instructions concerning the sin offering

24Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 25“Tell Aaron and his sons: These are the regulations concerning the offerings that people must bring to me so that I will forgive the people for the sins they have committed: 26The animals must be slaughtered in my presence in the same place that the animals that are to be completely burned on the altar are slaughtered, in the courtyard in front of the Sacred Tent. 27Any other person who touches any of its meat will be punished by God. And if its blood is splattered on your clothes, you must wash the clothes in a holy place. 28If the meat is cooked in a clay pot, the pot must be broken afterwards. But if it is cooked in a bronze pot, the pot must be scoured afterwards and rinsed with water. 29Any male in a priest’s family may eat some of the cooked meat; that meat is very holy. 30But if the blood of those sin offerings is brought into the Sacred Tent to enable the people to be forgiven for having sinned, the meat of those animals must not be eaten. The meat must be completely burned.”

7

The guilt offering

1“These are the regulations concerning the offerings to be made by people who are guilty of not giving to me the things that are required to be given to me. Those are very sacred offerings. 2Each animal that is to be offered by such people must be slaughtered in the same place where the animals that will be completely burned on the altar are slaughtered, and their blood must be sprinkled against all sides of the altar. 3All their fat, the fat tails that are cut close to the backbone, and all the fat that covers the inner parts of the animals or which is attached to them, must be burned on the altar. 4That includes the kidneys with their fat near the lower back muscle, and the protruding lobe that is attached to the liver. 5The priest must burn them on the altar to be offerings to me, Yahweh. They are an offering for the people to be forgiven for not doing what they were required to do. 6All the males in the priest’s family are permitted to eat its meat, but it must be eaten in a sacred place, because it is very sacred.

7“The regulation is the same for the offerings to enable people to be forgiven for the sins they have committed and the offerings for when they are guilty of not giving to me the things that are required to be given to me. The meat of those offerings belongs to the priest who offers them in order that the people will be forgiven. 8The priest who slaughters an animal that will be completely burned on the altar is permitted to keep the animal’s hide for himself. 9Offerings of things made from grain that are baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or ◄in a shallow pan/on a griddle► belong to the priest who makes those offerings for another person. 10And offerings of things made from grain, whether they were mixed with olive oil or not, also belong to the sons of Aaron.”

The offerings to maintain fellowship with Yahweh

11These are the regulations concerning the offerings that people make to maintain fellowship with Yahweh:

12“If you bring an offering to thank Yahweh, along with the animal that you slaughter you must offer loaves of bread made with olive oil mixed with the flour but without yeast, and wafers that are made without yeast but with olive oil smeared on them, and loaves made from fine flour with olive oil well mixed with the flour. 13Along with that offering to thank Yahweh, you must bring an offering of loaves made with yeast. 14You must bring one of each kind for an offering to Yahweh, but they belong to the priest who sprinkles against the altar the blood of the animal that is slaughtered as an offering to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. 15The meat of that offering must be eaten on the day that it is offered; none of it should be left to be eaten on the next day.

16“However, if your offering is the result of a solemn promise that you made to Yahweh, or if it is an offering that you make ◄voluntarily/without being required to►, you are permitted to eat some of the meat on the day it is offered, but anything that is left may be eaten on the next day. 17But any meat that is left until the third day must be completely burned. 18If any meat from the offering to maintain fellowship with Yahweh is eaten on the third day, Yahweh will not accept that offering; it will be useless to offer it, because Yahweh will consider that it is worthless. Anyone who eats some of it will have to pay a penalty to Yahweh.

19“Meat that touches something that God considers to be impure must not be eaten; it must be completely burned. Anyone who has performed the rituals to become acceptable to God is allowed to eat other meat which has been offered as a sacrifice. 20But if anyone who has not performed those rituals eats some of the meat of the offering to maintain fellowship with Yahweh, meat that belongs to Yahweh, he must no longer be allowed to associate with God’s people. 21If anyone touches something that God considers to be impure and very displeasing to him, whether it is from a human or from an animal, and then he eats any of the meat of the offering to maintain fellowship with Yahweh, meat that belongs to Yahweh, he must no longer be allowed to associate with God’s people.”

Eating fat or blood is forbidden

22Yahweh also said to Moses/me: 23“Say this to the Israeli people: ’Do not eat any of the fat of cattle or sheep or goats. 24The fat of an animal that is found dead or that has been killed by a wild animal may be used for other purposes, but you must not eat it. 25Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering has been made to Yahweh must no longer be allowed to associate with God’s people. 26And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. 27If anyone eats blood, he must no longer be allowed to associate with God’s people.’”

The portions for the priests

28Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 29“Tell the Israeli people this: ’Anyone who brings an offering to maintain fellowship with Yahweh must bring part of it to be a sacrifice to Yahweh. 30He himself must bring the offering that will be burned in the fire. He must bring the fat along with the breast of the animal and lift it up in front of Yahweh to indicate that it is an offering to him. 31The Supreme Priest must burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and all his sons. 32You must give to the Supreme Priest the right thigh of the animal that is sacrificed to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. 33The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of that sacrifice must be given the right thigh of the animal as his share. 34From the offerings that the Israeli people give to maintain fellowship with Yahweh, he has declared that he has given to Aaron and his sons the breast that is lifted up and the right thigh that is offered; those portions must always be their regular share from the Israeli people.’”

35Those are the portions of the offerings brought/given to Yahweh and burned in fire that are allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day that they are set apart to serve Yahweh as priests. 36Yahweh commands that on the day that the priests are appointed [MTY], the Israeli people must always give those portions to the priests.

37Those are the regulations for the offerings that are to be completely burned on the altar, the offerings made from grain, the offerings to enable people to become acceptable to God again, the offerings for when people are guilty of not giving to Yahweh the things that are required to be given to him, the offerings given when the priests are appointed, and the offerings to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. 38They are regulations that Yahweh gave to Moses/me on Sinai Mountain in the Sinai Desert, on the day that he commanded the Israeli people to start bringing their offerings to him.

8

Aaron and his sons were appointed to be priests

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“Bring Aaron and his sons, and bring their ◄special clothes/clothes that they will wear while they do the work of priests►, the oil for anointing them, the bull to be offered to cause them to become forgiven for the sins they have committed, the two rams to be slaughtered, and the basket containing bread made without yeast. 3Then gather all the people at the entrance to the Sacred Tent.” 4Moses/I did what Yahweh told him/me to do, and all the people gathered there.

5Then Moses/I said to the people, “This is what Yahweh has commanded us to do.” 6Then he/I brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them. 7He/I put the special tunic/shirt on Aaron, tied the sash/waistband around him, put on him the special robe, and put on him the sacred vest/apron. He/I fastened the sacred vest/apron around him, using the skillfully woven sash. 8He/I put the sacred pouch on his chest and put into it the two stones for him to use to find out what God wants. 9Then he/I wrapped the turban around Aaron’s head, and fastened on the front of it the gold ornament, the object that showed that he was dedicated to God, like Yahweh had commanded Moses/me.

10Then Moses/I took the olive oil and anointed the sacred tent and everything in it, and dedicated them to Yahweh. 11He/I sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times. He/I anointed the altar and all the things used with it, and its huge washbasin and its stand, to dedicate them to Yahweh. 12He/I poured some of the oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to dedicate him to Yahweh. 13Then he/I brought forward Aaron’s sons. He/I put tunics/shirts on them, tied sashes/waistbands around them, and wrapped turbans around their heads, like Yahweh had commanded Moses/me.

14Then he/I brought the bull for the offering to cause people to be forgiven for the sins that have committed. Then Aaron and his sons put their hands on the bull’s head. 15Then Moses/I slaughtered the bull, caught some of its blood in a bowl, and with his/my finger put some of that blood on the projections at the corners of the altar, to purify the altar. He/I poured the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. By doing that, he/I caused it to be a suitable place for burning sacrifices for sin. 16Moses/I took all the fat that covers the inner parts of the animal, including the liver and kidneys, and burned them on the altar. 17He/I took the rest of the bull, including the hide and intestines, and burned them outside the camp, like Yahweh had commanded Moses/me.

18Then he/I brought the ram for the offering that would be completely burned on the altar, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 19Then Moses/I slaughtered the ram and sprinkled its blood on all sides of the altar. 20-21He/I cut the ram into pieces and washed the inner parts and hind legs.Then he/I put the head, the fat, and the other parts of the ram on the altar. As it burned, the aroma of the smoke was pleasing to Yahweh. It was an offering to Yahweh that was burned, as Yahweh had commanded Moses/me.

22Then he/I brought the other ram, the one for consecrating the priests, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 23-24Moses/I slaughtered that ram, drained some of its blood in a bowl, and put some of that blood on the lobes of the right ears, the thumbs of the right hands, and the big toes of the right feet of Aaron and his sons to indicate that what they listened to and what they did and where they went should be directed by Yahweh. 25He/I picked up all the fat of the ram, its fat tail, the fat that covered the inner parts, including the fat that covered the liver and kidneys, and the right thigh of the ram. 26-27Then from the basket containing the bread that was made without yeast, the bread which had been dedicated to Yahweh, he/I picked up one loaf of bread made without olive oil, and one loaf that was made by mixing the flour with olive oil, and one wafer. He/I put those on top of the portions of fat, and put them into the hands of Aaron and his sons. Then they lifted them up in the presence of Yahweh to indicate that it was an offering that belonged to him. 28Then Moses/I took those things from their hands and burned them on the altar. That was the offering that was burned to appoint Aaron and his sons as priests. And the aroma while it burned was pleasing to Yahweh. 29Moses/I also took the breast of the second ram and lifted it up, as Yahweh had commanded. The breast was Moses’/my share of the ram that was sacrificed to dedicate the priests.

30Then Moses/I took some of the olive oil for anointing Aaron and his sons, and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his sons and on their clothes. By doing that, he/I consecrated Aaron and his sons and their clothes.

31Then Moses/I said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the meat of the second ram at the entrance of the Sacred Tent, and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket, like I told you to do. 32Burn up any of the meat and bread that remains. 33The time for you to be set apart as priests will be seven days, so do not leave the entrance of the Sacred Tent for seven days. 34What we have done today is what Yahweh commanded to cause that you will be forgiven for your sins. 35You must stay at the entrance of the Sacred Tent for seven days and seven nights and do what Yahweh requires, in order that you will not die because of disobeying him. I am telling you that because that is what Yahweh has commanded me to tell you.”

36So Aaron and his sons did everything that Yahweh told Moses/me to tell them.

9

Aaron and his sons started to offer sacrifices

1Eight days later, Moses/I summoned the elders of Israel. 2Then he/I said to Aaron, “Take a young bull for the offering to enable you leaders to be forgiven for the sins you have committed, and a ram to be completely burned on the altar, both of them without any defects, and offer them to Yahweh. 3Then say to the Israeli people, ‘Take one male goat for the offering to enable you all to be forgiven for the sins you have committed. Also take a calf and a lamb that have no defects, to be an offering completely burned on the altar. 4Also take an ox and a ram to be an offering to maintain fellowship with Yahweh, along with an offering of flour mixed with olive oil. Do this because today Yahweh is going to appear to you.’”

5After Moses/I told this to the Israeli people, some of them took the things that Moses/I had commanded them to take, and went to the courtyard in front of the Sacred Tent. Then all the people came near and stood in front of Yahweh. 6Then Moses/I said, “This is what Yahweh has commanded you to do, in order that his glory will appear to you.”

7Then Moses/I said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice the animal that is your offering to enable you to be forgiven for the sins you have committed, and the animal that will be completely burned there. Because of those offerings, God will forgive you and the people for the sins that you have committed [DOU]. Do those things that Yahweh has commanded.”

