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LEV EN_UST en_English_ltr Fri Feb 14 2025 15:11:01 GMT-0600 (Central Standard Time) tc

1 Yahweh summoned Moses from the sacred tent. He told him 2 to tell the Israelite people, “When any of you offers an animal to me, Yahweh, you should offer it from your farm animals, from your cattle or from your sheep and goats.

3 If you want to offer a bull as a wholly burned sacrifice, then you should offer a totally healthy male. You should present this animal at the entrance of the sacred tent. When you do, I, Yahweh, will regard it as acceptable. 4 You should place your hands on the head of the bull that the priest will burn completely on the altar. When you do that, I, Yahweh, will accept the animal as an appropriate sacrifice for you, and I will remove your sins from you. 5 You should kill the bull that you want to present in the sacred precincts where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. Then the priests, Aaron’s sons, should take the blood from the bull and splatter it onto every side of the altar that is at the entrance of the sacred tent. 6 You should remove the skin from the bull that you are presenting as a wholly burned sacrifice. Then you should cut the animal into pieces. 7 Then the sons of Aaron, who are priests themselves because Aaron was the first priest, should set burning coals on the altar and place pieces of wood on the coals so that the wood will catch fire. 8 Then the priests, Aaron's sons, will organize the pieces of the animal that you killed and cut up, including the head and the fat portions, on the wood fire that is burning on the top of the altar. 9 Before the priest burns up the stomach and intestines and legs of the animal, you should wash them carefully with water. Make sure that only clean things go on my altar. The priest should completely burn every part of the animal on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. This will fulfill the requirements for the wholly burned sacrifice. I, Yahweh, will consider it to be a gift, and I will enjoy the smell of the smoke.

10 But if you want to offer a smaller animal as a wholly burned sacrifice, whether a sheep or a goat, then you should offer a totally healthy male. 11 You should kill the sheep or goat that you want to present on the north side of the altar in the sacred precincts where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. Then the priests, Aaron’s sons, should take the blood from the sheep or the goat and splatter it onto every side of the altar. 12 You should then cut the animal into pieces, including its head and its fat portions. Then the priest should organize those pieces on a wood fire that he builds on the altar. 13 Before the priest burns up the stomach, intestines, and legs of the animal, you should wash them with water. Make sure that only clean things go on my altar. The priest should present all these portions of the animal to me and completely burn it on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. This will fulfill the requirements for the wholly burned sacrifice. I, Yahweh, will consider it to be a gift, and I will enjoy the smell of the smoke.

14 But if you want to offer a bird to me as a wholly burned sacrifice, then you should offer a dove or a pigeon. 15 The priest should bring the bird to the altar, break its neck and twist off its head. Then the priest should completely burn the head on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. Next, the priest should drain the bird's blood on the outer edge of the altar. 16 Then the priest should take out the bird’s esophagus, remove all the bird's feathers, and dispose of them on the east side of the altar. The priest should put them where the priests also dispose of the ashes from the fat of other sacrifices. 17 Then the priest should tear the bird open, holding it by its wings, but he should not tear it into two parts. Next, on the wood fire that he builds on the altar, the priest should burn the bird completely in a way that causes smoke to go up. This will fulfill the requirements for the wholly burned sacrifice. I, Yahweh, will consider it to be a gift, and I will enjoy the smell of the smoke.

2 Now if you want to offer a grain offering to me, Yahweh, you should offer wheat flour. Pour out some olive oil on it and place incense on top of it. 2 You should bring the offering of wheat flour to Aaron’s sons, the priests. A priest should scoop out of your offering a handful of the flour and olive oil, as well as all the incense—as large a handful as he is able to scoop. Then, the priest should burn the portion of your offering that he scooped out with his hand, doing it in a way that causes smoke to go up on the altar. When this happens, I, Yahweh, will consider it to be a gift, and I will enjoy the smell of the smoke of the offering. 3 The rest of the wheat flour that you offer, as a sacrifice to me, you should preserve for Aaron and his sons. You should consider this portion of the offering as especially set apart for the priests among all the gifts that you offer to me, Yahweh, and that are set apart for me.

4 But if you want to offer grain offering that consists of something that you baked in an oven, you should offer wheat flour that you mixed with olive oil into unleavened cakes. Or you could offer wheat flour that you shaped into unleavened crackers and coated with olive oil. 5 But if your grain offering consists of something that you pan-fried on a griddle, you should offer wheat flour that you mixed with olive oil into unleavened bread. 6 You should break the offering into pieces and pour out some olive oil onto it. These actions qualify the offering as a grain offering. 7 If your grain offering consists of something that you deep-fried in a pan, you should offer wheat flour that you mixed with olive oil. 8 In any case, you should bring to me, Yahweh, the grain offering that you have made in this way with these ingredients. You should present the offering to the priest. He will bring it to the altar. 9 There he should lift out from the grain offering the portion that he will burn. Then he should burn that handful on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. When this happens, I, Yahweh will consider the offering to be a gift, and I will enjoy the smell of the smoke. 10 The rest of the grain offering you should preserve for Aaron and his sons. You should consider this portion of the sacrifice as especially set apart for the priests among all the gifts that you offer to me, Yahweh, and that are set apart for me.

11 You should not burn any gift to me that contains any yeast or any honey on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. Make sure that whenever you offer a grain offering to me, Yahweh, you have prepared it without using yeast. 12 Any offerings to me that contain yeast or honey you should offer as a presentation of the produce of the field that has been harvested first. But do not burn these kinds of grain offerings on the altar so that they go up to me, Yahweh, as pleasant-smelling smoke. 13 Likewise, you should season every grain offering with salt. You should never present a grain offering without the salt, which reminds you of my promises to you. Every grain offering should contain salt that you have also presented to me, Yahweh.

14 But if you want to offer to me a grain offering that consists of the first harvest of ripened grains, do this. Offer the first ripe grains that you harvest, ears of grain in the early stage of ripening that you have roasted over a fire, that is, grains from your first ripened ears of grain that you have crushed. 15 You should pour out some olive oil on these kinds of offerings and you should place incense on them. These kinds of offerings also qualify as grain offerings. 16 The priest should burn the portion of the offering that he scooped out with his handful—the crushed grains and the olive oil, as well as all of the incense—in a way that causes smoke to go up. When this happens, I, Yahweh will consider the offering to be a gift.

3 But if you want to offer a fellowship sacrifice, do this. If you want to offer a bovine, whether the animal is male or female, you should offer a totally healthy animal in the place where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. 2 You should place your hands on the head of the bovine that you are offering. You should kill that animal in the entrance to the sacred tent. Then the priests, Aaron’s sons, should take the blood from the bovine and splatter it onto every side of the altar. 3 And from your fellowship sacrifice, you should offer a gift to me, Yahweh. This gift should consist of the caul fat that covers all the internal organs and all the visceral fat that is attached to the internal organs. 4 This gift should include both kidneys and the suet fat that is attached to them near the loin cuts. It should also include the lobes of the bovine's liver and the kidneys (which you should also remove). 5 Then one of the priests descended from Aaron should burn these fat portions and internal organs on the altar in such a way that it causes smoke to go up alongside the wholly burned sacrifices that the priest is burning on the wood fire that he has built on the altar. I, Yahweh, will consider this sacrifice a gift, and I will enjoy the smell of the smoke.

6 But if you want to offer an animal from your flock to me, Yahweh, as a fellowship sacrifice, whether the animal is male or female, you should offer a totally healthy animal. 7 If you want to offer a lamb, you should offer it in the place where I, Yahweh, lives among the Israelites. 8 You should place your hands on the head of the lamb that you are offering. You should kill it in the entrance to the sacred tent. Then one of the priests descended from Aaron should take the blood from the lamb and splatter it onto every side of the altar. 9 And from your fellowship sacrifice, you should offer a gift to me, Yahweh. This gift should consist of all the sheep's intestinal fat, the entire portion of the tail fat (which you should cut off near the backbone), the caul fat that covers all the internal organs, and all the visceral fat that is attached to the internal organs. 10 Your gift should also include both kidneys, the suet fat that is attached to them near the loin cuts, the lobes of the lamb's liver, and the kidneys (which you should also remove). 11 Then the priest should burn all the fat and the internal organs on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. You should consider this sacrifice as a gift of food for my holy purposes.

12 Likewise, if you want to offer a goat to me, you should offer it in the place where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. 13 You should place your hands on the head of the goat that you are offering. You should kill the animal in the entrance to the sacred tent. Then one of the priests descended from Aaron should take the blood from the goat and splatter it onto every side of the altar. 14 And from your sacrifice, you should offer a gift to me, Yahweh. This gift should consist of the caul fat that covers all the internal organs and all the visceral fat that is attached to the internal organs. 15 Your gift should also include both kidneys, the suet fat that is attached to them near the loin cuts, the lobes of the lamb's liver, and the kidneys (which you should also remove). 16 Then the priest should burn all the fat and the internal organs on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. You should consider this sacrifice as a gift of food for my holy purposes, and I, Yahweh, will enjoy the smell of the smoke of the sacrifice. You should not eat any of this fat, because all of the fat of any animal that you sacrifice belongs exclusively to me.

17 This is an enduring and permanent command that must be observed by you and all your descendants, wherever you happen to live: Because they belong exclusively to me, you must not consume the fat or the blood of any animal that you sacrifice to me.”

4 Then Yahweh told Moses 2 to tell the Israelite people, “It may happen that someone does wrong against me unintentionally and does something that I, Yahweh, specifically commanded my people not to do.

3 It may happen that the high priest himself does wrong against me in a way that brings guilt on the whole people. If this happens, to address the wrongdoing that he has done, the high priest should offer a totally healthy bull to me, Yahweh, as a purifying sacrifice. 4 That priest should bring the bull to the entrance of the sacred tent, to my presence. He should place his hand on the head of the bull that he wants to offer and kill it in the place where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. 5 After catching the draining blood of the bull in a bowl, the high priest should take some of that blood and bring it into the sacred tent. 6 The priest should dip one of his fingers into the blood, and he should flick some of the bull's blood seven times in the direction of the front of the curtain that separates the rest of the sacred tent from the Most Holy Place, where I, Yahweh, live among the people of Israel. 7 Then, in my presence—I, Yahweh, who resides behind the sacred curtain—the priest should drip some of that blood onto the four projected corners of the altar where the priests burn fragrant incense, which is located inside the sacred tent. Next, the priest should pour the rest of the bull's blood onto the base of the altar where the priests offer the wholly burned sacrifices, which is located at the entrance of the sacred tent. 8 The priest should then carefully remove all the fat of the bull that he is offering as a purifying sacrifice. He should remove the caul fat that covers all the internal organs, all the visceral fat that is attached to the internal organs, 9 both kidneys, and the suet fat that is attached to them near the loin cuts. He should also remove the lobes of the bull's liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys, 10 in the same way that you might remove the fat portions and the internal organs from the bovines that you offer as fellowship sacrifices. Then, on the altar where the priests offer the wholly burned sacrifices, the high priest should burn all these pieces of fat and the internal organs in a way that causes smoke to go up. 11 But all the other parts of the animal, its skin and all its other meat, including the meat on the bull’s head and its legs below the knee, its other internal organs, and any excrement— 12 someone else should take all of these remaining parts of the bull outside of the camp. That person should dispose of them in a place that is ceremonially clean, in the place where the priests also dispose of ashes from the fat of other sacrifices so that the impurities of these pieces do not cause the people to become impure accidentally. The person who does this should also burn all these remaining parts of the bull in a wood fire that he builds on the place where the priests also dispose of ashes from the fat of other sacrifices.

13 Or it may happen that the whole community of Israel does wrong against me unintentionally and does something that I, Yahweh, specifically commanded my people not to do. Even if the community is unaware of the fact that they did wrong, nevertheless, they will be guilty. 14 When they become aware of the wrongdoing that they have done against my commandments, the whole community should offer a bull as a purifying sacrifice. They should bring the bull to the front of the sacred tent. 15 Then the oldest and most respected members of the community should lay their hands on the head of the bull in my presence. One of them should kill the bull in the sacred precincts of the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelite people. 16 After catching the draining blood of the bull in a bowl, the high priest should take some of that blood and bring it into the sacred tent. 17 The priest should dip one of his fingers into the blood and, while standing in the precincts of the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelite people, he should flick some of the bull’s blood seven times in the direction of the front of the curtain that separates the rest of the sacred tent from the Most Holy Place. 18 Then the priest should drip some of that blood onto the four projected corners of the altar that is directly in front of the curtain behind which I, Yahweh, live in the Most Holy Place. That is the altar which is located inside the sacred tent. Next, the priest should pour the rest of the bull's blood onto the base of the altar where the priests offer sacrifices that they burn completely. That altar is located at the entrance of the sacred tent. 19 The priest should then carefully remove all the fat of the bull, and he should burn it on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. 20 The high priest should prepare this bull in the same way that he would prepare the bull that he would offer as a purifying sacrifice. When this happens, the priest will be able to offer a sacrifice that I, Yahweh, will accept for the sake of the people. I will remove the people’s sins from them and forgive them for their unintentional wrongdoing. 21 Then someone should take the remaining parts of the bull outside of the camp and burn them. He should burn them in the same way that a person would burn the remaining parts of the bull that the high priest offered as a purifying sacrifice. This is the way that the community should offer a purifying sacrifice.

22 Or it may happen that a leading member of the community does wrong against me unintentionally and does something that I, Yahweh the God of the people of Israel, specifically commanded my people not to do. If this happens, he will become guilty. 23 When the leader becomes aware of the wrongdoing that he did against my commandments, he should bring a totally healthy male goat to the sacred precincts where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelite people. 24 The leader should place his hand on the head of the goat that he wants to offer, and he should kill it in my presence. He should do this in the same place where people would kill the animals that they offer as wholly burned sacrifices. This is the way to offer a purifying sacrifice. 25 After catching the draining blood of the bull in a bowl, the priest should take some of the blood of the animal that the leader sacrificed as an offering to purify him from the impurities of his sin, dip one of his fingers into it, and drip some of the blood onto the four projected corners of the altar where the priests offer the wholly burned sacrifices. Next, the priest should pour the rest of the goat’s blood onto the base of the same altar. 26 After the leader carefully removes the appropriate portions of fat and internal organs, the priest should burn all the fat of the goat on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. He should do this just as he would burn the fat of a fellowship sacrifice. When this happens, the priest will have offered a sacrifice that I, Yahweh, will accept for the sake of the leader. I will remove the leader’s sins from him and forgive him for his unintentional wrongdoing.

27 Or it may happen that an Israelite who is not a priest unintentionally does wrong against me. He may do something that I, Yahweh, specifically commanded my people not to do. That person then will become guilty. 28 When the Israelite becomes aware of the wrongdoing that he did, he should bring a totally healthy female goat as an offering to me to address the wrongdoing that he did. 29 The Israelite should place his hand on the head of the goat that he wants to offer as a purifying sacrifice and kill it in the same place where people would kill the animals that they offer as wholly burned sacrifices. 30 After catching the draining blood of the bull in a bowl, the priest should take some of the blood of the goat and dip one of his fingers into it. He should drip some of the blood onto the four projected corners of the altar where the priests offer the wholly burned sacrifices. Next, the priest should pour the rest of the goat’s blood onto the base of the same altar. 31 Then the individual offering the sacrifice should remove all the goat’s fat just as he would remove the fat from a goat the he would offer as a fellowship sacrifice. Next, the priest should burn the goat's fat on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. I, Yahweh, will enjoy the smell of the smoke. When this happens, the priest will have offered a sacrifice that I will accept for the sake of the individual. I will remove the individual’s sins from him and will forgive him.

