LEVITICUS - Door43 · LEVITICUS onthealtartobeanofferingtoYahweh. Those things will come from your food supplies. 12 If your offering is a goat, you must takeittoYahweh. 13 Youmustlayyour

Unlocked Dynamic Bible

Leviticus

Unlocked Dynamic Bible

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This work is based on A Translation For Translators by Ellis W. Deibler, Jr., which islicensed CC BY-SA 4.0 https://git.door43.org/Door43/T4T.

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Unlocked Dynamic Bible

Version: 12

Published: 2017-11-29

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Table of Contents

Table of ContentsUnlocked Dynamic Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Copyrights & Licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1LEVITICUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Chapter 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Chapter 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Chapter 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Chapter 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Chapter 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Chapter 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Chapter 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Chapter 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Chapter 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Chapter 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Chapter 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Chapter 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Chapter 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Chapter 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Chapter 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

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Chapter 11 While Moses was standing near the en-trance to the sacred tent, Yahweh called tohim from inside the tent. He said toMoses2 to say this to the Israelite people: ”Whenany 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 to becompletely burned on the altar, it must bewithout any defect. Youmust take it to theentrance to the sacred tent, in order that itmay be acceptable to Yahweh. 4 You mustlay your hands on the head of the bull.When you do that, Yahweh will accept itsdeath in your place to forgive you for thesins that you have committed. 5 Youmustslaughter the young bull in front of Yah-weh. Then Aaron’s sons, who are priests,will bring the blood and throw it againstall sides of the altar near the entrance tothe sacred tent. 6 You must remove theskin of the animal and cut the animal intopieces. Youmustwash the inner parts andthe legs of the bull. 7 Then Aaron’s sonswill put wood on the altar and light a fire.8 Then theywill arrange the pieces, includ-ing the head and the fat, on the burningwood. 9 Then one of the priests will com-pletely burn all of it on the altar. And thegood odor will be pleasing to Yahweh.10 If you are offering a sheep or a goat, itmust be a male without any defect. 11 Youmust slaughter it in front of Yahweh, onthe north side of the altar and drain allthe blood into a bowl. Then Aaron’s sonswill sprinkle the blood against all sides ofthe altar. 12 You must cut the animal intopieces. Youmustwash the inner parts andthe legs of the animal. Then the priestswill arrange the pieces, including the headand the fat, on the burning wood. 13 Then

one of the priests will take all of it andcompletely burn all of it on the altar. Andthe good odor as the sacrifice burns willbe pleasing to Yahweh.14 If what you are offering to Yahweh isbirds, you must offer a dove or a youngpigeon. 15 The priest will take it to the al-tar and wring off its head. Then he willburn the head on the altar. He will drainout the bird’s blood onto the side of thealtar. 16 Then he will remove the bird’scraw andwhat is inside it, and throw it onthe east side of the altar, where they alsothrow the ashes. 17 Then he will grasp thebird’s wings and tear the bird open par-tially, but never all the way. Then he willburn it completely in the fire on the altar.And the good odor will be pleasing to Yah-weh.

Chapter 21 If you bring to Yahweh an offering offlour, it must consist of finely groundflour. Youmust pour olive oil on it, as wellas some incense, 2 and take it to one of thepriests. The priest will take a handful ofit and burn it on the altar. That part willsymbolize how our prayers go up to Yah-weh as we give him thanks for his good-ness. 3 The part of that flour offering thatis not burned will belong to Aaron andhis sons. It is something set apart for thepriests out of the offerings that you willgive to Yahweh.4 If you bring an offering that is madefrom flour, something that is baked inan oven, it must be made from finelyground flour. You may bring loaves madefrom flour mixed with olive oil but with-out yeast, or you may bring wafers witholive oil smeared on them, but also madewithout yeast. 5 If your flour offering iscooked on a griddle, it must bemade from

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finely ground flour mixed with olive oiland without yeast. 6 You must crumble itand pour olive oil on it. That will be youroffering made from flour. 7 If your offer-ing that is made from flour is cooked ina pan, it must be made of finely groundflour mixed with olive oil. 8 Bring toYahweh your flour offering. Give it to thepriest, and he will take it to the altar. 9 Hewill take a part of it that will symbolizethat all the flour offering belongs to Yah-weh. He will burn that part on the altar,and the good odor as it burnswill be pleas-ing to Yahweh. 10 The part of the flouroffering that is not burned will belong toAaron and his sons. It is something setapart for God from the offerings given toYahweh by burning them in a fire.

11 Every flour offering that is made fromgrain and that you bring to Yahweh mustbe made without yeast, because you mustnot put any yeast or honey in any offeringto Yahweh that a priest burns on the altar.12 Youmay bring to Yahweh an offering ofthe first part of your harvest, but that of-fering is not to be burned on the altar toproduce a good odor that will be pleasingto Yahweh. 13 Put salt on all your offeringsthat are made from flour. The salt rep-resents the covenant that your God madewith you, so be sure that you do not forgetto put salt on those flour offerings.

14 If you bring to Yahweh a flour offer-ing from the first part of your harvest ofgrain, offer some new grain that has beencrushed and roasted in a fire. 15 Put oliveoil and incense on it, and that will be youroffering made from flour. 16 The priestwill take a part of it that will symbolizethat all the offering truly belongs to Yah-weh. He will burn that part on the altar,to be an offering given to Yahweh by burn-ing it in a fire.

Chapter 31 When you offer to Yahweh an animalto promise friendship with him, you maybring a bull or a cow from your herd ofcattle, but what you present to Yahwehmust be an animal that has no defects.2 You must bring the animal to the en-trance to the sacred tent. You must layyour hands on its head. Then you mustslaughter it and catch some of its blood ina bowl. Then one of Aaron’s sons, one ofthe priests, will sprinkle the blood againstall sides of the altar. 3 From that offer-ing you must bring to Yahweh a sacrificethat a priest will burn in the fire. That willconsist of all the fat that covers the innerparts of the animal, or which is attachedto them— 4 the kidneys and the fat thatis attached to them near the lower backmuscle, and the fat that covers the liver.5 Then one of the priests will burn thosethings on the altar, along with the otherparts of the animal that hewill completelyburn as an offering to Yahweh. And thegood odor will be pleasing to Yahweh.

6 If that offering to promise friendshipwith Yahweh is a sheep or a goat, it mustalso be an animal that has no defects. 7 Ifyou offer a lamb, you must present it toYahweh at the entrance to the sacred tent.You must lay your hands on the lamb’shead and then slaughter it. You mustcatch some of its blood in a bowl. 8 Thenone of the priests will sprinkle that bloodagainst all sides of the altar. 9 From thatoffering youmust separate these things tobe a sacrifice to Yahweh that is burned: Itsfat, the fat tail that you must cut off closeto the backbone, and all the fat that cov-ers the inner parts of the lamb or whichis attached to them— 10 the kidneys withthe fat that is on themnear the lower backmuscle, and the fat that covers the liver. 11One of the priests will burn those things

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on the altar to be an offering to Yahweh.Those things will come from your foodsupplies.12 If your offering is a goat, you musttake it to Yahweh. 13 You must lay yourhands on its head. Then you must slaugh-ter it in front of the sacred tent. Thenone of Aaron’s sonswill sprinkle the bloodagainst all sides of the altar. 14 From thatoffering youmust separate these things tobe a sacrifice to Yahweh that is burned:All the fat that covers the inner parts ofthe animal or which is attached to them.15 Also separate the kidneys with the fatthat is on them near the lower back mus-cle, and the fat that covers the liver. 16

The priest will burn those things on thealtar to be an offering to Yahweh. Thosethings will come from your food supplies.And the good odor will be pleasing to Yah-weh. All the fat of the animals that are sac-rificed belongs to Yahweh.17 This is a command that must be obeyedby you and your descendants forever,wherever you live. You must not eat thefat or the blood of any animal.”

Chapter 41 Then Yahweh told Moses 2 to say this tothe Israelite people, ”This is what anyonemust do if he sins without intending to sin,that is, if he does something that breaksany of Yahweh’s commands.3 If the high priest sins and that causes allthe people to be guilty, he must bring toYahweh a young bull that has no defects.That will be an offering for the sin that hehas committed. 4 He must bring the bullto the entrance to the sacred tent. Hemustlay his hands on its head. Then he mustslaughter it in front of Yahweh and catchsome of the blood in a bowl. 5 Then thepriest must take some of that blood into

the sacred tent. 6 He must dip one ofhis fingers into the blood and sprinkle itseven times in the presence of Yahweh, infront of the curtain that separates the holyplace from the very holy place. 7 Then hemust put some of the blood on the projec-tions at the corners of the altar where fra-grant incense is burned in the sacred tentin the presence of Yahweh. The remain-ing part of the bull’s blood that is still inthe bowl, he must pour out at the baseof the altar, where sacrifices are burned,at the entrance to the sacred tent. 8

From that offering the high priest mustseparate these things from the bull that isto be burned: The fat that covers the in-ner parts of the bull or which is attachedto them— 9 the kidneys and the fat thatis attached to them near the lower backmuscle, and the fat that covers the liver.10 Then the high priest must completelyburn those things on the altar. That willbe just like when the fat is removed froman animal that is sacrificed to promisedfriendship with Yahweh. 11 But all theother parts of the animal—its skin and allits other meat, its head and its legs, its in-ner parts and the intestines, 12 he musttake outside the camp and throw them ina place that ismade acceptable to Yahweh,where the ashes are thrown, and he mustburn them in a fire on the pile of ashes.

13 If all the Israelite people sin withoutintending to sin, doing something that isforbidden in any of Yahweh’s commands,they will be guilty, even if they do not re-alize that they have sinned. 14 When theyrealize that they have committed a sin, to-gether they must bring a young bull to bean offering for their sin, to the front ofthe sacred tent. 15 The elders must laytheir hands on the bull’s head in the pres-ence of Yahweh and slaughter it and catchsome of the blood in a bowl. 16 Then thehigh priest must take some of that bloodinto the sacred tent. 17 He must dip one

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of his fingers into the blood and sprinkleit seven times in the presence of Yahweh,in front of the curtain that separates theholy place from the very holy place. 18

Then he must put some of the blood onthe projections at the corners of the altarthat is in the presence of Yahweh in the sa-cred tent. The remaining part of the bull’sblood he must pour out at the base of thealtar where sacrifices are burned, at theentrance of the sacred tent. 19 He must re-move all the animal’s fat and burn it onthe altar. 20 He must do with this bull thesame things that he did with the bull thatwas an offering for his own sins, and theywill be forgiven. 21 Then the priest musttake the other parts of the bull outside thecamp and burn them, like he does whenhe himself has sinned. That will be the of-fering for the sin that all the people havecommitted, and they will be forgiven.

22 When one of the leaders sins withoutintending to sin, doing something that isforbidden in any of the commands of Yah-weh his God, he will be guilty. 23 Whenhe realizes that he has committed a sin,he must bring as his offering a male goatthat has no defects. 24 He must lay hishands on the goat’s head in the presenceof Yahweh and slaughter it at the placewhere they slaughter the animals thatwillbe completely burned on the altar. Thatwill be an offering for his sin. 25 Then thepriestmust put some of the animal’s bloodinto a bowl and dip one of his fingers in itand put some of the blood on the cornersof the projections of the altar. Then hemust pour out the rest of the blood at thebase of the altar. 26 Then hemust burn allthe fat on the altar, like was done with thefat of the offering to promise friendshipwith Yahweh. As a result of the priest’s do-ing that, the leaderwill no longer be guiltyfor his sin and he will be forgiven.

27 If one of the Israelite people who is not

a priest sins without intending to sin, anddoes something that is forbidden in any ofthe commands of Yahweh his God, he willbe guilty. 28 When he realizes that he hascommitted a sin, he must bring as his of-fering a female goat that has nodefects. 29

He must lay his hands on the goat’s headand slaughter it at the place where theyslaughter the animals that they will burncompletely on the altar, and catch someof the blood in a bowl. 30 Then the priestmust dip one of his fingers in it, and putsome of the blood on the projections at thecorners of the altar. Then he must pourout the rest of the blood at the base of thealtar. 31 Then he must remove all thegoat’s fat, and burn all the fat on the altar,like was done with the fat of the offeringto maintain fellowship with Yahweh. Andthe good odor will be pleasing to Yahweh.As a result of the priest doing that, the per-sonwill no longer be guilty for his sin, andhe will be forgiven.

32 If that person brings a lamb to be hisoffering for sin, he must bring a femalelamb that has no defects. 33 He must layhis hands on the lamb’s head and slaugh-ter it at the placewhere they slaughter theanimals thatwill be completely burned onthe altar, and catch some of the blood in abowl. 34 Then the priest must dip one ofhis fingers in it and put some of the bloodon the projections at the corners of the al-tar. Then he must pour out the rest of theblood at the base of the altar. 35 Then hemust remove all the lamb’s fat, and burnall the fat on the altar, like was done withthe fat of the offering to promise friend-ship with Yahweh. He must burn it on topof the other offerings to Yahweh that arebeing burned. As a result, the priest willrequest God to forgive that person for hissin, and he will be forgiven.

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Chapter 51 If a judge orders any of you to tell incourt something that you have seen orsomething that you heard someone say,but if you refuse to say what you know tobe true, you must pay a penalty for refus-ing to tell what you know.2 If you accidentally touch somethingwhich God considers impure such as thecarcass of a wild animal or the carcass ofyour animals that has died, or of an an-imal that crawls along the ground, youmust pay a penalty.3 If you touch anything that has made any-one else unacceptable to God, even if youdid not intend to touch it, when you real-ize what you have done, you must pay apenalty.4 If you carelessly make a solemn promiseto do something that is either good or thatis bad, when you realize that you cannotdo it, you must pay a penalty.5 If you are guilty of committing any ofthose sins, you must confess what youhave done. 6 And as a penalty, you mustbring to Yahweh a female lamb or femalegoat as an offering for the sin that youhave committed, and the priest will sac-rifice it, and then you will no longer beguilty for your sin.7 If you are poor and cannot afford tobring a lamb, you must bring to Yahwehtwo doves or two pigeons. One will be anoffering for your sin, and the other will bean offering thatwill be completely burnedon the altar. 8 You must bring them to thepriest. First he will offer one of them to bean offering for your sin. He will wring itsneck to kill it, but he must not pull off itshead completely. 9 Then he must sprinklesome of the blood against the side of the al-tar. The remaining bloodmust be drainedout at the base of the altar. That will be

an offering for your sin. 10 The priest willthendowhat I have commanded andofferthe other bird to be completely burned onthe altar. Then youwill no longer be guiltyfor the sin you have committed, and Yah-weh will forgive you.11 However, if you are very poor and can-not afford two doves or two pigeons, youmust bring to be an offering for your sintwo liters of fine flour. You must not putolive oil or incense on it, because it is anoffering for sin. 12 You must take it tothe priest. He will take a handful of it tosymbolize that thewhole offering truly be-longs to Yahweh, and burn it on the altar,on top of the other offerings. 13 When hedoes that, the priest will enable you to nolonger be guilty for any of the sins that youhave committed, and Godwill forgive you.The part of the offering that is not burnedwill belong to the priest, just as in the caseof the offerings made from flour.”14 Yahweh also said to Moses to tell thepeople: 15 ”When you sin, without intend-ing to, by not giving to me, Yahweh, thethings that you are required to give to him,you must pay a penalty by bringing to mea ram that has no defects. You must de-termine how much silver it is worth, byusing the official standard in the sacredtent. It will be an offering to cause you tono longer be guilty. 16 But you must alsomake restitution for failing to pay himwhat has been set apart as only for him.Also, you must add one-fifth of its value.You must give that to the priest. He willoffer the ram as a sacrifice for the sin thatyou have committed and cause you to nolonger be guilty, and I will forgive you.17 If you sin by doing something that is for-bidden in any of my commands, even ifyou do not know that you have disobeyedone of my commands, you are still guilty;you must pay a penalty to me. 18 Whenyou realize what you have done, youmust

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bring a ram to the priest as an offeringin order that you will no longer be guilty.You must bring one that has no defects.The priest will offer the ram to be a sac-rifice to me, and as a result you will nolonger be guilty for the sin that you havecommitted, and I will forgive you. 19 It isan offering to cause you to no longer beguilty for sinning against me.”