8So Aaron came close to the altar and slaughtered the calf to be an offering for his sins. 9His sons brought its blood to him in a bowl. He dipped his finger into the blood and put some of it on the projections at the corners of the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 10He/I burned the fat, including that which covered the kidneys and the liver, as Yahweh had commanded him/me. 11Then Aaron burned the rest of the meat and the hide/skin outside the camp.

12Then Aaron slaughtered the animal that would be completely burned on the altar. His sons handed him the bowl containing its blood, and he sprinkled the blood on all sides of the altar. 13Then they handed him the head and the pieces of the animal that would be burned, and he burned them on the altar. 14He washed the inner parts and the legs of the animal, and burned them on the altar, on top of the other pieces of the animal.

15Then Aaron brought the animals that would be sacrifices for the Israeli people. He took the goat and slaughtered it to be an offering to enable them to be forgiven for the sins they had committed, like he had done with the goat for his own offering.

16Then he brought the animal for the offering to be completely burned. He slaughtered it and offered it in the way that Yahweh had commanded him to do. 17He also brought the offering of grain. He took a handful of it and burned it on the altar, like he had done for the animal that he had slaughtered and completely burned on the altar in the morning.

18Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram, to be an offering for the Israeli people to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. His sons handed him the bowl containing the blood, and he sprinkled the blood against all sides of the altar. 19But he took the fat from the ox and the ram, including their fat tails that were cut close to the backbone, and all the fat that covered the livers and the kidneys. 20He put them on top of the breasts of those animals and carried them to the altar to be burned. 21Then, doing what Moses/I had commanded, he lifted up in front of Yahweh the breast and the right thigh of those animals, to signify that those two animals completely belonged to Yahweh.

22Then Aaron lifted his arms toward the people and asked Yahweh to bless them. Then having finished making all those offerings, he stepped down from the place where the altar was.

23Then Aaron and Moses/I entered the Sacred Tent. When they/we later came out, they/we asked Yahweh to bless the people. And suddenly the glory/brightness of Yahweh appeared to all the people. 24A fire from Yahweh appeared and burned up the offering that was to be completely burned and the fat that was on the altar. And when all the people saw that, they shouted joyfully and prostrated themselves on the ground to worship Yahweh.

10

Nadab and Abihu died

1Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, took the pans in which they burned incense. They put some burning coals in them and put incense on top of the coals, but this fire was not acceptable to Yahweh because it was not the kind that he had commanded them to burn. 2So suddenly a fire from Yahweh appeared and burned them up [DOU] in the presence of Yahweh. 3Then Moses/I said to Aaron, “That is what Yahweh predicted. He said,

‘Those priests who come near to me,

I will show them that they must ◄respect me/treat me as being holy►;

in the presence of all the people

I am the one who must be honored.’”

But Aaron said nothing.

4Then Moses/I summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, who were the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Take the corpses of your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the Sacred Tent.” 5So they carried the corpses, which still had their special gowns on, outside the camp, and buried them.

6Then Moses/I said to Aaron and his other two sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “You are sad because Nadab and Abihu died, but you must act like you always do. Do not allow the hair on your heads to remain uncombed, and do not tear your clothes. But your relatives and all your fellow Israelis are allowed to mourn for those whom Yahweh destroyed by fire. 7But you must not leave the entrance of the Sacred Tent to join those who are mourning, because if you do that, you also will die, and Yahweh will punish [MTY] all the people of Israel. Do not forget that Yahweh has set you apart [MTY] to work for him here, and he does not want you to become defiled by touching a corpse.” So they did what Moses/I told them to do.

8Then Yahweh said to Aaron, 9“You and your two sons who are still alive must not drink wine or other fermented drinks before you enter the Sacred Tent; if you do that, you will die. That is a command that you and your descendants must obey forever. 10You must do that in order to learn what things are holy and what things are ◄not holy/common►, and from the things that are not holy you must learn what things are acceptable to me and what things are not. 11And you must teach to the Israeli people all the laws that I gave to the Israeli people by telling them to Moses.”

12Moses/I said to Aaron and his two sons who were still alive, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the offering made from grain that is left after a portion of it has been offered to Yahweh to be burned, and eat it alongside the altar. It should not be eaten elsewhere, because it is very holy. 13Eat it in a holy place; it is the share for you and your sons from the offerings that were burned; I have commanded that it be your share. 14But you and your sons and daughters are permitted to eat the breast and the thigh that were lifted up in front of Yahweh. Eat them in any place that is ◄holy/acceptable to him►. They have been given to you and your descendants as your share of the offerings to enable the Israelis to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. 15The thigh and the breast that were lifted up in front of Yahweh must be brought with the portions of fat to be burned, to be lifted up in his presence. They will be the regular share for you and your descendants, as Yahweh has commanded.”

16When Moses/I inquired about the goat that had been sacrificed to enable the people to be forgiven by Yahweh for the sins they had committed, he/I found out that it had been completely burned. So he/I was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar and asked them, 17“Why did you not eat near the Sacred Tent the meat of the offering for sin? It was very holy, and it was given to you to enable the Israeli people to no longer be guilty for their sins and to be forgiven for their sins. 18Since its blood was not taken into the holy place inside the Sacred Tent, you should have eaten the meat of the goat near the Sacred Tent, as I commanded.”

19Aaron replied to Moses/me, “Today the people brought to Yahweh their offering to be forgiven for the sins they had committed, and the offering to be completely burned, and surely that pleased Yahweh, but think about the terrible thing that happened to my other two sons! Would [RHQ] Yahweh have been pleased if I had eaten some of the offering to cause the people to become acceptable to God?” 20When Moses/I heard that, he/I was satisfied.

11

Food that is acceptable to God and food that is not

1Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me, 2“Tell the Israeli people that this is what Yahweh says: From all the animals that live on the land, these are the ones that you are permitted to eat: 3The ones that have hooves that are completely split and that ◄chew their cuds/bring their food up from their stomachs to chew it again►.

4There are some animals that chew their cuds but do not have split hooves, and some animals that have split hooves but do not chew their cuds. You must not eat any of those animals. For example, camels chew their cuds but do not have split hooves, so they are unacceptable for you to eat. 5Rock badgers chew their cuds but do not have split hooves, so they are unacceptable for you to eat. 6Rabbits chew their cuds but do not have split hooves, so they are unacceptable for you to eat. 7Pigs have completely split hooves but they do not chew their cuds, so they are unacceptable for you to eat. 8All of those animals are unacceptable for you, so you must not eat their meat or even touch their carcasses.

9From all the creatures that live in the oceans and the streams, you are permitted to eat any that have fins and scales. 10But you must detest and not eat those that do not have fins and scales. That includes ones that are very small. 11You must despise them, and you must not eat their meat, and you must detest their carcasses. 12You must detest everything that lives in the water that does not have fins and scales.

13There are some birds that you must detest and not eat. They include eagles, bearded vultures, black vultures, 14kites, any kind of falcon/buzzard, 15any kind of raven, 16horned owls, screech owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk, 17small owls, cormorants, large owls, 18white owls, desert owls, vultures that eat dead animals, 19storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, and bats.

20You must detest and not eat flying insects that sometimes walk on the ground [MTY]. 21But you are permitted to eat creatures with wings that sometimes walk on the ground if they have jointed legs for hopping around. 22They include locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers. 23But you must detest and not eat other insects with wings that have four legs.

24’There are certain creatures that if you touch their carcasses you will become defiled. Anyone who touches their carcasses must not touch other people until that evening. 25Anyone who picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes and not touch other people until that evening.

26’The animals whose carcasses you must not touch are those that have hooves that are not completely divided or animals that do not chew their cuds. Anyone who touches the carcasses of any of those animals becomes ◄defiled/unacceptable to me►. 27From all the animals that walk on the ground, you must not touch the carcasses of those that have paws to walk on. Anyone who touches one of their carcasses must not touch other people until that evening. 28Anyone who picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes and not touch other people until that evening, because touching their carcasses ◄defiles you/causes you to become unacceptable to me►.

29’From all the animals that walk on the ground, these are the ones that ◄defile you/cause you to become unacceptable to me► if you touch them: Moles, rats, any kind of lizard, 30geckos, skinks, and chameleons. 31Those creatures that crawl along the ground ◄defile you/cause you to become unacceptable to me►; anyone who touches one of their carcasses must not touch other people until the evening. 32When one of those creatures dies and falls on something, the thing that it falls on, whatever it is used for, will become ◄defiled/unacceptable to me►, whether it is made of wood or cloth or the hide of some animal or from rough cloth. You must put it in water. Then you must not use it until that evening. 33If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it becomes defiled, and you must break that pot into pieces. 34If you pour water from that pot on any food, you must not eat that food. And you must not drink any water from that pot. 35Anything that one of the carcasses of those creatures falls on becomes ◄defiled/unacceptable to me►; even if it falls on an oven or a cooking pot, anything that it falls on must be broken into pieces. It becomes unacceptable to me and you must not use it again. 36If one of their carcasses falls into a spring or a pit for storing water, the water may still be drunk, but anyone who touches one of those carcasses becomes unacceptable to me. 37If one of those carcasses falls on seeds that are to be planted, those seeds are still acceptable to be planted. 38But if water has been put on the seeds and then a carcass falls on them, the seeds must be thrown away.

39’If an animal whose meat you are permitted to eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass must not touch other people until that evening. 40Anyone who eats some meat from that carcass must wash his clothes, and then he must not touch anyone until that evening.

41-42’All creatures that crawl along the ground, including those that move on their bellies and those that crawl, are detestable, and they must not be eaten. 43Do not ◄defile yourselves/cause you to become unacceptable to me► by eating any of those creatures [DOU]. 44I am Yahweh your God, and I am holy, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy. You must avoid eating things that cause you to be unacceptable to me. Do not cause yourselves to become unacceptable to me by eating creatures that crawl along on the ground. 45I am Yahweh, the one who freed you from being slaves in Egypt, in order to be your God. Therefore, because I am holy, you must be holy.

46Those are the regulations concerning animals and birds, all the living creatures that live in water or scurry along on the ground. 47You must learn what things I say are acceptable to me and what things are not, and learn what things you are permitted to eat and what things you are not permitted to eat.’”

12

Purifying women after they give birth

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“Tell this to the Israeli people: ’If a woman gives birth to a son, she must be avoided for seven days, like she must be avoided when she is menstruating each month. 3The baby son must be circumcised on the eighth day after he is born. 4Then the woman must wait 33 days to be purified from her bleeding during childbirth. She must not touch anything that is sacred or enter the Sacred Tent area until that time is ended. 5If a woman gives birth to a daughter, she must be avoided for two weeks, like she must be avoided when she is menstruating each month. Then she must wait 66 days to be purified from the bleeding that occurred when her baby was born.

6’When that time for her to be purified is ended, that woman must bring to the priest at the entrance of the Sacred Tent a one-year-old lamb to be completely burned on the altar, and a dove or a young pigeon to be sacrificed to enable her to become acceptable to Yahweh again. 7The priest will offer them to Yahweh in order that she may be forgiven for any sins she has committed. Then she will be purified from her loss of blood when the baby was born.

’Those are the regulations for women who give birth to a son or daughter. 8If a woman who gives birth to a child cannot afford a lamb, she must bring two doves or two young pigeons. One will be burned completely on the altar, and one will be an offering to enable her to become acceptable to God again. By doing that, the priest will cause that she will be forgiven for any sins she has committed, and she no longer will need to be avoided.’”