32 But if that person wants to bring a lamb as his purifying sacrifice, he should bring a totally healthy female lamb. 33 The person should place his hand on the head of the lamb that he wants to offer as a purifying sacrifice. Once he has done this, he should kill it in the same place where people would kill the animals that they offer as wholly burned sacrifices. 34 After catching the draining blood of the lamb in a bowl, the priest should take some of the blood of the animal that the individual wants to offer as a purifying sacrifice. He should dip one of his fingers into it and drip some of the blood onto the four projected corners of the altar where the priests offer the wholly burned sacrifices. The priest should pour the rest of the lamb’s blood onto the base of the same altar. 35 Then the individual who offers the sacrifice should remove all the lamb’s fat just as he would remove the fat of a lamb that he would offer as a fellowship sacrifice. Next, the priest should burn the lamb’s fat on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up on top of the other gifts that people have offered to me, Yahweh. When this happens, the priest will have offered a sacrifice that I will accept for the sake of the individual. I remove from him the person’s sins that he has done and will forgive him.

5 It may happen that the community leaders are investigating a crime and have cursed anyone who has information but does not provide it. Perhaps a person saw the crime. Or perhaps the person only learned about it afterward. Either way, if he hears the curse but does not testify about what he knows, then he has become guilty of sinning

2 Or it may happen that someone touches something impure, whether the impure dead body of a wild animal, the impure dead body of a domesticated animal, or the impure dead body of a swarming, winged insect. Even if the individual was unaware of touching the impure thing, when the person realizes that he has done so, he becomes impure and legally guilty.

3 Or that person might touch something unclean that comes from a human source or any other unclean thing that might cause a person to become unclean. Even if the individual was unaware of touching the unclean thing, when the person realizes that he has done so, he becomes legally guilty.

4 Or it may happen that a person makes a solemn promise carelessly and rashly. It does not matter whether the person made the promise with ill intention or with good intention. This instruction concerns any way in which a person might make a solemn promise carelessly or rashly. Even if the individual was unaware of speaking carelessly or rashly when he made the solemn promise, when he realizes that he has done so, he becomes legally guilty.

5 Whenever anyone becomes guilty in any of these situations, the individual should confess that he has done wrong. 6 Then the individual should bring the required penalty for his guilt to me, Yahweh, to address the wrongdoing that he has committed. He should bring a female flock animal, whether a lamb or a kid, as a purifying sacrifice. When this happens, the priest will be able to offer a sacrifice that I will accept for the sake of the individual. I will remove the guilt of the person's wrongdoing from him and will forgive him.

7 But if the individual cannot afford a sheep or a goat, then he should bring two doves or two pigeons to me, Yahweh, as the required penalty for the guilt that he acquired through the wrongdoing that he committed. The priest will offer one of the birds as a purifying sacrifice and the other bird as a wholly burned sacrifice. 8 The individual should bring these two birds to the priest. The priest should first present the bird that will offer as a purifying sacrifice. He should break its neck and twist its head by pinching the bird behind its neck. However, the priest should not remove the head completely. 9 Then the priest should splatter some of the blood of this first bird on the side of the altar. Next, the priest should wring out any remaining blood of the bird on the base of the altar. This is the way to offer a bird as a purifying sacrifice. 10 Then the priest should prepare the second bird as a wholly burned sacrifice, according to the instructions that I have commanded. When this happens, the priest will have offered a sacrifice that I, Yahweh, will accept for the sake of the individual. I will remove from him the guilt that the individual acquired through the wrongdoing that he has done, and I will forgive that individual for his wrongdoing.

11 But if the individual cannot afford the two doves or the two pigeons, then he should bring about two liters of wheat flour as his offering for the wrongdoing that he committed. This offering of wheat flour will serve as a purifying sacrifice. The individual should not pour any oil onto it, nor should he put a lump of incense on it, because it is intended to be a purifying sacrifice. 12 The individual should bring the wheat flour to the priest. Then, taking as large a handful as he is able, the priest should scoop out of the offering the portion that he will burn. The priest should then burn that portion on the altar, on top of the other gifts that individuals have offered to me, Yahweh, doing it in a way that causes smoke to go up. This is the way to offer wheat flour as a purifying sacrifice. 13 When this happens, the priest will have offered a sacrifice that I, Yahweh, will accept for the sake of the individual. I will remove the guilt of the individual’s wrongdoing from him that he acquired through the wrongdoing that he committed regarding these specific situations. Then, I will forgive the individual for his wrongdoing. The portion of the wheat flour that is not burned completely on the altar belongs to the priest for food just like the remaining portions of grain offerings.

14 Then Yahweh told Moses, 15 “It may happen that someone breaks one of the commandments that I have given to the people of Israel and unintentionally desecrates the sacred space where I live or the sacred items that are devoted to me, Yahweh. If that happens, that individual should bring the required penalty for his guilt to me, Yahweh. He should bring a totally healthy goat as a restoring sacrifice. The individual should determine the worth of the goat in silver according to the official standard for the weight of silver that priests dedicate to me in the sacred tent. 16 The individual should also repay the value of the sacred item that he desecrated. He should add one-fifth of the value of that sacred object to his sacrifice and give the full amount of silver to the priest. When this happens, the priest will be able to offer the ram that the individual is offering as a restoring sacrifice. The priest will offer this sacrifice in a way that I will accept for the sake of the individual. And I will remove the guilt of the individual’s wrongdoing from him. I will also forgive the individual for his unintentional wrongdoing.

17 Or it may happen that someone does wrong against me and does something that I, Yahweh, specifically commanded that my people not to do. Even if the individual did not know that he had done wrong, nonetheless, he has become legally guilty. He is responsible for his guilt. 18 The individual should bring a totally healthy male goat to the priest in order to offer a restoring sacrifice. He should also determine its value in silver. When this happens, the priest will be able to offer a sacrifice that I will accept for the sake of the individual. I will remove the guilt of the individual’s unintentional wrongdoing that he committed (even though he himself did not know that he had done wrong). Then, I will forgive the individual for his wrongdoing. 19 This is how an individual should offer a restoring sacrifice. That person is certainly legally guilty in my eyes.”

6 Then Yahweh told Moses, 2 “It may happen that a person does wrong and breaks one of the commandments that I, Yahweh, have given to the people of Israel. He might deceive another Israelite by failing to fulfill an oath that he swore he would keep by receiving a deposit or a pledge. Or he might deceive another Israelite by stealing his property or by extorting money from him. 3 Or he might mistreat another Israelite by finding someone's lost property and then lying about it. If someone does any of these various things that people do wrong, he has taken an oath falsely. 4 If this happens, when the person does wrong in any of these ways and becomes guilty, then he should first return the property that he stole or repay the money that he extorted from another Israelite. Or if he received a deposit, he should return the deposit that another Israelite gave to him as a sign that he would fulfill the oath between them. Or if he found someone’s lost property, he should return the lost property. 5 This same principle applies for any other way in which a person might swear an oath falsely. That person should restore the full monetary value of whatever he has stolen or found or the amount that he withheld. Moreover, he should add a fifth of that monetary value to the total amount. He should give the money to whomever the amount properly belongs on the day that he recognizes that he is guilty of wrongdoing. 6 Then, to the precincts of the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites, that individual should bring an animal to sacrifice. He should offer the animal as a restoring sacrifice. To offer this sacrifice, he should bring a totally healthy male ram to the priest from the flock animals that he owns. He should also determine its monetary value in silver. 7 When this happens, the priest will be able to offer in my presence a sacrifice that I, Yahweh, will accept for the sake of the individual. And I will remove the guilt of the individual’s wrongdoing. I will also forgive the individual for whatever way he becomes guilty out of all the ways that people acquire guilt.”

8 Then Yahweh told Moses, 9 “Make sure that Aaron and his sons know that this is the way that a person should offer a wholly burned sacrifice. This kind of sacrifice must remain on the burning fire that is on the altar throughout the entire night. You should make sure that the fire on the altar is always burning. 10 In the morning, make sure that the priest puts on his linen coat and that he wears his linen undergarments on his bare skin. Then he should remove the ashes from the fat of other sacrifices that have accumulated where the fire has totally burned the sacrifices that are left on the altar. The priest should put the ashes in a pile beside the altar. 11 After he has done this, the priest should remove those sacred linen clothes and put on other, everyday clothes. Then he should take the ashes outside of the camp and dispose of them in a place that is ceremonially clean. This is so that the impurities of these parts of the animal do not cause the people to become impure accidentally. 12 Now, make sure that the fire on the altar is always burning. It must never go out. Rather, each and every morning, the priest should put more firewood on the fire. Then he should arrange more offerings on the fire. He should burn the fat of the fellowship sacrifices on that fire, doing it in a way that causes smoke to go up. 13 Make sure that the fire on the altar is continually burning. Remember, it must never go out!

14 And this is the way a person should offer a grain offering. The descendants of Aaron who are priests should present this kind of sacrifice in the precincts of the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites, in front of the altar that is at the entrance of the sacred tent. 15 Then, with as large a handful as he can pick up, the priest should scoop out of the offering a handful of the wheat flour with its olive oil, as well as all the incense that is on the offering. The priest should burn the portion of the offering that he scooped out with his hand. He should burn it in a way that causes smoke to go up on the altar. I, Yahweh, will enjoy the smell of the smoke of the offering. 16 Aaron and his sons who are priests may eat the rest of the grain offerings that you offer to me, to Yahweh. They should eat any unleavened loaf of bread in a sacred place, inside the courtyard of the sacred tent. 17 Make sure that no one offers a grain offering that consists of a loaf of bread that he made with leaven. I have given this part of the grain offerings to the priests as their portion of the gifts that people offer to me. Out of all those gifts, the portion of the sacrifice that the priests keep for themselves for food is specially set apart. It is separated from all the sacred gifts that people offer to me, just like the priests’ portions of the purifying sacrifices and the priests’ portions of the restoring sacrifices. 18 Any male descendant of Aaron may eat these portions of the sacrifices. In fact, this practice is a permanent and enduring part of the portion of the gifts that people offer to me, to Yahweh, which belongs to the priests for every generation of the people of Israel. These gifts are so sacred that whoever or whatever touches them becomes just as sacred as the gifts themselves.”

19 Then Yahweh told Moses, 20 “On the day when one of the male descendants of Aaron is consecrated as a priest, this is what he should offer. He should present to me, to Yahweh, about two liters of wheat flour, constituting a grain offering that will always be in my presence. He should bring half of the wheat flour in the morning and half of the wheat flour in the evening. 21 The priest who offers the grain offering should pan-fry the wheat flour on a griddle in olive oil after having combined it with the oil. He should then offer the broken pieces of the offering. He should burn them on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up so that I, Yahweh, will enjoy the smell of the smoke of the offering. 22 The high priest who is in line to succeed the current high priest should perform the grain offering in this way. These instructions are a permanent and enduring regulation. Make sure that the priests burn these kinds of sacrifices in their entirety in a way that causes smoke to go up to me, to Yahweh. 23 The priests should offer every part of these grain offerings. No priest should eat any portion of this particular sacrifice.”

24 Then Yahweh told Moses 25 to tell Aaron and his sons, “This is the way a person should offer a purifying sacrifice. The individual should kill the animal that an individual selects for this kind of sacrifice at the same place where individuals kill the animals that someone might offer as a wholly burned sacrifice. This location is within the precincts of the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. Aaron and his descendants should consider this kind of sacrifice as specially set apart for the priests among all the sacred offerings that people offer to me that are set apart for me. 26 The priest who performs the purifying sacrifice may eat its meat. However, the priest should only eat it in the place in the courtyard of the sacred tent that the priests have set apart for such sacred acts. 27 The meat of these sacrifices is so sacred that whoever or whatever touches the meat of the sacrifice becomes just as sacred as the meat itself. And whoever splatters the blood of the purifying sacrifice on any clothing should wash the spots where the blood came into contact with the clothing. They should wash their clothing in a location that the priests have set apart for such sacred acts. 28 If the priest boils the meat of the purifying sacrifice in a pot made from clay or potsherds, the priest must smash the pot afterward. However, if the priest boils the meat in a bronze pot, the priest may thoroughly scrub the pot with scalding water and rinse the pot with water. 29 Any male in a priest’s family may eat the boiled meat of the purifying sacrifice. The people should consider that meat to be especially set apart for the priests out of all the gifts that people offer to me, to Yahweh, which are set apart for me. 30 But there is one kind of sacrifice that neither the priests nor their family members should eat. Instead, the priests should completely burn such a sacrifice over the fire. They should not eat any purifying sacrifice that requires the priest to bring some of the blood of the animal into the sacred tent. The priest does this in the sacred space that priests have set apart for such sacred acts in order to offer a sacrifice that I will accept for the sake of an individual.

7 “This is the way a person should offer the restoring sacrifice. The people of Israel should consider this kind of sacrifice as especially set apart among all the sacred offerings that people offer to me that are set apart for me. 2 The people who offer this kind of sacrifice should kill the animal they are presenting in the same place where people might kill the animals people offer as wholly burned sacrifices. Then after catching the animal’s blood in a bowl, the priest should splatter the blood onto every side of the altar. 3 The individual should present all of the fat that he removed from the animal: the entire portion of the tail fat, the caul fat that covers all the internal organs, 4 both kidneys, and the suet fat that is attached to them near the loin cuts. He should also present the lobes of the lamb’s liver, and the kidneys (which the individual should also remove). 5 Then the priest should burn all these portions of fat and internal organs on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. Once burned, the fat and the internal organs will become gifts to me, to Yahweh. This is how an individual should offer a restoring sacrifice 6 Any male descendant of Aaron may eat the meat that comes from this sacrifice. However, he should eat it in a place set apart for such purposes. The people of Israel should consider this kind of sacrifice as especially set apart for the priests among all the sacred offerings that people offer to me that are set apart for me.

7 The instructions for the restoring sacrifice are just the same as the instructions for the purifying sacrifice. There is one set of instructions for both of them. The meat of the sacrifice belongs to the priest who offers the sacrifice that I will accept for the sake of the individual so that I will remove the individual’s sins from him and forgive him for his wrongdoing. 8 As for the priest who offers a wholly burned sacrifice for someone, the skin of the animal that the individual offered belongs to the priest. 9 Every grain offering that someone bakes in an oven, and every sacrifice that someone prepares by deep-frying in a pan or by pan-frying on a griddle also belongs to the priest who offered it for food. It will be his food. 10 Likewise, both the grain offering with olive oil and those without any olive oil belong to every male descendant of Aaron. Every priest is alike in this regard.

11 This is how someone should offer any fellowship sacrifice that he wants to offer to me. 12 Someone might want to offer a fellowship sacrifice to express gratitude to me. If so, he should present unleavened loaves of bread that someone made from flour that he mixed with olive oil or unleavened loaves of bread that someone made from fine wheat flour that he mixed with olive oil and coated with oil, a cake soaked with oil. He should present those loaves in addition to the animal sacrifices that accompany the fellowship sacrifices that express gratitude to me. 13 Along with those leavened loaves of bread and the animal sacrifices that regularly accompany any fellowship sacrifice for the purpose of expressing gratitude to me, the individual should offer this grain offering. 14 And from those portions of the sacrifice, the individual should offer a portion of the whole sacrifice as a special contribution to me, to Yahweh. These portions will belong to the priest who splatters the blood of the fellowship sacrifice. It will be his food. 15 As for the meat of the fellowship sacrifice that someone offers for the purpose of expressing gratitude to me, the priests should eat the meat on the same day that the individual offers it. The priests must not allow any of the meat to remain until the next morning.

16 Someone might want to offer a fellowship sacrifice because of a vow that he made to me. Or someone might also want to bring a fellowship sacrifice freely and unprompted. In either case, the priests should eat the meat of the sacrifice on the day that the individual offers the sacrifice. The priests may also eat the remaining meat of the sacrifice throughout the next day. 17 However, the priests must completely burn any remaining meat from the sacrifice on the third day. 18 If, for whatever reason, anyone ever eats the meat from a fellowship sacrifice on the third day after an individual offered it, I will no longer accept whatever sacrifice the individual offered. As for the person who offered the sacrifice, I will not forgive him, because the meat is now considered desecrated. Whoever eats that meat must now be held responsible for addressing his wrongdoing.