Chapter 61 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”If you sinagainst me by deceiving someone—if yourefuse to return what someone has lentyou, or if you steal something of his, 3 orif you find something and swear that youdo not have it, you are guilty. 4 You mustreturn to its owner what you have stolenor what someone has lent to you and youhave not returned, orwhat you found thatsomeone else had lost, or whatever youlied about. 5 You must not only returnanything like that to its owner, but youmust also pay to the owner an additionalone-fifth of its value. 6 Youmust also bringto the 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 thathas no defects, one that has the value thathas been officially determined. 7 Then thepriest will offer that ram to be a sacrificethat will cause you to no longer be guilty,and I will forgive you for thewrong thingsthat you did.”8 Yahweh also said to Moses, 9 ”Tell this toAaron and his sons: These are the regu-lations concerning the offerings that willbe completely burned on the altar: The of-fering must remain on the altar all duringthe night, and the fire on the altar must al-ways be kept burning. 10 The next morn-ing the priest must put on his linen un-derclothes and linen outer clothes. Then

he must remove the ashes of the offeringfrom the fire and put them beside the al-tar. 11 Then he must take off those clothesand put on other clothes, and take theashes outside the camp, to a place thathas been made acceptable to me. 12 Thefire on the altarmust always be kept burn-ing. The priest must not allow it to go out.Each morning the priest must put morefirewood on the fire. Then he must ar-rangemore offerings on the fire, and burnon the altar the fat of the offerings to beburned to promise friendship with Yah-weh. 13 The fire on the altar must be keptburning continually. The priest must notallow it to go out.”

14 ”These are the regulations concerningthe offerings made from flour. Aaron’ssons must bring them to Yahweh in frontof the altar. 15 The priestmust take a hand-ful of fine flour mixed with olive oil andincense and burn that on the altar. Thathandful will signify that the whole offer-ing truly belongs to me. And the goododor, while the offering burns, will bepleasing to me. 16 Aaron and his sonsmay eat the remaining part of the grainoffering. But they must eat it in a placethat is set apart for God, in the courtyardof the sacred tent. 17 It must not haveyeast mixed with it. Like the offerings forsin and the offerings to cause people tono longer be guilty of sin, that offeringis very special, reserved for me. 18 Anymale descendants of Aaron are permittedto eat it, because it is their permanent reg-ular share of the offerings given tome andburned in the fire on the altar. Whoevertouches them will be considered to be setapart for the honor of Yahweh.”

19 Yahweh also said to Moses, 20 ”TellAaron and his sons that this is the offer-ing that they must bring to me on the daythat any of them is ordained: That personmust bring two liters of fine flour as an

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offering made from grain flour. He mustbring half of it in the morning and half ofit in the evening. 21 He must mix it wellwith olive oil and bake it in a shallow pan.He must then break it into small piecesto be burned on the altar. And the goododor, while it burns, will be pleasing tome. 22 I have commanded that the descen-dants of Aaron who are appointed to be-come the high priests after Aaron dies arethe ones who must prepare those things.Theymust be completely burned on the al-tar to be sacrifices tome. 23 Every offeringthat a priest gives that is made from flourmust be completely burned. No one is toeat any of it.”

24 Yahweh also told Moses to 25 tell Aaronand his sons, ”These are the regulationsconcerning the offerings for the sins of thepeople. The priest will kill the sacrifice atthe place where the offerings are burned;it is killed before Yahweh and the offer-ing is dedicated to Yahweh. 26 The priestwho makes the offering for sin, may eatthe offering given to Yahweh. The priestcan only eat it in the place in the court-yard that has been set apart for eating sac-rifices. 27 Any other person who touchesany of its meat will belong to me. Andif its blood is splattered on your clothes,you must wash the clothes in a holy place.28 If the meat is cooked in a clay pot, thepot must be broken afterwards. But if it iscooked in a bronze pot, the pot must bescoured afterwards and rinsed with wa-ter. 29 Any male in a priest’s family mayeat some of the cooked meat. That meat isvery special. 30 But if the blood of thoseofferings is brought into the sacred tentto enable the people to be forgiven forhaving sinned, the meat of those animalsmust not be eaten. The priest must burnthat meat completely.”

Chapter 71 ”These are the regulations concerningthe offerings for when people are guilty ofnot giving to Yahweh the things that are re-quired to be given to him. Those are verysacred offerings. 2 A priest must slaughtereach animal that people offer for this pur-pose in the same place where they slaugh-ter the animals that they will completelyburn. The priest must sprinkle the ani-mal’s blood on all sides of the altar. 3 Alltheir fat, the fat tails that are cut close tothe backbone, and all the fat that coversthe inner parts of the animals or whichis attached to them, must be burned onthe altar. 4 This includes the kidneys withtheir fat near the lower back muscle, andthe fat that covers the liver. The priestmust remove all these fatty pieces. 5 Thepriest must burn these pieces on the altarto be offerings to me, Yahweh. They arean offering for the people, for me to for-give them when they have not done whatI required them to do. 6 All the males inthe priest’s family are permitted to eat itsmeat, but it must be eaten in a place setapart for me, because it is very special tome.

7 The regulation is the same for the offer-ings to cause people to become acceptableto me again and the offerings for whenthey are guilty of not giving to me thethings that I required from them. Themeat of those offerings belongs to thepriest who offers them. 8 When a priestslaughters an animal that he will com-pletely burn on the altar, he may keep theanimal’s hide for himself. 9 Offerings ofthings made from flour that are baked inan oven or cooked in a pan or in a shal-low pan belong to the priest who sacri-fices those things for another person. 10

And offerings of things made from flour,whether they were mixed with olive oil

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or not, also belong to the Aaron’s descen-dants.11 These are the regulations concerningthe offerings that people make to promisefriendship with Yahweh.12 If you bring an offering to thank Yah-weh, along with the animal that youslaughter you must offer loaves of breadmade with olive oil mixed with the flourbut without yeast, and wafers that aremade without yeast but with olive oilsmeared on them, and loaves made fromfine flour with olive oil mixed well withthe flour. 13 Along with that offering tothank Yahweh, you must bring an offer-ing of loavesmadewith yeast. 14 Youmustbring one of each kind for an offering toYahweh, but they belong to the priest whosprinkles against the altar the blood of theanimal that is slaughtered as an offeringto promise friendship with Yahweh. 15

Themeat of that offeringmust be eaten onthe day that it is offered. None of itmay beleft to be eaten on the next day.16 However, if your offering is the resultof a vow that you made to Yahweh, or ifit is an offering that youmake voluntarily,you may eat some of the meat on the dayit is offered, and anything that is left maybe eaten on the next day. 17 But any meatthat is left until the third daymust be com-pletely burned. 18 If any meat from the of-fering to promise friendship with Yahwehis eaten on the third day, Yahweh will notaccept that offering. It will be useless tooffer it because Yahwehwill consider thatit is worthless. Anyone who eats some ofit will have to pay a penalty to Yahweh.19 Meat that touches something that Godconsiders to be impure must not be eaten.It must be completely burned. But as forother mea, anyone who has performedthe rituals to become acceptable to Godis allowed to eat it. 20 If anyone who hasnot performed those rituals eats some of

the meat of the offering to promise friend-ship with Yahweh, meat that belongs toYahweh, he must no longer be allowed toassociate with God’s people. 21 If any-one touches something that God considersto be impure and very displeasing to him,whether it is from a human or from ananimal, and then he eats any of the meatof the offering to promise friendship withYahweh, meat that belongs to Yahweh, hemust no longer be allowed to associatewith God’s people.”

22 Yahweh also said to Moses: 23 ”Say thisto the Israelite people: ’Do not eat any ofthe fat of cattle or sheep or goats. 24 The fatof an animal that is found dead or that hasbeen killed by a wild animal may be usedfor other purposes, but you must not eatit. 25 Anyonewho eats the fat of an animalfrom which an offering has been made toYahwehmust no longer be allowed to asso-ciate with God’s people. 26 And whereveryou live, youmust not eat the blood of anybird or animal. 27 If anyone eats blood,he must no longer be allowed to associatewith God’s people.”

28 Yahweh also said toMoses, 29 ”Tell the Is-raelite people this: ’Anyonewhobrings anoffering to promise friendship with Yah-weh must bring part of it to be a sacrificeto Yahweh. 30 He himself must bring theoffering that will be burned in the fire. Hemust bring the fat along with the breastof the animal and lift it high in front ofYahweh to present it as an offering to him.31 The priest must burn the fat on the al-tar, but the breast belongs to Aaron andall his descendants. 32 You must give tothe priest the right thigh of the animal thatyou presented to promise friendship withYahweh. 33 The son of Aaron who of-fers the blood and the fat of that sacrificewill receive the right thigh of the animalas his share. 34 From the offerings thatthe Israelite people give to promise friend-

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ship with Yahweh, he has declared that hehas given to Aaron and his descendantsthe breast that is lifted high and the rightthigh that is offered. Those portions willalways be their regular share from the Is-raelite people.35 Those are the portions of the offeringsbrought to Yahweh and burned in fire thatare allotted to Aaron and his descendantson the day that you, Moses, will set apartto serve Yahweh as priests. 36 Yahwehcommands that on the day that the priestsare appointed, that the Israelite peoplemust always give those portions to thepriests.’”37 So those are the regulations for the of-ferings that are to be completely burnedon the altar, the offerings made fromflour, the offerings to cause people to be-come acceptable to God again, the offer-ings for when people are guilty of not giv-ing to Yahweh the things that are requiredto be given to him, the offerings givenwhen the priests are appointed, and theofferings to promise friendship with Yah-weh. 38 They are regulations that Yahwehgave to Moses on Mount Sinai, on the daythat he commanded the Israelite people tostart bringing their offerings to him, in thewilderness around Sinai.

Chapter 81 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”BringAaron and his sons, and bring their spe-cial clothes, the oil for anointing them, thebull to be offered to cause them to be-come acceptable to God, the two rams tobe slaughtered, and the basket containingbread made without yeast. 3 Then gatherall the people at the entrance to the sacredtent.” 4 Moses did what Yahweh told himto do, and all the people gathered there.5 Then Moses said to the people, “This is

what Yahweh has commanded us to do.”6 Then he brought Aaron and his sons for-ward and washed them. 7 He put the spe-cial tunic on Aaron, tied the sash aroundhim, put on him the special robe, and puton him the sacred vest. He fastened thesacred vest around him, using the finelywoven waistband. 8 He put the sacredpouch on his chest and put into it the twostones for him to use to determine whatGod wants. 9 Then he wrapped the tur-ban around Aaron’s head and fastened onthe front of it the gold ornament the objectthat showed that he was dedicated to God,as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

10 Then Moses took the olive oil andanointed the sacred tent and everythingin it, and dedicated it all to Yahweh. 11

He sprinkled some of the oil on the al-tar seven times. He anointed the altarand all the things used with it, and itshuge washbasin and its stand, to dedicatethem to Yahweh. 12 He poured someof the oil on Aaron’s head and anointedhim, to dedicate him to Yahweh. 13 Thenhe brought forward Aaron’s sons. He puttunics on them, tied sashes around them,and wrapped turbans around their heads,as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

14 Then he brought the bull for the offer-ing to cause people to become acceptableto God. Then Aaron and his sons put theirhands on the bull’s head. 15 Then Mosesslaughtered the bull, caught some of itsblood in a bowl, and with his finger putsomeof it on the projections at the cornersof the altar, to purify the altar. He pouredthe rest of the blood at the base of the altar.By doing that, he caused it to be a suitableplace for burning sacrifices for sin. 16

Moses took all the fat that covers the in-ner parts of the animal, including the liverand kidneys, and burned them on the al-tar. 17 He took the rest of the bull, includ-ing the hide and intestines, and burned

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them outside the camp, like Yahweh hadcommanded Moses.

18 Then he brought the ram for the offer-ing that would be completely burned onthe altar, andAaron andhis sons laid theirhands on its head. 19 Then Moses slaugh-tered the ram and sprinkled its blood onall sides of the altar. 20-21 He cut the raminto pieces and washed the inner partsand hind legs. Then he put the head, thefat, and the other parts of the ram onthe altar. As it burned, the aroma of thesmoke was pleasing to Yahweh. It was anoffering to Yahweh that was burned, asYahweh had commanded Moses.

22 Then he brought the other ram, the onefor consecrating the priests, and Aaronand his sons laid their hands on its head.23-24 Moses slaughtered that ram, caughtsome of its blood in a bowl, and put someof that blood on the lobes of the right ears,the thumbs of the right hands, and thebig toes of the right feet of Aaron and hissons to indicate that what they listened toand what they did and where they wentshould be directed by Yahweh. 25 Hepicked up all the fat of the ram, its fattail, the fat that covered the inner parts,including the fat that covered the liverand kidneys, and the right thigh of theram. 26-27 Then from the basket containingthe bread that was made without yeast,the bread which had been dedicated toYahweh, he picked up one loaf of breadmade without olive oil, and one loaf thatwas made by mixing the flour with oliveoil, and one wafer. He put those on topof the portions of fat, and put them intothe hands of Aaron and his sons. Thenthey lifted them up in the presence of Yah-weh to show that it was an offering thatbelonged to him. 28 Then Moses tookthose things from their hands and burnedthem on the altar. That was the offeringthat was burned to appoint Aaron and his

sons as priests. And the aroma while itburned was pleasing to Yahweh. 29 Mosesalso took the breast of the second ram andlifted it high before Yahweh to offer it tohim, as Yahweh had commanded. Thebreast was Moses’ share of the ram thatwas sacrificed to dedicate the priests.30 ThenMoses took someof the olive oil foranointingAaron andhis sons, and someofthe blood that was on the altar and sprin-kled it on Aaron and his sons and on theirclothes. By doing that, he set apart Aaronto be priest, together with his sons andtheir clothes.31 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons,”Boil the meat of the second ram at the en-trance of the sacred tent, and eat it therewith the bread that is in the basket, as Itold you to do. 32 Burn up any of the meatand bread that remains. 33 The time foryou to be set apart as priests will be sevendays, so donot leave the entrance of the sa-cred tent for seven days. 34 Whatwe havedone today is what Yahweh commandedto cause you to be forgiven for your sins.35 You must stay at the entrance to the sa-cred tent for seven days and seven nightsand do what Yahweh requires, in orderthat youwill not die because of disobeyinghim. I am telling you that because that iswhat Yahweh has commanded me to tellyou.”36 So Aaron and his sons did everythingthat Yahweh told Moses to tell them.