13

Regulations concerning contagious skin diseases

1Yahweh said this to Aaron and Moses/me: 2“When someone has on his skin a swelling or a rash or a shiny/bright spot that may become ◄contagious/a dreaded skin disease►, he must be brought to Aaron or to one of his sons who are also priests. 3The priest must examine that part of the person’s skin. If the hair in that area has become white and it appears that the sore is deeper than just on the skin, it is a contagious skin disease. When the priest sees that, he must declare that the person must stay away from other people [MTY]. 4If the spot on the person’s skin is white but it does not appear that the sore is deeper than just on the skin, the priest must tell him to stay away from other people for seven days. 5Then the priest must examine the person again. If the priest sees that the sore has not changed and has not spread, he must tell the person to stay away from people for seven more days. 6Then the priest must examine him again. If the sore has faded and has not spread, the priest will allow him to be with other people again; it is only a rash. After the person washes his clothes, he will be allowed to be with other people again. 7But if the sore spreads after the priest has examined him, he must go to the priest again. 8The priest will examine him; and if the sore has spread to more of the skin, it is a contagious skin disease, and the priest will declare that he must stay away from other people.

9When anyone has a contagious skin disease, he must be brought to the priest. 10The priest must examine him. And if there is a white swelling in the skin that has caused the hair in that swelling to become white, and if the flesh in that area is painful/sensitive, 11it is a permanent skin disease, and the priest will declare that he must stay away from other people. The priest does not need to tell that person that he must avoid other people, because other people already are wanting to stay away from him.

12’If the disease spreads all over someone’s body, and the priest examines that person and sees that it is covering his skin from his head to his feet, 13and it has caused all his skin to become white which will indicate that the disease has ended, the priest will declare that the person does not have to stay away from other people. 14But if the person has open sores and they are very painful/sensitive, he has a contagious skin disease, 15and when the priest sees that, he will declare that the person must stay away from other people. 16But if the person’s flesh changes and becomes white, he must go to the priest again. 17The priest must examine him again; and if the sores have become white, the priest will declare that the person who had been infected is now permitted to be with other people again.

18’When someone has a boil on his skin and it has healed, 19but in the place where the boil was a white swelling or a bright/shiny spot appears, he must go to the priest. 20The priest must examine it. And if it seems to be deeper than just on the skin, and if the hair in that spot has become white, it is a contagious skin disease that has appeared where the boil had been. And the priest will declare that the person must stay away from other people. 21But when the priest examines it, if there is no white hair in that spot and it is only on the surface of the skin and has become less bright/shiny, then the priest will order him to stay away from other people for seven days. 22But if it is spreading, it is contagious and the priest will declare that the person must stay away from other people. 23But if that spot is unchanged and has not spread, it is only a scar from the boil, and the priest will declare that the person is permitted to be with other people again.

24’When someone has a burn on his skin and a bright/shiny or white spot appears, and the flesh in that area is sensitive/painful, 25the priest must examine the spot. If the hair in that spot has turned white and it seems to be deeper than just on the surface of the skin, it is a contagious skin disease that has appeared where the burn was, and that person must stay away from other people. 26But when the priest examines it and sees that there is no white hair in that spot and it is only on the surface of the skin, and has faded, the priest will declare that the person must stay away from people for seven days. 27On the seventh day, the priest will examine him again. If the sore is spreading, it is a contagious skin disease, and the priest will declare that the person must stay away from other people. 28However, if the spot is not changed and has not spread but has faded, it is only a scar from the burn, and the priest will declare that the person is permitted to be with other people again.

29’If a man or a woman has a sore on his head or on his chin, 30the priest must examine it. If it appears to be deeper than just on the surface of the skin, and the hair in that spot has thinned out and has become yellowish, it is a contagious skin disease that causes itching. And the priest will declare that the person must stay away from other people. 31But when the priest examines that kind of sore, if it seems to be only on the surface of the skin and there is no healthy hair in it, the priest will tell the person to stay away from other people for seven days. 32On the seventh day, the priest will examine the sore again. If it has not spread and if there is no yellow hair in that spot and if it appears to be only on the surface of the skin, 33the person must shave the hair near the sore but not the hair on the sore. And the priest will tell him to stay away from other people for seven more days. 34On the seventh day, the priest will examine that spot again. If it has not spread and it appears to be only on the surface of the skin, the priest will declare that the person is permitted to be with people again. The person must wash his clothes, and then he can be with other people. 35But if the sore later spreads, 36the priest must examine him again. If the itch/sore has spread, the priest does not need to look for yellow hair, because it is clear that the person has a contagious skin disease. 37However, if the priest thinks that the spot has not changed, and healthy hair is growing in that area, it is clear that the itch has healed, and the priest will declare that the person is permitted to be with other people again.

38’When a man or a woman has white spots on the skin, 39the priest should examine them. But if the spots are dull white, it is only a rash, and the priest will declare that the person is permitted to be with other people.

40-41’If a man loses the hair on any part of his head, he does not need to stay away from other people. 42But if he gets a bright/shiny sore on his bald head or on his forehead, he has a contagious skin disease. 43The priest must examine him. If the swollen sore is a bright spot like the spot on someone who has a contagious skin disease, 44the priest will declare that the man has a contagious skin disease and must not be with other people.

45’Anyone who has a contagious skin disease must wear torn clothes and not comb his hair. When he is near other people, he must cover the lower part to his face and call out, “Do not come near me! I have a contagious skin disease!” 46He is not allowed to be with other people as long as he has the disease. He must live alone, outside the camp.’”

Regulations concerning mildew

47-48“Sometimes a person’s clothing gets mildew on it. It may be clothing that is woven from wool or made from linen or from leather. 49If the contaminated/mildewed part is greenish or reddish, it is a spreading mildew, and it must be shown to the priest. 50The priest will examine it, and then put it in a separate place by itself for seven days. 51On the seventh day he must examine it again. If the mildew has spread, it is clear that it is a type of mildew that destroys clothing, and that clothing must not be worn again. 52The owner must burn completely the item that has the mildew in it, whatever kind of item it is.

53But when the priest examines it, if the mildew has not spread, 54he will tell the person who owns it to wash it. Then he must put it in a separate place for another seven days. 55Then the priest will examine it again. If the color of the mildew has not changed, even though it has not spread, that item must not be worn again. It does not matter if the mildew is on the inside of the clothing or on the outside; it must be burned. 56But when the priest examines it after it has been washed, if the mildew has faded, he must tear out that part that had the mildew in it. 57But if the mildew reappears in that item, it is clear that it is spreading, and the whole item must be burned. 58But after the clothing is washed and the mildew disappears, it must be washed again, and then it can be worn again.

59Those are the regulations concerning mildew on things made of wool or linen or leather, for deciding whether those things can continue to be worn or not.”

14

Rituals for those healed of contagious skin diseases

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“These are the regulations for anyone who has been healed of a contagious skin disease. 3The person must be brought to a priest. The priest will take him outside the camp to where that person has been staying, and examine him. If the skin disease has been healed, 4the priest will say that someone must bring two living birds that are acceptable to Yahweh, along with some cedar wood, some scarlet/red yarn, and some sprigs of ◄hyssop/a very leafy plant►. 5Then the priest will command that one of the birds be killed while it is being held over a clay pot containing water from a spring. 6Then the priest will dip the other bird, along with the cedar wood, the scarlet/red yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed. 7Then he must sprinkle some of the blood on the person who was healed; he must sprinkle it on him seven times. Then he will declare that the person is permitted to be with other people again. And the priest will release the other bird and allow it to fly away.

8“Then the person who was healed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe. Then he is allowed to return to the camp, but he must stay outside his tent for seven days. 9On the seventh day, he must again shave off all his hair, including his beard and his eyebrows. Then he must again wash his clothes and bathe, and then he will be allowed to be with other people again.

10“The next day that person must bring two male lambs and one female lamb that is one year old, all of them with no defects. He must also bring six quarts/liters of fine flour, mixed with olive oil, to be an offering, and ◄0.6 pint/0.3 liter► of olive oil. 11The priest who declares that the person’s skin disease is ended must bring that person, and his offerings, to me, Yahweh, at the entrance of the Sacred Tent.

12“Then the priest must take one of the male lambs and lift it up, along with the olive oil, in front of me, to be a guilt offering— an offering for his being guilty for not giving to me the things that he was required to give me. 13Then the priest must slaughter the lamb in the sacred place where the other sacrifices are offered. Like the offering to enable people to be forgiven, this guilt offering is holy, and belongs to the priest. 14The priest must take some of the blood of that animal and pour it on the lobe/tip of the right ear and on the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot of the one who has been healed of the skin disease. 15Then the priest must take some of the olive oil and pour it in the palm of his own left hand. 16Then he must dip the forefinger of his right hand into the oil in his palm, and sprinkle it in front of me seven times. 17Then he must put some of the oil that is still in the palm of his hand on the lobe/tip of the right ear and the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot of the person who has been healed of the skin disease. He must put it on top of the blood that he has already put on those places. 18The remaining oil in his palm must be put on the person’s head, to indicate that I declare that the person has been forgiven for having sinned.

19“Then the priest must slaughter one of the other two animals, to show that the one who has been healed of the skin disease has been forgiven for having sinned, and that he has become acceptable to Yahweh. Then the priest will slaughter the animal that will be completely burned on the altar. 20He will also put on the altar the offering of grain, to indicate that the person has been forgiven for having sinned. Then that person will be allowed to be with other people again.

21“But if the person who has been healed of a skin disease is poor and cannot afford to bring all those animals, he must take to the priest one male lamb to be lifted up to be an offering for his not giving to me the things that he was required to give me. He must also take two quarts/liters of fine flour mixed with olive oil to be an offering made from grain, ◄0.6 pint/0.3 liter► of olive oil, 22and two doves or two young pigeons, one for him to be forgiven for the sins he has committed, and one to be completely burned on the altar.

23“On that same day, that person must take those things to the priest at the entrance of the Sacred Tent, to offer them to Yahweh. 24The priest will take the lamb for the offering for that person not giving to me the things that he was required to give me, along with the olive oil, and lift them up in front of me. 25Then the priest will slaughter that lamb and drain some of the blood in a bowl, and take some of that blood and put it on the lobe/tip of the person’s right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 26Then the priest will pour some of the oil into the palm of his left hand, 27and with his right forefinger he must sprinkle some of the oil from his palm there in my presence. 28He must put some of the oil in his palm on the same places where he put the blood. 29He must put the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the head of the person who has been healed of a skin disease, to indicate that I have forgiven him for having sinned. 30Then the priest must sacrifice the doves or the pigeons, whichever that person has brought. 31One will be an offering for sin and the other will be completely burned on the altar, along with the offering of grain. By doing that, the priest will declare that the person is no longer guilty for having sinned.

32“Those are the regulations for anyone who has a contagious skin disease and who is poor and cannot afford the usual offerings, in order that he can be with people again.”

Instructions regarding mildew in a house

33Yahweh also said to Aaron and Moses/me, 34“I am about to give you Canaan land to belong to your people permanently. When you enter that land, there will be times when I cause/allow mildew to appear inside one of your houses. 35If that happens, the owner of that house must go to the priest and tell him, ‘There is something in my house that looks like mildew.’ 36“Then the priest will say to him, ‘Take everything out of the house before I enter the house to examine the mildew. If you do not do that, I will declare that everything in the house is contaminated.’ 37After the owner takes everything outside of his house, the priest will go in and inspect the house. If the mildew has caused greenish or reddish spots/depressions on the walls that seem to be deeper than only on the surface of the walls, 38the priest will go outside the house and lock it up for seven days. 39On the seventh day, he must go into the house and inspect it again. If the mildew on the walls has spread, 40the priest will tell someone to tear out and throw in the dump outside the town all the stones in the walls that have mildew on them. 41Then the owner must scrape all the walls inside the house, and everything that is scraped off must be thrown into a dump outside the town. 42Then the owner must get new/other stones to replace the ones that had mildew on them, and take new clay and plaster to cover the stones in the walls of the house.