19 No one should ever eat any meat that comes into contact with anything unclean. The people of Israel should always completely burn contaminated meat. However, anyone who is able to remain clean can eat clean meat. 20 Anyone who has not been able to remain ceremonially clean and still, nonetheless, eats the meat of a fellowship sacrifice, that meat that belongs to me, to Yahweh, alone, that person is now an outcast. The people of Israel should no longer consider that person to be one of my people. 21 Likewise, anyone who comes into contact with anything impure, whether an impure person or an impure domesticated animal or anything impure that I consider to be disgusting and, nonetheless, eats some of the meat of a fellowship sacrifice, the meat that belongs to me, to Yahweh, alone, that person is now an outcast. The people of Israel should no longer consider that person to be one of my people.

22 Then Yahweh told Moses 23 to say to the Israelite people, “The people of Israel should never eat any of the fat of bovines or sheep or goats. 24 As for the fat from an animal’s corpse or the fat from an animal that wild animals killed and someone later found it dead, anyone may use these portions of fat for various purposes. However, no one should ever eat this fat. 25 If ever anyone eats the fat from these domesticated animals that people use to offer gifts to me, to Yahweh, that person who ate the fat is now an outcast. The people of Israel should no longer consider that person to be one of my people. 26 And wherever you happen to live, no one should ever eat any blood, whether from a bird or from a domesticated animal. 27 If ever any individual eats any blood, that person is now an outcast. The people of Israel should no longer consider that person to be one of my people.”

28 Then Yahweh told Moses, 29 to say to the Israelite people, “Anyone who offers a fellowship sacrifice to me, to Yahweh, should bring part of that sacrifice directly to my presence. 30 He himself should bring the gift that he is offering to me. He should bring the fat along with the meat of the animal’s breast in order to fan it in my presence as a special contribution to me. 31 Then the priest should burn the fat of the animal’s breast meat on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. However, the breast meat itself belongs to Aaron and to his male descendants for food. 32 And, as a special contribution, the person offering the fellowship sacrifice should give the animal’s right thigh to the priest who performed the sacrifice. 33 The right thigh belongs to whichever priest, being a male descendant of Aaron, presented the blood and the fat of the fellowship sacrifice. It is his share of food. 34 For, by instructing the people of God to offer sacrifices in this manner, I have taken the breast meat of the sacrifice that the priest fans in my presence and the special contribution of the right thigh from the people of Israel, from their fellowship sacrifices, and I have given these special portions to Aaron the priest and to his male descendants. These instructions guarantee that the people of Israel will provide a permanent and lasting portion of food for the priests.”

35 Those are the allotments that belong to Aaron and the allotments that belong to his male descendants from the gifts that people offer to Yahweh. Yahweh commanded these instructions on the day that Moses presented Aaron and his sons to serve as priests to Yahweh. 36 Yahweh made sure to give these instructions and regulations to the priests on the day that Moses anointed them and set them apart from the people of Israel. These portions of the sacrifices are a permanent and enduring regulation that the people of Israel and all their descendants should always observe.

37 So, those are the ways in which people should offer the wholly burned sacrifices, the grain offerings, the purifying sacrifices, the restoring sacrifices, the appointing sacrifices, and the fellowship sacrifices. 38 Yahweh made sure that Moses received all these instructions and regulations on Mount Sinai on the day that Yahweh commanded the people of Israel to begin offering their sacrifices to Yahweh in the desert wilderness around Sinai.

8 Then Yahweh told Moses, 2 “Bring Aaron and his sons, their special clothes, the oil that you will use to anoint them, the bull that you will offer as a purifying offering, the two rams that you will also offer, and a basket that contains some bread that you have baked without leaven. 3 Then gather all the people together at the entrance to the sacred tent.” 4 Moses did exactly what Yahweh told him to do, and all the people gathered together at the entrance of the sacred tent.

5 Then Moses said to the whole people, “This is what Yahweh has told us to do.” 6 Moses then brought forth Aaron and his sons, and he washed them thoroughly. 7 Moses put the embroidered tunic on Aaron, tied the waistband around him, and clothed him with the outer garment and the priests’ sacred apron. He tied the carefully woven belt of the sacred apron around him, and so, clothed him in the priests’ sacred clothing. 8 He placed the chest pouch that attaches to the apron on Aaron's chest and put into it the two stones called the Urim and the Thummim. 9 Then Moses wrapped the turban around Aaron’s head and fastened the golden flower-shaped plate, that sacred crown that demonstrates that Aaron serves Yahweh alone, to the front of the turban, exactly as Yahweh told Moses to do.

10 Then Moses took the olive oil that he was to use for dedicating people and objects to Yahweh, and he poured it out on the sacred tent and everything that was in it. By doing this, he set the entire space and everything in it apart and dedicated them wholly to Yahweh and his purposes. 11 Then Moses flicked some of the sacred oil on the altar seven times. He anointed the altar and all the tools that accompanied the altar, its washbasin, and its stand so that he could dedicate them wholly to Yahweh and his purposes. 12 He poured out on Aaron’s head some of the sacred olive oil that he was to use to dedicate people and objects wholly to Yahweh and so, he anointed him in order to set him apart and dedicate him wholly to Yahweh and to his purposes. 13 Then Moses brought forth Aaron’s sons, and he clothed them with the embroidered tunics, tied the waistbands around them, and wrapped the headbands on their heads, exactly as Yahweh told Moses to do.

14 Then Moses brought into the sacred tent the bull that he would offer as a purifying offering. Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the animal’s head. 15 Then Aaron and his sons killed the bull, and, after collecting some of its blood in a bowl, Moses took the blood, and, using his finger, put some of it on every one of the four projected corners of the altar. By doing this, Moses purified the altar from the impurity of sin. The rest of the blood Moses poured out on the base of the altar, and so, he set the altar apart and dedicated it as a suitable place on which to offer sacrifices that would remove people's sins from them and restore them to relationship with Yahweh. 16 Then Moses took all the visceral fat that was attached to the internal organs, the lobes of the bull’s liver, the two kidneys, and their suet fat. He completely burned these internal organs and fat portions on the altar in a way that caused smoke to go up. 17 Another Israelite then completely burned the rest of the bull that Aaron and his sons had killed, including its skin, its other internal organs, and its excrement at a clean place outside the camp, exactly as Yahweh told Moses to do.

18 Then Moses presented the ram that he was going to offer as a wholly burned sacrifice, and Aaron and his sons placed their hands on its head. 19 Then, Aaron and his sons killed the ram, and Moses, after collecting some of the ram's blood in a bowl, flicked some of the blood on every side of the altar. 20 After Aaron and his sons cut the ram into its appropriate portions, Moses burned the head, the portions of meat, and all the suet of the bull on the altar in a way that caused smoke to go up. 21 But the internal organs and the legs of the bull Aaron and his sons thoroughly washed before Moses also burned these on the altar in the same manner. In doing so, Moses fulfilled the requirements for offering a wholly burned sacrifice. Yahweh enjoyed the smell of the smoke, and he considered the sacrifice to be a gift, exactly as he had told Moses to do.

22 Then Moses presented the second ram, the one that Moses would offer to appoint the priests and dedicate them as priests to Yahweh, and Aaron and his sons placed their hands on its head. 23 Aaron and his sons slaughtered the ram. After Moses caught some of its blood in a bowl, he took the blood and daubed some of it on Aaron—on the lobe of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot. 24 Moses then took Aaron’s sons and did the same, daubing blood on them as well. He did this to set their ears, their hands, and their feet apart for service to Yahweh alone. Then Moses splashed the remaining blood on every side of the altar. 25 Moses took the intestinal fat of the ram, including the tail fat and all the visceral that was attached to the intestines. He also took the lobes of the ram’s liver, the two kidneys and their suet fat, and the right thigh. 26 Then Moses took a loaf of unleavened bread, a loaf of unleavened bread that he had covered in olive oil, and a cracker from the basket that was in Yahweh’s presence. He put these items on the fat portions and the right thigh of the ram that Aaron and his sons had killed. 27 Moses placed all of these sacrifices into the upturned, open hands of Aaron and his sons, who held them up and moved them about in Yahweh’s presence. 28 Then Moses took all those things from the upturned, open hands of Aaron and his sons, and completely burned them on the altar, on top of the sacrifices that Moses was already burning, in a way that caused smoke to go up. By offering these items in this way, the sacrifice fulfilled the requirements for the appointing sacrifice. Yahweh enjoyed the smell of the smoke, and he considered this sacrifice to be a gift to him. 29 Moses then also took the breast meat from the second ram that Aaron and his sons offered as an appointing sacrifice. He held it up and moved it about in Yahweh’s presence in the precincts of the sacred tent as a special contribution to Yahweh. The breast meat belonged to Moses as his allotted share of food, exactly as Yahweh told Moses.

30 Next, Moses took some of the olive oil that he used for anointing Aaron and his sons, and some of the blood that he had previously placed on the altar. He flicked both the blood and the olive oil on Aaron and his sons and on all their clothes in order to cleanse them from the impurity of sin. By doing this, he set apart Aaron, his sons, and all their clothing for service to Yahweh and dedicated them wholly to Yahweh.

31 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the meat of the second ram at the entrance of the sacred tent. You should eat it there with the bread that is in the basket that you are using for the appointing sacrifice, exactly as I told you to do when I said that Aaron and his sons should eat the bread and the meat of the ram. 32 Make sure you completely burn any of the meat and bread that remains after you are finished eating. 33 You should not leave the entrance of the sacred tent for seven days, until the day when your appointing ceremony is over. You should do this because Yahweh will give you the responsibilities of the priesthood over the course of the seven-day period. 34 Yahweh told you to do all these things exactly as you have done them today in order to restore you to relationship with Yahweh. 35 Again, make sure you remain in the entrance of the sacred tent from day to night for an entire week and carefully avoid exactly what Yahweh has told you to avoid. If you are careful to do this, Yahweh will not kill you, because Yahweh himself told me to do these things.”

36 So, Aaron and his sons did everything that Yahweh told them through Moses.

9 Eight days later, Moses summoned Aaron, his sons, and the oldest and most respected people of Israel. 2 He said to Aaron, “Take a totally healthy calf from the domesticated bulls that you own and offer it as a purifying sacrifice along with a totally healthy ram that you will offer as a wholly burned sacrifice. Present these animals to Yahweh. 3 Then tell the Israelite people to take a male goat and offer it as a purifying sacrifice, along with a calf and a lamb that they will offer as a wholly burned sacrifice. Tell them to make sure that both animals are a year old and totally healthy. 4 Also tell the Israelite people to take an ox and a ram and offer them as fellowship sacrifices when they sacrifice in Yahweh’s presence. They should offer these animals along with a grain offering that consists of wheat flour that they have combined with olive oil. Tell them that they should bring these offerings because Yahweh himself is going to appear to them today.”

5 After Aaron relayed these instructions to the Israelite people, the people brought to the courtyard in front of the sacred tent everything that Moses told them to bring. Then all the people presented the animals and the offerings, and they stood together in Yahweh’s presence. 6 Then Moses said, “This is exactly what Yahweh told you to do. Now you will see how glorious he is.”

7 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and perform the purifying sacrifice and the wholly burned sacrifice that Yahweh told you to offer. Do this so that Yahweh will remove your sins from you and restore you and the people to relationship with him. Then perform the sacrifices that Yahweh told the people to offer. Do this so that Yahweh will remove the peoples’ sins from them and restore them to relationship with him. Perform these sacrifices exactly as Yahweh instructed.”

8 So Aaron approached the altar and killed the calf that he would offer as a purifying sacrifice to cleanse the holy space dedicated to Yahweh from the impurity of his own sin. 9 Then, after they collected some of the calf’s blood in a bowl, Aaron’s sons presented the blood to their father. Aaron dipped one of his fingers into the blood and applied some of it to the four projections on the corners of the altar. He poured the rest of the blood onto the base of the altar. 10 He then burned the calf’s fat, including the kidneys and the lobe of the liver of the calf that Aaron sacrificed as a purifying sacrifice, on the altar in a way that caused smoke to go up Aaron did this exactly as Yahweh told Moses. 11 But someone else completely burned the rest of the calf’s meat and its skin at a clean place outside of the camp.

12 Then Aaron killed the ram that he was going to offer as a wholly burned sacrifice. After collecting some of the blood of the ram, his sons brought him some of the blood, and he splattered it on every side of the altar. 13 Then, after cutting the ram into its appropriate portions, Aaron’s sons brought him the appropriate portions of the ram’s meat, fat, and internal organs, including the animal's head. Aaron burned them on the altar in a way that caused smoke to go up. 14 Then Aaron washed the ram’s intestines and legs, and he burned them on the altar in a way that caused smoke to go up. He placed them on top of the other portions of the sacrifices that he was already burning on the altar.

15 Then Aaron brought the animals that the Israelite people offered to Yahweh. He took the goat that the people required for their purifying sacrifice, and he killed it. By offering it, Aaron cleansed the people from the impurity of their sin, just as he had done with the goat that he offered for himself.

16 In this way, he presented the animal that the people required for their sacrifice. Aaron offered this sacrifice in the way that Yahweh had instructed Moses. 17 Then Aaron presented the offering that consisted of a sacrifice of harvested grain. He took a handful of it and burned it on the altar in a way that caused smoke to go up, in addition to the animal sacrifices that he had prepared and completely burned on the altar in the morning.

18 Then Aaron killed the ox and the ram that the Israelite people required for their sacrifice that promised friendship with Yahweh. After catching some of the blood of the animals, his sons brought him the blood, and he flicked the blood against every side of the altar. 19 He took the fat portions from the ox and the ram, including their fatty tails, their visceral fat that was attached to the animals' internal organs, their kidneys, and the lobes of their livers. 20 Then his sons placed all these portions of fat and internal organs on top of the breast meat of those animals, and Aaron burned these portions on the altar in a way that caused smoke to go up. 21 Next, Aaron presented the breast meat and the right thigh of those animals in Yahweh's presence, exactly as Yahweh told Moses.

22 When he had finished offering all the sacrifices, Aaron lifted his hands over the people, and he asked Yahweh to bless them. Then, he came down from the altar where he had offered the purifying sacrifices, the wholly burned sacrifices, and the fellowship sacrifices that he and the people had required.

23 Then Moses and Aaron entered into the Holy Place in the sacred tent. When they came out later, they asked Yahweh to bless the people again. When they did this, all the people saw how glorious Yahweh was. 24 Fire came out from the sacred precincts, where Yahweh lived among the Israelites, and completely burned everything that was on the altar, including the wholly burned offerings and all the portions of fat. When all the people saw this happen, they shouted joyfully and bowed themselves down on the ground to worship Yahweh.

10 But then two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took the trays in which they burned incense. Into these trays they placed some burning coals and put incense on top of the coals. They proceeded to waft the smoke of the incense in the precincts of the sacred tent where Yahweh lived among the Israelite people. However, the coals were not holy, as Yahweh said they should be. But rather, the coals had come from a common, everyday source. Because the coals were not holy, their offering of incense was not acceptable to Yahweh. 2 Flames shot out from the precincts of the sacred tent where Yahweh lived among the Israelites, and the fire burned up Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu. The fire killed them right in Yahweh’s presence. 3 Moses turned and said to Aaron, “These events are exactly what Yahweh spoke of when he said,

‘In the presence of the holy priests who draw near to me,

I will demonstrate that I am set apart from everything else;

in the sight of everyone,

I will demonstrate that I should always be honored and worshiped.’ ”

But Aaron was silent and said nothing.

4 So Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, Aaron’s cousins, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel. Moses said to them, “Offer yourselves for service and carry the corpses of your relatives from the front of the Holy Place in the sacred tent. Bring them to a place outside the camp.” 5 So Aaron’s cousins stepped forward and carried the two corpses of Aaron’s sons in the folds of their embroidered tunics. They carried them to a place outside the camp, exactly as Moses told them to do.

