1 After the death of Aaron’s two sons, which happened when they approached the Lord and died, the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 Tell your brother Aaron that he cannot come whenever he wants into the holy area inside the inner curtain, to the front of the cover that is on the chest, or else he will die, because I am present in the cloud above the cover. 3 No, but Aaron must enter the holy area as follows: with a bull from the herd as a purification offering and a ram as an entirely burned offering. 4 Aaron must dress in a holy linen tunic and wear linen undergarments on his body. He must tie a linen sash around himself and wrap a linen turban around his head. These are holy clothes—Aaron will first bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5 He will take from the Israelite community two male goats for a purification offering and one ram for an entirely burned offering.
6 Aaron will offer the bull as a purification offering to make reconciliation for himself and his household. 7 He will take the two male goats and place them before the Lord at the meeting tent’s entrance. 8 Aaron will cast lots over the two goats: one lot labeled “the Lord’s” and the other lot labeled “Azazel’s.” 9 Aaron will present the goat selected by the Lord’s lot and perform a purification offering with it. 10 But the goat selected by Azazel’s lot will be left standing alive before the Lord in order to make reconciliation upon it by sending it away into the wilderness to Azazel.
11 Aaron will offer the bull for his purification offering to make reconciliation for himself and his household. He will slaughter the bull for his purification offering. 12 Then he will take an incense pan full of burning coals from the altar, from before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground perfumed incense and bring them inside the inner curtain. 13 He will put the incense on the fire before the Lord so that the cloud of incense conceals the cover that is on top of the covenant document, or else he will die. 14 He will take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the cover from the east side. He will then sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the cover. 15 Then he will slaughter the goat for the people’s purification offering, bring the blood inside the inner curtain, and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: he will sprinkle it on the cover and in front of the cover. 16 In this way, he will make reconciliation for the inner holy area because of the pollution of the Israelites and because of their rebellious sins, as well as for all their other sins.
Aaron must do the same for the meeting tent, which is with them among their pollution. 17 No one can be in the meeting tent from the time Aaron enters to make reconciliation in the inner holy area until the time he comes out. He will make reconciliation for himself, for his household, and for the whole assembly of Israel.
18 Aaron will then go to the altar that is before the Lord and make reconciliation for it: He will take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on each of the altar’s horns. 19 He will sprinkle some of the blood on the altar with his finger seven times. In this way, he will purify it and make it holy again from the Israelites’ pollution.
20 When Aaron has finished reconciling the inner holy area, the rest of the meeting tent, and the altar, he will bring forward the live goat. 21 Aaron will press both his hands on its head and confess over it all the Israelites’ offenses and all their rebellious sins, as well as all their other sins, putting all these on the goat’s head. Then he will send it away into the wilderness with someone designated for the job. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their offenses to a desolate region, then the goat will be released into the wild.
23 After this, Aaron will enter the meeting tent, take off the linen clothes he was wearing when he entered the inner holy area, and will leave them there. 24 He will bathe his body in water in a holy place and dress in his priestly clothing. Then he will go out and perform the entirely burned offerings for himself and for the people. In this way, he will make reconciliation for himself and for the people. 25 He will completely burn the fat of the purification offering on the altar. 26 The one who set the goat free for Azazel must wash their clothes and bathe their body in water; after that they can return to the camp. 27 The bull and the goat for the purification offerings, whose blood was brought in to make reconciliation in the inner holy area, will be taken outside the camp. Their hides, flesh, and dung will be burned with fire. 28 The person who burns them must wash their clothes and bathe their body in water; after that, they can return to the camp.
29 This will be a permanent rule for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you must deny yourselves. You must not do any work—neither the citizen nor the immigrant who lives among you. 30 On that day reconciliation will be made for you in order to cleanse you. You will be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 31 It will be a Sabbath of special rest for you, and you will deny yourselves. This is a permanent rule.
32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest after his father will perform the reconciliation, wearing the holy linen clothes. 33 He will reconcile the holiest part of the sanctuary and will do the same for the meeting tent and the altar. He will make reconciliation for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 This will be a permanent rule for you, in order to make reconciliation for the Israelites from all their sins once a year.
It
was done just as the Lord commanded
Moses.
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the Israelites: This is what the Lord has commanded: 3 Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, sheep, or goat inside or outside the camp 4 but does not bring it to the meeting tent’s entrance to present it as an offering to the Lord in front of the Lord’s dwelling will be considered guilty of bloodshed; they have spilled blood. They will be cut off from their people. 5 This will make the Israelites bring the communal sacrifices, which they are sacrificing in the countryside, to the Lord, to the priest at the meeting tent’s entrance, and sacrifice them as communal sacrifices of well-being to the Lord. 6 The priest will toss the blood against the Lord’s altar at the meeting tent’s entrance and burn the fat completely as a soothing smell to the Lord. 7 The Israelites must no longer sacrifice their communal sacrifices to the goat demons that they follow so faithlessly. This will be a permanent rule for them throughout their future generations. 8 You will also say to them: Anyone from Israel’s house or from the immigrants who live with you who offers up an entirely burned offering or communal sacrifice 9 without bringing it to the meeting tent’s entrance in order to offer it to the Lord will be cut off from their people.