43“If the mildew appears again in the house after that is done, 44the priest must go and examine the house again. If the mildew has spread inside the house, it will be clear that the mildew is the kind that destroys houses, and no one will be allowed to live in it. 45It must be completely torn down—the stones, the timber and the plaster—and all those things must be thrown into a dump outside the town.

46“Anyone who goes into that house while it is locked up will not be allowed to be with other people until sunset of that day. 47Anyone who sleeps in that house or eats in that house during that time must wash his clothes.

48“But when the priest comes to examine the house after it has been plastered, if the mildew has not spread, he shall declare that people may live in it, because the mildew is gone. 49But before people are allowed to live in it, the priest must take two small birds and some cedar wood and some red/scarlet yarn and some hyssop. 50He must kill one of the birds while holding it over a clay pot containing water from a spring. 51Then he must take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the red/scarlet yarn, and the other/living bird, and dip them into the blood of the dead bird, and sprinkle some of that blood on the house seven times. 52By doing all those things he will cause the house to be acceptable to be lived in again. 53Then he must release the other bird and allow it to fly away. By doing that, he will finish the ritual for causing the house to be acceptable for people to live in it again.

54“Those are the regulations for contagious diseases, for itching sores, 55for mildew [DOU] on clothes or in a house, 56and for swellings, rashes, or bright spots on sores, 57to find out whether a person has a contagious disease or not, and whether people will still be permitted to touch their clothing or their house, or not.”

15

Discharges from bodies

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me and Aaron, 2“Tell this to the Israelis: When an infected discharge comes out of a man’s sexual organs [EUP], that fluid should not be touched. 3Whether that fluid is blocked or continues to drip, it causes him to be someone who should not be touched.

4“And any bed that such a man lies on should not be touched, and anything that he sits on should not be touched. 5Anyone who touches that person’s bed must wash his clothes and bathe, and no one should touch him until that evening. 6Anyone who sits on something that man has sat on must wash his clothes and bathe, and no one should touch him until that evening.

7“Anyone who touches such a man must wash his clothes and bathe, and no one should touch him until that evening.

8“If such a man spits on someone else, that person who is spit upon should not be touched. He must wash his clothes, and no one should touch him until that evening.

9“Everything that a man who has such a discharge of fluid sits on while he is riding a horse or a donkey should not be touched, 10and anyone who touches the seat or saddle that he was sitting on also should not be touched until that evening. And anyone who picks up the seat or saddle must wash his clothes and bathe, and no one should touch him until that evening. 11Anyone whom the man with such a discharge of fluid from his body touches without first rinsing his hands in water must wash his clothes and bathe, and no one should touch him until that evening.

12“If such a man touches a clay pot, that pot must be broken into pieces. Anything made from wood that he touches must be rinsed in water.

13“If such a man is healed from his flow of fluid, he must wait for seven days. Then he must wash his clothes and bathe in water from a spring. Then he will be able to be with others. 14On the eighth/next day, he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come in front of Yahweh at the entrance of the Sacred Tent, and give them to the priest. 15The priest will sacrifice them. One will be an offering for the man to become acceptable to God, and the other one will be completely burned on the altar. As a result of the priest doing that, the man will be forgiven for having sinned.

16“When semen accidentally flows from a man’s sexual organs [EUP], he must bathe his whole body, and no one should touch him until that evening. 17Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed, and no one should touch it until that evening. 18When a man has sex with a woman and some semen spills, both of them must bathe, and no one should touch them until that evening.

19“When a woman has her monthly menstrual period, no one should touch her for seven days. If anyone touches her during that time, no one should touch the person who touched her until that evening. 20No one should touch anything that she lies on or sits on during that time. 21Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe, and no one should touch that person until that evening. 22-23Anyone who touches something that she has been sitting on, a bed or anything else, must wash his clothes, and no one should touch that person until that evening.

24“If a man has sex with a woman during that time and some of the menstrual blood touches him, no one should touch him for seven days, and no one should touch the bed that he lies on.

25“When a woman has a vaginal discharge of blood for ◄many days/a long time►, which is not her monthly flow of blood, or if her flow of blood continues after her monthly flow ends, no one should touch her until it stops. 26And no one should touch the bed that she lies on or anything that she sits on while that flow of blood continues, just like during her monthly menstrual period. 27Anyone who touches those things should not touch anyone else; he must wash his clothes and bathe, and he should not touch anyone else until that evening.

28“After a woman’s monthly menstrual flow ends, she must wait seven days before she touches anyone. 29On the eighth/next day, she must take two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Sacred Tent. 30The priest will sacrifice one of them to be an offering to enable her to become acceptable to Yahweh again, and completely burn the other one on the altar. By doing that he will cause me, Yahweh, to forgive her for having sinned [DOU].

31“You must warn the Israeli people not to do things that ◄defile them/cause them to be unacceptable to me►. If they become ◄unacceptable to me/defiled►, they will cause my Sacred Tent which is among them to become an unacceptable place to worship me, and as a result they will die.”

32“Those are the regulations for a man who has a fluid that flows from his sexual organs or who should not be touched because some of his semen spills out while having sex with a woman, 33and for any woman during her monthly menstrual period, and for any man who has sex with a woman during her menstrual period.”

16

The Day of Atonement

1After the two sons of Aaron died because they burned incense to Yahweh in a manner that was contrary to what Yahweh commanded, Yahweh spoke to Moses/me. 2He said to him/me, “Warn your older brother Aaron that he must not enter the Very Holy Place inside the curtain that is in the Sacred Tent whenever he wants to, because the cover of the sacred chest is there. That is the place where the priest ◄makes atonement for/requests me to forgive► sins. I am present in the cloud that is over the cover of the sacred chest. If Aaron goes in that room when it is not the proper time, he will die!

3“When Aaron enters the Sacred Tent area, he must bring a bull that will be killed to become an offering/sacrifice for sins, and a ram to be killed to be an offering that will be completely burned on the altar. 4Then he must bathe his whole body, and put on the linen underwear/undershorts and the linen gown. He must tie the linen sash/waistbands around his waist and wrap the turban around his head. Those are his sacred garments. 5The Israeli people must then bring to him two male goats to be killed as an offering/sacrifice for sin, and a ram to be killed and burned completely on the altar.

6“Aaron must offer the bull to me to be a sacrifice in order that ◄I will forgive his sins and the sins of his family/his sins and the sins of his family will be forgiven►. 7Then he must bring the two male goats to me at the entrance to the Sacred Tent. 8He must ◄cast lots/throw down stones that have been marked► to determine which goat will be sacrificed to me, and which will be the goat that will be set free. 9Aaron must bring to me the goat that was chosen to be sacrificed. It will be an offering for the people’s sins. 10Aaron must also bring to me the other goat, but it is not to be killed. It will be freed while it is still alive. As a result of Aaron sending it into the desert, the people’s sins will be forgiven.

11“Then Aaron must bring the young bull to me, to be an offering/sacrifice for himself and for his family. He must slaughter that bull to be an offering for their sins, and he must drain the blood into a basin. 12Then he must take some burning coals from the bronze altar and put them in the incense burner. Then he must fill his hands with fragrant finely-ground incense. Then he must take the incense and the incense burner inside the curtain into the Very Holy Place of the Sacred Tent. 13There he must put the incense on the burning coals, with the result that a cloud of burning incense will rise up over the lid of the sacred chest. If he obeys these instructions, he will not die like Korah’s two sons did because of offering incense incorrectly (OR, because of being in God’s presence). 14Then he must dip his finger into the basin and sprinkle some blood on the lid of the sacred chest, and also sprinkle some blood seven times against the front of the chest.

15“Aaron must then go outside the Sacred Tent and slaughter the goat to be an offering for the sins of the people. Then he must bring its blood into the Very Holy Place behind the curtain. There he must sprinkle some of that blood on the lid of the sacred chest and against the front of the chest, like he did with the bull’s blood. 16By doing that, he will purify the Very Holy Place. And he must sprinkle more of the blood on the Sacred Tent, because the tent is in the midst of the camp of the Israeli people who have become unacceptable to me because of their sins. 17When Aaron goes into the Very Holy Place in the Sacred Tent to purify it, no one else is permitted to enter the other part of the Sacred Tent. Only after Aaron has performed rituals to enable me to forgive him and his family, and all the Israeli people, is any priest permitted to enter the Sacred Tent.

18“Then Aaron must go outside the tent to purify my altar. He must do this by smearing some of the blood from the bull and some of the blood from the goat on each of the projections at the corners of the altar. 19Then Aaron must dip his finger into the basin of blood and sprinkle some of the blood over the altar seven times. By doing that, he will cleanse it from being unholy because of the sins of the Israeli people, and it will become holy again.

20“When Aaron has finished purifying the Very Holy Place inside the Sacred Tent and all of the Sacred Tent and the altar, he must bring the goat that was chosen to be set free. 21He must put both of his hands on the head of the goat and confess all the sins [DOU] of the Israeli people. By doing that, he will put the guilt of their sins on the head of the goat. Then he must give the goat to a man who is chosen, and that man will send the goat out into the desert. 22It is as though the goat will carry away into the desert the guilt for the sins of all the people.

23“When Aaron approaches the Sacred Tent, he must take off the linen clothes that he wore when he previously entered the Very Holy Place, and he must leave those clothes there. 24Then he must bathe in a sacred place, put on his regular/ordinary clothes, and sacrifice the animals that will be burned completely on the altar for his own sins and for the sins of the Israeli people. By doing that he will enable me to forgive him and them. 25He must also burn on the altar all the fat of the bull and the goat that were sacrificed.

26“The man who was chosen to send the other goat into the desert and free it there must afterwards wash his clothes and bathe. Then he may return to the camp. 27The carcasses of the bull and the goat that were slaughtered to be an offering/sacrifice for the people’s sins, whose blood was taken inside the Very Holy Place to enable Yahweh to forgive the Israeli people, must be carried outside the camp and burned. The hides/skins of the animals, the inner organs, and the dung must also be burned. 28The man who burns those things must then wash his clothes and bathe before he returns to the camp.

29“In ◄October/the month after the dry season ends►, on the day that I have appointed, you all must ◄fast/abstain from eating food► and not do any work. This is a rule/law that will never end. It must be obeyed by you people who have been Israelis all your lives, and also by foreigners who are living among you. 30On that day, Aaron will perform rituals to enable me to forgive you all, and then I will cleanse/free you all from the guilt of all your sins and you will become acceptable to me. 31That will be a day for you to rest and not do any work, like the Sabbath days, and you must ◄fast/abstain from eating food► all that day. That is a permanent command/law for you all to obey. 32In future years, after Aaron has died, this ritual/ceremony to enable me to forgive you all [DOU] will be performed by the Supreme Priest who is anointed with olive oil and appointed to serve instead of his ancestor Aaron. He must put on the sacred clothes made of linen 33and offer sacrifices to purify the Very Holy Place, all of the Sacred Tent, the altar, the priests, and all the Israel people like Aaron did. 34This will be a permanent command/law for you to obey once every year, to enable me to forgive you Israeli people for the sins that you have committed.”

Moses/I obeyed all those instructions/commands that Yahweh had given to him/me.

