Good News Translation (GNT)

Forbidden Sexual Practices

1 The Lord told Moses

2 to say to the people of Israel, “I am the Lord your God.

3 Do not follow the practices of the people of Egypt, where you once lived, or of the people in the land of Canaan, where I am now taking you.

4 Obey my laws and do what I command. I am the Lord your God.

5 Follow the practices and the laws that I give you; you will save your life by doing so. I am the Lord.”

6 The Lord gave the following regulations. Do not have sexual intercourse with any of your relatives.

7 Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. You must not disgrace your own mother.

8 Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with any of his other wives.

9 Do not have intercourse with your sister or your stepsister, whether or not she was brought up in the same house with you.

10 Do not have intercourse with your granddaughter; that would be a disgrace to you.

11 Do not have intercourse with a half sister; she, too, is your sister.

12-13 Do not have intercourse with an aunt, whether she is your father’s sister or your mother’s sister.

14 Do not have intercourse with your uncle’s wife; she, too, is your aunt.

15 Do not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law

16 or with your brother’s wife.

17 Do not have intercourse with the daughter or granddaughter of a woman with whom you have had intercourse; they may be related to you, and that would be incest.

18 Do not take your wife’s sister as one of your wives, as long as your wife is living.

19 Do not have intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, because she is ritually unclean.

20 Do not have intercourse with another man’s wife; that would make you ritually unclean.

21 Do not hand over any of your children to be used in the worship of the god Molech, because that would bring disgrace on the name of God, the Lord.

22 No man is to have sexual relations with another man; God hates that.

23 No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion makes you ritually unclean.

24 Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these acts, for that is how the pagans made themselves unclean, those pagans who lived in the land before you and whom the Lord is driving out so that you can go in.

25 Their actions made the land unclean, and so the Lord is punishing the land and making it reject the people who lived there.

26-27 They did all these disgusting things and made the land unclean, but you must not do them. All of you, whether Israelites or foreigners living with you, must keep the Lord’s laws and commands,

28 and then the land will not reject you, as it rejected the pagans who lived there before you.

29 You know that whoever does any of these disgusting things will no longer be considered one of God’s people.

30 And the Lord said, “Obey the commands I give and do not follow the practices of the people who lived in the land before you, and do not make yourselves unclean by doing any of these things. I am the Lord your God.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/18-96381c8bd6cc2fdef8c2428b59b05df3.mp3?version_id=68—

Laws of Holiness and Justice

1 The Lord told Moses

2 to say to the community of Israel, “Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

3 Each of you must respect your mother and your father, and must keep the Sabbath, as I have commanded. I am the Lord your God.

4 “Do not abandon me and worship idols; do not make gods of metal and worship them. I am the Lord your God.

5 “When you kill an animal for a fellowship offering, keep the regulations that I have given you, and I will accept the offering.

6 The meat must be eaten on the day the animal is killed or on the next day. Any meat left on the third day must be burned,

7 because it is ritually unclean, and if anyone eats it, I will not accept the offering.

8 Any who eat it will be guilty of treating as ordinary what is dedicated to me, and they will no longer be considered my people.

9 “When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left.

10 Do not go back through your vineyard to gather the grapes that were missed or to pick up the grapes that have fallen; leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.

11 “Do not steal or cheat or lie.

12 Do not make a promise in my name if you do not intend to keep it; that brings disgrace on my name. I am the Lord your God.

13 “Do not rob or take advantage of anyone. Do not hold back the wages of someone you have hired, not even for one night.

14 Do not curse the deaf or put something in front of the blind so as to make them stumble over it. Obey me; I am the Lord your God.

15 “Be honest and just when you make decisions in legal cases; do not show favoritism to the poor or fear the rich.

16 Do not spread lies about anyone, and when someone is on trial for his life, speak out if your testimony can help him. I am the Lord.

17 “Do not bear a grudge against others, but settle your differences with them, so that you will not commit a sin because of them.

18 Do not take revenge on others or continue to hate them, but love your neighbors as you love yourself. I am the Lord.

19 “Obey my commands. Do not crossbreed domestic animals. Do not plant two kinds of seed in the same field. Do not wear clothes made of two kinds of material.