6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his two remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not mourn for your brothers as is customary. You should not allow your hair to hang down, nor should you tear your clothing. If you do, Yahweh may also kill you, and his anger may extend to the whole congregation as well. However, your fellow Israelites, every single person, should mourn because Yahweh is angry with his priests, as his burning fire has demonstrated. 7 However, make sure that you do not leave the entrance of the sacred tent. If you do so, Yahweh will kill you too. You should not forget that when I poured Yahweh’s holy oil on your heads, Yahweh set you apart to serve him here.” So, Aaron and his remaining sons did everything that Moses told them to do.

8 Then Yahweh said to Aaron, 9 “You and your two sons who are still alive should not drink wine or beer before you enter the sacred tent. If you drink alcohol before you enter the sacred precincts where Yahweh lives among the Israelites, Yahweh will kill you. This practice is a permanent and enduring instruction for how the priests should behave, which applies to every generation of the people of Israel. 10 As priests, you should learn how to distinguish what is set apart for Yahweh and his purposes from that which you may use for everyday, common purposes. You will also be able to distinguish what is unacceptable to Yahweh and unclean from that which is acceptable to Yahweh and clean. 11 By learning how to distinguish these things from one another, the whole people of Israel will learn how to follow all the instructions that I told Moses, who then told them to you.”

12 Moses then said to Aaron and his remaining two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take whatever grain offering now remains after Aaron has burned the gifts that he offered to Yahweh on the altar and eat the unleavened loaves of bread next to the altar. You should eat it here because these leftovers are set apart for the priests among all the gifts that people offer to Yahweh and that are set apart for him. 13 Make sure that you eat these leftovers in the place that priests have dedicated for such purposes. You should do this because these leftovers are the food that Yahweh has provided for you and for your children from all the gifts that people offer to Yahweh that are also set apart for himself. It is so because Yahweh has told me that this is what you should do. 14 You and your children may eat the breast meat that was held up and moved about in Yahweh’s presence and the meat of the right thigh that people have offered as a special contribution to Yahweh. You and your children should eat these portions of meat in any place that the priests have set apart for such holy purposes. Yahweh has given them to you and to your children as your portion of food that comes from the fellowship sacrifices that people offer to Yahweh. 15 In addition to the other fat portions that people offer to Yahweh, the priests should bring the meat of the right thigh that people have offered as a special contribution to Yahweh and the breast meat to hold them up and move them about in Yahweh’s presence. Remember that these portions of meat are food for you and for your children. These instructions should be perpetual and enduring, exactly as Yahweh has told you to do.

16 After asking about the location of the goat that the priests had offered as a purifying sacrifice, Moses diligently looked for it. He discovered that the priests had mistakenly burned it completely on the altar when they ought to have eaten it. So Moses was very angry with Aaron’s two remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, and asked them, 17 “Why did you not eat the meat of the purifying sacrifice in a location that the priests have set apart for such holy purposes? You should have considered that meat to be specifically dedicated for you among all the gifts that people offer to Yahweh that are also set apart for him! Yahweh gave that meat to you not only so that you could eat it, but also so that it would address the wrongdoing of the whole congregation. When you ate that meat in Yahweh’s presence, he was going to forgive the whole congregation for their sins and restore their relationship with him! 18 Consider this: the sacrifice was not the type of purifying sacrifice that required the priest to bring any blood into the inner portion of the Holy Place in the sacred tent! You should certainly have eaten it in the place that the priests have set apart for such holy purposes, exactly as I told you to do!”

19 But Aaron replied, “Consider this: today, my sons brought their purifying sacrifices and their wholly burned sacrifices to Yahweh in the precincts where he lives among the Israelite people. Yet, nonetheless, these horrible things have happened to me! Even if I myself had eaten the meat of the purifying sacrifice today, would Yahweh have approved of everything that has happened here today, even the death of my sons?” 20 When Moses heard Aaron’s response, he was satisfied and said nothing further.

11 Then Yahweh spoke to Aaron and Moses. He said, 2 “Tell the people of Israel that, out of all the animals that live on dry land, the following animals are the ones that they may eat. 3 This is the rule: any animal that has hooves (and those hooves are completely cloven) and also rechews partially digested food—these are the types of animals that are acceptable to eat.

4 However, there are some animals that have one of these traits but not both. These types of animals are not acceptable to eat. For example, camels are not acceptable to eat because, while they chew the cud, they do not have a completely cloven hoof. The people of Israel should consider any animal like this to be impure and unacceptable for eating. 5 Likewise, rock badgers are not acceptable to eat because, while they chew the cud, they do not have completely cloven hooves, because they do not have hooves at all. The people of Israel should also consider any animal like this to be impure and unacceptable to eat. 6 Rabbits also are unacceptable to eat because, while they chew the cud, they do not have completely cloven hooves, because they also do not have hooves at all. The people of Israel should also consider any animal like a rabbit to be impure and unacceptable to eat. 7 Pigs are likewise unacceptable to eat because, while they have hooves (and those hooves are completely cloven), they do not bring up the cud. Because of this, the people of Israel should also consider any animal like a pig to be impure and not acceptable to eat. 8 No Israelite should ever eat any meat from these animals. They should not even touch their dead bodies. Rather, the people of Israel should consider all of these types of animals to be impure and unacceptable to eat.

9 Now, out of all the types of creatures that live in water, these are the ones that the people of Israel may eat. This is the rule: The people of Israel may eat anything that lives in water that has both fins and scales, whether in the ocean or in a freshwater stream. 10 However, there are many animals that live in the ocean or in freshwater streams but do not have both fins and scales. Whether they are smaller, swarming creatures or larger ones, these types of creatures should disgust the people of Israel. They should consider them to be completely unacceptable to eat. 11 Because these creatures should disgust the people of Israel, the people of Israel should never eat meat from any of these creatures. Their dead bodies should also disgust them. 12 Once again, this is the rule: the people of Israel should consider any creature that lives in the water but does not have both fins and scales to be disgusting. They should consider this kind of animal to be completely unacceptable to eat.

13-14 13-14Now, these are some examples of the types of birds that should disgust the people of Israel. They should never eat these birds but rather consider them disgusting. These birds include predatory birds of large to medium size that sometimes eat dead animals. 15-19 15-19In addition to those types of birds of prey, such as hawks the people of Israel should consider disgusting all birds that inhabit desolate places. These might include birds such as owls, ostriches, and even bats. Likewise, the people of Israel should avoid certain waterbirds of large to medium size, specifically those that wade or hunt in water. Finally, any birds that occupy or hunt near excrement, such as hoopoes, should disgust the people of Israel. These are the types of birds that the people of Israel should consider completely unacceptable for eating.

20 The people of Israel should also consider any kind of flying insect that swarms and has four legs to be disgusting and completely unacceptable to eat. 21 However, the people of Israel may eat any flying insect that both swarms and has four legs, if its legs are jointed and the insect jumps about on the ground. 22 For example, these are some examples of the types of insects that the people of Israel may eat. They may eat any kind of locust, any kind of bald locust, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper. 23 But the people of Israel should consider any other winged insect that swarms and also has four legs to be disgusting and completely unacceptable to eat.

24 These types of unacceptable and impure animals and insects will make the people of Israel impure. Anyone who touches their dead bodies will make themself impure so that they cannot touch sacred objects or enter into holy space until the evening of the day when they touched one of these animals or insects. 25 Anyone who picks up one of their dead bodies should wash his clothes to purify himself from the impurity of the dead animal or insect. That person will be impure and should not touch sacred objects or enter into holy space until the evening of the day when he touched the dead animal or insect.

26 Remember, the people of Israel should consider impure and unacceptable any animal that, while having hooves, does not have completely cloven hooves or does not also chew the cud. Anyone who touches one of these animals will make themself impure as well. 27 Likewise, out of all the animals that have four legs, the people of Israel should consider any animal that has paws to be impure and unacceptable to eat. Anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will make themself impure and should not touch any other person or any sacred object or enter into any sacred space until the evening of the day when he touched the dead animal. 28 Anyone who picks up one of the dead bodies of any of these animals should wash his clothes to purify themself from the impurity of the animal's dead body. That person will be impure and so should not touch other people or sacred objects or enter into any sacred space until the evening of the day when they touched the animal's dead body. For this reason, the people of Israel should consider these animals to be impure and not acceptable to eat.

29 Out of all the animals that swarm on the ground, these are the ones that the people of Israel should consider to be impure: rats, mice, any kind of large lizard, 30 geckos, spotted lizards, newts, skinks, and chameleons. 31 Remember, out of all the animals that swarm, the people of Israel should consider these types of animals to be impure and unacceptable to eat. Anyone who touches one of them after it has died will make themself impure so that person should not touch anyone else or any sacred object or enter into any sacred space until the evening of the day when he touched the animal's dead body. 32 Likewise, it may happen that one of these impure animals or insects falls onto something after it has died. If this happens, that object will become impure. Whether it is wood, cloth, leather, or burlap, if it is something that the people of Israel use for domestic purposes, whoever owns the object should soak it in water. The people of Israel should consider the object to be impure until the evening of the day on which the animal's dead body fell onto it. After that evening, whoever owns the object should consider it be to clean and acceptable to use for its intended purpose. 33 It may happen that one of these impure animals or insects falls into a clay pot. If this happens, the people of Israel should consider everything in the pot to be impure. Whoever owns the pot should shatter it. 34 It may also happen that the water from a clay pot into which an impure animal or insect has fallen happens to come into contact with anything edible. If this happens, that food will also be impure and no one should eat it. This is because once an impure animal or insect comes into contact with any drinkable liquid that is in a pot, that liquid also becomes impure. 35 Any object onto which the dead body of any of these impure animals or insects falls will also become impure. Whether the dead body falls onto an oven or a small stove, whoever owns the object should smash it to pieces. The people of Israel should consider that object to be impure and unacceptable for its original intended purpose. It will not cease to be impure but will remain impure. 36 However, it may happen that the dead body of one of these impure animals or insects falls into a spring or any system for collecting and storing water. If this happens, the water that comes out of it is still pure. The people of Israel may drink it. Nonetheless, anyone who touches one of those dead bodies will still become impure. 37 Likewise, it may happen that the dead body of one of these impure animals or insects happens to fall onto any plantable seeds that someone was going to plant. If this happens, those seeds are still pure. Whoever owns them may still plant them. 38 Alternatively, it may happen that the dead body of one of these impure animals or insects falls on those seeds after whoever planted the seeds has watered them. If this happens, then the people of Israel could consider those seeds to be impure and unacceptable.

39 It may happen that an animal that the people of Israel may eat dies and someone touches it. If this happens, whoever has touched it has made himself impure so that he should not touch another person or any sacred object or enter into any sacred space until the evening of the day when he touched the animal's dead body. 40 Furthermore, anyone who eats any meat from the animal's dead body should wash his clothes to purify them. He has made himself impure until the evening of the day when he ate the animal's meat. Likewise, anyone who carries the animal's dead body should wash his clothes to purify them. He has made himself impure until the evening of the day when he carried the animal's dead body.

41 The Israelite people should consider any animals or insects that swarm on the ground to be disgusting and completely unacceptable to eat. No Israelite should ever eat these animals. 42 This means that no Israelite should ever eat any animal that crawls on its belly and also has four legs or any animal that has many legs, like a swarming ground-dwelling insect. This is because the Israelite people should consider these animals and insects to be disgusting and completely unacceptable to eat. 43 The Israelite people should never make themselves disgusting by eating or touching any of these swarming insects or animals. Neither should they make themselves impure or defile themselves by touching or eating them. 44 Remember who I am: I am Yahweh your God, and I am holy. The people of Israel must likewise be holy people because I am holy. Do not cause yourselves to become impure by eating or touching swarming animals or insects that crawl along the ground. 45 Remember that I, Yahweh, freed the Israelite people when they were slaves in Egypt. I did this so that I could be their God. Therefore, because I am holy, they should be holy people.

46 These are the instructions for how the people of Israel should handle domestic animals, birds, any swarming fish that live in water, or any swarming insects or animals that live on dry land. 47 The people of Israel should learn to distinguish what is unacceptable to me and impure from that which is acceptable to me and pure. This means that they should also learn to distinguish those living creatures that are acceptable to eat from those that are unacceptable to eat.”

12 Then Yahweh told Moses 2 “Tell the people of Israel that when a woman is pregnant and gives birth to a boy, she has become impure for seven days. This is just like when she becomes impure from her regular menstruation; she has become impure. 3 She should make sure that the priests circumcise her baby boy eight days after he is born. 4 Then the woman should wait about a month in the impurity of the blood she bled from giving birth. During this time, she should not touch sacred objects or enter into holy space, like the sacred tent, until that time is over. 5 But if a woman gives birth to a baby girl, she has become impure for two weeks. This is just like when she is menstruating each month. The woman should wait about two months in the impurity of the blood she bled when she gave birth to the baby.

6 After the time in which she is waiting to purify herself is over, that woman should bring a one-year-old lamb to the priest at the entrance of the sacred tent. She should do this whether she gives birth to a baby boy or a baby girl. The priest should offer the lamb as a wholly burned sacrifice. The woman should also bring a dove or a pigeon to the priest. He should offer it as a purifying sacrifice. This will purify her and allow her to be pure again before me. 7 The priest should offer these animals in my presence in the sacred tent. When this happens, I will accept her again and purify her from the impurity of the blood that she bled when she gave birth to the baby.

This is the way that women who give birth, whether to a baby boy or girl, should offer sacrifices to purify themselves from the impurity of the blood that they bleed when they give birth to their children. 8 However, if any woman cannot afford a lamb, then she may bring two pigeons or two doves. The priest should offer one of the birds as a wholly burned sacrifice and the other as a purifying sacrifice. When the priest offers these birds, I will accept the woman again, and I will purify her from the impurity of the blood that she bled when she gave birth to her children.”

13 Then Yahweh told Aaron and Moses, 2 “It may happen that someone finds a raised area, a protective crust, or a discolored spot on their skin. If their skin looks infected, like it may be an infectious skin disease, then someone should bring the infected person to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons or descendants, who are also priests. 3 The priest should examine the person's infected skin. The priest should look to see if the hair on the infection is white and if the infection itself appears to be under their skin. If it is, then that infection is a symptom of an infectious skin disease. When the priest sees this kind of infection, he should judge the infected person to be impure. The impure person should not touch other people or sacred objects or enter sacred space. 4 However, the priest might see that the discolored spot on the person’s skin is white. He may also see that the infection is only skin-deep, and the hair on the infected spot is not white. If the priest sees this kind of infection, then he should quarantine the person with the infection for one week. 5 On the last day of that week, the priest should examine the infected person again. Indeed, if the priest can see that the infection is still there, but it has not spread on the person's skin, then the priest should quarantine the infected person for another week. 6 On the last day of that second week, the priest should examine the infected person again. This time, he should look to see if the infection has spread on the skin. If it has not, but rather the infection has receded and is now fainter in color, then the priest should judge the infected person to be pure. That person may now touch other people and sacred objects and enter sacred space. The infection is just a benign scab. The person with the infection should wash and clean his clothes, and then he will be pure. 7 However, it may happen that the scab spreads aggressively on the skin after the priest has examined the infected person and judged them to be pure. If this happens, then the person with the infection must go and show himself to the priest again. 8 The priest should then examine the person with the infection. The priest should determine that the scab has really spread on the infected person's skin. If it has, then the priest should judge that person to be impure. The person has become impure because the scab is actually a symptom of an infectious skin disease.

9 It may also happen that someone develops an infection because of an infectious skin disease. In this case, the person with the infection should go to the priest. 10 When the priest examines him, the priest should look to see if there is a white swelling on the skin that has caused the hair on the infected spot to become white. If the priest also sees that the skin on the swelling is raw, 11 then this infection on the person's skin is actually a symptom of a chronic, infectious skin disease. The priest should judge the person to be impure. The impure person should not touch other people or sacred objects or enter into sacred space. In this case, because the person with the infection is impure, the priest should not merely quarantine the person temporarily.