Chapter 91 Eight days later Moses summoned the el-ders of Israel. 2 Then he said to Aaron,”Take a young bull so you can offer it foryour sins, and a ram so that you can burnit whole on the altar, both of them with-out any defects, and offer them to Yahweh.3 Then say to the Israelite people, ’Take a

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male goat to offer it for your sins. Alsotake a calf and a lamb that have no defects,so that you can burn them whole on thealtar. 4 Also take an ox and a ram to offerthem, so youmaypromise friendshipwithYahweh, along with an offering of flourmixed with olive oil. Do this because to-day Yahweh is going to appear to you.’”5 After Moses gave these instructions tothe Israelites, some of them brought thesethings and went to the courtyard in frontof the sacred tent. Then all the peoplecame near and stood in front of Yahweh.6 Then Moses said, “This is what Yahwehhas commanded you to do, in order thathis glory will appear to you.”7 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Come to thealtar and sacrifice the animal that is youroffering to enable you to be forgiven forthe sins you have committed. Also bringthe animal that you will burn whole onthe altar. Because of those offerings, Godwill forgive you and the people for the sinsthat you have committed. Do these thingsthat Yahweh has commanded you to do.”8 SoAaron cameup to the altar and slaugh-tered the calf as an offering for his sins.9 His sons brought its blood to him in abowl. He dipped his finger into the bloodand put some of it on the projections at thecorners of the altar. He poured out therest of the blood at the base of the altar.10 He burned the fat, including that whichcovered the kidneys and the liver, as Yah-weh had commanded him. 11 Then Aaronwent outside the camp and there burnedthe rest of the meat and the hide.12 ThenAaron slaughtered the animal thathe was going to burn whole on the altar.His sons handed him the bowl containingits blood, and he sprinkled the blood onall sides of the altar. 13 Then they handedhim the head and the pieces of the ani-mal that would be burned, and he burnedthem on the altar. 14 He washed the inner

parts and the legs of the animal, and heburned them on the altar, on top of theother pieces of the animal.15 Then Aaron brought the animals thatwould be sacrifices for the Israelite people.He took a goat and slaughtered it for thepeople’s sins, as he had donewith the goatfor his own offering.16 Then he brought the animal for theoffering in order to burn it whole. Heslaughtered it and offered it in the waythat Yahweh had commanded him to do.17 He also brought the offeringmade fromflour. He took a handful of it and burnedit on the altar, as he had done with theanimal that he had sacrificed earlier thatmorning.18 Then he slaughtered the ox and the ramto be an offering for the Israelite peopleto promise friendship with Yahweh. Hissons handed him the bowl containing theblood, and he sprinkled the blood againstall sides of the altar. 19 But he took the fatfrom the ox and the ram, including theirfat tails that were cut close to the back-bone, and all the fat that covered the liv-ers and the kidneys. 20 He put theseparts on top of the breasts of those ani-mals and carried them to the altar to burnthem. 21 Then, doingwhatMoses had com-manded, he lifted up in front of Yahwehthe breast and the right thigh of those ani-mals to show that those two animals com-pletely belonged to Yahweh.22 Then Aaron lifted his arms toward thepeople and asked Yahweh to bless them.Then having finished making all those of-ferings, he stepped down from the placewhere the altar was.23 Then Aaron and Moses entered the sa-cred tent. When they came out later, theyasked Yahweh to bless the people. Andsuddenly the glory of Yahweh appearedto all the people. 24 A fire from Yahweh

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appeared and burned up the entire offer-ing, together with the fat that was on thealtar. When all the people saw this hap-pen, they shouted joyfully and prostratedthemselves on the ground to worship Yah-weh.

Chapter 101 Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu,took the pans in which they burned in-cense. They put some burning coals inthem and put incense on top of the coals,but this fire was not acceptable to Yahwehbecause it was not the kind that he hadcommanded them to burn. 2 So suddenlya fire from Yahweh appeared and burnedthem up in his own presence. 3 ThenMoses said toAaron, ”This iswhat Yahwehwas talking about when he said,

’Those priests who come near to me—

Iwill show them that theymust honorme;

in the presence of all the people

I am the onewhom theymust honor.’”

But Aaron said nothing.4 Then Moses summoned Mishael andElzaphan, who were the sons of Aaron’suncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Take thecorpses of your cousins outside the camp,away from being in front of the sacredtent.” 5 So they carried the corpses, onwhichwere still the special tunics, outsidethe camp, and buried them.6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his othertwo sons Eleazar and Ithamar, ”You aresad because Nadab and Abihu died, butyou must act like you always do. Do notallow the hair on your heads to remainuncombed, and do not tear your clothes.If you do, Yahweh will be angry with all

the people. But you must let your rela-tives and all your fellow Israelites engagein mourning ceremonies for those whomYahweh has destroyed by fire. 7 But youmust not leave the entrance of the sacredtent to join those who are mourning, be-cause if you do that, you also will die. Donot forget that Yahweh has set you apartto work for him here, and he does notwant you to become defiled by touchinga corpse.” So they obeyed Moses; they didnot join the rest of the people inmourningfor their cousins’ death.

8 Then Yahweh said to Aaron, 9 ”You andyour two sons who are still alive must notdrink wine or other fermented drinks be-fore you enter the sacred tent. If you dothat, you will die. That is a command thatyou and your descendants must obey for-ever. 10 You must do that in order to learnwhat things are holy and what things arenot holy; you must also learn what thingsI will accept what I will not accept. 11 Andyou must teach the Israelite people all thelaws that I gave to them by telling them toMoses.”

12 Moses said to Aaron and his two sonswho were still alive, Eleazar and Ithamar,”Take the offering made from flour that isleft after a portion of it has been offeredto Yahweh to be burned, and eat it along-side the altar. It should not be eaten else-where because it is very holy. 13 Eat it in aholy place. It is the share for you and yoursons from the meat that you have burnedas offerings. Yahweh has commanded meto tell you this. 14 But you and your sonsand daughters are permitted to eat thebreast and the thigh that were lifted upin front of Yahweh. Eat them in any placethat is holy. They have been given to youand your descendants as your share ofthe offerings when the Israelites promisefriendship with Yahweh. 15 The thigh andthe breast that were lifted up in front of

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Yahweh must be brought with the por-tions of fat to be burned, to be lifted upand offered in his presence. They will bethe regular share for you and your descen-dants, as Yahweh has commanded.”16 When Moses inquired about the goatthat the priests had sacrificed for the peo-ple’s sins, he found out that the priestshad burned it all. So he was angry withEleazar and Ithamar and asked them, 17

”Why did you not eat near the sacred tentthe meat of the sin offering? It was veryspecial for Yahweh; he gave it to you sohe could forgive the sins of the people. 18

Since its blood was not taken into the holyplace inside the sacred tent, you shouldhave eaten the meat of the goat outsidethe sacred tent, as I commanded.”19 Aaron replied to Moses, “Today the peo-ple brought to Yahweh their offering forhim to forgive their sins, and also theoffering we burned completely to pleaseYahweh. But think about the terriblething that happened tomy other two sons!Would Yahweh have been pleased if I hadeaten some of the people’s sin offering to-day?” 20 When Moses heard that, he wassatisfied and said nothing more.

Chapter 111 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses, 2 ”Tellthe people that this iswhat I say: ’Of all theanimals that live on the land, these are theones that you are permitted to eat. 3 Theones that have hooves that are completelysplit and that chew their cuds—you mayeat these animals.4 There are some animals that chew theircuds but do not have split hooves, andsome animals that have split hooves butdo not chew their cuds. You must noteat any of those animals. For example,camels chew their cuds but do not have

split hooves, so they are unacceptable foryou to eat. 5 Rock badgers chew theircuds but do not have split hooves, so theyare unacceptable for you to eat. 6 Rab-bits chew their cuds but do not have splithooves, so they are unacceptable for youto eat. 7 Pigs have completely split hoovesbut they do not chew their cuds, so theyare not acceptable for you to eat. 8 All ofthose animals are unacceptable for you,so you must not eat their meat or eventouch their carcasses.9Of all the creatures that live in the oceansand the streams, you are permitted to eatany that have fins and scales. 10 But youmust detest and not eat those that do nothave fins and scales. That include crea-tures that are very small. 11 You mustdespise them, and you must not eat theirmeat, and you must detest their carcasses.12 You must detest everything that livesin the water that does not have fins andscales.13 There are some birds that you mustdetest and not eat. They include eagles,vultures, 14 kites, any kind of falcon, 15

any kind of raven, 16 horned owls, screechowls, seagulls, and any kind of hawk. 17

Also small owls, large owls, cormorants, 18white owls, barn owls, ospreys, 19 storks,any kind of heron, hoopoes, and bats.20 You must detest and not eat flying in-sects that also walk on the ground. 21

But you are permitted to eat creatureswith wings that sometimes walk on theground if they have jointed legs for hop-ping around. 22 They include locusts, katy-dids, crickets, and grasshoppers. 23 Butyou must detest and not eat other insectswith wings that have four legs.24 There are certain creatures that willmake you unacceptable tome if you touchtheir carcasses. Anyonewho touches theircarcasses must not touch other people un-til that evening. 25 Anyone who picks

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up one of their carcasses must wash hisclothes and not touch other people untilthat evening.

26 The animals whose carcasses you mustnot touch are those that have hooves thatare not completely divided or animalsthat do not chew their cud. Anyone whotouches the carcasses of any of those ani-mals becomes defiled. 27 From all the an-imals that walk on the ground, you mustnot touch the carcasses of those that havepaws towalk on. Anyonewho touches oneof their carcasses must not touch otherpeople until that evening. 28 Anyone whopicks up one of their carcasses must washhis clothes and not touch other people un-til that evening, because touching theircarcasses makes you unacceptable to me.

29 Of all the animals that walk on theground, these are the ones that make youunacceptable if you touch them: Weasels,rats, any kind of big lizard, 30 geckos, mon-itor lizards and other lizards, skinks, andchameleons. 31 The creatures that crawlalong the ground make you unacceptableto me. Anyone who touches one of theircarcasses must not touch other people un-til the evening. 32 When one of thosecreatures dies and falls on something, thething that it falls on, whatever it is usedfor, will become defiled, whether it ismade of wood, cloth, the hide of some ani-mal or from rough cloth. Youmust put theobject into water. Then you must not useit until that evening. 33 If one of those un-clean creatures falls into a clay pot, every-thing in it becomes defiled, and you mustbreak that pot. 34 If you pour water fromthat pot onto any food, you must not eatthat food. And you must not drink anywater from that pot. 35 Anything that oneof the carcasses of those creatures fallson becomes defiled, even if the creaturefalls into an oven or a cooking pot. Any-thing that it falls on must be broken. It be-

comes unacceptable to me, and you mustnot use it again. 36 If one of their car-casses falls into a spring or a pit for stor-ing water, the water may still be drunk,but anyone who touches one of those car-casses becomes unacceptable to me. 37 Ifone of those carcasses falls on seeds thatare to be planted, those seeds are still ac-ceptable to be planted. 38 But if water hasbeen put on the seeds and then a carcassfalls on it, the seedsmust be thrown away;you must regard them as unacceptable.

39 If an animalwhosemeat you are permit-ted to eat dies, anyonewho touches its car-cassmust not touch other people until thatevening. 40 Anyone who eats some meatfrom that carcass must wash his clothes,and then he must not touch anyone untilthat evening.

41-42 All creatures that crawl along theground, including those that move ontheir bellies and those that crawl along,are detestable, and theymust not be eaten.43 Do not defile yourselves by eating anyof those creatures. Be very careful aboutthis. 44 I am Yahweh your God, and I amholy, so you must set yourselves apart formy honor, and you must be holy. Youmust avoid eating things that cause youto be unacceptable to me. Do not causeyourselves to become unacceptable to meby eating creatures that crawl along onthe ground. 45 I am Yahweh, the one whofreed you from being slaves in Egypt, inorder that you might worship me. There-fore, because I am holy, youmust be holy.

46 Those are the regulations concerninganimals and birds, all the living creaturesthat live in water or creep along on theground. 47 You must learn what things Isay are acceptable to me and what thingsare not, and learnwhat things you are per-mitted to eat and what things you are notpermitted to eat.’”

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Chapter 12

1 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”Tell thisto the Israelite people. If a woman givesbirth to a boy, she must be avoided forseven days, as she must be avoided whenshe is menstruating each month. 3 Thebaby boy must be circumcised eight daysafter he is born. 4 Then the woman mustwait thirty-three days to be purified fromher bleeding during childbirth. She mustnot touch anything that is sacred, that be-longs to me only, or enter the area of thesacred tent, until that time is ended. 5 If awoman gives birth to a baby girl, shemustbe avoided for two weeks, as she must beavoided when she is menstruating eachmonth. Then she must wait sixty-six daysto be purified from her bleeding when thebaby was born.

6 When that time for her to be purifiedis ended, that woman must bring to thepriest at the entrance of the sacred tent aone year old lamb. The priest will burnit whole on the altar. The woman mustalso bring a dove or a young pigeon forthe priest to sacrifice it, so that Yahwehwill accept her again. 7 The priest will of-fer these animals to Yahweh in order thatshe may be made acceptable to him again.Then she will be purified from her flow ofblood when the baby was born.

Those are the regulations for women whogive birth to a baby boy or girl. 8 If awoman who gives birth to a child cannotafford a lamb, she must bring two dovesor two pigeons. One will be burned com-pletely on the altar, and one will be anoffering to enable her to become accept-able to God again. By doing that, the priestwill cause her to be forgiven for any sinsshe has committed, and she no longer willneed to be avoided.”