20 “If a slave woman is the recognized concubine of a man and she has not been paid for and freed, then if another man has sexual relations with her, they will be punished, but notput to death, since she is a slave.

21 The man shall bring a ram to the entrance of the Tent of my presence as his repayment offering,

22 and with it the priest shall perform the ritual of purification to remove the man’s sin, and God will forgive him.

23 “When you come into the land of Canaan and plant any kind of fruit tree, consider the fruit ritually unclean for the first three years. During that time you must not eat it.

24 In the fourth year all the fruit shall be dedicated as an offering to show your gratitude to me,the Lord.

25 But in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you do all this, your trees will bear more fruit. I am the Lord your God.

26 “Do not eat any meat with blood still in it. Do not practice any kind of magic.

27 Do not cut the hair on the sides of your head or trim your beard

28 or tattoo yourselves or cut gashes in your body to mourn for the dead. I am the Lord.

29 “Do not disgrace your daughters by making them temple prostitutes;if you do, you will turn to other gods and the land will be full of immorality.

30 Keep the Sabbath, and honor the place where I am worshiped. I am the Lord.

31 “Do not go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead. If you do, you will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord your God.

32 “Show respect for old people and honor them. Reverently obey me; I am the Lord.

33 “Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land.

34 Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

35 “Do not cheat anyone by using false measures of length, weight, or quantity.

36 Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. I am the Lord your God, and I brought you out of Egypt.

37 Obey all my laws and commands. I am the Lord.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/19-4e1844700e0898462e6ed936fe86811a.mp3?version_id=68—

Penalties for Disobedience

1 The Lord told Moses

2 to say to the people of Israel, “Any of you or any foreigner living among you who gives any children to be used in the worship of the god Molech shall be stoned to death by the whole community.

3 If any of you give one of your children to Molech and make my sacred Tent unclean and disgrace my holy name, I will turn against you and will no longer consider you my people.

4 But if the community ignores what you have done and does not put you to death,

5 I myself will turn against you and your whole family and against all who join you in being unfaithful to me and worshiping Molech. I will no longer consider any of you my people.

6 “If any of you go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead, I will turn against you and will no longer consider you one of my people.

7 Keep yourselves holy, because I am the Lord your God.

8 Obey my laws, because I am the Lord and I make you holy.”

9 The Lord gave the following regulations. Any of you that curse your father or mother shall be put to death; you are responsible for your own death.

10 If a man commits adultery with the wife of an Israelite, both he and the woman shall be put to death.

11 A man who has intercourse with one of his father’s wives disgraces his father, and both he and the woman shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.

12 If a man has intercourse with his daughter-in-law, they shall both be put to death. They have committed incest and are responsible for their own death.

13 If a man has sexual relations with another man, they have done a disgusting thing, and both shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.

14 If a man marries a woman and her mother, all three shall be burned to death because of the disgraceful thing they have done; such a thing must not be permitted among you.

15 If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he and the animal shall be put to death.

16 If a woman tries to have sexual relations with an animal, she and the animal shall be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.

17 If a man marries his sister or half sister, they shall be publicly disgraced and driven out of the community. He has had intercourse with his sister and must suffer the consequences.

18 If a man has intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, both of them are to be driven out of the community, because they have broken the regulations about ritual uncleanness.

19 If a man has intercourse with his aunt, both of them must suffer the consequences for incest.

20 If a man has intercourse with his uncle’s wife, he disgraces his uncle, and he and the woman will pay the penalty; neither one will have children.

21 If a man takes his brother’s wife, they will die childless. He has done a ritually unclean thing and has disgraced his brother.

22 The Lord said, “Keep all my laws and commands, so that you will not be rejected by the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you.

23 Do not adopt the customs of the people who live there; I am driving out those pagans so that you can enter the land. They have disgusted me with all their evil practices.

24 But I have promised you this rich and fertile land as your possession, and I will give it to you. I am the Lord your God, and I have set you apart from the other nations.

25 So then, you must make a clear distinction between animals and birds that are ritually clean and those that are not. Do not eat unclean animals or birds. I have declared them unclean, and eating them would make you unclean.

26 You shall be holy and belong only to me, because I am the Lord and I am holy. I have set you apart from the other nations so that you would belong to me alone.