12 Alternatively, when the priest examines the person with the infection, he might see that the infectious skin disease has broken out aggressively on the person's skin such that, as far as the priest can see, it now covers the infected person's entire body, from head to toe. 13 If this happens, then the priest should look to see whether the infectious skin disease has really covered the infected person's entire body. If this happens, and the infected skin has turned white, the priest should judge the person with the infection to be pure. Because the infection has turned entirely white, the person is pure, and the infection is not a symptom of an infectious skin disease. 14 However, whenever a person sees that there is raw skin on their infection, that person has become impure. The impure person should not touch other people or sacred objects or enter into sacred space. 15 Whenever the priest sees raw skin on an infection, he should judge the person to be impure. The person is impure because there is raw skin on their infection. This demonstrates that the infection is actually a symptom of an infectious disease. 16 But it may happen that the raw skin of the person with the infection changes and once again becomes white. If this happens, he should go to the priest. 17 The priest should examine him. This time, the priest should look to see if the infection has really become white. If it has, then the priest should judge the person with the infection to be pure. Because the infection is white, he is now pure. The infection is not a symptom of an infectious disease.

18 It may also happen that someone has a boil on their skin, but the boil eventually healed. 19 It may be that, where the boil used to be, there is now a white swelling or a discolored spot on the skin that is reddish in color. If there is, then that person must go and show himself to the priest. 20 The priest should examine the person's skin. The priest should look to see if the discolored or swollen spot of skin seems to be under the skin or if the hair on that spot has become white. These things are symptoms of an infectious skin disease that has broken out where the boil used to be. Therefore, the priest should judge the person to be impure. 21 Alternatively, the priest might examine the person's skin and see that there is no white hair on the discolored or swollen spot of skin. If, instead, the spot is only skin-deep, and it has receded and is now fainter in color, then the priest should quarantine the person with the infection for one week. 22 If, after a week, the swollen or discolored spot of skin has spread aggressively on the skin, then the priest should judge the person to be impure. That spot of skin is actually an infection. 23 But if that discolored spot of skin has stayed where it was and has not spread, then it is merely a scar from the boil. The priest should judge the person to be pure again. The pure person can touch other people and sacred objects and enter into sacred space once again.

24 It might also happen that a person has a burn from a fire on his skin. The raw skin from the burn may be discolored and reddish-white or pure white in color. 25 If this happens, then the priest should examine the person who has the burn. The priest should look to see if the hair on the discolored spot of skin has become white or if the discolored spot seems to be under the skin. If the priest sees these things, then the discolored spot of skin is a symptom of an infectious skin disease that has broken out on the burn. Because the discolored skin from the burn is an infection and a symptom of an infectious skin disease, the priest should declare the person with the burn to be impure. 26 Alternatively, the priest might examine the person's skin and see that there is no white hair on the discolored spot of skin, that the discolored spot is only skin-deep, and that the spot has receded and is now fainter in color. If the priest sees this, then he should quarantine the person with the burn for one week. 27 On the last day of the week-long quarantine, the priest should examine the person with the burn again. If the discolored spot of skin has spread aggressively on the skin, then the priest should judge the person to be impure. The discolored spot is actually an infection and a symptom of an infectious skin disease. 28 However, the priest might see that the discolored spot of skin has stayed where it was and has not spread on the skin but, instead, it has receded and is now fainter in color. If the priest sees this, then the discolored spot of skin is only swelling from the burn. Because the discolored spot of skin is actually just a scar from the burn, the priest should judge the person with the burn to be pure again.

29 It may also happen that a man or a woman has an infection in any place where hair might grow, either on the head or on the lower portion of the face. 30 If this happens, the priest should examine the person with the infection. The priest should look to see if the infection is under the skin or if the hair on the infection has become bright yellow in color and has thinned out. If the priest sees these things, then he should judge the person to be impure. The infection is actually an itchy and contagious skin infection that has come from an infectious skin disease on the head or on the lower portion of the face. 31 However, when the priest examines the person with the infection that appears to be an itchy, contagious skin infection, he might see that the infection does not seem to be under the skin and that there is no normal hair on the infection. If the priest sees these things, then he should quarantine the person with the infection for one week. 32 On the last day of the week-long quarantine, the priest should examine the person with the infection again. The priest should look to see if the spot that looks like it might be an itchy, contagious skin infection has spread. If the hair on the infection is not bright red in color and the spot does not appear to be under the skin, 33 the person with the infection should shave all of his or her hair. However, that person should not shave the hair that is near the spot that looks like it might be an itchy, contagious skin infection. Then the priest should quarantine the person for another week. 34 On the last day of the week-long quarantine, the priest should again examine the person who has the infection that looks like it might be an itchy, contagious skin infection. If the infection has not spread on the skin, and it appears to only be skin-deep, then the priest should judge the person to be pure. The person should wash his clothes, and then he will be pure once again. 35 However, it may happen that the spot that looked like it might have been an itchy, contagious skin infection later aggressively spreads on the person's skin after the priest judged the person to be pure. 36 If this happens, then the priest should examine him again. The priest should look to see if the spot has spread on the skin. If it has, then the priest need not look for hair that is bright red in color. The person that has the infection that has spread has become impure. 37 However, if, as far as the priest can see, the spot is unchanged and the hair growing on the infected area is healthy, then the infection has healed. Because it has healed and is not a symptom of an infectious skin disease, the person is now pure again. So the priest should judge the person to be pure.

38 It may also happen that a man or a woman finds very white spots on their skin. 39 The priest should examine that person. Indeed, if the priest sees that the shiny spots on their skin are a faded white in color. then it is a benign rash that has broken out on the skin. The discolored skin is not a symptom of an infectious skin disease. The person is still pure.

40 It may happen to some men that the hair on the crown of his head starts to thin. If this happens, he is simply balding. He is still pure. 41 The same is true if the hair at the front of his head starts to thin. He is simply developing a receding hairline. He is still pure. 42 However, it may happen that such a man discovers an infection that is reddish-white in color on his balding head, whether his crown is balding or he is developing a receding hairline. If this happens, then the infection is a symptom of an infectious skin disease that has broken out on his balding head, no matter the way in which he is balding. 43 The priest should examine the balding man who has the infection. The priest should look to see if the swollen infection on his balding head—no matter the way in which he is balding—is reddish-white in color, like the way that an infectious skin disease looks on a person's skin. 44 If the man's infection looks like this, then he has an infectious skin disease and he is impure. Because the infection on his head has the appearance that it does, the priest surely must judge the man to be impure.

45 Anyone who has an infectious skin disease that develops an infection should tear his clothes and let his long hair hang down disheveled. He should also show his shame by covering his upper lip and crying out, ‘I am impure! I have a contagious skin disease! Do not come near me!’ 46 As long as he has the infection, he is impure. Because he is impure, he should live alone in a residence outside of the area where everyone else lives.

47 Likewise, it might happen that a piece of clothing has on it an infection that is a symptom of an infectious disease. The infection might be on a piece of woolen or linen clothing 48 or on any linen or woolen material that someone is weaving together. Alternatively, the infection might be on a scrap piece of leather or on something that is made of leather. 49 If the infection on any of these fabrics is greenish or reddish in color, then the infection is a symptom of an infectious disease. Whoever owns the infected piece of clothing must show it to a priest. 50 The priest should examine the infected piece of fabric. If it is indeed infected, then he should quarantine it for one week. 51 On the last day of the week-long quarantine, the priest should examine the infected fabric again. Whenever the infected spot spreads, the infection is actually a symptom of an infectious, malignant disease. This is true whether the fabric is part of a piece of clothing, two threads that the person is weaving together, or a scrap piece of leather (no matter what the person is making from the leather). The piece of fabric is now impure. 52 Whoever owns the impure item that has the infection on it should burn the item, no matter what fabric or material it is. Because the infection is a symptom of an infectious malignant disease, he must burn it completely.

53 Alternatively, the priest might examine the infected fabric, and he might see that the infected spot has not spread on it—whether it is a piece of clothing, two threads that someone was weaving together, or anything that someone made from leather. 54 If the priest sees that the fabric is indeed infected, then he should tell whoever owns it to wash the thing that has the infection on it and put the entire item in a separate place for another week. 55 The priest should examine the item a week after the owner has washed the infected fabric. Indeed, if the infection remains unchanged in color, even if it has not spread, the fabric is impure and should not be used. Because the infection is actually a rotting fungus, whether on the back or front side of the item, the owner should completely burn the entire item. 56 However, when the priest examines the infected fabric after the owner has washed it, indeed, he may see that the infection has receded and is now fainter in color. If this has happened, the owner should tear the infected portion of fabric out from the item, whether it is an article of clothing or of leather or of weaving. 57 The infection may reappear on the fabric, regardless of what type of item is infected. If this happens, the infection is actually a rotting fungus. This time, the owner of the infected fabric must completely burn the entire item. 58 However, if, after the owner washes the item, the infection disappears, the owner should wash it a second time, and then it will be pure.

59 This is the way that the people of Israel should handle infections that come from infectious diseases that appear on woolen or linen clothing or on a woven article or on a piece of leather. The people of Israel should use these instructions to determine whether something is pure or impure.”

14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “This is what an Israelite should do to be judged pure when he or she has had an infectious skin disease. The individual should first go to the priest. 3 The priest should meet the person with the infectious skin disease at a location outside the camp and there the priest should examine him. The priest should look to see if the infection is fully healed and no longer contagious. 4 If it is, then the priest should tell the person who desires to be clean to bring two living birds that are acceptable to eat, some cedar wood, crimson thread, and some hyssop branches. 5 Next, the priest should tell the infected person to kill one of the birds while he suspends it over a clay pot that contains fresh water. 6 Then the priest should grab the bird that is still living, along with the cedar, the crimson thread, and the hyssop branches. The priest should dip all of these items, including the living bird, into the water that now also contains blood from the bird that the person killed. 7 The priest should then flick some of the water and blood on the previously infected person whom the priest now intends to cleanse. The priest must flick the blood and water on him seven times. Then the priest should declare that the person is pure and that he may be with other people again. Finally, the priest should release the living bird and allow it to fly away toward the open field.

8 Then the person whom the priest judged to be pure should go and wash his clothes, shave off all of his hair, and bathe himself thoroughly. When he has done these things, the people of Israel should know that he is pure; he may return to the camp, but he should remain outside his tent for a full week. 9 On the last day of that week-long period, that person should shave off all his hair once again, including his head, beard, and eyebrows. He should wash his clothes once again and thoroughly bathe himself. After he does these things, the people of Israel should consider him to be completely pure. He may be with other people again.

10 The very next day, that person should acquire two totally healthy male lambs and a totally healthy, year-old female lamb. He should also acquire about seven liters of wheat flour and mix it with olive oil in order to present it as a grain offering. Finally, he should acquire about a half of a liter of olive oil. 11 The priest who judged the person to be pure should make the person whom he is cleansing, along with all of the required items and animals, stand in my presence at the entrance of the sacred tent.

12 Then the priest should take one of the male lambs and present it to me to show that he will offer it as a restoring sacrifice. He should also do this with the olive oil. Then priest should lift the lamb and show off the olive oil in my presence in order to demonstrate that he will offer them as a presentation sacrifice. 13 Then that person should kill the lamb in the same location in which people regularly kill the purifying and wholly burned sacrifices. This location should be somewhere that the priests have set apart for such sacred purposes. The person should kill the lamb here because the restoring sacrifice is like the purifying sacrifice in this regard: it belongs to the priest for his portion of food. Out of all the gifts that people offer to me, the portion of the sacrifice that the priests keep for themselves for food is specially set apart. 14 After catching some of the lamb's blood in a bowl, the priest should take the blood of the restoring sacrifice and place some of it on the person whom the priest is cleansing—on the lobe of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot. 15 Then the priest should take some of the olive oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. 16 The priest should then dip his right forefinger into the oil on his left palm and flick that oil seven times with his forefinger toward my presence in the Holy Place where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. 17 Whatever oil is left on the priest's palm he should smear on the lobe of the right ear of the person whom the priest is cleansing, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot. The priest should put the oil on top of the blood of the purifying sacrifice that he previously put on the person's extremities. 18 The priest should place whatever oil remains on his palm onto the head of the person whom he is cleansing. When the priest has done this, he will have cleansed the person in my presence in the sacred tent. I will restore the person and remove the impurity he acquired from his infectious skin disease.

19 Then the priest should prepare the purifying sacrifice so that he might make a sacrifice that I will accept on behalf of the person whom the priest judged to be clean. If he does this, I will fully cleanse the individual from the impurity that he acquired from his infection. After the priest has offered the purifying sacrifice, the individual whom the priest is cleansing should kill the other lamb so that the priest can begin to prepare the wholly burned sacrifice. 20 The priest should make the wholly burned sacrifice and the grain offering go up to me in heaven by burning them on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. If he does this, the priest will have offered a sacrifice that I will accept on behalf of the individual whom the priest is cleansing. I will remove the impurity of his infection from him so that he will be pure once again.

21 However, if the person whom the priest is cleansing is poor and cannot afford the two lambs, then he should acquire one lamb for the priest to offer as a restoring sacrifice by waving his hands over the lamb in my presence. The individual should offer this lamb so that I might accept him and remove the impurity of his infection from him. In addition to the lamb, the individual should also acquire about two liters of wheat flour that he has mixed with olive oil and can offer as a grain offering. He should also acquire an additional half of a liter of olive oil. 22 He should also acquire two doves or two pigeons—whichever he can afford. He should offer one of these birds as a purifying sacrifice and the other as a wholly burned sacrifice.

23 Seven days after the priest judged him to be pure, the individual should bring the animals, the flour, and olive oil to the priest at the entrance of the sacred tent, where he may offer them in my presence. He should bring them all so that I may fully cleanse him from the impurity of his infection. 24 Then the priest should take the lamb that the individual is offering as a restoring sacrifice. He should also take the olive oil. He should raise them up to show me that these are sacrifices that the individual will offer in my presence. 25 Then the individual should kill the lamb that he is offering as a purifying sacrifice and catch some of its blood in a bowl. The priest should take some of the lamb's blood and place it on the lobe of the right ear of the person whom the priest is cleansing, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot. 26 Then the priest should take some of the olive oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. 27 The priest should then dip his right forefinger into the oil on his left palm and flick that oil seven times toward my presence in the Holy Place where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. 28 Whatever oil is left on the priest's palm he should put on the lobe of the right ear of the person whom the priest is cleansing, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot. The priest should put the oil on top of the blood of the restoring sacrifice that he previously put on the person's extremities. 29 The priest should pour whatever oil remains on his palm onto the head of the person whom the priest is cleansing. When the priest has done this, I will have cleansed the person in his presence. I will restore the person and remove the impurity he acquired from his infectious skin disease. 30 Then the priest should take one of the birds that the person has been able to afford—whichever type, the dove or the pigeon—and prepare it for the sacrifice. 31 The priest should kill the birds that the person acquired and butcher them in the usual way. He should offer one as a purifying sacrifice and the other as a wholly burned sacrifice. The priest should do this by placing them on the altar so that he might offer in my presence a sacrifice that I will accept on behalf of the person whom the priest has judged to be clean. I will restore the individual and remove the impurity of his infection from him.

32 This is what the person with an infectious skin disease, and who is also poor and cannot afford the usual offerings, should do so that I can cleanse him from the impurity of his infection."