Chapter 131 Yahweh said this to Aaron and Moses: 2

”When someone has on his skin a swelling,a scab, or a shiny spot that seems to be in-fected, then someone must bring him toAaron or to one of his sons who are alsopriests. 3 The priest must examine thatpart of the person’s skin. If the hair in thatarea has becomewhite and it appears thatthe sore is deeper than just on the skin,then it is a skin disease that other peopleare in danger of receiving from him. Ifthat is what the priest sees, he must de-clare that this sick person is not fit to bewith other people. 4 If the spot on the per-son’s skin is white but it does not appearthat the sore is deeper than the surface ofthe skin, the priest must keep him awayfrom all other people for seven days. 5

After seven days, the priest must examinethe person again. If the priest sees that thesore has not changed and has not spread,he must keep the person away from peo-ple for yet another seven days. 6 Again,after those seven more days have passed,the priest must examine the person oncemore. If the sore has faded and has notspread, the priest will declare that the per-son is fit to be with other people again.His skin condition is only a rash; it is notcontagious. After the person washes hisclothes, the priest will allow him to bewith other people again. 7 But if the sorespreads after the priest has examinedhim,the person must go to the priest again. 8

The priest will examine him; if the sorehas spread to more of the skin, it is a con-tagious skin disease, and the priest will de-clare that the person is not fit to be withother people.

9 When anyone has a contagious skindisease, someone must bring him to thepriest. 10 The priest must examine him. Ifthere is a white swelling in the skin that

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has caused the hair there to becomewhite,and if the flesh in that area is painful, 11then it is a permanent skin disease; thepriest will declare that the person is not fitto be with other people. The priest doesnot need to keep that person away fromothers for seven days in order to examinehim again, because he already knows thatthe person is unfit to be with others.

12 If the disease spreads all over someone’sbody, and the priest examines that personand sees that it is covering his skin fromhis head to his feet, 13 and it has caused allhis skin to become white which will indi-cate that the disease has ended, the priestwill declare that the person does not haveto stay away from other people. 14 But ifthe person has open sores, he has a con-tagious skin disease. 15 When the priestsees that, he must declare that the personhas a contagious skin disease and is unfitto be with other people. 16 But if the per-son’s flesh changes and becomeswhite, hemust go to the priest again. 17 The priestmust examine him again, and if the soreshave becomewhite, the priest will declarethat this person is now fit to be with otherpeople again.

18 When someone had a boil on his skinand it has now healed, 19 but in the placewhere the boil was, there is now a whiteswelling or a bright spot, hemust go to thepriest. 20 The priest must examine it. Ifit seems to be deeper than the surface ofthe skin, and if the hair in that spot hasbecome white, it is a contagious skin dis-ease that has appearedwhere the boil hadbeen. And the priest must declare thatthe person is unfit to be with other peo-ple. 21 But when the priest examines it,if he finds no white hair in that spot, andif he finds that it is only on the surfaceof the skin and has become less bright,then the priest must keep him away fromother people for seven days. 22 But if it is

spreading, it is contagious, and the priestmust declare that the person is unfit to bewith other people. 23 But if that spot is un-changed and has not spread, it is only ascar from the boil, and the priest will de-clare that the person is fit to be with otherpeople again.

24 When someone has a burn on his skinand a bright or white spot appears, andthe flesh in that area is painful, 25 thepriest must examine the spot. If the hairin that spot has turned white and it seemsto be deeper than just the surface of theskin, it is a contagious skin disease thathas appeared where the burn was, andthe priest must declare that the person isunfit to be with other people. 26 But if thepriest examines it and sees that there isno white hair in that spot and it is only onthe surface of the skin, and that the spothas faded, the priest must keep the personaway from other people for seven days. 27After seven days, the priest will examinehim again. If the sore is spreading, it isa contagious skin disease, and the priestwill declare that the person is unfit to bewith other people. 28 However, if the spotis not changed and has not spread but hasfaded, then it is only a scar from the burn;the priest must declare that the person isfit to be with other people.

29 If a man or a woman has a sore on thehead or chin, 30 the priest must examinethat person. If the sore seems to be deeperthan just on the surface of the skin, and ifthe hair in that spot has thinned out andhas become yellowish, then it is a conta-gious skin disease that causes itching. Inthat case, the priest must declare that theperson is unfit to be with other people. 31

But when the priest examines that kind ofsore, if it seems to be only on the surfaceof the skin and there is no healthy hairin it, the priest will keep the person awayfrom other people for seven days. 32 On

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the seventh day, the priest must examinethe sore again. If it has not spread and ifthere is no yellow hair in that spot, andif it appears to be only on the surface ofthe skin, 33 the personmust shave the hairnear the sore but not the hair on the sore.And the priest will keep the person awayfromother people for sevenmore days. 34

On the seventh day, the priest must exam-ine that spot again. If it has not spreadand it appears to be only on the surfaceof the skin, the priest will declare that theperson is fit to be with people again. Theperson must wash his clothes, and thenhe join with other people. 35 But if thesore later spreads, 36 the priest must ex-amine him again. If the itch has spread,the priest does not need to look for yel-low hair, because it is clear that the per-son has a contagious skin disease. 37 How-ever, if the priest thinks that the spot hasnot changed, and if healthy hair is grow-ing in that area, it is clear that the itch hashealed, and the priest will declare that theperson is fit to bewith other people again.

38 When a man or a woman has whitespots on the skin, 39 the priest should ex-amine them. But if the spots are dullwhite, it is only a rash, and the priest willdeclare that the person is fit to be withother people.

40 If a man loses all his hair and becomesbald, he does not need to stay away fromother people. 41 The same is true if he haslost his hair at the front of his scalp andhis forehead has become bald. 42 Butif he gets a bright sore on his bald heador on his forehead, then he has a conta-gious skin disease. 43 The priest must ex-amine him. If the swollen sore is a brightspot like a spot on someonewho has a con-tagious skin disease, 44 the priest will de-clare that the man has a contagious skindisease and is not fit to be with other peo-ple.

45 Anyone who has a contagious skin dis-easemust wear torn clothes and not combhis hair. When he is near other people, hemust cover the lower part of his face andcall out, ‘Do not come near me! I have acontagious skin disease!’ 46 He is not al-lowed to be with other people as long ashe has the disease. Hemust live alone, out-side the camp.”

47-48 ”Sometimes a person’s clothing getsmildew on it. It may be clothing that is wo-ven fromwool ormade from linenor fromleather, or it may be another item that hasleather in it. 49 If the contaminated partis greenish or reddish, there is spreadingmildew, and the owner must show it toa priest. 50 The priest must examine itand then put it in a separate place by it-self for seven days. 51 On the seventh dayhe must examine it again. If the mildewhas spread, it is clear that it is mildew thatdestroys what it is on, and the clothing oritemmust not be used again. 52 The ownermust completely burn the item that hasthe mildew in it, whatever kind of item itis.

53 But when the priest examines it, if themildew has not spread, 54 he must tell theperson who owns it to wash it. Then hemust put it in a separate place for anotherseven days. 55 After seven days, the priestmust examine it again. If the color of themildew has not changed, even though ithas not spread, that itemmust not be usedagain. It does not matter if the mildew ison the inside of the item or on the outside.It must be burned. 56 But when the priestexamines it after it has beenwashed, if themildew has faded, he must tear out thepart that had the mildew in it. 57 If themildew reappears on that item, it is clearthat it is spreading, and the owner mustburn the entire item. 58 But after the cloth-ing is washed and the mildew disappears,the ownermustwash it again, and then he

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may use it again.59 These are the regulations concerningmildew on thingsmade ofwool or linen orleather, for deciding whether the ownermay continue to use those things or not.”

Chapter 141 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”These arethe regulations for anyone who has beenhealed of a contagious skin disease. 3

Other people must tell the priest aboutthat person. The priest will go outside thecamp and examine him. If the skin dis-ease has been healed, 4 the priest will saythat someone must bring two live birdsthat are acceptable to Yahweh, along withsome cedar wood, some scarlet yarn, andsome hyssop. 5 Then the priest will com-mand that one of the birds be killed whileit is being held over a clay pot contain-ing water from a spring, that is, fresh wa-ter. 6 Then the priest will dip the otherbird, along with the cedar wood, the scar-let yarn and the hyssop, into that water,which now has blood from the bird thatwas killed. 7 Then he must sprinkle someof the water and blood on the person whowas healed. He must sprinkle it on himseven times. Then he will declare that theperson is permitted to be with other peo-ple again. And the priest will release theother bird and allow it to fly away.8 Then the person who was healed mustwash his clothes, shave off all his hair, andbathe. After he does those things, he is al-lowed to return to the camp, but he muststay outside his tent for seven days. 9 Onthe seventh day, he must again shave offall his hair, including his beard and hiseyebrows. Then he must again wash hisclothes and bathe. After he does thosethings, he will be allowed to be with otherpeople again.

10 The next day that person must bringtwomale lambs and one female lamb; thefemale lambmust be one year old, and theanimals must have no defects. He mustalso bring about six and one-half liters ofa fine flour offering, mixed with olive oil,to be an offering, and about one-third literof olive oil. 11 The priestwhodeclared thatthe person’s skin disease has ended mustbring that person and his offerings to Yah-weh at the entrance to the sacred tent.

12 Then the priest must take one of themale lambs and lift it high, along with theolive oil, to show that he is giving this toYahweh as a guilt offering—because thesick personwas not able to give to Yahwehthe things that he was required to givehim. 13 Then the priest must slaughter thelamb in the special placewhere the priestskill the other sacrifices aswell. Like the of-fering to enable people to be forgiven, Godconsiders this guilt offering to be very spe-cial, and so themeat from it belongs to thepriest. 14 The priest must take some ofthat animal’s blood and put it on person’sright earlobe, on his right thumb, and onhis right big toe. 15 Then the priest musttake some of the olive oil and pour it intothe palm of his own left hand. 16 Then hemust dip his right forefinger into that oiland sprinkle it in front of Yahweh seventimes. 17 Next, the priest must put someof that oil in his hand on the person’s rightearlobe, on his right thumb, and on hisright big toe. He must put the oil in thosethree places, exactlywhere he has alreadyput the blood. 18 The priest must put whatis left of the oil in his hand onto the per-son’s head; thiswill show that Yahwehhasforgiven that person’s sins.

19 Then the priest must slaughter the fe-male lamb that the person brought; thiswill be the offering for the person’s sins, sothat Yahweh will forgive him. After that,the priest will slaughter the second male

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lamb and burn it whole on the altar. 20

He will also burn on the altar the offer-ingmade fromflour, alongwith thewholeburnt offering. Then the personwill be ac-ceptable in the camp; hewill be allowed tobe with the other people.

21 But if the person has gotten well is poorand cannot afford to bring all those ani-mals, he must bring to the priest onemalelamb for the priest to lift it up and offerit to Yahweh. This will be a sacrifice be-cause the sick person was not able to giveto Yahweh the things that hewas requiredto give him. He must also bring about twoliters of flour offering mixed with aboutone-third liter of olive oil; this will be anoffering made from flour. He must alsobring about one-third liter of olive oil. 22

He must also bring doves or two pigeons,one for Yahweh to as to offer for his sins,and one for the priest to burn completelyon the altar.

23 On that same day, the eighth day, thatpersonmust take those things to the priestat the entrance to the sacred tent, to offerthem to Yahweh. 24 Then the priest willtake the lamb for the guilt offering andthe olive oil, and he will raise them up asan offering to Yahweh and present themto him. 25 Then the priest will slaughterthat lamb and catch some of the blood ina bowl. Hewill take some of the blood andput it onto the person’s right earlobe, hisright thumb, and his right big toe. 26 Thenthe priest must take some of the olive oiland pour it into the palm of his own lefthand. 27 Then he must dip his right fore-finger into that oil and sprinkle it in frontof Yahweh seven times. 28 He must putsome of the oil in his palm on exactly thesame places where he put the blood. 29

He must put the rest of the oil that is inhis hand on the head of the person whosehas gotten well. This will show that Yah-weh has forgiven that person’s sins. 30

Then the priestmust sacrifice the doves oryoung pigeons, whichever kind that per-son has brought. 31 One will be a sin of-fering and the other will be completelyburned on the altar, along with the offer-ing made from flour. By doing that, thepriest will atone for that person’s sins.

32 These are the regulations for anyonewho has a contagious skin disease andwho is poor and cannot afford the usualofferings, in order that he can bewith peo-ple again.”

33 Yahweh also said to Aaron and Moses,34 ”I am about to give you the land ofCanaan to belong to your people perma-nently. When you enter that land, therewill be times when I cause mildew to ap-pear inside one of your houses. 35 If thathappens, the owner of that house must goto the priest and tell him, ‘There is some-thing in my house that looks like mildew.’36 Then the priest will say to him, ‘Takeeverything out of the house before I en-ter it to examine the mildew. If you donot do that, I will declare that everythingin the house is contaminated.’ 37 Afterthe owner takes everything outside of hishouse, the priest will go in and inspect thehouse. If the mildew has caused greenishor reddish spots on the walls that seem tobe deeper than only on the surface of thewalls, 38 the priest will go outside of thehouse and lock it up for seven days. 39

On the seventh day, he must go into thehouse and inspect it again. If the mildewon the walls has spread, 40 the priest willtell someone to tear out all the stones inthe walls that have mildew on them andthrow in the dump outside the town. 41

Then the owner must scrape all the wallsinside the house, and everything that isscraped off must be thrown into a dumpoutside the town. 42 Then the owner mustget new stones to replace the ones thathad mildew on them, and take new clay

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and plaster to cover the stones in thewallsof the house.43 If the mildew appears again in thehouse after that is done, 44 the priest mustgo and examine the house again. If themildewhas spread inside the house, itwillbe clear that the mildew is the kind thatdestroys houses, and no one will be al-lowed to live in it. 45 It must be com-pletely torn down—the stones, the timberand the plaster—and all those thingsmustbe thrown into a dump outside the town.46 Anyone who goes into that house whileit is locked up will not be allowed to bewith other people until sunset of that day.47 Anyonewho sleeps in that house or eatsin that house during that time must washhis clothes.48 But when the priest comes to examinethe house after it has been plastered, ifthe mildew has not spread, he will de-clare that people may live in it, becausethe mildew is gone. 49 But before peopleare allowed to live in it, the priest musttake two birds, some cedar wood, somered yarn, and some hyssop. 50 He mustkill one of the birds while holding it overa clay pot containing water taken from aspring. 51 Then he must take the cedarwood, the hyssop, the red bird, and dipthem into the blood of the dead bird, andsprinkle some of that blood and water onthe house seven times. 52 By doing allthose things hewill enable the house to befit for the owner to live in again. 53 Thenhe must release the other bird and allowit to fly away. By doing that, he will fin-ish the ritual for causing the house to beacceptable for people to live in it again.54 Those are the regulations for conta-gious diseases, for itching sores, 55 formildew on clothes or in a house, 56 andfor swellings, rashes, or bright spots onsores; 57 these regulations will determinewhether people will still be permitted to

touch those things or not.”