10 I will oppose the person who consumes blood—whether they are from Israel’s house or from the immigrants who live with you—and I will cut them off from their people. 11 A creature’s life is in the blood. I have provided you the blood to make reconciliation for your lives on the altar, because the blood reconciles by means of the life. 12 That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you can consume blood, nor can the immigrant who lives with you consume blood.
13 Anyone who hunts any animal or bird that can be eaten—whether the hunter is an Israelite or an immigrant who lives with you—must drain its blood out and cover it with dirt. 14 Again: for every creature’s life, its blood is its life. That is why I have told the Israelites: You must not consume any creature’s blood because every creature’s life is its blood. Anyone who consumes it will be cut off.
15 Anyone, whether citizen
or immigrant, who eats an animal that has died naturally or that was killed by
another animal, must wash their clothes, bathe in water, and will be unclean
until evening. At that time, they will be clean again. 16 If they
do not wash or bathe their body, they will be liable to punishment.
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the Lord your God. 3 You must not do things like they are done in the land of Egypt, where you used to live. And you must not do things like they are done in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow the practices of those places. 4 No, my regulations and my rules are the ones you must keep by following them: I am the Lord your God. 5 You must keep my rules and my regulations; by doing them one will live; I am the Lord.
6 No one is allowed to approach any blood relative for sexual contact: I am the Lord. 7 You must not uncover your father’s nakedness, which is your mother’s nakedness. She is your mother; you must not have sexual contact with her. 8 You must not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 You must not have sexual contact with your sister—regardless of whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born into the same household as you or outside it. 10 You must not have sexual contact with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, because their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You must not have sexual contact with the daughter of your father’s wife, who was born into your father’s family; she is your sister. 12 You must not have sexual contact with your father’s sister; she is your father’s blood relative. 13 You must not have sexual contact with your mother’s sister because she is your mother’s blood relative. 14 You will not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother—that is, you will not approach his wife for sex; she is your aunt. 15 You must not have sexual contact with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You must not have sexual contact with her. 16 You will not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.
17 You must not have sexual contact with a woman and her daughter. You will not marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, thereby uncovering her nakedness. They are her blood relatives; it is shameful. 18 You must not marry your wife’s sister as a rival and have sexual contact with her while her sister is alive. 19 You must not approach a woman for sexual contact during her menstrual uncleanness. 20 You must not have sexual relations with the wife of your fellow Israelite, becoming unclean by it.
21 You must not give any of your children to offer them over to Molech so that you do not defile your God’s name: I am the Lord. 22 You must not have sexual intercourse with a man as you would with a woman; it is a detestable practice. 23 You will not have sexual relations with any animal, becoming unclean by it. Nor will a woman present herself before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
24 Do not make yourselves
unclean in any of these ways because that is how the nations that I am throwing
out before you became unclean. 25 That is
also how the land became unclean, and I held it liable for punishment, and the
land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But all
of you must keep my rules and my regulations. You must not do any of these
detestable things, neither citizen nor immigrant who lives with you (27 because the people
who had the land before you did all of these detestable things and the land
became unclean), 28 so that
the land does not vomit you out because you have made it unclean, just as it
vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 Anyone
who does any of these detestable things will be cut off from their people. 30 You
must keep my requirement of not doing any of the detestable practices that were done before you arrived so that you
don’t make yourselves unclean by them; I am the Lord your God.
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to the whole community of the Israelites: You must be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 3 Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must keep my sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves; I am the Lord your God. 5 When you sacrifice a communal sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it so that it will be accepted on your account. 6 It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice or the following day; whatever is left over on the third day must be burned with fire. 7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is foul; it will not be accepted. 8 Anyone who eats it will be liable to punishment, because they defiled what is holy to the Lord. That person will be cut off from their people. 9 When you harvest your land’s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don’t gather up every remaining bit of your harvest. 10 Also do not pick your vineyard clean or gather up all the grapes that have fallen there. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God.
11 You must not steal nor deceive nor lie to each other. 12 You must not swear falsely by my name, desecrating your God’s name in doing so; I am the Lord. 13 You must not oppress your neighbors or rob them. Do not withhold a hired laborer’s pay overnight.14 You must not insult a deaf person or put some obstacle in front of a blind person that would cause them to trip. Instead, fear your God; I am the Lord.