33 Then Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses, 34 “I am about to give the people of Israel the land of Canaan, which will belong to them permanently. When the people enter that land, it may happen that I cause an infectious mildew to appear in or on one of the people's family homes. 35 Whenever that happens, the owner of the house should go and inform the priest that there is something in his house that looks like mildew. 36 The priest should tell him to take everything out of the house before the priest comes to examine the mildew. If the owner does not do this, the priest should judge everything and everyone in the house to be impure. However, if the person does what the priest asks, then the priest should enter the house to examine it. 37 The priest should then inspect the house for mildew. Specifically, he should look to see if the mildew has broken out into spots that are greenish or reddish in color on the plaster on the walls. He should also look to see if the mildew appears to be deeper than the surface of the plaster. 38 If the priest sees these things, then he should immediately leave the house through the front door and quarantine the house for a full week. 39 On the last day of that week-long quarantine, the priest should return to the house and inspect it again. He should look to see if the mildew on the plaster of the walls has spread. 40 If it has, then the priest should tell the owner and residents of the house to tear out every stone in the wall that bears the mildew and cast the infected stones wherever people dispose of impure items outside of the city 41 After the owner has removed all the infected stones, he must scrape all around the inside of the house. The owner must dispose of all the plaster that he scrapes off in the same location where people dispose of impure items outside of the city 42 Then the owner of the house should acquire new stones to replace the ones that bear the mildew. He should also acquire new plaster and replaster the stones in the walls of the house.

43 It may happen that the mildew returns and spreads on the walls of the house after the owner of the house has removed the infected stones, scraped the walls clean, and replastered them. 44 If this has happened, then the priest should go to the house and examine it again. He should look to see if the mildew has spread on the plaster of the walls of the house. If it has, then the mildew is actually a malignant mold. The priest should judge the house to be impure and no one should live in it. 45 The owner of the house must completely tear it down. He should remove the stones, the timber, and all the plaster. The owner of the house should dispose of everything wherever people dispose of impure items outside of the city.

46 Suppose someone goes into that house during the quarantine. Then the priest must declare that this person will be impure until the evening of the day on which he entered the house. 47 Anyone who sleeps in that house or eats in it during that time must wash and clean his clothes.

48 Alternatively, whenever the priest comes to examine the house after the owner has replastered it, the priest may determine that the mildew has not spread on the walls. If it has not, then, because the cleaning process has stopped the mold, the priest should judge the house to be pure again. 49 For the priest to purify the house, he will need two birds, some cedar wood, crimson thread, and some hyssop branches. 50 The owner of the house should kill one of the birds while suspending it over a clay pot containing fresh water. 51 Then the priest should take the cedar wood, the hyssop branches, the crimson thread, and the bird which is still alive. He should dip them into the mixture of the blood of the bird, which the owner of the house has just killed, and the fresh water. He should flick some of that blood and water onto the house seven times. 52 By doing this with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop branches, and the crimson thread, the priest will be able to purify the house. 53 The priest should release the bird that is still alive and allow it to fly away outside the city toward an open field. By doing this, he will have asked me to accept the house and remove from it the impurity that the house acquired from the infectious mold. When I do this, the house will be pure once again.

54 So, those are the instructions for handling any infections that are symptoms of infectious skin diseases, itchy skin irritations, 55 infections in fabric or in a house, 56 and swellings, rashes, or discolored spots on someone's skin. 57 These instructions will teach the priests and the people of Israel how to determine when something or someone is impure and when they are pure. These are the instructions for handling various types of infectious diseases.”

15 Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Tell the people of Israel that any man might have a discharge coming from his genitals. Whenever this happens, the people of Israel should consider this discharge to be impure. 3 Now, this is how the people of Israel should deal with these types of discharges that have the potential to make people impure. It does not matter whether the man's genitals have secreted the discharge or whether there is a blockage in the man's genitals; the people of Israel should consider this man to be impure.

4 The people should consider any bed on which the man who has had a discharge lies to also be impure. Additionally, they should consider any furniture on which the man sits to be impure. 5 Anyone who touches that man's bed should wash and clean his clothes and bathe thoroughly. That person should consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he touched the man's bed. 6 Anyone who sits on any furniture on which the man who has had a discharge has sat should also wash his clothes and bathe thoroughly. That person should likewise consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he sat on the impure man's furniture.

7 In the same way, anyone who touches the man who has had a discharge should wash his clothes and bathe thoroughly. The person should also consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he touched the impure man.

8 It may happen that the man who has had a discharge spits on someone who is still pure. If this occurs, the person on whom the impure man spat should wash his clothes and bathe thoroughly. He should consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which the impure man spat on him.

9 The people of Israel should also consider any clothing or saddle on which the man who has had a discharge rides to be just as impure. 10 Anyone who touches anything that was under him while he rode should also consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he touched the impure man's clothing or saddle on which he rode. Likewise, anyone who picks up or carries whatever was under him while he rode should wash his clothes and bathe thoroughly. He should also consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he lifted or carried the impure man's means of riding. 11 It may happen that the man who has had a discharge touches someone without first washing his hands. If this happens, the person he touched should wash his clothes and bathe thoroughly. That person should also consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which the impure man touched him.

12 It may happen that the man who has had a discharge touches a clay pot. If this happens, whoever owns the pot should shatter it. However, if the man touches a wooden utensil, whoever owns the utensil must rinse it with water.

13 It may happen that a man who has had a discharge recovers and no longer experiences any discharge. If this happens, the man should remain as he is for one full week in order to prepare for the day when I will cleanse him from his impurity. During this time, he should wash his clothes and make sure to bathe and clean his genitals with fresh water. If he does this, he can consider himself to be pure once again. 14 On the last day of that week, he should acquire two doves or two pigeons and come into my presence at the entrance of the sacred tent. There, the man should give the birds he acquired to the priest. 15 The priest should prepare the birds as sacrifices to me. One of the birds should be a purifying sacrifice and the other should be a wholly burned sacrifice. When the priest offers these sacrifices in my presence, I will accept them and restore the man. I will remove from the man the impurity he acquired from his impure discharge.

16 It may also happen that a man experiences a seminal emission. When this happens, the man should bathe his whole body, including his genitals, thoroughly. The man should consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he experienced the emission. 17 The man who had the emission should thoroughly wash any clothing or leather that came into contact with the semen. He should consider that piece of clothing or leather to be impure until the evening of the day on which they came into contact with the semen. 18 It may happen that a man has sexual relations with a woman and experiences a seminal emission. When this happens, both the man and the woman should bathe themselves thoroughly. They should consider themselves to be impure until the evening of the day on which they had sexual relations.

19 Similarly, it may happen that a woman experiences her menstrual period, such that blood discharges from her genitals. When this happens, she should remain as she is for a full week. During this period, whoever touches the menstruating woman should consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he touched her. 20 The people of Israel should consider any furniture on which the menstruating woman lies or sits to be impure. 21 Anyone who touches a menstruating woman's bed should wash and clean his clothes and bathe thoroughly. That person should consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he touched the menstruating woman's bed. 22 Anyone who touches any furniture on which a menstruating woman has sat should also wash his clothes and bathe thoroughly. That person should likewise consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he touched the menstruating woman's bed or her furniture. 23 It may happen that there was something on the menstruating woman's bed or on a piece of furniture on which the menstruating woman sat. When someone touches that object, he should consider himself to be unclean until the evening of the day on which he touched that object.

24 It may occasionally happen that a man has sexual relations with a menstruating woman such that he comes into contact with her menstrual blood. If this happens, he should consider himself to be impure for a full week. The people of Israel should consider any bed on which that man lies to be impure as well.

25 It may also happen that a woman experiences an extended discharge of blood when she is not normally menstruating, or her discharge continues for an inordinate amount of time. If this happens, as long as she experiences a discharge of blood, she should consider herself to be impure, just as when she experiences her normal menstruation. 26 As long as the woman experiences this type of unusual bloody discharge, the people of Israel should consider any bed on which she lies or any furniture on which she sits to be impure, just as is the case when women normally menstruate and become temporarily impure. 27 Anyone who touches the woman's bed or furniture should consider himself to be unclean. He should wash and clean his clothes and bathe thoroughly. That person should consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he touched the woman's bed or furniture.

28 It may happen that a woman who has experienced an unusual bloody discharge recovers and no longer experiences any discharge. If this happens, the woman should remain as she is for one full week in order to prepare for the day when I will cleanse her from her impurity. After this time, she should consider herself to be pure once again. 29 On the last day of that week, the woman should acquire two doves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the sacred tent. 30 The priest should prepare the birds as sacrifices to me. One of the birds should be a purifying sacrifice and the other should be a wholly burned sacrifice. When the priest offers these sacrifices in my presence, I will accept them and restore the woman. I will remove from her the impurity she acquired from her impure bloody discharge.

31 The people of Israel must follow these instructions in order to distinguish themselves from that which is impure among them. If they are able to do this, they will not desecrate the sacred place in which I live among them and so I will not kill them. But if they continue to make themselves impure, I will kill them when they desecrate the sacred place in which I live among them.

32 So, this is what the people of Israel should do when someone experiences a discharge—whenever a man has a seminal emission and so becomes impure, 33 whenever any woman menstruates normally, whenever anyone, whether a man or a woman, has a bodily discharge, or whenever a man has sexual relations with a woman during her menstrual period.”

16 After Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, died, Yahweh spoke to Moses. Aaron's sons died in Yahweh's presence when they burned incense over coals that were not holy, as Yahweh said they should be, but came from a common, everyday source. 2 Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter into the Most Holy Place inside the curtain where the Sacred Chest and its Lid are located. Because I am present in that place in a cloud that hovers over the Lid of the Sacred Chest, if Aaron goes into that room, he will die.

3 But when it is time for Aaron to enter the Most Holy Place in the sacred tent, this is how he should do it. He should acquire a bull from the people's livestock and a ram. He should select the bull to offer as a purifying sacrifice and the ram as a wholly burned sacrifice. 4 Aaron should first bathe himself thoroughly and then put on the sacred articles of clothing. He should make sure that the linen undergarments are under his clothing, on his bare skin. Aaron should then clothe himself with all the sacred articles of clothing, including the sacred linen embroidered tunic, and he should tie the linen waistband around himself. Likewise, he should wrap the linen turban around his head. These are Aaron's sacred articles of clothing that he is to wear. 5 Then Aaron should acquire two male goats and a ram from the flocks of the Israelite community. He should select the goats to offer as purifying sacrifices and the ram as a wholly burned sacrifice.

6 Then Aaron should present the bull that he selected to offer as a purifying sacrifice. He should offer this bull for his own sake. When he does this, I will remove Aaron's sins and the sins of his family from them. 7 Then Aaron should bring the two goats that he selected, and he should make them stand in my presence in the entrance of the sacred tent. 8 Aaron should then roll a pair of small stones representing the two male goats. One stone will determine which goat belongs to me, to Yahweh, and the other will determine which goat the priests should send off into the wilderness. 9 After Aaron rolls the small stones, he should offer the goat that the stones designated belonged to me, to Yahweh. He should prepare it as a purifying sacrifice. 10 As for the goat that the stones determined the priests should send off into the wilderness, Aaron should make it stand in my presence while it is still alive in order to ensure that I can use the goat to remove the people's sins from them. I will accomplish this by sending the goat off into the desert wilderness.

11 Aaron should then present the bull that he selected for himself to be a purifying sacrifice. By presenting it, Aaron will ensure that I will remove Aaron's sins and the sins of his family from them. Once he has presented it to me, Aaron should kill the bull and drain off some of its blood in a bowl. 12 Then he should take a tray in which the priests burned incense and fill it with burning coals from the altar that is in the precincts of the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. He should also grab a handful of sweet-smelling and finely ground incense and bring both the incense and the burning coals inside the sacred curtain. 13 Once inside the sacred curtain and in Yahweh's presence, Aaron should place the incense over the burning coals. As it burns, the incense will produce a smoke cloud that will obscure the Lid that sits on the Sacred Chest. The cloud of incense will ensure that Aaron will not see my presence in that place so that he will not die. 14 Having also brought the bull's blood inside the sacred curtain, Aaron should take the blood and, with his finger, he should flick the blood onto the front of the Lid of the Sacred Chest, that is, on its eastern side. He should do this seven times.

15 Aaron should then leave the sacred tent. He should kill the goat that he selected to offer as a purifying sacrifice and drain off some of its blood into a bowl. He should offer the goat as a sacrifice on the people's behalf. Having done this, Aaron should then bring the goat's blood inside the sacred curtain and do with the goat's blood exactly what he did with the blood of the bull that he offered for himself—he should flick the goat's blood onto the front side of the Lid of the Sacred Chest seven times. 16 By doing this, I will purify the Most Holy Place from anything that the people of Israel have done to cause it to become impure and defiled. I will also purify it from any wrongdoing that the people of Israel may done, even if they have openly defied what I have told my people to do. Regardless, Aaron should do these things so that Yahweh can purify his sacred tent that is located in the midst of the people of Israel who are often impure and do wrong. 17 While Aaron is inside the sacred tent doing these things in the Most Holy Place so that I will remove the people's sins from them, no one else may enter the sacred tent until Aaron comes out again. Remember, when Aaron flicks the blood of the bull and the goat in the Most Holy Place, I will remove Aaron's sins, the sins of his family, and the sins of the entire community of Israel from them.

18 Aaron should then go out of the Most Holy Place to the altar that is in the sacred precincts of the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. To purify the altar and remove anything that has made it impure or defiled, he should take some of the blood of both the bull and the goat and daub it onto the four projected corners on every side of the altar. 19 Aaron should also flick some of the animals' blood onto the altar seven times with his finger. By doing this, he will cleanse the altar from anything that the people of Israel have done to make it impure, and he will set it apart for my purposes alone.

20 When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place, the sacred tent, and the altar, he should present the goat that is still alive, the one that the small stones determined should belong to the goat demon of the wilderness, Azazel. 21 Aaron should place both of his hands on the head of the living goat. He should then say aloud (so that everyone can hear) all the ways the people of Israel have done wrong intentionally, all the ways they have openly defied what I have told my people to do, and any other ways that they have done wrong. By saying these things aloud, Aaron will place the guilt for these actions onto the goat's head. Once he has done this, Aaron should send the goat off into the desert wilderness by handing it off to a person who is standing by ready to lead the goat away. 22 By sending the goat away into the desert wilderness, the goat will carry all of the guilt for the ways the people of Israel have done wrong into a place in the wilderness that no one will be able to access.

23 After having sent the goat away, Aaron should go back into the sacred tent and remove the sacred linen clothing that he was wearing when he first entered the Most Holy Place. He should leave all those articles of special clothing in the sacred tent. 24 Aaron should then bathe himself thoroughly in a place that the priests have set apart for such sacred purposes. He should then put on his everyday clothes and go out of the sacred tent. Having done this, Aaron should prepare the animals that he has selected to offer as wholly burned offerings for himself and for the people. When Aaron offers these animals, I will remove Aaron's sins and the sins of all the people from them. 25 To do this, Aaron should burn the fat portions of the purifying sacrifice on the altar in such a way that it causes smoke to go up.

26 The person who leads the goat away into the wilderness where the goat demon Azazel lives should return, wash his clothes, and bathe himself thoroughly. After he has done this, he may enter the camp again. 27 But, because Aaron brought their blood into the Most Holy Place so that I might remove the peoples' sins from them, someone else must remove the remains of the bull that Aaron selected to offer as a purifying sacrifice and of the male goat that he selected to offer as a wholly burned sacrifice and take them outside of the camp. There, he should burn them completely—their skin and all their other meat, including the meat on the animals' heads, their legs below the knee, their other internal organs, and any excrement. 28 The person who burns the remains of the animals should wash his clothes and bathe his body thoroughly. After he has done this, he may enter the camp again.

29 This should be a permanent and enduring practice for the people of Israel: on the tenth day of the seventh month of the year, the people of Israel must participate in activities that practice submitting themselves to me. Neither the native-born Israelite nor the immigrant living among them should do any work. 30 This is because, on this day every year, I will remove the sins of the people from them in order to cleanse them from all the ways that they do wrong. Because I do this, the people will be pure in his presence. 31 The people of Israel should consider this day to be the most important Sabbath day. They must participate in activities that practice submitting themselves to me. The people should always remember to observe this practice. 32 No ordinary priest should perform this practice. Only the priest whom I appoint and give the responsibilities of the priesthood to succeed his father as the high priest should offer the sacrifices that I will accept so that I will remove the people's sins from them. That priest should make sure to wear the sacred linen clothing when he performs this practice. 33 By doing all these practices, the priest will ensure that I will purify the Most Holy Place, the sacred tent, and the altar. He will also ensure that I will remove from them the sins of the entire priesthood and the entire community of Israel. 34 This should be a permanent and enduring practice for the people of Israel. Doing these things will ensure that I will remove from them all of their wrongdoings every year at this time.”