27 “Any man or woman who consults the spirits of the dead shall be stoned to death; any of you that do this are responsible for your own death.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/20-f732580436d271b69de66d6c91a2e59e.mp3?version_id=68—

The Holiness of the Priests

1 The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Aaronite priests, “No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies,

2 unless it is his mother, father, son, daughter, brother,

3 or unmarried sister living in his house.

4 He shall not make himself unclean at the death of those related to him by marriage.

5 “No priest shall shave any part of his head or trim his beard or cut gashes on his body to show that he is in mourning.

6 He must be holy and must not disgrace my name. He offers food offerings to me, and he must be holy.

7 A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or a woman who is not a virgin or who is divorced; he is holy.

8 The people must consider the priest holy, because he presents the food offerings to me. I am the Lord; I am holy and I make my people holy.

9 If a priest’s daughter becomes a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she shall be burned to death.

10 “The High Priest has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been consecrated to wear the priestly garments, so he must not leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothes to show that he is in mourning.

11-12 He has been dedicated to me and is not to make himself ritually unclean nor is he to defile my sacred Tent by leaving it and entering a house where there is a dead person, even if it is his own father or mother.

13 He shall marry a virgin,

14 not a widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been a prostitute. He shall marry only a virgin from his own clan.

15 Otherwise, his children, who ought to be holy, will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord and I have set him apart as the High Priest.”

16 The Lord commanded Moses

17 to tell Aaron, “None of your descendants who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me. This applies for all time to come.

18 No man with any physical defects may make the offering: no one who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed;

19 no one with a crippled hand or foot;

20 no one who is a hunchback or a dwarf; no one with any eye or skin disease; and no eunuch.

21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me.

22 Such a man may eat the food offered to me, both the holy food offering and the very holy food offering,

23 but because he has a physical defect, he shall not come near the sacred curtain or approach the altar. He must not profane these holy things, because I am the Lord and I make them holy.”

24 This, then, is what Moses said to Aaron, the sons of Aaron, and to all the people of Israel.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/21-e913d75a0e3ea9f03d3cdfadb3dcbb22.mp3?version_id=68—

The Holiness of the Offerings

1 The Lord commanded Moses

2 to tell Aaron and his sons, “You must not bring disgrace on my holy name, so treat with respect the sacred offerings that the people of Israel dedicate to me. I am the Lord.

3 If any of your descendants, while he is ritually unclean, comes near the sacred offerings which the people of Israel have dedicated to me, he can never again serve at the altar. This applies for all time to come. I am the Lord.

4 “None of the descendants of Aaron who has a dreaded skin disease or a discharge may eat any of the sacred offerings until he is ritually clean. Any priest is unclean if he touches anything which is unclean through contact with a corpse or if he has an emission of semen

5 or if he has touched an unclean animal or person.

6 Any priest who becomes unclean remains unclean until evening, and even then he may not eat any of the sacred offerings until he has taken a bath.

7 After the sun sets he is clean, and then he may eat the sacred offerings, which are his food.

8 He shall not eat the meat of any animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by wild animals; it will make him unclean. I am the Lord.

9 “All priests shall observe the regulations that I have given. Otherwise, they will become guilty and die, because they have disobeyed the sacred regulations. I am the Lord and I make them holy.

10 “Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of the sacred offerings; no one else may eat them—not even someone staying with a priest or hired by him.

11 But a priest’s slaves, bought with his own money or born in his home, may eat the food the priest receives.

12 A priest’s daughter who marries someone who is not a priest may not eat any of the sacred offerings.

13 But a widowed or divorced daughter who has no children and who has returned to live in her father’s house as a dependent may eat the food her father receives as a priest. Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of it.

14 “If any people who are not members of a priestly family eat any of the sacred offerings without intending to, they must repay the priest its full value plus an additional 20 percent.

15 The priests shall not profane the sacred offerings

16 by letting any unauthorized people eat them; this would bring guilt and punishment on such people. I am the Lord and I make the offerings holy.”

17 The Lord commanded Moses

18 to give Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel the following regulations. When any Israelite or any foreigner living in Israel presents a burnt offering, whether as fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill offering, the animal must not have any defects.

19 To be accepted, it must be a male without any defects.

20 If you offer any animal that has any defects, the Lord will not accept it.

21 When anyone presents a fellowship offering to the Lord, whether as fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill offering, the animal must be without any defects if it is to be accepted.