17

Where sacrifices are to be offered

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the other Israeli people, and say this to them: ‘This is what Yahweh has commanded: 3If you sacrifice an ox or a lamb or a goat, you must bring it to the priest at the entrance of the Sacred Tent area, to present/offer it to me there. 4If you slaughter it to be a sacrifice anywhere else in the camp or outside the camp, you will be guilty of killing an animal in an unacceptable place. As a result you will no longer be allowed to be/associate with my people. 5That rule is in order that you Israeli people, instead of offering sacrifices in the open fields, will offer them to me by taking them to the priest at the entrance of the Sacred Tent area, to be offerings to maintain fellowship with me. 6After the animal is slaughtered, the priest must sprinkle some of its blood against the altar at the entrance of the Sacred Tent, and burn its fat to be an aroma that is pleasing to me. 7You people must no longer give sacrifices to the demons that resemble goats which you are worshiping. You people must obey this command forever.’

8“And tell this to the people: ‘If any Israeli or any foreigner who is living among them brings an offering that is to be completely burned on the altar, or any other sacrifice, 9and does not bring it to the entrance of the Sacred Tent area to be a sacrifice to me, that person will no longer be allowed to associate with my people.

10’I will reject [IDM] any Israeli or any foreigner who is living among you who eats any blood, and I will command that he no longer be allowed to associate with my people. 11That is because the life of every creature is in its blood; I have declared that it is blood that is to be offered on the altar to enable people to be forgiven for their sins. 12That is why I say that you Israelis must not eat blood, and the foreigners who live among you must also not eat blood.

13’Any Israeli or any foreigner who is living among you who hunts any animal or bird that is permitted for you to eat, must drain out the blood of the animal or bird that he kills, and cover the blood with dirt. 14This is because the life of every creature is in its blood. And that is why I have said [DOU] to you Israelis that anyone who eats blood must no longer be allowed to associate with my people.

15’Anyone in Israel, including foreigners, who eats any of the meat of any creature that is found dead, or that had been killed by wild animals, must wash his clothes and bathe. Then he must not touch anyone until that evening. 16If he does not do those things, he will be punished for what he did.’”

18

Forbidden sexual behavior

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“Speak to the Israeli people and tell them that I, Yahweh, say this this: I am Yahweh, your God. 3So you must do what I want you to do; you must not do the things that the people in Egypt, where you lived previously, do; and you must not do what is done by the people in Canaan, the land to which I am taking you. Do not imitate their behavior. 4You must obey all of my laws [DOU], because it is I, Yahweh your God, who am commanding those laws. 5If you obey all my laws and decrees, you will continue to remain alive for a long time. I, Yahweh, am the one who is promising that to you. These are some of my laws:

6“Do not have sex with any of your close relatives. It is I, Yahweh, who am commanding that.

7“Do not disgrace your father by having sex with your mother [DOU].

8“Do not have sex with any of your father’s other wives, because that would disgrace your father.

9“Do not have sex with your sister or your stepsister; it does not matter whether she was born in your house or somewhere else.

10“Do not have sex with your granddaughter, because that would disgrace you.

11“Do not have sex with your half-sister, because she is your sister.

12“Do not have sex with your father’s sister, because she is your father’s close relative.

13“Do not have sex with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative.

14“Do not disgrace your ◄uncle/father’s brother►by having sex with his wife, because she is your aunt.

15“Do not have sex with [DOU] your daughter-in-law, because she is your son’s wife.

16“Do not have sex with your brother’s wife, because that would disgrace your brother.

17“Do not have sex with the daughter or granddaughter of any woman whom you have previously had sex with; they are her (OR, your) close relatives. Having sex with any of them would be a wicked thing to do.

18“While your wife is still living, do not marry your wife’s sister and have sex with her.

19“Do not have sex with any woman while she is having her monthly menstrual period.

20“Do not ◄defile yourself/make yourself unacceptable to me► by having sex with someone else’s wife.

21“Do not give any of your children to be burned to be a sacrifice to the god Molech, because that would show that you do not revere me [MTY], Yahweh, your God.

22“No man should have sex with another man; that is detestable.

23“No one, man or woman, should ◄defile himself/cause himself to become unacceptable to me► by having sex with an animal; that is a perverse act.

24“Do not ◄defile yourselves/cause yourselves to become unacceptable to me► in any of those ways, because doing those things is how the people of the nations that I expelled as you advanced became ◄unacceptable to me/defiled►. 25They even caused the land to become defiled, so I punished them for their sins, and it was as though the land vomited out the people who lived there. 26You must all obey my laws and decrees. That includes you people who were born here and the foreigners who live among you. 27All those detestable things were done by the people who lived in this land before you came here, and they caused the land to become defiled. 28So if you defile the land, I will get rid of [MET] you like I got rid of the people of those nations that were here before you came.

29“You must not allow people who do any of those detestable things to associate with you who are my people. 30Obey everything that I command you to do, and do not defile yourselves by practicing any of the detestable customs that were practiced by the people who were there before you came. I, Yahweh your God, am the one who is commanding these things.”

19

Other laws

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“Speak to all the people of Israel and tell them this: You must be holy, because I, Yahweh your God, am holy, and I want you to be like me.

3’Each of you must respect your father and your mother. And you must ◄honor/treat respectfully► the Sabbath days. I am Yahweh, your God, and that is what I am commanding you to do.

4’Do not worship idols or make metal statues of gods for yourselves. I am Yahweh, your God, and I am the only one you must worship.

5’When you bring an offering to maintain fellowship with me, offer it in a way that will cause me to accept it. 6The meat should be eaten on the day that you sacrifice it, but you are permitted to eat some of it on the next day. Anything that remains until the third/next day must be completely burned. 7For any of it to be eaten on the third day is very displeasing to me, and I will not accept that offering. 8I will punish anyone who eats it after the second day, because he will not have respected that what I say is holy. And that person must no longer be allowed to associate with my people.

9’When you harvest your grain, leave the grain at the very edge of the field, and do not pick up the grain that has fallen on the ground. 10And when you harvest your grapes, do not go back a second time to try to harvest some more, and do not pick up the grapes that have fallen on the ground. Leave those things for the poor people and for foreigners who are living among you. I, Yahweh your God, am commanding those things.

11’Do not steal anything.

’Do not tell lies.

’Do not deceive each other.

12’Do not show that you do not respect me by using/saying my name to falsely promise that you will do something. Do not forget that I am Yahweh, your God.

13’Do not cheat anyone or steal from anyone.

’If you have agreed to pay your workers at the end of the day, do what you have promised; do not keep those wages until the next day.

14’Do not curse deaf people, and do not put things in the path of blind people to cause them to stumble.

15’Always [LIT] judge people fairly [DOU]. Do not do special favors for either poor people or rich people.

16’Do not spread false rumors about other people.

’Do not say anything in court that would result in some innocent person being executed. I, Yahweh, am commanding this.

17’Do not hate anyone. Instead, honestly rebuke those who ought to be rebuked, in order that you also will not be guilty.

18’Do not try to get revenge against someone or be angry with someone for a long time. Instead, love other people like you love yourself. I, Yahweh your God, am commanding this.

19’Obey my laws.

’Do not allow two different kinds of animals to mate with each other.

’Do not plant two different kinds of seed in the same field.

’Do not wear clothing made from two different kinds of material.

20’If a man has sex with a slave woman who has been promised to marry some other man, but she has not been bought by that man and is still a slave, the man who had sex with her must be punished. But because she is still a slave, she and the man who had sex with her must not be killed. 21However, that man must bring a ram to be slaughtered at the entrance of the Sacred Tent area, to be an offering in order that he no longer be guilty for his sin. 22The priest will offer that ram to me in order that the man will be forgiven for the sin that he committed, and I will forgive him.

23’When you enter the land that I have promised to give to you, and when you plant various kinds of fruit trees, you must not eat any of their fruit for three years [DOU]. 24In the fourth year all of their fruit must be set aside to belong to me; it must be brought to me to be an offering to praise me. 25But in the fifth/next year, you will be permitted to eat their fruit. If you do that, your trees will produce much fruit. I, Yahweh your God, am promising that.

26’Do not eat any meat that still has the animal’s blood in it.

’Do not consult spirits to find out what will happen in the future, and do not practice sorcery.

27’Do not shave the hair at the sides of your heads like pagan people do.

28’Do not cut your bodies when you are mourning for people who have died, and do not put tattoos on your bodies. I, Yahweh your God, am commanding this.

29’Do not disgrace your daughters by forcing them to become prostitutes. If you cause them to become prostitutes, soon the land will be filled with prostitutes and all other kinds of people’s wicked behavior.

30’Honor my Sabbath days and revere my Sacred Tent, because I, Yahweh, live there.

31’Do not seek advice from those who ◄consult/talk with► the spirits of dead people [DOU], because if you do that, they will defile you. I, Yahweh your God, am the one you should consult.

32’Stand up when old people enter the room, and show that you respect them, and also revere me, your God; that is what I, Yahweh, am commanding.

33’When foreigners live among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34You must treat them like you treat your fellow-citizens. Love them like you love yourselves, and do not forget that once, when you were foreigners in Egypt, you were badly mistreated by the people of Egypt. I, Yahweh your God, am commanding you to do this.

35’When you are measuring things, to see how long they are or how much they weigh or how many there are, 36use correct measuring sticks and scales and weights on the scales and measuring baskets and other measuring containers. I Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, am giving you these laws.

37’Obey carefully [DOU] all my laws and decrees, because I, Yahweh, am the one who am commanding them.’”

20

Punishments for various sins

1Yahweh also said this to Moses/me: 2“Tell the Israeli people, ‘This is what Yahweh says: Any Israeli or any foreigner who is living in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to be an offering to the god Molech must be executed. The people of the town must kill him by throwing stones at him. 3I will reject [IDM] such people and command that they no longer be allowed to associate with my people. 4If the people of that man’s town ignore it when he kills one of his children to offer him as a sacrifice to Molech, and if they do not execute that person, 5I myself will punish that person and his family, and I will command that he no longer be able to associate with my people. And I will do the same thing to any others who do the same thing that he did to worship Molech.

6’I will reject [IDM] those who go to those who ◄consult/talk with► the spirits of dead people and fortune-tellers to seek advice from them. I will command that they no longer be allowed to associate with my people.

7’Set yourselves apart and be holy, because I, Yahweh your God, am holy, and I want you to be like me. 8Obey carefully [DOU] all my laws. I am Yahweh, the one will cause you to be holy.

9’If anyone curses his father or his mother, he must be executed. He himself will be responsible for his own death [MTY].

10’If a man commits adultery with some other man’s wife, both of them, the man and the woman, must be executed.

11’If a man has sex with [EUP] one of his father’s wives, he has disgraced his father. So both that man and that woman must be executed, they will be responsible for their own deaths [MTY].

12’If a man has sex with [EUP] his daughter-in-law, both of them must be executed. What they have done is very perverse; and they will be responsible for their own deaths [MTY].

13’If two men have sex together, they have done something detestable. They must both be executed, they will be responsible for their own deaths [MTY].

14’If a man marries both a woman and her mother, that is a wicked thing. All three of them must be burned to death, in order that such a wicked practice will not continue to be done among you.

15’If a man has sex with an animal, he must be executed, and you must also kill that animal.

16’ Similarly, if a woman has sex with an animal, both the woman and that animal must be killed [DOU]; they are responsible for their own deaths [MTY].

17’If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his mother or his father, and they have sex together, that is disgraceful. They must not be allowed to continue to associate with my people. And because he has disgraced his sister, he must be punished.

18’If a man has sex with [EUP, DOU] a woman during her monthly menstrual period, they have both revealed why she was bleeding, so both of them must not be allowed to associate with my people anymore.

19’Do not have sex with the sister of either your father or your mother, because that would be disgracing someone who is a close relative. And you and the woman must both be punished.