Moses did exactly as Yahweh told him to do.

17 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “Make sure to speak to Aaron, his living sons, and all the people of Israel. Tell them that I, Yahweh, am giving them the following instructions: 3 This is forbidden: No Israelite should ever kill an ox, a lamb, or a goat either inside or outside of the camp where the Israelites live. 4 This is because when they kill animals either inside or outside of the camp, they have not brought their animals into my presence in the sacred tent. They should offer their animals to me, to Yahweh, in the place where I live among the Israelites. But, because they kill the animals somewhere else, they have shed innocent blood. I, Yahweh, will demand that blood from them. I will make the person who does this an outcast and remove him from my people. 5 The people of Israel should do this so that they will no longer offer any sacrifices in the open fields. Instead, they must offer those sacrifices to me by bringing them to the priest who is at the entrance to the sacred tent. There, they can offer their animals as fellowship offerings to me, to Yahweh. 6 After the priest kills whatever animal the people of Israel bring, he should splatter some of its blood against the altar that belongs to me alone, the one that is located at the entrance to the sacred tent. There, the priest should burn the animal's fat in a way that causes smoke to go up, and I will enjoy the smell of the smoke. 7 Let me be clear: The people of Israel have made a practice of being unfaithful to me by sacrificing to goat demons that they consider to be gods. They should never again sacrifice animals to these demons and supposed gods. These instructions are permanent and enduring; the people of Israel and all their descendants should always observe them.

8 You should also tell Aaron and his sons that this is also forbidden: no native-born Israelite or immigrant who lives among the Israelites should offer wholly burned offerings or any sacrifices 9 without first bringing his animal into my presence in the sacred tent to offer it to me. I, Yahweh, will make the person who does this an outcast. The people of Israel should no longer consider that person to be one of my people.

10 I will oppose any person, whether a native-born Israelite or an immigrant who lives among the Israelites, who consumes any blood. I will make the person who does this an outcast and remove him from my people. 11 This is important to me because the life of every living thing resides in its blood. I myself have specially provided this blood for my people so that I can remove their sins from them when the blood touches the altar. It is through the blood that I am able to accomplish this, because of the life of the animal that is in its blood. 12 It is for this reason that I have told the people of Israel that nobody, including the immigrant who lives with the people of Israel, may ever consume blood.

13 Now it may be that a native-born Israelite or an immigrant who is living with the people of Israel goes hunting and kills wild game or a bird. Provided that whatever they kill is pure and acceptable for eating, whoever killed it should first drain out its blood. Then he should make sure to cover the blood with dirt. 14 The people of Israel should show this kind of reverence because, as I have said before, the life of every living thing resides in its blood. Its blood is its life! That is why I have told the people of Israel that nobody may consume the blood of any living thing. Let me be clear: the life of every living thing resides in its blood. I will make whoever consumes blood an outcast and remove him from my people.

15 Now anybody, whether a native-born Israelite or an immigrant, may eat meat from a dead animal. However, if that animal was dead when they found it and died by natural causes or if a wild animal tore it to pieces, the person who ate the meat of such an animal should wash his clothes and bathe thoroughly. He should consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he ate the animal's meat. After that evening, he should consider himself pure once again. 16 But if the person does not wash his clothes or bathe himself, he is now responsible for addressing his wrongdoing.’ ”

18 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “Make sure to speak to the people of Israel and remind them that I am Yahweh their God. 3 The people of Israel must not behave like the Egyptians, in whose land they used to live. Neither should they behave like the Canaanites, whose land I am giving to them so that they can live there. The people of Israel should not live in a way that emulates any of the practices that these people do. 4 Instead, the people of Israel should obey my laws and be very careful to do everything that I tell them. They should live this way, because I am Yahweh their God. 5 The people of Israel should live in such a way that they make a habit of obeying my laws and doing everything that I tell them. When people do this, they truly live. This is because, once again, I am Yahweh.

6 So, remember: no Israelite should approach any of his close relatives to have sexual relations with them and so shame them. I am Yahweh!

7 No one should have sexual relations with his mother and so shame her. She is his mother! He should absolutely not shame her or his father in this way.

8 Likewise, no one should have sexual relations with any of his father's other wives and so shame them. Not only would this shame them, it would also shame his father.

9 No one should have sexual relations with his sister and shame her, whether she is his father's or his mother's daughter or whether she was born in the same household or somewhere else.

10 No one should have sexual relations with his own grandchildren and shame them. In doing so, the person who does this would absolutely shame himself.

11 No one should have sexual relations with his half-sister and shame her. She is his sister!

12 No one should have sexual relations with his father's sister and shame her. She is his father's close relative!

13 Neither should anyone have sexual relations with his mother's sister and shame her. She is his mother's close relative!

14 No one should have sexual relations with his aunt and so shame her and your uncle. No one should approach his aunt to have sexual relations with her. She is his aunt!

15 No one should have sexual relations with his daughter-in-law and so shame her. She is his son's wife! He should absolutely not shame her in this way.

16 No one should have sexual relations with his sister-in-law and so shame her. The person who does this would shame both her and his brother.

17 No one should have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. This also means that no one should attempt to marry a woman's granddaughter so that he can have sexual relations with them. They are her close relatives! These kinds of behaviors are utterly depraved—they transgress the way Yahweh intended for family members to relate to one another and only brings shame to everyone involved.

18 No one should attempt to marry his wife's sister so that he can have sexual relations with her while his wife is still living. To do so would only make his sister-in-law a concubine and rival wife.

19 No one should approach a woman who is menstruating and so is impure in order to have sexual relations with her.

20 No man should have sexual relations and have a seminal emission with a fellow Israelite's wife. If he does this, he will become impure.

21 No one should sacrifice their children to the god Molech by burning them alive. Doing so would profane and dishonor my reputation as your God. Remember: I am Yahweh!

22 No man should have sexual relations with another man as he would have with a woman. This behavior is utterly abominable—it transgresses the way Yahweh intended for people to behave and only brings shame to everyone involved.

23 Likewise, no one should have sexual relations with any animal. This means that no woman should give herself to an animal to copulate with it. Doing so would make the person who does this impure. This behavior is utterly perverse—it transgresses the way Yahweh intended for people to behave and only brings shame to everyone involved.

24 The people of Israel must not make themselves impure by doing any of these things, because by doing these things, the people who currently live in the land of Canaan have made themselves impure. I am removing them from the land so that you can live there. 25 In fact, the people who currently live in the land of Canaan have even made the land itself impure. Because of this, I have brought against the land the punishment for the guilt that the land has acquired because of their wrongdoing. I am removing the people who did these things in the land as if the ground itself is throwing them up and rejecting them. 26 But my people, both the native-born Israelite and the immigrant who is living with the people of Israel, must all be careful to do everything that I have told them, including my laws and my customs. They should never do all of these abominable behaviors that the people who live in the land practice, 27 because the people who currently live in the land of Canaan have done all of these abominable behaviors. As a consequence, they have made the land itself impure. 28 Just as I am removing the people who currently live in the land as if the land itself is throwing them up and rejecting them, if the people of Israel do the same thing, I will also remove them in the same manner.

29 I will remove the people of Israel because I will make any person who does any of these abominable practices an outcast. I, Yahweh, will remove him from my people. 30 So, the people of Israel should be very careful to do everything that I have told them. If they are careful, they will not do the abominable practices that the people who currently live in the land do. The people of Israel will avoid making themselves impure. Remember: I am Yahweh your God!”

19 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 2 ”Make sure to tell the entire people of Israel that they must be set apart, because I, Yahweh their God, am set apart from wrongdoing and impurity of the world. I want my people to be like me.

3 Everyone should show respect to their parents. Likewise, everyone should practice the Sabbath days and honor them. Remember: I am Yahweh your God!

4 No one should ever abandon me to worship worthless idols. Neither should anyone fashion for themselves idol statues out of cast metal. Remember: I alone am Yahweh your God!

5 Here is something else to tell the people: Whenever someone wants to sacrifice a fellowship sacrifice to me, to Yahweh, he should offer it in a way that I will accept. 6 The people of Israel may eat the meat that comes from such fellowship sacrifice on the day that he offers the sacrifice and on the following day. However, on the third day after he offered the sacrifice, the person who offered the fellowship sacrifice should completely burn the remaining meat. 7 If, for whatever reason, anyone ever eats the meat from a fellowship sacrifice on the third day after an individual offered it, I will no longer accept whatever sacrifice the individual offered. The meat is now considered desecrated. 8 The people of Israel must hold responsible for addressing his wrongdoing whoever eats that meat because he has defiled what is set apart for my purposes alone. I, Yahweh, will make the person who does this an outcast. The people of Israel should no longer consider that person to be one of my people.

9 Here is something else: Whenever the people of Israel gather in the harvest of their fields during harvest time, they should leave the corners of the fields unharvested. They should also refrain from picking up anything that they drop while harvesting. 10 Likewise, when the people of Israel harvest the grapes from their vineyards, they should pick every single grape, nor should they go back a second time to pick up the grapes that they have accidentally dropped. The people of Israel should leave the unharvested corners of their fields and the dropped grapes to provide food for those who are disadvantaged among them, like the poor and the immigrants. Remember, they should do this because I am Yahweh their God!

11 Here is how the people of Israel should treat one another: No one should steal, deceive, or lie to his fellow Israelite. 12 No one should call on me to be a false witness in order to acquit himself from the guilt of his wrongdoing. Doing so would dishonor me and associate the God of Israel with the impurity that comes from wrongdoing. Remember: I am Yahweh!

13 No one should extort the people close to him or steal anything from them. Neither should anyone withhold any wages for an inordinate amount of time from hired workers. 14 No one should ever pronounce a curse against someone who is deaf or intentionally do something that would cause someone who is blind to trip and fall. Instead, the people of Israel must fearfully recognize the power and authority of their God and act accordingly. Remember: I am Yahweh!

15 No one should ever unjustly judge someone. This means that no judge should give special treatment to someone who is poor and seemingly insignificant; neither should they favor someone who is wealthy and seemingly important. Rather, judges should always execute judgment fairly and ethically for the people of Israel.

16 No one should go about spreading false rumors about people. Neither should anyone act in such a way as to oppose the life of someone who is close to him by giving false testimony in court that might lead to someone's execution. Remember: I am Yahweh!

17 No one should act hatefully against someone who is close to him, although, in general, people should make a practice of holding their fellow Israelites accountable for their actions. The people of Israel must hold responsible for addressing his wrongdoing whoever acts hatefully against those who are close to him.

18 No one should try to get revenge against another person or be inordinately angry with one of his own people. Instead, the people of Israel should act lovingly to those who are closest to them. They should treat one another as they treat themselves. Remember: I am Yahweh!

19 Here are some more instructions about how the people of Israel are to live: They should be very careful to do what I have told them. In order to practice being people who set themselves apart for me alone, as a rule, the people of Israel should not mix things. They should not breed two kinds of animals that they own, nor should they sow two kinds of seeds in the same field. Likewise, they should not wear clothing that they have made from mixed fabrics.

20 Now, it may happen that a man has sexual relations with a woman and experiences a seminal emission. However, it may be that this woman was a female slave whose master had given her to be another man's wife, but the woman's master had not first paid for her bride price (which would secure her freedom) or outright freed her. If this is the case, then the woman's owner should pay a sum of money for the wrong he has done. The people of God must execute neither person who has sexual relations because she was not a free woman (and, therefore, her master had not properly given her to the man whom she was to marry) when the man had sexual relations with her. 21 However, the man who had sexual relations with the slave woman should bring the required penalty for his guilt to me, to Yahweh, at the entrance of the sacred tent. Specifically, he should offer a goat as a restoring sacrifice. 22 When this happens, the priest will have offered the goat as a restoring sacrifice in my presence, so that I, Yahweh, will remove the guilt that the man acquired because of the wrongdoing that he has done. Then I, Yahweh, will forgive the man of the wrongdoing he has done.

23 When the people of Israel enter the land that I have promised to give to them, they should plant various kinds of trees that produce fruit. However, for three years, the people of Israel should consider the fruit of these trees to be forbidden, as if they were a person's uncircumcised foreskin. During this time, no one should eat this fruit. 24 The next year, all the fruit of the trees the people of Israel have planted should be considered set apart for me. The people of Israel should offer them as special offerings of praise to me, to Yahweh. 25 But in the fifth year, the people of Israel may eat the fruit of the trees that they have planted. They should eat as much fruit as they can so that their yield of fruit increases every year. Remember: I am Yahweh your God!

26 No one should eat any meat that still has the animal’s blood in it. Also, no one should practice rituals that they believe will tell him what God will do in the future, nor should anyone interpret natural phenomena to figure out what will happen.

27 The people of Israel should not mourn for their dead as the people of the surrounding nations do. They should not shave the hairs of their heads, nor should they trim the corners of their beads.

28 The people of Israel should not cut their bodies when they mourn for people who have died. Likewise, they should not tattoo themselves. Remember: I am Yahweh!

29 The people of Israel should never disgrace the value of their daughters by forcing them to become prostitutes. If they do so, soon prostitutes will be so numerous that it will be as if the land itself is a prostitute. The land will be filled with all other kinds of depraved behavior.

30 The people of Israel should practice my Sabbath days and so honor them. They should also act reverently in my sacred tent. Remember: I am Yahweh.

31 No one should ever abandon me by inquiring of someone who speaks to the dead, nor should anyone seek the advice of someone who inquires of dead family members. Doing so will only make the people of Israel impure. Remember: I am Yahweh your God!

32 The people of Israel should respect elderly people by standing up when they enter the room. They should also honor the elderly. The people of Israel must fearfully recognize the power and authority of their God and act accordingly. Remember: I am Yahweh!

33 When immigrants live among the people of Israel in their land, the people of Israel must not mistreat them. 34 The people of Israel must treat immigrants who live with them like they treat the native-born person. Indeed, the people of Israel should act lovingly toward them, just as if they were their own bodies. This is because the people of Israel were once immigrants in Egypt. This means that they know what it means to be mistreated by the people who live in the land in which they are also living. Remember: I am Yahweh your God!

35 No one should ever unjustly judge someone with regards to how long something is, how much it weighs, or its volume. 36 This is because the people of Israel should always be using honest measuring sticks, weights on the scales, and measuring baskets. Remember: I am Yahweh your God, who is bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt.

37 The people of Israel should always be careful to do everything that I have told them to do and should obey my customs. Remember, above everything else: I am Yahweh!”

20 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “Be sure to tell the people of Israel that any Israelite or any foreigner who is living in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to the false god Molech should certainly die. The people living in Israel should kill such a person by throwing stones at him. 3 I will personally punish such a person. I will make the person who does this an outcast and remove him from my people. I will do this because he has given his child to the false god Molech and so defiled my holy space and tainted my reputation. 4 But it may happen that the people who live in Israel ignore that person when he sacrifices one of his children to the false idol Molech, and they do not execute that person. 5 If that happens, I will personally punish that person and his family unit. I will remove that person from my people—him and anyone else who acts unfaithfully in the same manner by worshiping the false idol Molech.

6 In the same way, I will punish those who abandon me by inquiring of someone who speaks to the dead or someone who inquires of dead family members. In doing these things, the people of Israel act unfaithfully. I will make the person who does this an outcast and remove him from my people.

7 The people of Israel must be careful to keep themselves set apart for me and be holy people. They should do this because I am Yahweh their God. 8 The people of Israel should live in such a way that they make a habit of obeying my laws and living by them. Remember: I am Yahweh, the one who sets you apart from the other people.

9 The people of Israel must execute anyone who curses his father or his mother. If his father or mother dies because of the curse, the person who made the curse should be responsible for their death.