Chapter 151 Yahweh also said to Moses and Aaron,2 ”Tell this to the Israelites: When an un-usual, infected fluid comes out of a man’sprivate parts, no one should touch thatman. 3 Whether that fluid is blocked orcontinues to drip, no one should touchhim.4 No one should touch any bed that such aman lies on, nor anything he sits on. 5 Any-one who touches that person’s bed mustwash his clothes and bathe, and allow noone to touch him until that evening. 6

Anyone who sits on something that manhas sat on must wash his clothes andbathe, and allowno one to touch himuntilthat evening.7 Anyone who touches such a man mustwash his clothes and bathe, and allow noone to touch him until that evening.8 If such aman spits on someone else, thatperson must allow no one to touch him.He must wash his clothes, and he must al-low no one to touch him until evening.9 Everything that a man who has such aflow of fluid sits on while he is riding ahorse or a donkey should not be touched.10 Anyone who touches a seat or saddlethat hewas sitting on also should allow noone to touch him until that evening. Andanyone who picks up those things mustwash his clothes and bathe, and no oneshould touch him until that evening. 11 Ifthe person with the flow of fluid wishesto touch someone else, he must first rinsehis hands in water; if he touches any-one without doing that first, the one hetouched must wash his clothes and bathe,and allow no one to touch him until thatevening.

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12 If such a man touches a clay pot, some-one must break it. Anything made fromwood that he touches—someone mustrinse it in water.13 If such a man gets well from his flow offluid, he must wait for seven days. Thenhe must wash his clothes and bathe in wa-ter from a spring or stream. Then he willbe able to be with others. 14 On the eighthday, he must take two doves or two pi-geons and come in front of Yahweh at theentrance of the sacred tent, and give themto the priest. 15 The priest will sacrificethem. One bird will be an offering for theman’s sin, and the priest will completelyburn the other one on the altar. Then theman will be pure again and acceptable toYahweh.16 When semen accidentally flows froma man’s private parts, he must bathe hiswhole body, and no one may touch himuntil that evening. 17 Any clothing orleather that has semen on it must bewashed, andno onemay touch it until thatevening. 18 When a man has slept with awoman and gives her semen, both of themmust bathe, and no one may touch themuntil that evening.19 When a woman has her menstrual pe-riod, no onemay touch her for seven days.If anyone touches her during that time, noone may touch the person who touchedher until that evening. 20 No one maytouch anything that she lies on or sits onduring that time. 21 Anyone who touchesher bed must wash his clothes and bathe,and no one may touch that person untilthat evening. 22-23 Anyone who touchessomething that she has been sitting on,a bed or anything else, must wash hisclothes, and no onemay touch that personuntil that evening.24 If a man sleeps with a woman dur-ing that time and some of her menstrualblood touches him, no one may touch him

for seven days, and no one may touch thebed that he has lain on.25 If a woman has a flow of blood formanydays, a flow that is not her normal men-strual flow of blood, or if her flow of bloodcontinues after her menstrual flow ends,no one may touch her until it stops. 26

Andno onemay touch the bed that she lieson or anything that she sits on while thatflow of blood continues, just as during hernormal menstrual period. 27 Anyone whotouches those things must not touch any-one else. He must wash his clothes andbathe, and he may not touch anyone elseuntil that evening.28 If the woman is healed of her flow ofblood, she must wait seven days beforeshe touches anyone. 29 On the eighth day,she must take doves or young pigeons tothe priest at the entrance to the sacredtent. 30 The priest must sacrifice one ofthem as an offering for her sins, and hemust completely burn the other one onthe altar. Then she will be pure again andacceptable to Yahweh.31 You must do these things in order thatthe people, at the times when they are un-acceptable to me, do not defile my sacredtent, where I live among them. For it theydo defile it, they will die.32 Those are the regulations for amanwhohas a discharge from his body, or whohas an emission of semen, when that hap-pens he is unclean; 33 and for any womanduring her menstrual period, and for anymanwho sleeps with awoman during hermenstrual period.’”

Chapter 161 After the two sons of Aaron died becausethey burned incense to Yahweh in a man-ner that was contrary to what he had com-

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manded, Yahweh spoke to Moses. 2 Hesaid to him, ”Tell your brother Aaron notto go into the very holy place, which isinside the inmost curtain, where the sa-cred chest and its lid are, and where Iam present in the cloud that is over it. IfAaron goes in that roomwhen it is not theproper time, he will die!3 When Aaron enters the very holy placein the sacred tent, he must bring a bullthat will be killed to become an offeringfor sins, and a ram to be killed to be anoffering that the priests will burn wholeon the altar. 4 Then Aaron must bathe hiswhole body and put on the linen under-wear and the linen tunic. He must tie thelinen sash around his waist and wrap theturban around his head. These are his sa-cred garments. 5 The Israelite peoplemustthen bring to him two male goats to bekilled as an offering for sin, and a ram tobe killed and burned whole on the altar.6 Aaron must offer the bull to me to bea sacrifice in order that I will forgive hissins and his family’s sins. 7 Then he mustbring the two male goats to me at the en-trance to the sacred tent. 8 He must castlots to determine which goat will be sacri-ficed tome andwhichwill be the goat thathe will set free. 9 Aaron must bring to methe goat that was chosen to be sacrificed.It will be an offering for the people’s sins.10 Aaron must also bring to me the othergoat. But it is not to be killed. It will befreed while it is still alive. When Aaronsends it into the wilderness, I will forgivethe people’s sins.11 Then Aaron must bring the young bullto me, for it to be an offering for him-self and for his family. He must slaugh-ter that bull to be an offering for theirsins, and he must drain the blood into abasin. 12 Thenhemust take someburningcoals from the bronze altar and put theminto the incense burner. Then he must fill

his hands with fragrant, finely ground in-cense. Then he must take the incense andthe incense burner inside the curtain intothe very holy place, in the sacred tent. 13

In the presence of Yahweh, he must putthe incense on the burning coals. And acloud of burning incense will rise up overthe lid of the sacred chest. If he obeysthese instructions, hewill not diewhen hepresents these offerings to Yahweh. 14

Then Aaron must dip his finger into thebasin and sprinkle some blood on the lidof the sacred chest, and also sprinkle someblood seven times against the front of thechest.

15 Aaron must then go outside the sacredtent and slaughter the goat, for it to be anoffering for the sins of the people. Thenhe must bring its blood into the very holyplace behind the curtain. There he mustsprinkle some of that blood on the lid ofthe sacred chest and against the front ofthe chest, as he did with the bull’s blood.16 By doing that, he will purify the veryholy place. And he must sprinkle moreof the blood on the sacred tent, because Iam present where the tent is, in the midstof the camp of the Israelite people, whohave become unacceptable to me becauseof their sins. 17 When Aaron goes intothe very holy place in the sacred tent topurify it, no one else is permitted to enterthe other part of the sacred tent. Only af-ter Aaron has performed rituals to enableme to forgive him and his family, and allthe Israelite people, is any priest permit-ted to enter the sacred tent.

18 Then Aaron must go outside the tent topurifymy altar. Hemust do this by smear-ing some of the blood from the bull andsome of the blood from the goat on eachof the projections at the corners of the al-tar. 19 Then Aaronmust dip his finger intothe basin of blood and sprinkle some ofthe blood over the altar seven times. By

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doing that, he will separate the altar fromthe Israelites’ deeds that are unacceptableto me. The altar will be set apart for me.20 When Aaron has finished purifying thevery holy place inside the sacred tent andall of the sacred tent and the altar, hemustbring the goat that was chosen to be setfree. 21 He must put both of his handson the goat’s head and confess all the sinsof the Israelite people. By doing that, hewill put the guilt of their sins on the goat’shead. Then hemust give the goat to amanwho is chosen, and that man will send thegoat out into the wilderness. 22 I will viewthe goat as carrying away into the wilder-ness the guilt for all the sins that the peo-ple have committed.23 When Aaron leaves the very holy placeand goes into the other part of the sacredtent, hemust take off the linen clothes thathe had put on; hemust leave those specialclothes there. 24 Then he must bathe ina sacred place, put on his regular clothes,and sacrifice the animals that hewill burnwhole on the altar, for his own sins and forthe sins of the Israelite people. Then Yah-weh will forgive their sins. 25 He mustalso burn on the altar all the fat of the twoanimals that were sacrificed.26 After the man who was to lead thegoat into the wilderness has done thatand set it free, then he must return, washhis clothes, and bathe himself. Then hemay enter the camp again. 27 The car-casses of the bull and the goat that wereslaughtered as an offering for the people’ssins, to make atonement for them, mustbe carried outside the camp and burned.The hides of these animals, their innerorgans, and their dung must be burned.28 The man who burns those things mustthenwash his clothes and bathe before hecomes back into the camp.29 On the tenth day of the seventh month,on the day that I have appointed, you all

must fast and not do any work. This is arule that you must always obey—all younative born Israelites and all the foreign-ers living among you. 30 On that day,Aaron will perform rituals to enable meto forgive you all, and then I will free youall from the guilt of all your sins. 31 Thatwill be a day for you to rest and not doany work, like the Sabbath days, and youmust fast all that day. That is a perma-nent command for you all to obey. 32 Thepriest who is anointed with olive oil andset apart from others to serve Yahweh, hewill offer a sacrifice, put on linen clothesthat are set apart for the honor of God, 33and offer sacrifices. He will do this to pu-rify the very holy place, all of the sacredtent, the altar, the priests, and all the Is-raelites, as Aarondid. 34 Thiswill be a per-manent command for you to obey once ev-ery year, to enable me to forgive you Is-raelite people for the sins that you havecommitted.”

Moses obeyed all the instructions that Yah-weh had given to him.

Chapter 171 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”Speak toAaron and his sons and to all the other Is-raelites. Tell them that I am giving themthe following commands: 3 If you sacrificean ox, a lamb, or a goat, you must bringit to the priest at the entrance to the areaof the sacred tent, so that he may presentit to me there. 4 If you slaughter it any-where else as a sacrifice, whether in thecamp or outside of it, you will be guiltyof shedding its blood in an unacceptableplace. If you do that, you will no longerbe allowed to be with Yahweh’s people. 5

Yahweh is telling you to do this so thatyou will no longer offer sacrifices in theopen fields; instead, you must offer them

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to him in the proper manner: By takingthem to the priest at the entrance to thearea of the sacred tent, to be offeringsto promise friendship with him. 6 Afterthe priest slaughters the animal, he mustsprinkle some of its blood against the al-tar at the entrance to the sacred tent, andburn its fat for an aroma that is pleasingto Yahweh. 7 You people must no longergive sacrifices to the images that resem-ble goats. You people must obey this com-mand for all time.”8 Yahweh also said this to Moses: ”TellAaron and his sons to tell the peoplethat if any Israelite or any foreigner liv-ing among them brings an offering for apriest to burn whole on the altar, or if hebrings any other sacrifice, 9 but if he doesnot bring it to the entrance of the sacredtent area as be a sacrifice to me, that per-son will no longer be allowed to be withmy people.10 I will reject any Israelite or any for-eigner who is living among you who con-sumes the blood of any animal, andhewillno longer be allowed to associate with mypeople. 11 That is because the life of everyanimal is in its blood. I have declared thatit is blood that is to be offered on the al-tar, so that I will forgive people their sins.12 That is why I say that neither you Is-raelites, nor any foreigner living amongyou, may consume any blood.13 If any of you Israelites or any foreignerwho is living among you goes hunting andkills an animal or bird that I allow you toeat, you must drain out its blood onto theground and cover it with earth. 14 Thisis because the life of every creature is inits blood. That is why I have said to you Is-raelites that anyone who consumes bloodfromananimalmust no longer be allowedto associate with my people.15 If any of you Israelites or any foreignerwho is living among you eats any meat

from an animal that died or that waskilled by wild animals, you must washyour clothes and bathe. Then you mustnot touch anyone else until that evening.16 If you do not obey this rule, I will cer-tainly punish you.’”

Chapter 181 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”Speak tothe Israelite people and tell them that I,Yahweh, say this, ’I am Yahweh, your God.3 After seeing how the Egyptians behaved,amongwhom you also lived, youmust notdo what they did. And you must not be-have as the Canaanites live, into whoseland I am taking you. Youmust avoid theirpractices. 4 You must obey all of mylaws; you must do everything that I, Yah-weh your God, am commanding you. 5 Ifyou obey allmy decrees and laws, youwillcontinue to remain alive for a long time. I,Yahweh, am promising you this. Here aresome of my laws.6 Do not sleep with any of your close rela-tives. It is I, Yahweh, who am command-ing that.7 Do not disgrace your father by sleepingwith your mother. Do not disgrace yourmother in this manner.8 Do not sleep with any of your father’sother wives, because that would disgraceyour father.9 Do not sleep with either your full sisteror half-sister. It does not matter whethershe was born and raised in your house orsomewhere else.10 Do not sleep with your granddaughter,because that would disgrace you.11 Do not sleep with your half-sister, onewhose father is also your father; she isyour sister.

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12 Donot sleepwith your father’s sister, be-cause she is your father’s close relative.13 Do not sleep with your mother’s sister,because she is your mother’s close rela-tive.14 Do not disgrace your father’s brother bysleepingwith his wife, because she is youraunt.15 Do not sleep with your daughter-in-law,because she is your son’s wife.16 Do not sleep with your brother’swife, because that would disgrace yourbrother.17 Do not sleepwith the daughter or grand-daughter of any woman with whom youhave previously slept. They are her closerelatives. Sleeping with any of themwould be an evil thing to do.18 While your wife is still living, do notmarry your wife’s sister and sleep withher.19 Do not sleep with any womanwhile sheis having her menstrual period.20 Do not defile yourself by sleeping withsomeone else’s wife.21 Do not give any of your children tobe burned to be as a sacrifice to the godMolech, because that would dishonor me,Yahweh, your God.22 Noman should sleep with another man.That is detestable.23 No one, man or woman, should defilehimself by sleeping with an animal. Thatis a perverse action.24 Do not defile yourselves in any of theseways, because doing these things is howthe people of the nations became unac-ceptable to me, the people groups that Iwill drive out as you advance into the landthat I am giving you. 25 They even causedthe land to become defiled, so I punishedthem for their sins, and it was as though

the land had vomited out the people wholived there. 26 But you must all obey mylaws and decrees. This includes both youpeople who were born here and the for-eigners who live among you. 27 As for allthose detestable things, before you came,the peoplewho lived in this land did them,and they defiled the land. 28 So if you alsodefile the land, I will get rid of you as Igot rid of the people of those nations thatwere here before you came.29 You must not allow people who doany of those detestable things to associatewith you, who are my people. 30 Obeyall that I command you to do, and donot defile yourselves by following any ofthe disgusting habits of the people whowere there before you came. I, Yahwehyour God, am the onewho is commandingthese things.’”