22 Do not offer to the Lord any animal that is blind or crippled or mutilated, or that has a running sore or a skin eruption or scabs. Do not offer any such animals on the altar as a food offering.

23 As a freewill offering you may offer an animal that is stunted or not perfectly formed, but it is not acceptable in fulfillment of a vow.

24 Do not offer to the Lord any animal whose testicles have been crushed, cut, bruised, or torn off. This is not permitted in your land.

25 Do not offer as a food offering any animal obtained from a foreigner. Such animals are considered defective and are not acceptable.

26-27 When a calf or a lamb or a kid is born, it must not be taken from its mother for seven days, but after that it is acceptable as a food offering.

28 Do not sacrifice a cow and its calf or a sheep and its lamb or a goat and its kid on the same day.

29 When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, follow the rules so that you will be accepted;

30 eat it the same day and leave none of it until the next morning.

31 The Lord said, “Obey my commands; I am the Lord.

32 Do not bring disgrace on my holy name; all the people of Israel must acknowledge me to be holy. I am the Lord and I make you holy;

33 and I brought you out of Egypt to become your God. I am the Lord.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/22-b1f610334dff28ca6e84d9311018285b.mp3?version_id=68—

The Religious Festivals

1 The Lord gave Moses

2 the following regulations for the religious festivals, when the people of Israel are to gather for worship.

3 You have six days in which to do your work, but remember that the seventh day, the Sabbath, is a day of rest. On that day do not work, but gather for worship. The Sabbath belongs to the Lord, no matter where you live.

4 Proclaim the following festivals at the appointed times.

Passover and Unleavened Bread

5 The Passover, celebrated to honor the Lord, begins at sunset on the fourteenth day of the first month.

6 On the fifteenth day the Festival of Unleavened Bread begins, and for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast.

7 On the first of these days you shall gather for worship and do none of your daily work.

8 Offer your food offerings to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day you shall again gather for worship, but you shall do none of your daily work.

9-10 When you come into the land that the Lord is giving you and you harvest your grain, take the first sheaf to the priest.

11 He shall present it as a special offering to the Lord, so that you may be accepted. The priest shall present it the day after the Sabbath.

12 On the day you present the offering of grain, also sacrifice as a burnt offering a one-year-old male lamb that has no defects.

13 With it you shall present four pounds of flour mixed with olive oil as a food offering. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the Lord. You shall also present with it an offering of one quart of wine.

14 Do not eat any of the new grain, whether raw, roasted, or baked into bread, until you have brought this offering to God. This regulation is to be observed by all your descendants for all time to come.

The Harvest Festival

15 Count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath on which you bring your sheaf of grain to present to the Lord.

16 On the fiftieth day, the day after the seventh Sabbath, present to the Lord another new offering of grain.

17 Each family is to bring two loaves of bread and present them to the Lord as a special gift. Each loaf shall be made of four pounds of flour baked with yeast and shall be presented to the Lord as an offering of the first grain to be harvested.

18 And with the bread the community is to present seven one-year-old lambs, one bull, and two rams, none of which may have any defects. They shall be offered as a burnt offering to the Lord, along with a grain offering and a wine offering. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the Lord.

19 Also offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering.

20 The priest shall present the bread with the two lambs as a special gift to the Lord for the priests. These offerings are holy.

21 On that day do none of your daily work, but gather for worship. Your descendants are to observe this regulation for all time to come, no matter where they live.

22 When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left; leave them for poor people and foreigners. The Lord is your God.

The New Year Festival

23-24 On the first day of the seventh month observe a special day of rest, and come together for worship when the trumpets sound.

25 Present a food offering to the Lord and do none of your daily work.

The Day of Atonement

26-27 The tenth day of the seventh month is the day when the annual ritual is to be performed to take away the sins of the people. On that day do not eat anything at all; come together for worship, and present a food offering to the Lord.

28 Do no work on that day, because it is the day for performing the ritual to take away sin.

29 Any who eat anything on that day will no longer be considered God’s people.

30 And if any do any work on that day, the Lord himself will put them to death.

31 This regulation applies to all your descendants, no matter where they live.

32 From sunset on the ninth day of the month to sunset on the tenth observe this day as a special day of rest, during which nothing may be eaten.