20’If a man has sex [EUP] with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. I will punish both of them by causing them to die without having any children.

21’If a man marries his brother’s wife while his brother is still living, that is disgraceful. He has dishonored his brother; and they both will die without having any children.

22’Obey all my laws/decrees [DOU] carefully, in order that you will not be forced to leave [MET] the land to which I am bringing you. 23Do not imitate/adopt the customs of the people of the land from which I will expel them as you advance. I hated them because they did all those things. 24But I said to you, “You will take their land from them; I will give it to you to be yours, a land that is very fertile [IDM]. I am Yahweh your God, who has set you apart from the people of other nations.”

25’So you must distinguish between birds and animals that are unacceptable to me and those that are acceptable to me. Do not defile yourselves by eating birds or animals, or anything that crawls along on the ground, that I have said are unacceptable for you. 26You must behave in ways that I consider to be holy, because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have set you apart from the ungodly people of other nations to belong to me.

27’You must execute any man or woman among you who ◄consults/talks with► the spirits of dead people or who is a fortune-teller. Kill them by throwing stones at them; but they will be responsible for their own deaths.’”

21

Rules for priests

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 2‘You priests must not cause yourselves to become unfit to do my work by touching corpses. Priests are permitted to touch only the corpses of close relatives, such as the priest’s mother or father or his son or daughter or his brother. 3Priests are also permitted to touch the corpse of a sister if she is not married, because she has no husband to bury her body. 4Priests must not cause themselves to become unfit to do my work [DOU] by touching corpses of people who were married to one of their close relatives.

5You priests must not shave your heads or shave the edges of your beards or cut your bodies to show that you are mourning for someone who has died. 6You must act in ways that I, your God, consider to be holy, and not disgrace my name/reputation. You are the ones who present to me the offerings that are burned. It is as though those offerings are food for me, your God; so you must act in ways that are holy.

7You priests must not marry women who have been prostitutes or who have been divorced from their husbands, because you priests are ◄set apart for me/holy►. 8You must consider that you are holy, because you offer food to me, your God. Consider yourselves to be holy because I, Yahweh, the one who caused you to be priests and the one who enables you to be holy, am holy.

9If a priest’s daughter disgraces herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; and she must be killed by being burned in a fire.

10The Supreme Priest is the one among his relatives who has been appointed for that work by having his head anointed with olive oil. He is also the one who has been appointed to wear the special garments that priests wear. He must not allow the hair on his head to remain uncombed, and he must not tear his clothes when he is mourning for someone. 11He must not enter some place where there is a corpse. He must not do that and cause himself to become unfit for his work, even if it is his father or his mother who has died. 12He must not leave the Sacred Tent to join those who are mourning, because he would cause himself to become unfit for his work and would also defile/desecrate the Sacred Tent. He must not leave the Sacred Tent at that time, because by being anointed with olive oil he has been ◄appointed/set apart► to serve his God in the Sacred Tent. I, Yahweh, am the one who am commanding this.

13Women whom you priests marry must be virgins. 14-15You priests must not marry widows or prostitutes or divorced women, because if you did that, if you later have sons, they would not be acceptable to be priests among your people. You must marry only virgins from among your own people. I am Yahweh, who sets priests apart to be holy.’”

16Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 17“Say this to Aaron: For all future time, none of your descendants who has any defects on his body will be allowed to come near the altar to offer sacrifices to me which will be like [MET] my food: 18No one who is blind or lame or deformed, or whose face is disfigured, 19no man with a crippled foot or a crippled hand, 20no man who is a hunchback or a dwarf, no man whose eyes are defective, no man who has a skin disease [DOU] or whose testicles have been damaged is allowed to brings sacrifices. 21No descendant of Aaron, the first Supreme Priest, who has any defect is allowed to come to the altar to offer to me, his God, sacrifices that will be burned. 22Priests who have defects are permitted to eat the various kinds of holy food offered to me. 23But because of their defects, they must not go near the curtain in the Sacred Tent or near the altar, because if they did that, they would desecrate my Sacred Tent. I am Yahweh, the one who sets those places apart as being holy.”

24So Moses/I told this to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israeli people.

22

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“Tell Aaron and his sons to greatly respect the sacred offerings that the Israeli people bring to me; by doing that you will respect me [MTY], Yahweh.

3“Tell them that for all future time, if any of their descendants comes near to the sacred offerings that the Israeli people dedicate to me while he is unfit to work for me, that person will no longer be allowed to work for me. I, Yahweh, am commanding this.

4“If any descendant of Aaron has a contagious skin disease or a discharge from his sexual organs, he is not allowed to eat any of the sacred offerings until he is cured. He will also be unfit for his work if he touches anything which has become unacceptable to me because it has touched a corpse, or if he touches anyone who as an emission of semen, 5or if he touches anything that crawls on the ground, or if he touches any person who causes him to be unfit for his work. 6Any priest who touches such things must bathe, and he must not touch anyone else until that evening. 7After the sun sets, he will be permitted to eat some of the sacred offerings that are for him to eat. 8He must not eat anything that is found dead or that has been killed by wild animals, because if he did that, he would be unfit to work for me. I, Yahweh am commanding those things.

9“The priests must obey my commandments in order that they will not become guilty and die as a result of ◄despising/not obeying► them.

10“Anyone who is not a member of a priest’s family is not permitted to eat any of a sacred offering, and no one who is visiting the priest or whom the priest has hired is permitted to eat it. 11But if a priest buys a slave, or if a slave is born in his house, that slave is permitted to eat such food. 12If a priest’s daughter marries a man who is not a priest, she no longer is permitted to eat the sacred food. 13But if a priest’s daughter who has no children becomes a widow or becomes divorced, if she returns to her father’s house to live there like she did when she was young, she may eat the same food that her father eats. But no other person is permitted to eat any of it.

14“If anyone who is not permitted to eat a sacred offering eats it without realizing that it is sacred, he must pay the priest for the offering, and pay him an extra one-fifth of its value. 15When the priests bring offerings to me, the sacred offerings that the Israeli people bring to them, they must not treat those offerings as though they are not sacred 16by allowing those who are not priests to eat any of those offerings. If they did that, they would become guilty and must make a payment. I am Yahweh, the one who causes those offerings to be sacred.”

Offerings that are not acceptable

17Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 18“Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israeli people and tell them that I command this: ‘If any of you Israelis or foreigners who live in Israel brings to me an animal that will be completely burned on the altar, either as a result of a solemn promise that you made to me or to be an offering that is given voluntarily, 19it must be an animal that has no defects, in order that it will be accepted by me. 20Do not bring any animals that have defects, because I will not accept them as an offering from you. 21Similarly, when someone brings from his cattle or sheep or goats an offering to maintain fellowship with me, either to fulfill a promise that he made to me or to be a voluntary offering, in order that I will accept it, it must have no defects [DOU] or blemishes. 22Do not offer to me animals that are blind or injured or maimed/crippled, or any animal that has warts or a festering sore [DOU]. 23You may present to me to be a voluntary offering an ox or a sheep that is injured or stunted, but it will not be accepted to fulfill a promise made to me. 24You must not offer to me animals whose testicles are bruised or crushed or torn or cut. You must not injure the testicles of any animal in your land, 25and you must not accept such animals that are sold/given to you by a foreigner. You must not offer them to me as a sacrifice for me. Such animals will not be accepted by me, because they are deformed or have defects.’”

26Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 27“When a calf or lamb or goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. After that, it will be acceptable as an offering to me that will be burned. 28Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its baby on the same day.

29“When you sacrifice an animal to thank me for what I have done, sacrifice it in a way that is acceptable to me. 30The meat must be eaten on that day; do not leave any of it until the next morning. I, Yahweh, am the one who am commanding this.

31“Obey all my commands [DOU]. I, Yahweh, am commanding them; 32do not dishonor me [MTY] by disobeying them. You Israeli people must acknowledge that I, Yahweh, am holy, and I am the one who causes you to be holy. 33And I am the one who brought you out of Egypt in order to show that that I, Yahweh, am and will always be your God.”

23

Religious celebrations

1Yahweh said to Moses/me, 2“Tell the Israeli people about the festivals that I have chosen, the days when you all must gather together to worship me.”

The Sabbath

3“You may work for six days each week, but on the seventh day you must not do any work. You must rest. It is a sacred/holy day when you must gather together to worship me. Wherever you live, you must rest on that day.”

The Festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread

4“There are festivals that I have established for you. Those will also be sacred/holy days when you must gather together to worship me. 5The first festival is ◄the Passover/when you remember that I spared your ancestors when I killed all the firstborn Egyptian sons►. That festival will begin at twilight/dusk/sunset on the chosen day ◄each spring/in March or April each year►, and end on the following day. 6The next day, the Festival of Eating Bread That Has No Yeast will begin. That festival will continue for seven days. During that time, the bread that you eat must be made without yeast. 7On the first day of that festival, you all must stop your regular work and you must gather together to worship me. 8On each of the seven days, you must present to me several animals to be an offering/sacrifice to be completely burned on the altar. On the seventh day, you all must again stop your regular work and gather to worship me.”

The Festival of the Beginning of the Harvest

9Yahweh also told Moses/me 10to tell the Israeli people about other festivals. He said, “When you arrive in the land which I am giving to you, and you harvest your crops for the first time there, bring to the priest some of the first grain that you harvest. 11On the day after the next Sabbath/rest day, the priest will lift it up high to dedicate it to me, in order that I will accept it as your gift. 12That same day, you must sacrifice to me a one-year-old male lamb that has no defects. You must burn it on the altar. 13You must also burn an offering of grain. That offering must consist of ◄three quarts/3.5 liters► of good flour mixed with olive oil. The smell of those things burning will be very pleasing to me. Along with that, you must also offer one quart/liter of wine, which will be a liquid offering. 14Do not eat any bread or any roasted grain or unroasted grain on that day until after you have brought those offerings to me, your God. You must always obey [LIT] those commands, wherever you live.”

The Festival of the End of the Harvest

15“Seven weeks after the priest offers that grain to me, 16on the next/50th day after he offers it, each family must bring to me an offering from the new crop of grain. 17From your homes, bring two loaves of bread to the priest. He will lift them up high to dedicate them as an offering to me. Those loaves must be baked from three quarts/liters of good flour that has yeast mixed with it. That bread will be an offering to me from the first wheat that you harvest each year. 18Along with this bread, you must present to me seven one-year-old lambs with no defects, one young bull, and two rams. They must all be completely burned on the altar. All those offerings, with the grain offering and the wine offering, will be burned, and the smell of all those things burning will be very pleasing to me. 19Then you must also kill one male goat to be an offering/sacrifice for your sins, and two one-year-old male lambs to be an offering to enable you to maintain fellowship with me. 20The priest will lift up these offerings high to dedicate them to me. He will also offer the loaves of bread that were baked from the first wheat that you harvest. Those offerings are sacred to me, but they are for the priests to eat. 21On that day, you must stop your regular work and gather to worship me. You must always obey those instructions/commands, and you must obey them wherever you live.

22“When you harvest the grain in your fields, do not harvest the grain along the edges of the fields, and do not pick up the grain that the harvesters drop. Leave that grain for the poor people and for the foreigners who are living among you. Do not forget that it is I, Yahweh your God, who am commanding those things!”

The Festival of Trumpets

23Yahweh also told Moses/me 24to give these instructions/commands to the Israeli people: “Each year in September, on the day that I have chosen, you all must celebrate it by completely resting. You must not do any work on that day. When the priests blow their trumpets loudly, you all must gather together to worship me. 25All of you must not do your regular work on that day. Instead, you must present offerings to me that will be burned on the altar.”