15 You must not act unjustly in a legal case. Do not show favoritism to the poor or deference to the great; you must judge your fellow Israelites fairly. 16 Do not go around slandering your people. Do not stand by while your neighbor’s blood is shed; I am the Lord. 17 You must not hate your fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your fellow Israelite strongly, so you don’t become responsible for his sin. 18 You must not take revenge nor hold a grudge against any of your people; instead, you must love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
19 You must keep my rules. Do not crossbreed your livestock, do not plant your field with two kinds of seed, and do not wear clothes made from two kinds of material. 20 If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave engaged to another man, who hasn’t yet been released or given her freedom, there must be a punishment. But they will not be put to death because she had not yet been freed. 21 The man must bring as his compensation to the Lord at the meeting tent’s entrance a ram for a compensation offering. 22 The priest will use the ram for the compensation offering to make reconciliation for him before the Lord on account of the sin he committed. Then he will be forgiven of the sin that he committed.
23 When you enter the land and plant any fruit tree, you must consider its fruit off-limits.For three years it will be off-limits to you; it must not be eaten. 24 In the fourth year, all of the tree’s fruit will be holy, a celebration for the Lord. 25 In the fifth year you can eat the fruit. This is so as to increase its produce for you; I am the Lord your God.
26 You must not eat anything with its blood. You must not participate in divination or fortune-telling. 27 You must not cut off the hair on your forehead or clip the ends of your beard. 28 Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put marks on yourselves; I am the Lord. 29 Do not defile your daughter by making her sexually promiscuous or else the land will become promiscuous and full of shame. 30 You must keep my sabbaths and treat my sanctuary with respect; I am the Lord. 31 Do not resort to dead spirits or inquire of spirits of divination—you will be made unclean by them; I am the Lord your God. 32 You must rise in the presence of an old person and respect the elderly. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.
33 When immigrants live in
your land with you, you must not cheat them. 34 Any
immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your
citizens. You must love them as yourself, because you were immigrants in the
land of Egypt; I am the Lord your
God. 35 You
must not act unjustly in a legal case involving measures of length, weight, or
volume. 36 You
must have accurate scales and accurate weights, an accurate ephah and an accurate hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt. 37 You
must keep all my rules and all my regulations, and do them; I am the Lord.
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 You will also say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or any immigrant living in Israel who gives their children to Molech must be executed. The common people will stone such a person. 3 Moreover, I will set my own face against such a person, cutting them off from their people, because they gave their children to Molech, making my sanctuary unclean and degrading my holy name by doing so. 4 But if the common people choose to look the other way when someone gives their children to Molech and do not execute such a person, 5 I will set my own face against such a person and their extended family, cutting off from their people—both the guilty party and anyone with them who faithlessly followed Molech. 6 I will also oppose anyone who resorts to dead spirits or spirits of divination and faithlessly follows those things. I will cut such an individual off from their people.
7 You must be holy and keep yourselves holy because I am the Lord your God. 8 You will keep my rules and do them; I am the Lord, who makes you holy. 9 If anyone curses their father or mother, they must be executed. They have cursed their own father and mother; that person’s blood is on their own heads. 10 If a man commits adultery with a married woman, committing adultery with a neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be executed. 11 If a man has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be executed; their blood is on their own heads. 12 If a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be executed. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own heads. 13 If a man has sexual intercourse with a man as he would with a woman, the two of them have done something detestable. They must be executed; their blood is on their own heads. 14 If a man marries a woman and her mother as well, it is shameful. They will be burned with fire—the man and the two women—so that no such shameful thing will be found among you.15 If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be executed and you must kill the animal. 16 If a woman approaches any kind of animal to mate with it, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must be executed; their blood is on their own heads. 17 If a man marries his sister—his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter—and they have sexual contact with each other, it is a disgrace. They will be cut off in the sight of their people. Such a man has had sexual contact with his sister; he will be liable to punishment.18 If a man sleeps with a woman during her menstrual period and has sexual contact with her, he has exposed the source of her blood flow and she has uncovered the same. Both of them will be cut off from their people. 19 You must not have sexual contact with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, because that exposes your own close relative; both of you will be liable to punishment. 20 If a man has sexual intercourse with his aunt, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. The man and the aunt will be liable to punishment; they will die childless. 21 If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is indecent. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; the man and the woman will be childless.
22 You must keep all my rules and all my regulations, and do them so that the land I am bringing you to, where you will live, won’t vomit you out. 23 You must not follow the practices of the nations that I am throwing out before you, because they did all these things and I was disgusted with them. 24 But I have told you, “You will certainly possess their fertile land; I am giving it to you to possess. It is a land full of milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from all other peoples. 25 So you must separate between clean and unclean animals, and between clean and unclean birds. Do not become detestable through some animal, bird, or anything that moves on the fertile ground that I have separated from you as unclean. 26 You must be holy to me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from all other peoples to be my own. 27 If someone, whether male or female, is a medium with the dead or a diviner, they must be executed. They will be stoned; their blood is on their own head.
Scripture taken from the Common English Bible®, CEB® Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Common English Bible.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The "CEB" and "Common English Bible" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Common English Bible. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Common English Bible.