The Festival of Shelters

33-34 The Festival of Shelters begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and continues for seven days.

35 On the first of these days come together for worship and do none of your daily work.

36 Each day for seven days you shall present a food offering. On the eighth day come together again for worship and present a food offering. It is a day for worship, and you shall do no work.

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37 These are the religious festivals on which you honor the Lord by gathering together for worship and presenting food offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and wine offerings, as required day by day.

38 These festivals are in addition to the regular Sabbaths, and these offerings are in addition to your regular gifts, your offerings as fulfillment of vows, and your freewill offerings that you give to the Lord.)

39 When you have harvested your fields, celebrate this festival for seven days, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The first day shall be a special day of rest.

40 On that day take some of the best fruit from your trees, take palm branches and limbs from leafy trees, and begin a religious festival to honor the Lord your God.

41 Celebrate it for seven days. This regulation is to be kept by your descendants for all time to come.

42 All the people of Israel shall live in shelters for seven days,

43 so that your descendants may know that the Lord made the people of Israel live in simple shelters when he led them out of Egypt. He is the Lord your God.

44 So in this way Moses gave the people of Israel the regulations for observing the religious festivals to honor the Lord.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/23-f6f19f5a25538600b7c1b64cd8e6ec51.mp3?version_id=68—

Taking Care of the Lamps

1 The Lord told Moses

2 to give the following orders to the people of Israel: Bring pure olive oil of the finest quality for the lamps in the Tent, so that a light might be kept burning regularly.

3 Each evening Aaron shall light them and keep them burning until morning, there in the Lord’s presence outside the curtain in front of the Covenant Box, which is in the Most Holy Place. This regulation is to be observed for all time to come.

4 Aaron shall take care of the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold and must see that they burn regularly in the Lord’s presence.

The Bread Offered to God

5 Take twenty-four pounds of flour and bake twelve loaves of bread.

6 Put the loaves in two rows, six in each row, on the table covered with pure gold, which is in the Lord’s presence.

7 Put some pure incense on each row, as a token food offering to the Lord to take the place of the bread.

8 Every Sabbath, for all time to come, the bread must be placed in the presence of the Lord. This is Israel’s duty forever.

9 The bread belongs to Aaron and his descendants, and they shall eat it in a holy place, because this is a very holy part of the food offered to the Lord for the priests.

An Example of Just and Fair Punishment

10-11 There was a man whose father was an Egyptian and whose mother was an Israelite named Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan. There in the camp this man quarreled with an Israelite. During the quarrel he cursed the Lord, so they took him to Moses,

12 put him under guard, and waited for the Lord to tell them what to do with him.

13 The Lord said to Moses,

14 “Take that man out of the camp. Everyone who heard him curse shall put his hands on the man’s head to testify that he is guilty, and then the whole community shall stone him to death.

15 Then tell the people of Israel that anyone who curses God must suffer the consequences

16 and be put to death. Any Israelite or any foreigner living in Israel who curses the Lord shall be stoned to death by the whole community.

17 “Any who commit murder shall be put to death,

18 and any who kill an animal belonging to someone else must replace it. The principle is a life for a life.

19 “If any of you injure another person, whatever you have done shall be done to you.

20 If you break a bone, one of your bones shall be broken; if you put out an eye, one of your eyes shall be put out; if you knock out a tooth, one of your teeth shall be knocked out. Whatever injury you cause another person shall be done to you in return.

21 Whoever kills an animal shall replace it, but whoever kills a human being shall be put to death.

22 This law applies to all of you, to Israelites and to foreigners living among you, because I am the Lord your God.”

23 When Moses had said this to the people of Israel, they took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death. In this way the people of Israel did what the Lord had commanded Moses.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/24-fc80c27450db3daa2be0df2e1d845829.mp3?version_id=68—

The Seventh Year

1 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and commanded him

2 to give the following regulations to the people of Israel. When you enter the land that the Lord is giving you, you shall honor the Lord by not cultivating the land every seventh year.

3 You shall plant your fields, prune your vineyards, and gather your crops for six years.

4 But the seventh year is to be a year of complete rest for the land, a year dedicated to the Lord. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards.