Chapter 191 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”Speak toall the people of Israel and tell them this:’You must be holy, because Yahweh yourGod is holy, and he wants you to be likehim.3 Each of youmust respect your father andyour mother. And you must honor theSabbath days. It is Yahweh, yourGod, whois commanding you to do these things.4 Do not worship idols, which are worthnothing, or makemetal statues of gods foryourselves. Yahweh is your God; it is hewho is telling you this. He is the only oneyou must worship.5 Yahweh also says this: ’When you bringan offering to promise friendshipwithme,offer it in a way that I will accept. 6 Themeat should be eaten on the day that yousacrifice it, but you may eat some of it onthe next day. However, you must burn

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anything that remains until the third day.7 For any of it to be eaten on the third dayis very displeasing to me, and I will not ac-cept that offering. 8 I will punish anyonewho eats it after the second day, becausehe will have not respected what I say isholy. And that person must no longer beallowed to associate with my people.9 When you harvest your grain, leave thegrain standing at the edges of the field andin the corners. Do not pick up the sheavesthat have fallen to the ground. 10 Andwhen you harvest your grapes, do not goback a second time to try to harvest somemore, and do not pick up the grapes thathave fallen on the ground. Leave thosethings for the poor people and for foreign-ers who are living among you. I, Yah-weh your God, am commanding you thosethings.11 Do not steal anything.

Do not tell lies.

Do not deceive each other.12 Do not call uponme to punish you if yousay something that you know is false. Ifyou do this, you will dishonor me. Do notforget that I am Yahweh, your God.13 Do not cheat anyone or steal from any-one.

If you have agreed to pay your workersat the end of the day, do what you havepromised. Do not keep those wages untilthe next day.14 Do not curse deaf people, and do notput things in the path of blind people tocause them to stumble. I, Yahweh, amcommanding this.15 Always judge people fairly. Do not dospecial favors for either poor people orrich people.16 Do not spread false rumors about otherpeople.

Do not remain silent in court if your testi-mony would keep an innocent person be-ing executed. I, Yahweh, am commandingthis.17 Do not hate anyone. Instead, honestlyrebuke otherswho ought to be rebuked, inorder that you also will not be guilty.18 Do not try to get revenge against some-one or be angry with someone for a longtime. Instead, love other people like youlove yourself. I, Yahweh your God, amcommanding this.19 Obey my laws.

Do not allow two different kinds of ani-mals to mate with each other.

Do not plant two different kinds of seed inthe same field.

Do not wear clothing made from two dif-ferent kinds of material.20 If aman sleepswith a slavewomanwhohas been promised to marry some otherman, but if she has not been bought bythat man and is still a slave, these two peo-ple must be punished. But because shewas still a slave, she and the man whoslept with her must not be executed. 21

However, that man must bring a ram tobe slaughtered at the entrance of the sa-cred tent area, to be an offering in orderthat he no longer be guilty for his sin. 22

The priest will offer that ram to me. ThenI will forgive that man for the sin whichhe committed.23 When you enter the land that I havepromised to give to you, and when youplant various kinds of fruit trees, youmust not eat any of their fruit for threeyears. 24 In the fourth year you must setaside all of their fruit to belong to me; youmust set it apart as holy, an offering togive me praise. 25 But in the fifth year,you will be permitted to eat their fruit. Ifyou do that, your trees will produce much

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fruit. I, Yahweh your God, am promisingthat.26 Do not eat any meat that still has the an-imal’s blood in it.

Do not consult spirits to find out what willhappen in the future, and do not practicesorcery.27 Donot shave the hair at the sides of yourheads as pagan people do.28 Do not cut your bodies when you aremourning for people who have died, anddo not put tattoos on your bodies. I, Yah-weh your God, am commanding this.29 Do not disgrace your daughters by forc-ing them to become prostitutes. If youcause them to become prostitutes, soonthe land will be filled with prostitutes andall other kinds of people’s wicked behav-ior.30 Honor my Sabbath days and revere mysacred tent, because I am Yahweh.31 Do not seek advice from those who tryto get the spirits of dead people give themadvice. If you do that, I will no longer ac-cept you. I am Yahweh your God.32 Stand up when old people enter theroom, and show that you respect them.You must also honor me, your God; thatis who I am.33 When foreigners live among you inyour land, do not mistreat them. 34 Youmust treat them like you treat your fel-low citizens. Love them as you love your-selves, and do not forget that once whenyou were foreigners in Egypt you werebadly mistreated by the people of Egypt. I,YahwehyourGod, amcommanding you todo this.35 When you are measuring things, tosee how long they are or how much theyweigh or how many there are, 36 usecorrect measuring sticks and scales and

weights on the scales and measuring bas-kets and other measuring containers. Iam Yahweh, your God, who brought youout of Egypt.37 Obey carefully all my laws and decrees.It is I, Yahweh, who am commanding youthese things.’”

Chapter 201 Yahweh also said this to Moses: 2 ”Tellthe Israelite people, ’Any Israelite or anyforeigner who is living in Israel who sac-rifices any of his children as an offeringto the idol Molech must die. The people ofthe townmust kill him by throwing stonesat him. 3 I will reject such people andcause them to no longer be with my peo-ple. 4 If the people of that man’s town ig-nore it when he kills any of his childrento offer him to Molech, and if they do notexecute that person, 5 I myself will punishthat person and his clan. I will commandthat he must no longer be with my peo-ple. And I will do the same thing to anyothers who are unfaithful to me and whoworship Molech.6 I will reject those who go to those whoconsult the spirits of dead people, or whogo to fortune tellers who ask spirits to ad-vise them. I will reject such people; theywill no longer be with my own people.7 Set yourselves apart for my honor, sothat you may belong to me, because I amYahweh your God. 8 Carefully obey every-thing that I have commanded you. I amYahweh, the one who sets you apart fromthe other peoples so that I am honored.9 If anyone curses his father or hismother,you must execute him. He himself will beresponsible for his own death.10 If a man commits adultery with someother man’s wife, then you must execute

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both of them, the man and the woman.11 If a man sleeps with one of his fa-ther’s wives, he has dishonored his father.So you must execute both that man andwoman; they will be responsible for theirown deaths.12 If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, you must execute them both. Theyhave exchanged good for evil; they bothdeserve to die.13 If two men have slept together, theyhave done something detestable. Youmust execute them both; they will be re-sponsible for their own deaths.14 If a manmarries both a woman and hermother, that is a wicked thing. You mustburn all three of them to death, in orderthat no one among you continues to com-mit such an evil deed.15 If a man sleeps with an animal, youmust execute both him and that animal.16 Similarly, if a woman sleeps with an an-imal, you must execute both her and thatanimal. They will be responsible for theirown deaths.17 If a man sleeps with his sister, thedaughter of either his mother or hisfather—if they have slept together, that isdisgraceful. They will no longer be withmy people. Because he has slept with hissister, he is guilty.18 If a man sleeps with a woman duringher menstrual period, they have both re-vealed her flowing blood, so neither ofthem must be with my people anymore.19 No man must sleep with the sister ofeither his father or his mother, becausehe would be disgracing someone who isa close relative. You must punish such aman, as well as the woman.20 If a man sleeps with his uncle’s wife, hehas dishonored his uncle. What for they

have done, they must be responsible fortheir actions. And when they die, theirchildrenwould be stripped of the rights toany inheritance theywould have receivedfrom their parents.

21 If a man marries his brother’s wife, itis a sin because he has dishonored hisbrother’s marriage. The rights of inheri-tance would be stripped away from anychildren they would have received fromfrom their parents.

22 Obey all my decrees and laws carefully,in order that youwill not have to leave theland to which I am bringing you. 23 Do notimitate the customs of the people of theland fromwhich I am going to drive themout, as you advance into it. I hate them be-cause they have done all those things. 24

But I said to you, “You will take their landfrom them. I will give it to you to be yours,a land that is very fertile. I am Yahwehyour God, who has set you apart from thepeople of other nations.”

25 So you must distinguish between birdsand animals that are unacceptable to meand those that are acceptable to me. Donot defile yourselves by eating birds or an-imals, or anything that crawls along onthe ground, things that I have said are un-acceptable for you. 26 You must live asa people who are set apart for my honor,because I, Yahweh, am also set apart and Ido everything for my honor. I have takenyou out of the other nations, because youare mine.

27 You must execute any man or womanamong you who consults the spirits ofdead people or other spirits. Kill them bythrowing stones at them; they will be re-sponsible for their own deaths.’”

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Chapter 211 Yahweh also said to Moses, ”Speak to thepriests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them,2 ’You priests must not cause yourselvesto become unfit to do my work by touch-ing any dead body. You are permitted totouch only the corpses of close relatives,such as your mother, father, son, daugh-ter or your brother. 3 You may also touchthe corpse of a sister if she is not mar-ried and has been living in your house, be-cause she has no husband to bury her. 4

You priests must not cause yourselves tobecome unfit to do my work by touchingthe dead bodies of other relatives of yours.5 You priestsmust not shave your heads orthe edges of your beards; youmust not cutyour bodies to show that you are mourn-ing for someone who has died. 6 Youmustact in ways that I, your God, consider tobe suitable for you, my priests; you mustnot disgrace me. You are the ones whowill present to me the offerings that youwill burn. These offerings will be made tome from your food supplies. So you mustact in ways that are suitable, because youhonor me.7 You priests must not marry women whohave been prostitutes or who have beendivorced from their husbands, becauseyou priests are set apart for God. 8 Youmust remember that I have set you apartto worship me. It is as though you wereoffering food to me, your God. Regardyourselves as belonging to me, because I,Yahweh, am the one who made you to bepriests, and I have nothing to do with anyevil—I am holy.9 If a priest’s daughter becomes a pros-titute, she disgraces her father, and youmust burn her in a fire.10 The high priest is the one among hisrelatives who has been appointed for that

work by having his head anointed witholive oil. He is also the one who has beenappointed to wear the garments that aremade and set apart for the honor of Yah-weh. He must not allow the hair on hishead to remain uncombed, and he mustnot tear his clothes when he is mourningfor someone. 11 He must not enter anyplace where there is a corpse. He mustnot do that and cause himself to becomeunfit for his work, even if it is his fatheror his mother who has died. 12 He mustnot leave the sacred tent to join those whoare mourning, because he would causehimself to become unfit for his work andwould also defile the sacred tent. He mustnot leave the sacred tent at that time, be-cause by being anointed with olive oil hehas been appointed to serve his God in thesacred tent. I, Yahweh, am the one whoam commanding this.

13 Women whom you priests marry mustbe virgins. 14-15 Youpriestsmust notmarrywidows or prostitutes or divorcedwomen,because if you do that, and if you laterhave sons, they will not be acceptable tobe priests among your people. You mustmarry only virgins from among your ownpeople. I am Yahweh, who sets priestsapart formyhonor and for thosewhowor-ship me.’”

16 Yahweh also said to Moses, 17 ”Say thistoAaron: ’For all future time, none of yourdescendants who has any defects on hisbody will be allowed to come near the al-tar to offer sacrifices to me which will belike my food. 18 No one who is blind orlame or deformed, or whose face is dis-figured, 19 no man with a crippled footor a crippled hand, 20 no man who hasa hunchback or an abnormally short per-son, no man whose eyes are defective, noman who has a skin disease or whose pri-vate parts have been damaged. 21 No de-scendant of Aaron, the first high priest,

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who has any defect is allowed to come tothe altar to offer to me, his God, sacrificesthat will be burned. 22 Priests who havedefects are permitted to eat the variouskinds of holy food offered to me. 23 Butbecause of their defects, they must not gonear the curtain in the sacred tent or nearthe altar, because if they did that, theywould desecrate my sacred tent. I am Yah-weh, the one who sets those places apartfor myself and for my honor.’”24 So Moses told this to Aaron and to hissons and to all the Israelite people.

Chapter 221 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”Explainto Aaron and his sons about when theyshould not touch or eat any food that thepeople have dedicated to me by giving itas a sacrifice. They must not dishonor meor my name. I am Yahweh.3 Tell them that for all future time, if theyor any of their descendants become unfitfor any reason to do the work that priestsmust do, they must not go near anythingthe people of Israel have dedicated to meas an offering. Anyone who violates thisrule will no longer be part of my people. Iam Yahweh.4 If any descendant of Aaron has a con-tagious skin disease or a discharge fromhis private parts, he is not allowed toeat any of the sacred offerings until he iscured. He will also be unfit for his workif he touches anything that has toucheda corpse, or if he touches anyone who asan emission of semen, 5 or if he touchesanything that crawls on the ground, or ifhe touches any person who causes him tobe unfit for his work. 6 Any priest whotouches anything unclean will be uncleanuntil evening. He must not eat any ofthe holy things, unless he first washes his

body with water. 7 After the sun sets, hemay eat food from the sacred offerings, be-cause they are now his food that is to beeaten. 8 But he must not eat anything thathas died a natural death or that has beenkilled by wild animals, because if he didthat, he would be unfit to work for me. I,Yahweh, am commanding those things.9 The priests must obey my command-ments; they must not despise them, orthey will become guilty and die. I am Yah-weh, the one who sets them apart for myhonor.10 No onewho does not belong to a priest’sfamily is permitted to eat from the sacredoffering. No one who is visiting the priest,or one that has been hired by the priest,none of them is permitted to eat it. 11 Butif a priest buys a slave, or if a slave is bornin his house, that slave is permitted to eatsuch food. 12 If a priest’s daughter mar-ries a man who is not a priest, she is nolonger permitted to eat the sacred foodsthatwere given to Yahweh as gifts or offer-ings. 13 But suppose that a priest’s daugh-ter who has no children becomes a widowor becomes divorced, and suppose alsothat she returns to her father’s house tolive there as she did when she was young.In that case, she may eat the same foodthat her father eats. But no other personis permitted to eat any of it.14 If anyone who is not permitted to eata sacred offering eats it without realizingthat it is sacred, he must pay the priestfor the food and add an extra one-fifth toit. 15 When the priests bring offerings tome, the sacred offerings that the Israelitepeople bring to them, they must not treatthose offerings as though they were notspecial to me; 16 the people must not al-low anyone who is not a priest to eat anyof those offerings. If they did that, theywould become guilty. I am Yahweh, theone who sets the Israelite people apart

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from other people and makes them holyfor my honor.”

17 Yahweh also said to Moses, 18 ”Speak toAaron and his sons and to all the Israelitepeople and tell them that I say this to them,’If any of you Israelites or foreigners wholive in Israel brings to me an animal thatwill be completely burned on the altar, ei-ther as a result of a solemn promise thatyoumade tome or to be an offering that isgiven voluntarily, 19 you must bring fromyour cattle or sheep or goats an animalthat has no defects, in order that I mayaccept it. 20 Do not bring any animalsthat have defects, because Iwill not acceptthem for you. 21 Similarly, when someonebrings from his cattle or sheep or goatsan offering to promise friendshipwithme,either to fulfill a promise that he madeto me or to be a voluntary offering—forme to accept it, it must have no defectsor blemishes. 22 Do not offer to me ani-mals that are blind or injured or maimed,or any animal that has warts or a fester-ing sore. 23 You may present to me to bea voluntary offering an ox or a sheep thatis injured or stunted, but it will not be ac-cepted to fulfill a promise made to me. 24

You must not offer to me animals whosetesticles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut.You must not present these kind of dam-aged animals as offerings to Yahweh any-where in the land where you live, 25 andyoumust not accept such animals that aresold to you by a foreigner. You must notoffer them to me as food for me. Such an-imals will not be accepted by me, becausethey are deformed or have defects.’”

