Through the Bible – Day 41

₁The LORD told Moses ₂to tell Aaron, his sons, and everyone else in Israel:

_3-4Whenever you kill any of your cattle, sheep, or goats as sacrifices to me, you must do it at the entrance to the sacred tent. If you don't, you will be guilty of pouring out blood, and you will no longer belong to the community of Israel. ₅And so, when you sacrifice an animal to ask my blessing, it must not be done out in a field, ₆but in front of the sacred tent. Then a priest can splatter its blood against the bronze altar and send its fat up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. ₇Don't ever turn from me again and offer sacrifices to goat-demons. This law will never change.

₈Remember! No one in Israel, including foreigners, is to offer a sacrifice anywhere ₉except at the entrance to the sacred tent. If you do, you will no longer belong to my people.

₁₀I will turn against any of my people who eat blood. This also includes any foreigners living among you. ₁₁Life is in the blood, and I have given you the blood of animals to sacrifice in place of your own. ₁₂That's also why I have forbidden you to eat blood. ₁₃Even if you should hunt and kill a bird or an animal, you must drain out the blood and cover it with soil.

₁₄The life of every living creature is in its blood. That's why I have forbidden you to eat blood and why I have warned you that anyone who does will no longer belong to my people.

₁₅If you happen to find a dead animal and eat it, you must take a bath and wash your clothes, but you are still unclean until evening. ₁₆If you don't take a bath, you will suffer for what you did wrong.

₁The LORD told Moses ₂to tell the people of Israel:

I am the LORD your God! ₃So don't follow the customs of Egypt where you used to live or those of Canaan where I am bringing you. ₄I am the LORD your God, and you must obey my teachings. ₅Obey them and you will live. I am the LORD.

₆Don't have sex with any of your close relatives, ₇especially your own mother. This would disgrace your father. ₈And don't disgrace him by having sex with any of his other wives. ₉Don't have sex with your sister or stepsister, whether you grew up together or not. ₁₀Don't disgrace yourself by having sex with your granddaughter ₁₁or half-sister _12-13or a sister of your father or mother. ₁₄Don't disgrace your uncle by having sex with his wife. ₁₅Don't have sex with your daughter-in-law ₁₆or sister-in-law. ₁₇And don't have sex with the daughter or granddaughter of any woman that you have earlier had sex with. You may be having sex with a relative, and that would make you unclean. ₁₈As long as your wife is alive, don't cause trouble for her by taking one of her sisters as a second wife.

₁₉When a woman is having her monthly period, she is unclean, so don't have sex with her.

₂₀Don't have sex with another man's wife—that would make you unclean.

₂₁Don't sacrifice your children on the altar fires to the god Molech. I am the LORD your God, and that would disgrace me.

₂₂It is disgusting for a man to have sex with another man.

₂₃Anyone who has sex with an animal is unclean.

₂₄Don't make yourselves unclean by any of these disgusting practices of those nations that I am forcing out of the land for you. They made themselves ₂₅and the land so unclean, that I punished the land because of their sins, and I made it vomit them up. _26-27Now don't do these sickening things that make the land filthy. Instead, obey my laws and teachings. ₂₈Then the land won't become sick of you and vomit you up, just as it did them. _29-30If any of you do these vulgar, disgusting things, you will be unclean and no longer belong to my people. I am the LORD your God, and I forbid you to follow their sickening way of life.

₁The LORD told Moses ₂to say to the community of Israel:

I am the LORD your God. I am holy, and you must be holy too! _3-4Respect your father and your mother, honour the Sabbath, and don't make idols or images. I am the LORD your God.

₅When you offer a sacrifice to ask my blessing, be sure to follow my instructions. ₆You may eat the meat either on the day of the sacrifice or on the next day, but you must burn anything left until the third day. ₇If you eat any of it on the third day, the sacrifice will be disgusting to me, and I will reject it. ₈In fact, you will be punished for not respecting what I say is holy, and you will no longer belong to the community of Israel.

₉When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing along the edges of your fields and don't pick up what falls on the ground. ₁₀Don't strip your grapevines clean or gather the grapes that fall off the vines. Leave them for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the LORD your God.

₁₁Do not steal or tell lies or cheat others.

₁₂Do not misuse my name by making promises you don't intend to keep. I am the LORD your God.

₁₃Do not steal anything or cheat anyone, and don't fail to pay your workers at the end of each day.

₁₄I am the LORD your God, and I command you not to make fun of the deaf or to cause a blind person to stumble.

₁₅Be fair, no matter who is on trial—don't favour either the poor or the rich.

₁₆Don't be a gossip, but never hesitate to speak up in court, especially if your testimony can save someone's life.

₁₇Don't hold grudges. On the other hand, it's wrong not to correct someone who needs correcting. ₁₈Stop being angry and don't try to take revenge. I am the LORD, and I command you to love others as much as you love yourself.

₁₉Breed your livestock animals only with animals of the same kind, and don't plant two kinds of seed in the same field or wear clothes made of different kinds of material.

₂₀If a man has sex with a slave woman who is promised in marriage to someone else, he must pay a fine, but they are not to be put to death. After all, she was still a slave at the time. _21-22The man must bring a ram to the entrance of the sacred tent and give it to a priest, who will then offer it as a sacrifice to me, so the man's sins will be forgiven.

₂₃After you enter the land, you will plant fruit trees, but you are not to eat any of their fruit for the first three years. ₂₄In the fourth year the fruit must be set apart, as an expression of thanks ₂₅to me, the LORD God. Do this, and in the fifth year, those trees will produce an abundant harvest of fruit for you to eat.

₂₆Don't eat the blood of any animal.

Don't practise any kind of witchcraft.

_27-28I forbid you to shave any part of your head or beard or to cut and tattoo yourself as a way of worshipping the dead.

₂₉Don't let your daughters serve as temple prostitutes—this would bring disgrace both to them and the land.

₃₀I command you to respect the Sabbath and the place where I am worshipped.

₃₁Don't make yourselves disgusting to me by going to people who claim they can talk to the dead.

₃₂I command you to show respect for older people and to obey me with fear and trembling.

₃₃Don't ill-treat any foreigners who live in your land. ₃₄Instead, treat them as well as you treat citizens and love them as much as you love yourself. Remember, you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

_35-36Use honest scales and don't cheat when you weigh or measure anything.

I am the LORD your God. I rescued you from Egypt, ₃₇and I command you to obey my laws.