5 Do not even harvest the grain that grows by itself without being planted, and do not gather the grapes from your unpruned vines; it is a year of complete rest for the land.

6 Although the land has not been cultivated during that year, it will provide food for you, your slaves, your hired men, the foreigners living with you,

7 your domestic animals, and the wild animals in your fields. Everything that it produces may be eaten.

The Year of Restoration

8 Count seven times seven years, a total of forty-nine years.

9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, send someone to blow a trumpet throughout the whole land.

10 In this way you shall set the fiftieth year apart and proclaim freedom to all the inhabitants of the land. During this year all property that has been sold shall be restored to the original owner or the descendants, and any who have been sold as slaves shall return to their families.

11 You shall not plant your fields or harvest the grain that grows by itself or gather the grapes in your unpruned vineyards.

12 The whole year shall be sacred for you; you shall eat only what the fields produce of themselves.

13 In this year all property that has been sold shall be restored to its original owner.

14 So when you sell land to an Israelite or buy land, do not deal unfairly.

15 The price is to be set according to the number of years the land can produce crops before the next Year of Restoration.

16 If there are many years, the price shall be higher, but if there are only a few years, the price shall be lower, because what is being sold is the number of crops the land can produce.

17 Do not cheat an Israelite, but obey the Lord your God.

The Problem of the Seventh Year

18 Obey all the Lord’s laws and commands, so that you may live in safety in the land.

19 The land will produce its crops, and you will have all you want to eat and will live in safety.

20 But someone may ask what there will be to eat during the seventh year, when no fields are planted and no crops gathered.

21 The Lord will bless the land in the sixth year so that it will produce enough food for two years.

22 When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating what you harvested during the sixth year, and you will have enough to eat until the crops you plant that year are harvested.

Restoration of Property

23 Your land must not be sold on a permanent basis, because you do not own it; it belongs to God, and you are like foreigners who are allowed to make use of it.

24 When land is sold, the right of the original owner to buy it back must be recognized.

25 If any of you Israelites become poor and are forced to sell your land, your closest relative is to buy it back.

26 If you have no relative to buy it back, you may later become prosperous and have enough to buy it back yourself.

27 In that case you must pay to the one who bought it a sum that will make up for the years remaining until the next Year of Restoration, when you would in any event recover your land.

28 But if you do not have enough money to buy the land back, it remains under the control of the one who bought it until the next Year of Restoration. In that year it will be returned to its original owner.

29 If you sell a house in a walled city, you have the right to buy it back during the first full year from the date of sale.

30 But if you do not buy it back within the year, you lose the right of repurchase, and the house becomes the permanent property of the purchasers and their descendants; it will not be returned in the Year of Restoration.

31 But houses in unwalled villages are to be treated like fields; the original owner has the right to buy them back, and they are to be returned in the Year of Restoration.

32 However, Levites have the right to buy back at any time their property in the cities assigned to them.

33 If a house in one of these cities is sold by a Levite and is not bought back, it must be returned in the Year of Restoration,because the houses which the Levites own in their cities are their permanent property among the people of Israel.

34 But the pasture land around the Levite cities shall never be sold; it is their property forever.

Loans to the Poor

35 If any Israelites living near you become poor and cannot support themselves, you must provide for them as you would for a hired worker, so that they can continue to live near you.

36 Do not charge Israelites any interest, but obey God and let them live near you.

37 Do not make them pay interest on the money you lend them, and do not make a profit on the food you sell them.

38 This is the command of the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt in order to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

Release of Slaves

39 If any Israelites living near you become so poor that they sell themselves to you as a slave, you shall not make them do the work of a slave.

40 They shall stay with you as hired workers and serve you until the next Year of Restoration.

41 At that time they and their children shall leave you and return to their family and to the property of their ancestors.

42 The people of Israel are the Lord’s slaves, and he brought them out of Egypt; they must not be sold into slavery.

43 Do not treat them harshly, but obey your God.

44 If you need slaves, you may buy them from the nations around you.

45 You may also buy the children of the foreigners who are living among you. Such children born in your land may become your property,

46 and you may leave them as an inheritance to your children, whom they must serve as long as they live. But you must not treat any Israelites harshly.