26 Yahweh also said to Moses, 27 ”When acalf or lambor goat is born, itmust remainwith its mother for seven days. After that,it can be accepted to be an offering to methat will be burned. 28 Do not slaughter acow or a sheep and its newborn young onthe same day.

29 When you sacrifice an animal to thankme for what I have done, sacrifice it in away that I will accept. 30 The meat mustbe eaten on that day. Do not leave any ofit until the next morning. I, Yahweh, amthe one who is commanding this.31 Obey all my commands. I, Yahweh, amcommanding them. 32 Do not dishonorme by disobeying them. You Israelite peo-ple must acknowledge that I, Yahweh, amholy, and I am the one who causes you tobe holy. 33 And I am the one who broughtyou out of Egypt in order that I, Yahweh,will be your God.”

Chapter 231 Yahweh said to Moses, 2 ”Tell the Is-raelites about the festivals for Yahweh,the days when you all must gather to-gether in holy assemblies on set timeseach year, as festivals in which you wor-ship me.3 You may work for six days each week,but on the seventh day you must not doanywork. Youmust rest. It is a sacred daywhen you must gather together to wor-shipme. Wherever you live, youmust reston that day.4 There are festivals that I am establishingfor you. These will be sacred days whenyoumust gather together toworshipme. 5The first festival is the Passover. That festi-val will begin at twilight on the appointedday each spring and end the following day.6 The next day will begin the Festival ofBreadwith no Yeast. That festival will con-tinue for seven days. During that time, thebread that you eat must be made withoutyeast. 7 On the first day of that festival, allof you must stop your regular work andgather together to worship me. 8 On eachof the seven days, you must present to me

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several animals as an offering to be com-pletely burned on the altar. On the sev-enth day, all of you must again stop yourregular work and gather to worship me.”

9 Yahweh also told Moses 10 to tell the Is-raelite people about other festivals. Hesaid, ”After you arrive in the land whichI am giving to you, and when you harvestyour crops for the first time there, bringto the priest some of the first grain thatyou harvest. 11 On the day after the nextSabbath day, the priest will lift it up highto dedicate it to me, in order that I mayaccept it as your gift. 12 On that sameday you must sacrifice to me a one yearold male lamb that has no defects. Youmust burn it on the altar. 13 You must alsoburn a flour offering. That offering mustconsist of four and one-half liters of goodflour, ground grain, mixed with olive oil.The smell of those things burning will bevery pleasing to me. Along with that, youmust also offer one liter of wine, whichwill be a liquid offering. 14 Do not eat anybread or any roasted or unroasted grainon that day until after you have broughtthose offerings to me, your God. You andall your descendants must always obeythese commands, wherever you live.

15 Count seven weeks and one day afterthe priest offers that bundle of grain tome. 16 Then on the day after the seventhSabbath, each family must bring to mean offering from the new crop of grain.17 From your homes, bring two loaves ofbread to the priest. He will lift them uphigh to dedicate them as an offering tome. Those loavesmust be baked from fourand one-half liters of good flour that hasyeast mixed with it. That bread will bean offering tome from the first wheat thatyou harvest each year. 18 Along with thisbread, you must present to me seven oneyear old lambs with no defects, one youngbull, and two rams. They must all be com-

pletely burned on the altar. All those offer-ings, with the flour offering and the wineoffering, will be burned, and the smell ofall those things burningwill be very pleas-ing to me. 19 Then you must also kill onemale goat as an offering for your sins, andtwo one year old male lambs to be an of-fering for you to promise friendship withme. 20 The priest will lift up these offer-ings high to dedicate them to me. He willalso offer the loaves of bread that werebaked from the first wheat that you har-vest. Those offerings are special to me;but they are for the priest. 21 On thatday, you must stop your regular work andgather to worship me. You and all yourdescendants must always obey these com-mands, wherever you live.22 When you harvest the grain in yourfields, do not harvest what is along theedges of the fields, and do not pick up thegrain that the harvesters drop. Leave itfor the poor people and for the foreignerswho are living among you. Do not forgetthat it is I, Yahweh your God, who am com-manding those things!”23 Yahweh also told Moses 24 to give theseinstructions to the Israelite people: ”Eachyear in the seventhmonth, on the first dayof that month, all of you must celebratethat day, on which you will completelyrest. You must not do any work on thatday. When the priests blow their trum-pets loudly, you all must gather togetheras a holy assembly, toworshipme. 25 All ofyou must not do any regular work on thatday. Instead, you must present offeringsto me that will be burned on the altar.”26 Yahweh also said to Moses, 27 ”Youmustcelebrate a day on which you request thatI forgive you for the sins that you havecommitted. That day will be nine days af-ter the festival when the priests blow thetrumpets. On that day you must not eat.You must gather together to worship me

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and present offerings to me that will beburned on the altar. 28 You must not doanywork on that day, because it is the Dayof Atonement, when the priests will offersacrifices to me to atone for your sins. 29

You must drive out from the people any-one who does not go without eating onthat day. 30 I will get rid of anyone whodoes any kind of work on that day. 31 Youmust not work at all! You and all yourdescendants must always obey these com-mands, wherever you live. 32 That daywillbe a day of complete rest for all of you, andon that day youmust fast to show that youare sorry for having sinned. That day ofrest and going without food will begin onthe evening before the day in which youask me to forgive you for your sins, andit will end on the evening of the followingday.”

33 Yahweh also said to Moses, 34 ”Tellthe Israelite people that each year theymust also celebrate the Festival of Shel-ters. That festival will begin five days af-ter the Day of Atonement. This festivalwill last for seven days. 35 On the firstday of that festival, the peoplemust gathertogether to worship me, and they mustnot do any regular work. 36 On each ofthe seven days of this festival, they mustpresent to me an offering of animals thatwill be burned on the altar. On the eighthday, they must gather again as a holy as-sembly to worship me and present to meanother animal that will be burned on thealtar. That also will be a sacred gather-ing, and they must not work on that day,either.

37 To summarize, those are the festivalsthat I have appointed. Celebrate these fes-tivals by gathering together to present tome all the various offerings that will beburned on the altar—animals that will beburned completely, and offerings of flour,offerings to promise friendship with me,

and offerings of wine. Each offering mustbe brought on the day that I have indi-cated. 38 You must celebrate these festi-vals in addition to worshiping me on theSabbath days. And you must give me allthose offerings in addition to the offeringsthat people personally decide to give, andin addition to the offerings that peoplemake to accompany the solemn promisesthat they have made.39 Returning to my instructions about theFestival of Shelters, you must celebratethis festival after you have harvested allthe crops. On the first day and on the lastday of that festival, you must rest com-pletely. 40 But on the first day, youare permitted to pick the best fruit fromtrees. You will also take branches fromthe palm trees, leafy branches from othertrees, and willow trees near the stream,and make shelters to live in for that week.Then rejoice in my presence for thoseseven days. 41 You must celebrate this fes-tival for seven days every year. You andall your descendants must always obeythese commands, wherever you live. Youmust celebrate this festival in the seventhmonth. 42 During the seven days ofthat festival, all of you people who havebeen Israelites all of your lives must livein shelters. 43 This festival will always re-mind your descendants that their ances-tors lived in shelters for many years afterI rescued them from Egypt. Do not forgetthat I, Yahweh your God, am the one whois commanding this.”44 So Moses gave to the Israelite peopleall these instructions concerning the fes-tivals that Yahweh wanted them to cele-brate each year.

Chapter 241 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”Command

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the Israelite people to constantly bringyou clear oil made from pressed olives toburn in the lamps in the sacred tent, inorder that those lamps will burn all thetime. 3 Outside the curtain of the veryholy place, Aaron must take care of thelamps in my presence continually, in or-der that theywill burn all during the night.That regulation must be obeyed forever. 4The priests must constantly take care ofthe lamps that burn in my presence.5 Also, each week youmust take some fineflour and bake twelve very big loaves ofbread, using four and one-half liters offlour for each loaf. 6 Put the loaves intwo rows, with six loaves in each row, onthe table covered with pure gold, in mypresence. 7 Along each row, place onthe gold table some pure incense to beburned as an offering to me instead of thebread. 8 The priests must put new loavesof bread on the table each Sabbath day, tosignify the covenant that will never end,which I have made with you Israelites. 9

When the loaves are removed from thetable, they will belong to Aaron and hissons. They must eat them in a place setaside for this purpose, because they arepart of the offerings—the offerings thatbelong only to me—that are given to meby being burned.”10-11 There was a man whose mother’snamewas Shelomith. She was an Israelitewhose father was Dibri from the tribe ofDan. Her son’s father was from Egypt.One day this man and another Israeliteman started to fight inside the camp. Andwhile they were fighting, that man cursedYahweh. 12 So the Israelite people seizedhimand guardedhimuntil they couldfindout what Yahweh would reveal to themwhat they should do to that man.13 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 14 ”Tie upand take outside the camp the man whohas cursed me. There all those who heard

what he said must put their hands on hishead to indicate that he is guilty, and thenall the people must kill him by throwingstones at him. 15 Tell the Israelites, ’If any-one curses me, he must endure the con-sequences. 16 So anyone who curses memust be executed. All the people mustthrow stones at him. It does not matter ifhe is a foreigner or an Israelite from birth.Anyonewho cursesmemust be executed.

17 Also, if anyone murders another per-son, the people must execute him. 18 Andanyone who kills another person’s animalmust give that person a live animal to re-place the one that he killed. 19 And ifone person injures another person, the in-jured person is allowed to injure the per-son who injured him in the same way. 20

If someone breaks one of another person’sbones, that person is allowed to breakone of the bones of the person who in-jured him. If someone gouges out aneye of another person, that person is al-lowed to gouge out the eye of the personwho injured him. If someone knocks outthe tooth of another person, that personis allowed to knock out one of his teeth.What is done to the offender must be thesame as what he did to the other person.21 Whoever kills another person’s animalmust give that person a live animal to re-place the one that he killed, but the peo-plemust execute anyonewhomurders an-other person. 22 You Israelites and for-eignerswho live amongmust all have thatsame law. I, Yahweh your God, am the onewho has commanded it.”

23 Then Moses told the Israelites whatthey must do to the man who cursed Yah-weh, so they took the man outside thecampandkilled himby throwing stones athim. They did what Yahweh commandedMoses to tell them to do.

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Chapter 251 Yahweh said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2”Tell the Israelites that Yahweh is givingthese commands to them: When you en-ter the land that he is about to give you,every seventh year you must honor himby not planting any crops. You must al-low the ground to rest. 3 During sixyears, you are to plant crops in your fields,prune your grapevines, and harvest yourcrops. 4 But during the seventh year youmust allow your fields to rest, in orderto honor Yahweh. Do not plant seeds inyour fields or prune your grapevines dur-ing the seventh year. 5 In the seventhyear, youmust not bringworkers togetherto harvest whatever grain has grown inyour fields; you must not bring workerstogether to harvest whatever grapes havegrown on the vines that you did not cutback. You must allow the land to rest forthat one year. 6 But you are permitted toeat whatever crops have grown by them-selves during that year. You and yourmale and female servants, and workerswhom you have hired, and any foreignerswho are living among you—you may alleat those things. 7 And your livestock andthe wild animals in your land are permit-ted to eat them during that year as well.

8-9 After every forty-nine years has ended,you must do this for the celebration of Ju-bilee. On the tenth day of the seventhmonth of the next year, blow trumpetsthroughout the country, to announce theDay of Atonement. 10 Set apart thatyear in order to honor Yahweh. You mustproclaim everywhere, to all the people,that this year will be the time for givingthe land back to the families that firstowned it when Yahweh brought you intoyour land. It will also be the time for set-ting free any of Yahweh’s people who areslaves. 11 This year of Jubilee, the fifti-

eth year, will be a year in which you mustrejoice and obey Yahweh’s special instruc-tions. During that year do not plant any-thing, and do not harvest in your usualmanner the crops or grapes that havegrown by themselves. 12 It will be a yearfor you to rejoice in, the year of Jubilee.You will treat it as special, and eat onlywhat has grown by itself.13 In that year of celebration, the year ofJubilee, and everyonemust return to theirproperty to the original owner of it.14 If you sell some of your land to a fel-low Israelite or if you buy some land fromone of them, you must treat that personfairly. 15 If you buy land, the price thatyou will pay will depend on the numberof years until the next celebration of Ju-bilee. If someone sells land to you, hewill charge a price that reflects the num-ber of years remaining until the next yearof celebration of Jubilee, when all prop-ertywill be returned to their original own-ers. 16 If there will be many years beforethe next time for the celebration of Jubilee,the price will be higher. If there will beonly a few years until the next year of cele-bration, the price will be lower. You couldsay that what he is really selling you isthe number of crops you could harvest be-fore the next year of the celebration of Ju-bilee. 17 Do not cheat each other. Instead,honor Yahweh. It is Yahweh, whom we Is-raelites worship, who is commanding usto do these things.18 Obey all my laws carefully. If you dothat, you will continue to live safely inyour country. 19 The crops will grow wellon the land, and you will have plenty toeat. 20 But you may ask, “If we do notplant or harvest our crops during the sev-enth year, what will we have to eat?” 21

Yahweh answers you that he will blessyou verymuch during the sixth year, withthe result that during that year there will

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be enough crops to provide food for youfor three years. 22 Then, after you plantseed during the eighth year and wait forthe crops to grow, you will eat the foodgrown in the sixth year; you will continueto eat it until you harvest your crops in theninth year.23 You must not sell any of your landto belong to someone else permanently,because the land is not yours. It is re-ally mine, and you are only living on ittemporarily and farming it for me. 24

Throughout the country that you will pos-sess, you must remember that if someonesells some of his land to you, he is permit-ted to buy it back from you at any time.25 So if one of your fellow Israelites be-comes poor and sells some of his propertyto you for money, the person who is mostclosely related to him is permitted to comeand buy back that land for him. 26 How-ever, if a man has no one to buy the landfor him, but if he himself prospers againand has saved enough money to buy thatland back, 27 he must calculate how manyyears there will be until the next year ofcelebration. Then he must pay to the manwho bought the land the money that theothermanwould have earned by growingcrops on that land for those years. 28 But ifthe original owner does not have enoughmoney to buy back the land that he sold,it will continue to belong to the man whobought it until the next year of the celebra-tion of Jubilee. In that year he will takepossession of it again, and he will be ableto farm it again.29 If someone sells a house in a city thathas a wall around it, during the next yearhe will be permitted to buy it back fromthe man who bought it. 30 If he does notbuy it during that year, it will belong per-manently to the man who bought it, andto that man’s descendants. He does notneed to return it to the original owner in

the year of celebration of Jubilee. 31 Buthouses that are in villages without wallsare considered to be as though they werein a field. So if someone sells one of thosehouses, he is permitted to buy it back atany time. And even if he does not buy it,he will take possession of it again at theyear of the celebration of Jubilee.32 The descendants of Levi are a specialcase, however. If they sell their housesin the cities that belong to them, they arepermitted to buy them back at any time.33 But even if they do not buy back thosehouses, they will become theirs again inthe year of the celebration of Jubilee, be-cause those houses are in their cities, onland that the other Israelites had given tothem. 34 But the pastureland near theirtowns must not be sold. It must belong tothe original owners permanently.35 If one of your fellow Israelites becomespoor and is unable to buy what he needs,others of youmust help him as you wouldhelp a foreigner who is living among youtemporarily. 36 If you lend money tohim, do not charge any kind of interest.Instead, show by what you do that youhonor your God; you must help that man,in order that he will be able to continue tolive among you. 37 If you lend him money,do not charge interest; and if you sell foodto him, charge him only what you paid forit. Do not try tomake a profit from it. 38 Donot forget that it is Yahweh your God whois giving you these commands; it is, afterall, Yahweh who brought you out of Egyptto be your God and to give you the land ofCanaan.39 If one of your fellow Israelites becomespoor and sells himself to you, do not forcehim to work like a slave. 40 Treat him asyou treat workers whom you hire or likesomeone who is living on your land tem-porarily. He must work for you only untilthe year of the celebration of Jubilee. 41

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During that year, you must free him, andhe may go back to his family and to theproperty that his ancestors owned. 42 Itis as though we Israelites are all Yahweh’sslaves, whom he freed from being slavesin Egypt. So none of you should buy eachother and make each other into slaves. 43

And do not treat the Israelites whom youbuy cruelly. Instead, honor Yahweh, ourGod.