The Festival of Atonement

26Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 27“You must celebrate a day on which you request that I forgive you for the sins that you have committed. That day will be nine days after the festival when the priests blow the trumpets. On that day you must ◄fast/abstain from eating food►. You must gather together to worship me and present offerings to me that will be burned on the altar. 28You must not do any work on that day, because it is the day when the priests will offer sacrifices to me to ◄atone for/ask me to forgive► your sins. 29You must expel from your group anyone who does not ◄fast/abstain from eating food► on that day. 30I will get rid of anyone who does any kind of work on that day. 31You must not work at all! You must always obey those instructions/commands, and you must obey them wherever you live. 32That day will be a day of complete rest for all of you, and on that day you must ◄fast/abstain from eating food► to show that you are sorry for having sinned. That day of rest and ◄fasting/abstaining from eating food► will begin on the evening before the day in which you ask me to forgive you for your sins, and it will end on the evening of the following day.”

The Festival of Shelters

33Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 34“Tell the Israeli people that each year they must also celebrate a festival of living in temporary shelters. That festival will begin five days after the day in which they request me to forgive them for their sins. It will last for seven days. 35On the first day of that festival, the people must gather together to worship me, and they must not do any regular work on that day. 36On each of the seven days of the festival, they must present to me an offering of animals that will be burned on the altar. On the next day, they must gather again to worship me and present to me another animal that will be burned on the altar. That also will be a sacred gathering, and they must not work on that day, either.

37“To summarize, those are the festivals that I have appointed. Celebrate those sacred festivals by gathering together to present to me all the various offerings that will be burned on the altar —animals that will be burned completely, and offerings of grain, and offerings to enable the Israeli people to maintain fellowship with me, and offerings of wine. Each offering must be brought on the day that I have indicated. 38◄Those festivals must be celebrated/You must celebrate those festivals► in addition to worshiping on the ◄Sabbath days/days of rest►. And all those offerings must be given in addition to the offerings that people personally decide to give, and in addition to the offerings that people make to accompany the solemn promises that they have made, or offerings that people make ◄voluntarily/because they themselves want to►.

39“Returning to my instructions about the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters, you must celebrate this festival after you have harvested all the crops. On the first day and on the last day of that festival, you must rest completely. 40But on the first day, you are permitted to pick fruit from trees. Cut palm fronds/branches and other leafy branches from trees or from bushes that grow by the streams, and make shelters/huts to live in for that week. Then rejoice in my presence for those seven days. 41You must celebrate this festival for seven days every year. You must never stop obeying my commands/instructions for that festival. You must celebrate it in September. 42During the seven days of that festival, all of you people who have been Israelis your entire lives must live in shelters/huts. 43That will remind your descendants that their ancestors lived in shelters for many years after I rescued them from Egypt. Do not forget that I, Yahweh your God, am the one who is commanding this.”

44So Moses/I gave to the Israeli people all those instructions concerning the festivals that Yahweh wanted them to celebrate each year.

24

Taking care of the lamps

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“Command the Israeli people to continually bring to you clear oil made from pressed olives to burn in the lamps in the Sacred Tent, in order that those lamps will burn all the time. 3Outside the curtain of the Very Holy Place, Aaron must take care of the lamps in my presence continually, in order that they will burn all during the night. That regulation must be obeyed forever. 4Those lampstands that burn in my presence must be taken care of continually.

5“Also, each week you must take some fine flour and bake twelve very big loaves of bread, using about four quarts/liters of flour for each loaf. 6Put the loaves in two rows, with six loaves in each row, on the table covered with pure gold, in my presence. 7Along each row, place in some gold cups some pure incense to be burned to be an offering to me instead of the bread. 8New/Fresh loaves of bread must be put on the table each Sabbath day, to signify the agreement that will never end, that I have made with you Israeli people. 9The bread that is taken off the table belongs to Aaron and his sons. They must eat it in a holy place, because it is a very holy part of the offerings that are given to me by being burned.”

An example of fair punishment

10-11There was a man whose mother’s name was Shelomith; she was an Israeli whose father was Dibri from the tribe of Dan. And that man’s father was from Egypt. One day that man and another Israeli man started to fight inside the camp. And while they were fighting, that man cursed Yahweh [MTY]. 12So the Israeli people seized him and guarded him until they could find out what Yahweh would reveal to them that they should do to that man.

13Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, 14“Tie up and take outside the camp the man who has cursed me. There all those who heard what he said must put their hands on his head to indicate that he is guilty, and then all the people must kill him by throwing stones at him. 15Tell the Israelis, ‘If anyone curses me, he must ◄endure the consequences/be punished►. 16So anyone who curses me [MTY] must be executed. All the people must throw stones at him. It does not matter if he is a foreigner or an Israeli citizen; anyone who curses me must be executed.’

17“Also, If anyone murders another person, he must be executed. 18And anyone who kills another person’s animal must give that person a live animal to replace the one that he killed. 19And if one person injures another person, the injured person is allowed to injure the person who injured him in the same way: 20If someone breaks one of another person’s bones, that person is allowed to break one of the bones of the person who injured him. If someone gouges out an eye of another person, that person is allowed to gouge out the eye of the person who injured him. If someone knocks out the tooth of another person, that person is allowed to knock out one of his teeth. What is done to the offender must be the same as what he did to the other person. 21Whoever kills another person’s animal must give that person a live animal to replace the one that he killed, but anyone who murders another person must be executed. 22That law applies to you Israelis and and also to the foreigners who live among you; I, Yahweh your God am the one who has commanded it.”

23Then Moses/I told the Israelis what they must do to the man who cursed Yahweh, so they took the man outside the camp and killed him by throwing stones at him. They did what Yahweh commanded Moses/me to tell them to do.

25

The seventh year

1Yahweh said to Moses/me on Sinai Mountain, 2“Tell the Israelis that I, Yahweh, say this: When you enter the land that I am about to give you, every seventh year you must honor me by not planting any seeds. You will be allowing the ground to rest. 3For six years you are to plant seeds in your fields and prune your grapevines and harvest the crops. 4But the seventh/next year you must dedicate to me, and allow your fields to rest. Do not plant seeds in your fields or prune your grapevines during that year. 5Do not reap the grain that grows in your fields without having been planted, or harvest the grapes that grow without the vines being pruned; you must allow the land to rest for that one year. 6But you are permitted to eat whatever crops grow by themselves during that year without having been planted. You and your male and female servants, and workers whom you have hired, and people who are living among you temporarily are permitted to eat it. 7Also, during that year your livestock and the wild animals in your land are permitted to eat it.’

The fiftieth year

8-9’Also, after every 49 years has ended, you must do this: ◄On the tenth day of the seventh month/At the end of September► of the next/50th year, blow trumpets throughout the country, to declare that it will be a day on which you request that I forgive you for the sins that you have committed. 10Set apart that year, and proclaim that throughout the country, it will be a year of restoring the land and freeing people: All the people who sold their property will receive back the property that they previously owned, and slaves must be ◄freed/allowed to return to their property and their families►. 11That year will be a Year of Celebration; during that year do not plant anything, and do not harvest in the usual way the grain/wheat that grows without having been planted, or the grapes that grow without the vines being pruned. 12It will be a Year of Celebration, so eat only what grows in the fields ◄by itself/without any work being done to produce anything►.

13’In that Year of Celebration, everyone must return to their own property.

14’If you sell some of your land to a fellow Israeli or if you buy some land from one of them, you must treat that person fairly: 15If you buy land, the price that you will pay will depend on the number of years there will be until the next Year of Celebration. If someone sells land to you, he will charge a price that is determined by the number of years until the next Year of Celebration. 16If there will be many years before the next Year of Celebration, the price will be higher; if there will be only a few years until the next Year of Celebration, the price will be lower. You could say that what he is really selling you is the number of crops which you can harvest before the next Year of Celebration. 17Do not cheat each other; instead, revere me. I, Yahweh your God, am the one who am commanding this.

18’Obey all my laws [DOU] carefully. If you do that, you will continue to live safely in your country [DOU]. 19And crops will grow well on the land, and you will have plenty to eat. 20But you may ask, “If we do not plant or harvest our crops during the seventh year, what will we have to eat?” 21My answer is that I will bless you very much during the sixth/previous year, with the result that during that year there will be enough crops to provide food for you for three years! 22Then, after you plant seed during the eighth/next year and wait for the crops to grow, you will eat the food grown in the sixth year, and continue to eat it until more food is harvested in the ninth year!

23’You must not sell any of your land to belong to someone else permanently, because the land is not yours, it; is really mine, and you are only living on it temporarily and ◄farming/taking care of► it for me. 24Throughout the country that you will possess, you must remember that if someone sells some of his land to you, he is permitted to buy it back from you if he wants to.

25’So, if one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and sells some of his property to obtain some money, the person who is most closely related to him is permitted to come and buy that land for him. 26However, if a man has no one to buy the land for him, and he himself prospers again and saves enough money to buy that land back, 27he must calculate how many years there will be until the next Year of Celebration. Then he must pay to the man who bought the land the money that he would have earned by continuing to grow crops on that land for those years. 28But if the original owner does not have any money to buy the land that he sold, it will continue to belong to the man who bought it, until the next Year of Celebration. In that year it must be returned to its original owner, and he will be able to live on it again.

29’If someone who lives in a city that has a wall around it sells a house there, during the next year he will be permitted to buy it from the man who bought it. 30If he does not buy it during that year, it will belong permanently to the man who bought it and to his descendants. It must not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Celebration. 31But houses that are in villages that do not have walls around them are considered to be as though they are in a field. So if someone sells one of those houses, he is permitted to buy it back at any time. And if he does not buy it, it must be returned to him in the Year of Celebration.

32’If any descendants of Levi sell their houses in the towns in which they live, they are permitted to buy them back at any time. 33And because the houses in their towns are on land that was given to them by other Israelis, that land will become theirs again in the Year of Celebration if they do not buy it back before then. 34But the pastureland near their towns must not be sold. It must belong to the original owners permanently/forever.

35’If one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and is unable to buy what he needs [IDM], others of you must help him like you would help a foreigner who is living among you [DOU] temporarily. 36If you lend money to him, do not charge any kind of interest [DOU]. Instead, show by what you do that you revere me, your God, and help that man, in order that he will be able to continue to live among you. 37If you lend him money, do not charge interest; and if you sell food to him, charge him only what you paid for it; do not get a profit from it. 38Do not forget that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God and to give you the land of Canaan, and I did not charge you for doing that.

39’If one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and sells himself to you, do not force him to work like a slave. 40Treat him like you treat workers that you hire or like someone who is living on your land temporarily. But he must work for you only until the Year of Celebration. 41During that year, you must free him, and he will go back to his family and to the property that his ancestors owned. 42It is as though you Israelis are my slaves/servants, whom I freed from being slaves in Egypt. So none of you should be sold to become slaves. 43And do not treat the Israelis whom you buy cruelly; instead, revere me, your God.

44’If you want to have slaves, you are permitted to buy them from nearby countries. 45You are also permitted to buy some of the foreigners who are living among you, and members of their clans that were born in your country. Then you will own them. 46They will be your slaves for the remaining years of your life, and after you die, it is permitted for your children to own them. But you must not act in brutal ways toward your fellow Israelis.