47 Suppose a foreigner living with you becomes rich, while some Israelites become poor and sell themselves as slaves to that foreigner or to a member of that foreigner’s family.

48 After they are sold, they still have the right to be bought back. A brother

49 or an uncle or a cousin or another close relative may buy them back; or if they themselves earn enough, they may buy their own freedom.

50 They must consult the one who bought them, and they must count the years from the time they sold themselves until the next Year of Restoration and must set the price for their release on the basis of the wages paid hired workers.

51-52 They must refund a part of the purchase price according to the number of years left,

53 as if they had been hired on an annual basis. Their master must not treat them harshly.

54 If they are not set free in any of these ways, they and their children must be set free in the next Year of Restoration.

55 Israelites cannot be permanent slaves, because the people of Israel are the Lord’s slaves. He brought them out of Egypt; he is the Lord their God.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/25-6778cdb7e3d48108e902b540cf560a2a.mp3?version_id=68—

Blessings for Obedience

1 The Lord said, “Do not make idols or set up statues, stone pillars, or carved stones to worship. I am the Lord your God.

2 Keep the religious festivals and honor the place where I am worshiped. I am the Lord.

3 “If you live according to my laws and obey my commands,

4 I will send you rain at the right time, so that the land will produce crops and the trees will bear fruit.

5 Your crops will be so plentiful that you will still be harvesting grain when it is time to pick grapes, and you will still be picking grapes when it is time to plant grain. You will have all that you want to eat, and you can live in safety in your land.

6 “I will give you peace in your land, and you can sleep without being afraid of anyone. I will get rid of the dangerous animals in the land, and there will be no more war there.

7 You will be victorious over your enemies;

8 five of you will be able to defeat a hundred, and a hundred will be able to defeat ten thousand.

9 I will bless you and give you many children; I will keep my part of the covenant that I made with you.

10 Your harvests will be so plentiful that they will last for a year, and even then you will have to throw away what is left of the old harvest to make room for the new.

11 I will live among you in my sacred Tent, and I will never turn away from you.

12 I will be with you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.

13 I, the Lord your God, brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves. I broke the power that held you down and I let you walk with your head held high.”

Punishment for Disobedience

14 The Lord said, “If you will not obey my commands, you will be punished.

15 If you refuse to obey my laws and commands and break the covenant I have made with you,

16 I will punish you. I will bring disaster on you—incurable diseases and fevers that will make you blind and cause your life to waste away. You will plant your crops, but it will do you no good, because your enemies will conquer you and eat what you have grown.

17 I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated, and those who hate you will rule over you; you will be so terrified that you will run when no one is chasing you.

18 “If even after all of this you still do not obey me, I will increase your punishment seven times.

19 I will break your stubborn pride; there will be no rain, and your land will be dry and as hard as iron.

20 All your hard work will do you no good, because your land will not produce crops and the trees will not bear fruit.

21 “If you still continue to resist me and refuse to obey me, I will again increase your punishment seven times.

22 I will send dangerous animals among you, and they will kill your children, destroy your livestock, and leave so few of you that your roads will be deserted.

23 “If after all of this punishment you still do not listen to me, but continue to defy me,

24 then I will turn on you and punish you seven times harder than before.

25 I will bring war on you to punish you for breaking our covenant, and if you gather in your cities for safety, I will send incurable diseases among you, and you will be forced to surrender to your enemies.

26 I will cut off your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake all the bread they have. They will ration it out, and when you have eaten it all, you will still be hungry.

27 “If after all of this you still continue to defy me and refuse to obey me,

28 then in my anger I will turn on you and again make your punishment seven times worse than before.

29 Your hunger will be so great that you will eat your own children.

30 I will destroy your places of worship on the hills, tear down your incense altars, and throw your dead bodies on your fallen idols. In utter disgust

31 I will turn your cities into ruins, destroy your places of worship, and refuse to accept your sacrifices.

32 I will destroy your land so completely that the enemies who occupy it will be shocked at the destruction.

33 I will bring war on you and scatter you in foreign lands. Your land will be deserted, and your cities left in ruins.

34-35 Then the land will enjoy the years of complete rest that you would not give it; it will lie abandoned and get its rest while you are in exile in the land of your enemies.