44 If you want to have slaves, you are per-mitted to buy them from nearby peoplegroups. 45 You are also permitted tobuy some of the foreigners who are livingamong you, and members of their clansthat were born in your country. You mayown them. 46 They will be your slaves forthe remaining years of your life, and afteryou die, it is permitted for your childrento own them. But you must not act in bru-tal ways toward your fellow Israelites.

47 Suppose a foreigner who is livingamong you becomes rich, and if a fellowIsraelite becomes poor and sells himself tothat foreigner or to a member of his clan,48 it is permitted for someone to pay forhim to be freed. It is permitted for one ofhis relatives to pay for him to be released.49 An uncle or a cousin or another relativein 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.50 The man who wants to pay for his ownrelease must count the number of yearsuntil the next year of the celebration of Ju-bilee. The price he pays to the man whobought him will depend on the pay thatwould be given to a hired worker for thatnumber of remaining years. 51 If thereare a lot of years that remainuntil the yearof celebration, he must pay for his releasea larger amount of the money. 52 If thereare only a few years that remain until theyear of the celebration of Jubilee, he mustpay a smaller amount to be released. 53

During those years that he is working forthe man who bought him, the man whobought him must treat him like he wouldtreat a hired worker, and all of you mustmake sure that his owner does not treathim cruelly.54 And even if a fellow Israelite who hassold himself to a rich man is not able topay for himself to be freed by any of theseways, he and his childrenmust be freed inthe year of the celebration of Jubilee, 55 be-cause it is as though you Israelites are myslaves, whom I, Yahweh your God, freedfrom being slaves in Egypt.’”

Chapter 261 Yahweh also said this toMoses onMountSinai, ”Do not make idols or set up carvedfigures or sacred stones to worship as ifthey were God. And do not put on yourproperty a stone that you have carved soyou canbowdown to it. Youmustworshiponly me, Yahweh, your God.2 Honor the Sabbath days and revere mysacred tent, because I, Yahweh, live there.3 If you carefully obey all my commands, 4I will send rain for you at the proper timesin order that crops will grow on your landand there will be plenty of fruit on yourtrees. 5 You will continue harvestingand threshing grain until it is time to har-vest grapes, and you will continue to har-vest grapes until it is time to start plantingthings in the following year. Youwill haveall the food that you want to eat, and youwill live safely in your land.6 If you obey all my laws, there will bepeace in your country, and when you liedown to sleep. Nothing will cause you tobe afraid. I will get rid of the dangerousanimals in your country, and there willbe no wars in your country. 7 You will

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pursue your enemies and kill them withyour swords. 8 Five of you will pursue ahundred of them, and a hundred of youwill pursue ten thousand of them and killthem.9 If you obey all my laws, I will blessyou and cause you to have many children.And I will do what I said that I would doin the covenant that I made with you. 10

When you are still eating food from theharvest from the previous year, it will benecessary for you to throw away someof it to make space to store the new har-vest. 11 I will live among you in my sa-cred tent, and I will never reject you. 12

I will live among you and continue to beyour God, and you will continue to be mypeople. 13 I am Yahweh your God, the onewho brought you out of Egypt in orderthat you would no longer be slaves of thepeople of Egypt. When you were there, itwas as though youwere animals thatwerepulling plows for the people of Egypt, butI broke the bars of the yokes that they hadput around your necks; I made you able towalk with your heads up.14 But suppose you pay no attention to me;suppose you refuse to obey what I havetold you to do. 15 Suppose that you rejectmy decrees and laws, and do not obey me,but that instead you reject the covenantthat I made with you. 16 In that case,these are the things that I will do to you. Iwill suddenly send disasters that will ruinyou. Youwill have diseases that cannot becured, and fevers that will cause you to be-come blind and will slowly kill you. It willbe useless for you to plant your fields, be-cause your enemies will eat the crops thatgrow. 17 I will reject you, so your enemieswill conquer you. Then theywill rule overyou, and you will be so terrified that youwill run away even if they do not pursueyou.18 But after all these things happen to you,

if you still refuse to obey me, I will con-tinue to punish you again and again forthe sins that you have committed. 19 Iwill punish you so much that you will nolonger be stubborn or proud. I will notlet any rain fall in your land. It will be asthough the skyweremade of iron, and thegroundwere as hard as bronze. 20 Youwilluselessly work very hard to plant seeds,because crops will not grow in the hardsoil in your fields, and fruit will not growon your trees.21 If you continue to act against me andrefuse to obey me, I will cause you toexperience disasters again and again, asyoudeserve to experience because of yoursins. 22 I will send wild animals to attackyou, and they will kill your little childrenanddestroy your cattle. Therewill be veryfew of youwhowill remain alive, with theresult that there will be very few peopletraveling about on the roads in your coun-try.23 When you experience those things thatI do to punish you, if you still do not payattention to me, and if you continue to actagainst me, 24 I myself will act against you,and I will punish you for your sins againand again. 25 I will send armies to you topunish you for not doing the things thatI commanded you to do in the covenantthat I made with you. If you try to escapefrom your enemies by hiding behind yourcity walls, I will send plagues to you, andI will allow your enemies to capture you.26 When I destroy your supplies of food,there will be very little flour with whichto make bread. As a result, ten womenwill be able to bake all their bread in onlyone oven. When the bread is baked, eachwoman will divide it among the membersof her family, but there will be very littlefor each one, and when they have eatenall of it, they will still be hungry.27 After all those things happen, if you still

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do not obey me, if you still act against me,28 I will be very angry with you, and I willact against you; I myself will punish youfor your sins again and again. 29 Youwill be so hungry that you will kill yoursons and daughters and eat their flesh. 30

I will make sure that other people destroythe hills where you have worshiped idols.I will smash the altars where you burnincense to worship your gods, and I willcause your corpses to be piled on the life-less figures of your idols. And I will hateyou. 31 I will cause your cities to be-come heaps of ruins, and I will cause thebuildings that you built for your idols tocollapse. And I will not be pleased at allwith the aroma of your offerings that areburned on the altar. 32 I will completelyruin your country, with the result thateven your enemies who capture it will beshocked when they see this happen. 33 Iwill enable your enemies to kill you withtheir swords, and I will cause them to scat-ter the rest of you among other peoplegroups. I will make sure that they ruinyour country and destroy your cities. 34

After that happens, as long as you are liv-ing in your enemies’ countries, I will allowyour land to rest, as you should have doneevery seven years. 35 During all the timethat no one is in your land, it will be ableto rest. This will be unlike you, who neverallowed it to rest while you were there.

36 As for you people whowill remain alivein the countries to which your enemieswill have taken you, I will make you veryafraid, so when you hear the wind blow-ing leaves, you will run away. 37 You willrun as if amanwith a swordwere chasingyou, and you will fall down, even thoughno one is coming behind you. You willstumble over each other trying toflee. Youwill not be able to stand and fight your en-emies. 38 Many of you will die in your en-emies’ countries. 39 And those of you whoremain alive will slowly die and rot there

because of your sins and the sins of yourancestors.40-41 But your descendants must confesstheir sins and the sins that their ancestorscommitted. Their ancestors acted unfaith-fully towardme andwere hostile tome, soI forced them to go to their enemies’ coun-tries. But when your descendants hum-ble themselves and stop being very stub-born and accept being punished for theirsins, 42 I will keep in mind the covenantthat I made with your ancestors Abrahamand Isaac and Jacob, and what I promisedto them about the land of Canaan. 43

But before that happens, my people willbe forced to leave their land, with the re-sult that the land will be able to rest whileno one is in it, and while I am punishingthe people for rejecting my laws and hat-ing my decrees. 44 But I will still not re-ject them or hate them and destroy themcompletely. I will not cancel the covenantthat I made with them. I will still be Yah-weh, the God whom they should worship.45 I will keep in mind the covenant that Imadewith your ancestors when I broughtthem out of Egypt, something that the peo-ple of all nations heard about. I did this sothat I, Yahweh, would be your God.”46 Those are the commandments, the de-crees, and the laws that Yahweh estab-lished on Mount Sinai between himselfand the Israelite people by giving them toMoses to tell to them.

Chapter 271 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 ”Tell theIsraelite people these things for me: ’If aman solemnly promises to set apart an-other person to belong only to Yahweh,Yahweh will be willing to set that per-son free from having to do that if the re-sponsible man pays the priest an amount

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of money. The priest must calculate theamount of money in terms of the silverpieces that they use in Yahweh’s sacredtent. 3 These are the amounts that Yah-weh has set for this kind of transaction:

fifty pieces of silver for men who arebetween twenty and sixty years old;

4 thirty pieces of silver for adultwomenwho are between twenty and sixtyyears old.

5 Twenty pieces of silver would bepaid for young men who are between fiveand twenty years old;

ten pieces of silver for young womenwho are between five and twenty yearsold;

6 five pieces of silver for boys who arebetween one month and five years old;

three pieces of silver for girls who arebetween one month and five years old.

7 Fifteen pieces of silver wouldbe paid for men who are more than sixtyyears old;

ten pieces of silver for women whoare more than sixty years old.8 If anyone who has made such a solemnpromise is very poor and unable to pay toset free the person whom he has given toYahweh, he must take that person to thepriest. The priestwill set the price for free-ing him to an amount that the person canpay.9 If someone solemnly promises Yahwehto give him an animal that is acceptableto him, that animal becomes very specialto Yahweh; it belongs to him alone. 10

The person who promised to give it mustnot give another animal instead of the onethat he promised. He must not substitutea bad one for a good one or even a betterone than the one offered. If he tries to dothat, both animals will become dedicated

to Yahweh. 11 If the animal that hewishesto give to Yahweh is a kind that is unac-ceptable to be an offering, he must takethe animal to the priest. 12 The priest thenwill decide what its value is, accordingto the animal’s quality. Whatever valuethe priests sets will be the value, and thatis the price of the animal. 13 If the manwho gave the animal later decides that hewants to buy it back, he must pay to thepriest that price plus an added one-fifth.

14 Similarly, if someone dedicates hishouse, and to set it apart for the honor ofYahweh, the priest will decide how muchit is worth, which will depend on thehouse’s condition. Whatever the priestsays that it is worth, that will be its value.15 If a man set apart his house for thehonor of Yahweh, but later he wants tobuy it back, hemust pay that price plus anadded one-fifth, and then the house willbelong to him again.

16 If someone sets apart for the honor ofYahweh some of the property that belongsto him and his family, its value will bedetermined by the quantity of seed thatwould be needed to sow that entire tractof land. It will be ten pieces of silver foreach 220 liters of seed. 17 If the man setsapart for the honor of Yahweh the landduring the year of the celebration of Ju-bilee, its value will be the full amount. 18

But if he sets apart his field to Yahweh af-ter the year of the celebration of Jubilee,the priest will count the number of yearsuntil the next year of the celebration of Ju-bilee, and if there are not many years thatremain, the price will bemuch lower thanthe full price. 19 If the person who setapart the field for Yahweh later wants tobuy it back, he must pay to the priest theprice that the priest says it is worth, plusan added one-fifth, and then the field willbelong to that man again. 20 However, ifhe does not buy it back, or if it has been

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sold to someone else, he will never be per-mitted to buy it back again. 21 In the yearof the celebration of Jubilee, it will be per-manently set apart as a holy gift for Yah-weh, and it will be given to the priest.22 If someone sets apart for the honor ofYahweh some land that he has bought,land which is not part of the land thathis family has always owned, 23 the priestmust count the number of years until thenext year of the celebration of Jubilee todetermine how much it is worth, and theman must pay that amount to the prieston that day, and then that landwill belongto him again, and his payment becomes aholy gift to Yahweh. 24 However, in theyear of the celebration of Jubilee, the landwill again come into the possession of theperson from whom he bought it, the per-son whose family had always owned thatland. 25 All the silver that is paid must becalculated in terms of the official pieces ofsilver in the sacred tent.26 No one is permitted to dedicate the first-born of any cow or sheep for any purpose,because the firstborn already belongs toYahweh. 27 If someone gives to him an an-imal that is not acceptable to him, that per-son may later buy it back by paying whatit is worth plus an added one-fifth of itsvalue. If he does not buy it back, it must

be sold for its standard price.28 However, no slave or animal or familyland that someone owns can be sold orbought back after it has been dedicated toYahweh. It becomes holy to Yahweh.29 Nopersonwhohas done something thatYahweh considers to be verywicked is per-mitted to go free. The people must cer-tainly execute such a person.30 One tenth of all the crops and grain orfruit that is produced on anyone’s land issacred and belongs to Yahweh. 31 If any-one wants to buy back any of that tenth,he must pay to the priest what it is worthplus an added one-fifth. 32 And everyten domestic animals belongs to Yahweh.When a shepherd counts them as theypass under his walking stick, to decidewhich ones he will give to me, he mustmark every tenth one as belonging to Yah-weh. 33 When he does that, he must notpick out the good ones or leave the badones, or substitute bad ones for good ones.If he substitutes one animal for another,both animals will belong to Yahweh, andthe shepherd will not be permitted to buythem back.”34 Those are the commands that Yahwehgave to Moses onMount Sinai to tell to thepeople.

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