47’If a foreigner who is living among you [DOU] becomes rich, and if one of your fellow Israelis becomes poor and sells himself to that foreigner or to a member of his clan/family, 48it is permitted for someone to pay for him to be freed. It is permitted for one of his relatives to pay for him to be released: 49An uncle or a cousin or another relative in his clan may pay for him to be released. Or, if he prospers and gets enough money, he is permitted to pay for his own release. 50The man who wants to pay for his own release must count the number of years until the next Year of Celebration. The price he pays to the man who bought him will depend on the pay that would be given to a hired worker for that number of years. 51If there are a lot of years that remain until the Year of Celebration, he must pay for his release a larger amount of the money. 52If there are only a few years that remain until the Year of Celebration, he must pay a smaller amount to be released. 53During the years that he is working for the man who bought him, the man who bought him must treat him like he would treat a hired worker, and all of you must make sure that his owner does not treat him cruelly.

54’And even if a fellow Israeli who has sold himself to a rich man is not able to pay for himself to be freed by any of these ways, he and his children must be freed in the Year of Celebration, 55because it is as though you Israelis are my slaves/servants, whom I, Yahweh your God, freed from being slaves in Egypt.’”

26

Promised blessings for obeying Yahweh

1Yahweh also said this to Moses/me on Sinai Mountain: “Do not make idols or set up statues of false gods or sacred stones to worship other gods. And do not put on your property a stone that has been shaped to resemble a false god and bow down to worship it. You must worship only me, Yahweh, your God.

2“Honor the Sabbath days and revere my Sacred Tent, because I, Yahweh, live there.

3“If you carefully obey all my commands [DOU], 4I will send rain for you at the proper/right times, in order that crops will grow on your land and there will be plenty of fruit on your trees. 5You will continue harvesting and threshing grain until it is time to harvest grapes, and you will continue to harvest grapes until it is time to start planting things in the following year. And you will have all the food that you want to eat, and you will live safely in your land.

6“If you obey all my laws, there will be peace in your country, and when you lie down to sleep, nothing will cause you to be afraid. I will get rid of the dangerous animals in your country, and there will no wars [MTY] in your country. 7You will pursue your enemies and kill them with your swords: 8Five of you will pursue 100 of them, and 100 of you will pursue 1,000 of them and kill them with your swords.

9“If you obey all my laws, I will bless you and cause you to have many children [DOU]. And I will do what I said that I would do in the agreement that I made with you. 10When you are still eating food from the harvest from the previous year, it will be necessary for you to throw away some of it to make space for the new harvest. 11I will live among you in my Sacred Tent, and I will never reject you. 12I will walk among you and continue to be your God, and you will continue to be my people. 13I am Yahweh your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt in order that you would no longer be slaves of the people of Egypt. When you were there, you were treated as though you were animals that worked for the people of Egypt, but [MET] I broke the bars of the ◄yokes/frames that were put around your necks► and enabled you to walk with your heads up.”

Threatened punishments for disobeying Yahweh

14“But if you will not heed me and obey all these commands, 15and if you reject [DOU] my decrees and laws, and do not do [DOU] what I commanded you to do in the agreement that I made with you, 16these are the things that I will do to you: I will suddenly cause there to be disasters that will ruin you. You will have diseases that cannot be cured, and fevers that will cause you to become blind and will slowly kill you. It will be useless for you to plant seeds, because your enemies will eat the crops that grow. 17I will reject/abandon you [IDM], with the result that you will be defeated by your enemies. Then those who hate you will rule you, and you will be so terrified that you will run away even when no one is pursuing you.

18“If you still will not heed me after all those things happen to you, I will continue to punish you again and again for the sins that you have committed. 19I will cause you to no longer be stubborn and proud; I will cause no rain to fall; it will be as though [MET] the sky is made of iron; and the ground will be as hard as brass [MET]. 20You will uselessly work very hard to plant seeds, because crops will not grow in the hard soil in your fields, and fruit will not grow on your trees.

21“If you continue to oppose me and refuse to heed me, I will cause you to experience disasters again and again, like you deserve to experience because of your sins. 22I will send wild animals to attack you, and they will kill your little children and destroy your cattle. There will be very few of you who will remain alive, with the result that there will be very few [HYP] people walking on the roads in your country.

23“When you experience those things that I do to punish you, if you still do not pay attention to me, and if you continue to oppose me, 24I myself will oppose you, and I will punish you for your sins again and again. 25I will send foreign armies [MTY] to punish you for not doing the things that I commanded you to do in the agreement that I made with you. If you try to escape from your enemies by shutting yourselves in your cities that have walls around them, I will cause you to experience plagues, and I will allow your enemies to capture [IDM] you. 26When I cut off your food supply, there will be very little flour with which to make bread. As a result, ten women will be able to bake all their bread in only one oven. When the bread is baked, each woman will divide it among the members of her family, but there will be very little for each one, and when they have eaten all of it, they will still be hungry.

27“After all those things happen, if you still do not heed me, if you still oppose me, 28I will be very angry with you, and I will oppose you, and I myself will punish you for your sins again and again. 29You will be extremely hungry, with the result that you will kill your sons and daughters and eat their flesh. 30I will cause the shrines where you worship idols on hilltops to be destroyed. I will smash the altars where you burn incense to worship your gods, and I will cause your corpses to be piled on the lifeless statues of your gods. And I will detest you. 31I will cause your cities to become heaps of ruins, and I will cause the buildings that are dedicated to the worship of your gods to be smashed. And I will not be pleased at all with the aroma of your offerings that are burned on the altar. 32I will completely ruin your country, with the result that even your enemies who capture it will be shocked/appalled when they see it. 33I will enable your enemies to kill you with their swords, and I will cause the rest of you to be scattered among other nations. Your country will be ruined and your cities will become ruins. 34After that happens, as long as you are living in your enemies’ countries, your land will be allowed to rest, like you should have allowed it to rest every seven years. 35All the time that your land is desolate, it will be able to rest, like you did not enable it to rest during all the years that you lived there.

36“As for you people who will remain alive in the countries to which your enemies will have taken you, I will cause you to become so afraid that when you hear the sound of leaves being blown by the wind, you will run away. You will run like [SIM] you are running from a man carrying a sword, and you will fall down, even though no one is pursuing you. 37You will stumble over each other. So you will not be able to stand and fight your enemies. 38Many of you will die in the countries that belong to your enemies [DOU]. 39And those of you who remain alive will slowly die and rot in the countries of your enemies because of your sins and because of the sins of your ancestors.

40-41“But your descendants must confess their sins and the sins that their ancestors committed. Their ancestors acted unfaithfully toward me and were hostile to me, with the result that I forced them to go to the countries that belonged to their enemies. But when your descendants humble themselves [SYN] and stop being very stubborn [IDM] and accept being punished for their sins, 42I will remember the agreement that I made with your ancestors Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and what I promised them about this land. 43But before that happens, you will be forced to leave your land, with the result that the land will be able to rest while it is desolate and while the people are being punished for rejecting my laws and hating my decrees [DOU]. 44But when that happens, I will still not reject them or hate them and destroy them completely. I will not cancel the agreement that I made with them; for I am still Yahweh their God. 45I will ◄remember/never forget► the agreement that I made with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, in order that the people of all nations will know that I, Yahweh, will continue to be your God.”

46Those are the decrees, the laws, and the regulations [DOU] that Yahweh established on Sinai Mountain between himself and the Israeli people by giving them to Moses/me to tell to them.

27

Making promises about gifts to Yahweh

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me, 2“Tell the Israeli people that this is what I am saying to them: If anyone solemnly promises to dedicate another person to work solely for me, the person who is dedicated to me is allowed to be free from having to do that by someone paying to the priest a fixed amount of money. The money that is given must be calculated by comparing it with the official pieces of silver in the Sacred Tent. 3These are the amounts that must be paid:

50 pieces of silver for men who are between 20 and 60 years old,

430 pieces of silver for adult women who are between 20 and 60 years old,

520 pieces of silver for young men who are between five and 20 years old,

ten pieces of silver for young women who are between five and 20 years old,

6five pieces of silver for boys who are between one month and five years old,

three pieces of silver for girls who are between one month and five years old,

715 pieces of silver for men who are more than 60 years old,

ten pieces of silver for women who are more than 60 years old.

8’If anyone who has made such a solemn promise is very poor and unable to pay, to free that person from doing what he had promised, he must take that person to the priest. The priest will set the price for freeing him to be what the person who made that solemn promise is able to pay.

9’If someone solemnly promises to give an animal that is acceptable to be an offering to me, that animal becomes sacred and belongs to me. 10The person who promised to give it must not give another animal instead of the one that he promised; he must not substitute a bad animal for a good one or even a better one than the one offered. If he would substitute one animal for the other, both animals would belong to me. 11If the animal that he wishes to dedicate to me is a kind that is unacceptable to be an offering to me, he must take that animal to the priest. 12The priest will then decide what its value is, according to the animal’s good and bad points. Whatever value the priests sets will be the value of the animal, and that is the price that the priest must pay for the animal. 13If the man who gave the animal later decides that he wants to buy it back, he must pay to the priest that price plus an additional 20 perent.

14’ Similarly, if someone dedicates his house to be a sacred gift to belong to me, the priest will decide how much it is worth, which will depend on whether the house is in good condition. Whatever the priest says that it is worth, that will be its value and that is the price that the priest must pay for it. 15If the man who dedicated his house to me later wants to buy it back, he must pay that price plus an additonal 20 percent, and then the house will belong to him again.

16’If someone dedicates to me some of the property that belongs to him and his family, its value will be determined by the number of bushels of seed that will be needed to plant seeds on that land: Its value will be ten pieces of silver for each bushel of seed. 17If he dedicates the land during the Year of Celebration, its full value will be that amount. 18But if he dedicates the field after the Year of Celebration, the priest will count the number of years until the next Year of Celebration, and if there are not many years that remain, the price will be much lower than the full price. 19If the person who dedicated the field later wants to buy it back, he must pay to the priest the price that the priest says it is worth, plus an added one-fifth, and then the field will belong to that man again. 20However, if he does not buy it back, or if it has been sold (OR, the priest has sold it) to someone else, that person will never be permitted to buy it back again. 21In the Year of Celebration, it will become sacred again, and it will be given to the priest.

22’If someone dedicates to me some land that he has bought, land which is not part of the land that his family has always owned, 23the priest will count the number of years until the next Year of Celebration to determine how much it is worth, and the man must pay that amount to the priest on that day, and then that land will belong to that man again. 24But in the Year of Celebration, the land will again be owned by the person from whom he bought it, the person whose family had always owned that land. 25All the silver that is paid must be compared with the official pieces of silver in the Sacred Tent.

26’No one is permitted to dedicate to me the firstborn of any cow or sheep, because the firstborn already belongs to me [DOU]. 27If someone gives to me a kind of animal that is not acceptable to me, that person may later buy it back by paying what it is worth plus an additial 20 percent of its value. If he does not buy it back, it must be sold (OR, the priest must sell it) for its standard price.

28’However, no slave or animal or family land that someone owns can be sold or bought back after it has been dedicated to me and no price has been paid for it. That kind of gift belongs to me permanently/forever.

29’No person who has done something that I consider to be very wicked is permitted to be freed from being punished; that person must surely be executed.

30’One tenth of all the crops and grain or fruit that is produced on anyone’s land is sacred and belongs to me. 31If anyone wants to buy back any of that tenth, he must pay to the priest what it is worth plus an additional 20 percent. 32One of every ten domestic animals belongs to me. When a shepherd counts his animals [MTY] to decide which ones he will give to me, he must mark every tenth one as belonging to me. 33When he does that, he must not pick out the good ones for himself or leave the bad ones, or substitute bad ones for good ones. If he substitutes one animal for another, both animals will belong to me, and he will not be permitted to buy them back (OR, the shepherd cannot buy them back).’ ”

34Those are the commands that Yahweh gave to Moses/me on Sinai Mountain to tell to the people.