36 “I will make those of you who are in exile so terrified that the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will make you run. You will run as if you were being pursued in battle, and you will fall when there is no enemy near you.

37 You will stumble over one another when no one is chasing you, and you will be unable to fight against any enemy.

38 You will die in exile, swallowed up by the land of your enemies.

39 The few of you who survive in the land of your enemies will waste away because of your own sin and the sin of your ancestors.

40 “But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me,

41 and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion,

42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham, and I will renew my promise to give my people the land.

43 First, however, the land must be rid of its people, so that it can enjoy its complete rest, and they must pay the full penalty for having rejected my laws and my commands.

44 But even then, when they are still in the land of their enemies, I will not completely abandon them or destroy them. That would put an end to my covenant with them, and I am the Lord their God.

45 I will renew the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I showed all the nations my power by bringing my people out of Egypt, in order that I, the Lord, might be their God.”

46 All these are the laws and commands that the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/26-16ce884938f1426116c8bc4921d0c048.mp3?version_id=68—

Laws concerning Gifts to the Lord

1 The Lord gave Moses

2 the following regulations for the people of Israel. When any of you have been given to the Lord in fulfillment of a special vow, you may be set free by the payment of the following sums of money,

3-7 according to the official standard:

–adult male, twenty to sixty years old: 50 pieces of silver

–adult female: 30 pieces of silver

–young male, five to twenty years old: 20 pieces of silver

–young female: 10 pieces of silver

–infant male under five: 5 pieces of silver

–infant female: 3 pieces of silver

–male above sixty years of age: 15 pieces of silver

–female above sixty: 10 pieces of silver

8 If any of you make a vow and are too poor to pay the standard price, you shall bring the person to the priest, and the priest will set a lower price, according to your ability to pay.

9 If your vow concerns an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, then every gift made to the Lord is sacred,

10 and you may not substitute another animal for it. If you do, both animals belong to the Lord.

11 But if your vow concerns a ritually unclean animal, which is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord, you shall take the animal to the priest.

12 The priest shall set a price for it, according to its good or bad qualities, and the price will be final.

13 If you wish to buy it back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent.

14 When any of you dedicate your house to the Lord, the priest shall set the price according to its good or bad points, and the price will be final.

15 If you wish to buy your house back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent.

16 If any of you dedicate part of your land to the Lord, the price shall be set according to the amount of seed it takes to sow it, at the rate of ten pieces of silver per bushel of barley.

17 If you dedicate the land immediately after a Year of Restoration, the full price applies.

18 If you dedicate it any time later, the priest shall estimate the cash value according to the number of years left until the next Year of Restoration, and set a reduced price.

19 If you wish to buy your field back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent.

20 If you sell the field to someone else without first buying it back from the Lord, you lose the right to buy it back.

21 At the next Year of Restoration the field will become the Lord’s permanent property; it shall belong to the priests.

22 If you dedicate to the Lord a field that you have bought,

23 the priest shall estimate its value according to the number of years until the next Year of Restoration, and you must pay the price that very day; the money belongs to the Lord.

24 At the Year of Restoration the field shall be returned to the original owner or to the descendants.

25 All prices shall be set according to the official standard.

26 The first-born of an animal already belongs to the Lord, so no one may dedicate it to him as a freewill offering. A calf, a lamb, or a kid belongs to the Lord,

27 but the first-born of an unclean animal may be bought back at the standard price plus an additional 20 percent. If it is not bought back, it may be sold to someone else at the standard price.

28 None of you may sell or buy back what you have unconditionally dedicatedto the Lord, whether it is a human being, an animal, or land. It belongs permanently to the Lord.

29 Not even human beings who have been unconditionally dedicated may be bought back; they must be put to death.

30 One tenth of all the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, belongs to the Lord.

31 If you wish to buy any of it back, you must pay the standard price plus an additional 20 percent.

32 One of every ten domestic animals belongs to the Lord. When the animals are counted, every tenth one belongs to the Lord.

33 You may not arrange the animals so that the poor animals are chosen, and you may not make any substitutions. If you do substitute one animal for another, then both animals will belong to the Lord and may not be bought back.

34 These are the commands that the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/363/32k/LEV/27-9576159a0401b988799e0281de381d21.mp3?version_id=68—