10 It may happen that a man commits adultery with another man’s wife. If this happens, the people of Israel must execute both the man and the woman.

11 A man who has sexual relations with one of his father’s wives has shamed his father. The people of Israel must execute both that man and woman. They will be responsible for their own deaths.

12 The people of Israel must execute a man who has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law. They must execute both that man and the woman. They have done something that is utterly perverse. They will be responsible for their own deaths.

13 If a man has sexual relations with another man, as he would with a woman, they both have done something that is utterly abominable. The people of Israel must execute both men. They will be responsible for their own deaths.

14 A man who marries both a woman and her mother has done something utterly depraved. The people of Israel must burn all three of them to death so that no one among the people of Israel will continue to commit such a depraved action.

15 The people of Israel must execute a man who has sexual relations with an animal. They must also kill the animal.

16 Likewise, the people of Israel must kill a woman who gives herself to an animal to copulate with it. They must execute both her and that animal. They will be responsible for their own deaths.

17 If a man sleeps with his sister, whether she is his father's or his mother's daughter, and they see one another naked, they have done something disgraceful. Because the man has shamed his sister, I will remove them from among my people so that the people of Israel no longer see them. The people of Israel should hold them responsible for their wrongdoing.

18 If a man sleeps with a woman during her menstrual period, they have both revealed her flowing blood and brought shame on the woman. I will make both of them outcasts and remove them from my people.

19 No man should have sexual relations with his sister and shame her, whether she is his mother's or his father's daughter. In so doing, he would disgrace a close relative. The people of Israel should hold both of them responsible for their wrongdoing.

20 A man who has sexual relations with his uncle’s wife has shamed his uncle. The people of Israel must hold them responsible for their wrongdoings and execute them. Any offspring of such sexual relations should not inherit their parent's property and belongings.

21 A man who marries his brother’s wife has done something impure. He has publicly shamed his brother. Any offspring of such sexual relations should not inherit their parent's property and belongings.

22 The people of Israel should live in such a way that they make a habit of obeying all my laws and customs and doing everything that I tell them. If they do this, I will not reject and remove them from the land to which I am bringing them to live. 23 Likewise, the people of Israel must not practice the laws and customs of the people who currently live in the land. I am removing them from the places in which they live because they have done all of these practices. For this reason, I abhor them. 24 But I told the people of Israel, ’You will take their land from them as if you were inheriting it from your father. I will give it to you personally to be your family's possession. The soil in that land that is very fertile and produces good crops abundantly. Remember: I am Yahweh your God, who has set you apart from the other people who live around you.‘

25 So the people of Israel should learn to distinguish which quadrupeds and birds are acceptable to me and pure from those that are unacceptable to me and impure. By doing so, they will not defile themselves by eating unacceptable quadrupeds, birds, or other creatures that crawl along on the ground. These animals I have set apart as those which make the people of Israel impure and unable to enter into holy space. 26 In this way, the people of Israel must belong to me, Yahweh, as a people who are set apart and noticeably different from the people who live around them. This is because I am Yahweh, and I am also set apart from every created thing. In the same way, I have set the people of Israel apart from the people of other nations. They belong to me uniquely.

27 But the people of Israel must execute anyone among them who speaks to the dead or inquires of dead family members. The people of Israel must kill them by throwing stones at them. Such people are responsible for their own deaths.”

21 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and tell them that, as long as they live among the people of Israel, they must not make themselves impure by touching a dead body. 2 However, they may touch the dead bodies of their close relatives, such as their mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. 3 They may also touch the dead body of a sister if she is an unmarried virgin and has been living in their house, because she has no husband to bury her. For the sake of burying such a sister, the priests may become impure. 4 However, as long as they live among the people of Israel, the priests must not cause themselves to become impure by touching even the dead bodies of their own wives. Doing so would dishonor the priesthood and associate the God of Israel with impurity.

5 The priests of Israel must not participate in the mourning rituals of the nations who live around Israel. This means that they must not shave their heads or trim the edges of their beards or slash their bodies in grief. 6 The priests of Israel must be people who are set apart to me, their God. They must not disgrace and tarnish my reputation, because they are the ones who present the gifts of food that the people of Israel will offer to Yahweh. For this reason, the priests of Israel must be set apart in their behavior.

7 The priests of Israel must not marry a prostitute who has defiled herself or a woman who has divorced her husband, because the priests are set apart for God. 8 You, Moses, should make sure that the priests of Israel are set apart to worship and serve me because they are the ones who present the food offerings that the people of Israel will offer to me, their God. You, Moses, should think of the priests as belonging to me, because I, Yahweh, am the one who set the priests apart to serve and worship me. I, Yahweh, am set apart from the impurity of the world. I want my priests to be like me.

9 It may happen that the daughter of a priest of Israel disgraces her value and becomes a prostitute. If this happens, the daughter has also disgraced and profaned her father, the priest. The people of Israel must execute her and burn her to death.

10 The high priest is the one among his relatives whom I have appointed for his work by pouring on his head the sacred olive oil that the priests use to dedicate people and objects wholly to Yahweh. The high priest is also the one whom God has given the responsibility of wearing the special clothes. He must not allow his hair to be uncombed, nor should he tear his clothes when he is mourning for a dead relative. 11 The high priest of Israel must not enter any place where there is a dead body. To do so would cause him to become impure and unable to perform his work. He should not touch a dead body, even if his father or his mother has died. 12 When one of his close relatives dies, the high priest must not leave the sacred tent to join those who are mourning. This would cause him to become impure and unfit for his work and would also defile my sacred tent. He must not leave the sacred tent at that time, because, the sacred olive oil that you, Moses, have poured on his head has set him apart to serve and worship me. Remember: I am Yahweh your God!

13 Remember, the priests of Israel should only marry women who have never had sexual relations. 14-15 14-15The priests of Israel should not marry widows or divorced women or defiled prostitutes. Rather, they must only marry young, unmarried Israelite women. If they do, their children will remain pure and able to be priests among the people of Israel. Remember: I am Yahweh, and I set the priests apart to serve and worship me.”

16 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 17 “Tell Aaron that no one of his descendants who suffers from a deformity or disability should ever present the food gifts that people offer to me, their God. 18 In fact, no one who suffers from a deformity or disability may approach my holy space and offer a sacrifice. This includes anyone who is blind, lame, whose face is disfigured, whose legs are of unequal lengths, 19 anyone who suffers from a disability in their feet or hands, 20 anyone who has a misshapen back, anyone who is abnormally short, has defective sight, has a skin disease of any kind, or whose genitals have been damaged. 21 No descendant of Aaron, the first high priest, who suffers from any disability or deformity should ever approach my altar to present the food gifts that the people of Israel offer to me, Yahweh. This is because he suffers from a disability or deformity. He must never present the food gifts that the people of Israel offer to me, their God. 22 However, priests who suffer from disabilities or deformities may still eat any of the sacred food that I have set apart for the priests to eat. 23 Despite this, because of their disabilities or deformities, such priests must not pass through the special curtain in the sacred tent or approach my altar. If they did that, they would cause my sacred tent to become impure and unfit for my presence. Remember: I am Yahweh, and I set these places apart for myself.”

24 So Moses spoke to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites.

22 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “Make sure that Aaron and his sons know that, when they are impure, no priest should ever touch or eat any of the special food that the people of Israel offer to me by presenting it as a sacrifice. Doing so would dishonor my reputation as being separated from impurity and instead associate me with impurity. Instead, the priests ought to treat these offerings of food as belonging especially to me. Remember: I am Yahweh!

3 Tell them that, while he is impure, no priest should ever approach my sacred altar to present a sacrifice that the people of Israel have set aside to belong to me, Yahweh. This is a practice that should continue for as long as there are priests in Israel. It applies to every descendant of Aaron who serves as a priest. If this ever happens, I will make the priest who does this an outcast and remove him from my presence. Remember: I am Yahweh!

4 This means that, until the priests declare him to be pure once again, no descendant of Aaron who suffers from an infectious skin disease or a flowing discharge may eat the special food that I have set aside from the food gifts that the people of Israel offer to me for the priests to eat. To be clear, this rule also applies to any priest who touches a dead body, which is impure, or who experiences an abnormal genital discharge, 5 or who touches any creature that swarms and crawls along the ground and becomes unclean. This rule also applies to any priest who touches a person who is currently impure—no matter the reason for which that person is impure. 6 Remember: any priest who touches anything or anyone impure should consider himself to be impure until the evening of the day on which he touched the impure thing or person. The priest must not eat any of the special food that I have set aside from my food gifts for the priests to eat unless the priest first bathes himself. 7 After the sun sets, the priest should consider himself to be pure once again. He may eat the special food that I have set apart from my food gifts for the priests to eat, because I may made provision for the priests by giving them this food. 8 But no priest should eat the meat from an animal’s corpse or from an animal that wild animals killed and someone later found dead. If a priest does this, he makes himself impure and unfit to serve or worship me. Remember: I am Yahweh.

9 The priests must carefully avoid exactly what I, Yahweh, have told them to avoid. If they do not, they will have shown me disrespect and defiled the sacred food gifts that the people of Israel have offered to me. I will hold them responsible for their wrongdoing and kill them. Remember: I am Yahweh, and I have set the priests apart to serve and worship me.

10 No one outside of the priest's immediate family may eat the sacred food that I have set apart for the priests to eat. This includes any passing guest that a priest hosts in his home or any hired laborer. 11 However, a slave that a priest has bought with his own money may eat this special food. Likewise, any slave that is born into a priest's household is welcome to eat the sacred food that I, Yahweh, have set apart for the priests to eat. 12 However, when a priest’s daughter marries a man who is not a priest, she may no longer eat the sacred foods that the people of Israel have presented to Yahweh as a special contribution of food for the priests to eat. 13 It may happen that a priest's daughter becomes a widow or divorces from her husband and yet has no children. If this happens, and the woman returns to her father's household to live there as she did when she was young, she may eat the special food that I have set apart for the priests to eat. However, no one outside of the priest's immediate family may ever eat this sacred food.

14 It may happen that a person who is not a priest mistakenly eats the special food that I, Yahweh, have set aside for the priests to eat. If this happens, the person who ate the food must repay the full value of the food that he ate, plus an additional one-fifth of its value, and give the money to the priest to whom the food belonged. 15 By practicing these rules, the priests will not disrespect and profane the sacred food that the people of Israel have offered as their sacrifice to me, Yahweh. 16 However, if the priests fail to do this, and they eat the special food when they are impure or anyone outside of the priest's immediate family eats the special food, I will hold both the priests and the people of Israel responsible for the guilt of their wrongdoing. I will do this because I am Yahweh, and I have set the priests apart to serve and worship me.“

17 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 18 “Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the people of Israel that any Israelite or non-Israelite living among the people of Israel may present wholly burned sacrifices to me, Yahweh. They may present sacrifices because of a vow that they make to me or freely and unprompted. 19 However, for me to accept such sacrifices, whoever offers a sacrifice that the priest completely burns on the altar must present a totally healthy male animal, whether a bovine, sheep, or goat. 20 This means that if the priests are going to completely burn the animal on the altar, no one should ever offer to me an animal that suffers from disabilities or defects. I will not accept these animals for the people of Israel. 21 To be specific, any animal that someone presents to me, Yahweh, as a fellowship sacrifice must be totally healthy for me to accept the sacrifice. This rule applies to all sacrifices in which the priests burn the meat of the animal on the altar, whether a person presents it to fulfill an extraordinary vow that he made to me or whether the person offers the sacrifice freely and unprompted. The rule also applies to all animals, whether bovine or flock animals: no animal presented as a sacrifice to me, Yahweh, must suffer from a disability or deformity. 22 This includes animals that are blind, have broken bones, are maimed, or any animals that suffer from running sores or any visible infectious skin disease. The people of Israel must never present any animal in this condition to me, Yahweh, as a sacrifice. The priests must not burn even a piece of such an animal on my altar. 23 However, the people of Israel may present to me an ox or a sheep that has misshapen or stunted limbs, if they intend the sacrifice to be a voluntary offering. This is because, for such sacrifices, the priests will burn only the fat of the animal, such that they will not present any deformed or defective part of the animal as a sacrifice to me. Nevertheless, I will not accept such animals for a sacrifice that someone intends to fulfill a promise that he made to me. 24 Particularly, the people of Israel should never offer to me a bovine or flock animal whose owner has crushed, pulverized, torn off, or removed its testicles. As long as they live in the land of Canaan, the people of Israel must not present such animals as sacrifices to me. 25 The people of Israel must not offer such animals as food gifts to me, their God, even if they have purchased the animal from a non-Israelite because these animals suffer from disabilities and deformities. I consider such animals as unacceptable sacrifices from you.”

26 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 27 “A newborn calf or lamb or goat must remain with its mother for a week after its mother has given birth to it. After that week has passed, I, Yahweh, will accept the young animal as a sacrifice and food gift to me. 28 However, make sure that the people of Israel do not slaughter a fully grown bovine or flock animal and its young on the same day.

29 The people of Israel may sacrifice an animal to thank me for what I have done for them. When they do this, they should present it in such a way that I will accept the sacrifice for the one presenting it. 30 This means that the people who will eat the meat of such a sacrifice must do so on the same day that the individual offers the sacrifice. He should make sure that he does not leave any of the meat of the sacrifice over until the next morning. Remember: I am Yahweh!

31 The people of Israel must make a habit of doing everything that I have commanded them to do. Remember: I am Yahweh! 32 This means that the people of Israel should not profane and dishonor my reputation as their God by disobeying what I have told them to do. Instead, the people of Israel should behave in a way that demonstrates that I am set apart from impurity and wrongdoing and that I, Yahweh, live in their midst. Remember: I am Yahweh, and I have set my people apart to serve and worship me! 33 I am the one who rescued the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt so that I could be their God. Remember: I am Yahweh!”

23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelite people: I have appointed these sacred festivals. You must announce when the people should gather together to worship me. 3 You may work for six days, but the seventh day is a special day of complete rest. You must gather together to worship me. You must not do any work on that day. This is a Sabbath to honor Yahweh wherever you live.

4 These are the special times that I have chosen, the holy gatherings that you must announce at their proper times. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day at twilight, you must celebrate the Passover to honor Yahweh. 6 On the fifteenth day of this same month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to honor Yahweh. For seven days you must eat bread that you made without yeast. 7 On the first day you must gather together for a holy meeting. You must not do any regular work. 8 For seven days you must bring offerings to Yahweh. On the seventh day you must gather again for a holy meeting. You must not do any regular work.”

9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, 10 “Tell the Israelite people: When you enter the land that I am giving you and harvest your crops, you must bring a bundle of the first grain you harvest to the priest. 11 The priest will lift up the bundle to present it to Yahweh so that Yahweh will accept your gift. The priest must do this on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you present the bundle of grain, you must also sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb that has no defects as a burnt offering to Yahweh.

13 With it you must also bring a grain offering of four liters of fine flour mixed with olive oil as an offering to Yahweh. It will make a smell he enjoys. You must also bring one liter of wine as a drink offering. 14 On that day, you must not eat any bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until you have brought this offering to your God. This is a rule that will continue forever for all your descendants, wherever you live.

15 Count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath when you brought the bundle of grain as an offering. 16 Count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then bring a new grain offering to Yahweh. 17 At home, each family must bake two loaves of bread using yeast and four liters of fine flour. Take them to the priest and he will lift them up high to dedicate them to Yahweh. This will be the first offering to Yahweh from your harvest.

18 Along with the bread, present seven one-year-old male lambs with no defects, one young bull, and two rams. Burn them completely on the altar to Yahweh. They and the grain offering and drink offerings are a present for Yahweh and will make a pleasing smell for Yahweh. 19 You must also offer one male goat as a purifying sacrifice and two one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship sacrifice. 20 The priest will lift up these two lamb offerings high to dedicate them to Yahweh. He will also offer the loaves of bread that were baked from the first wheat that you harvest. Those offerings are sacred to Yahweh, but they are for the priests to eat.

21 On that same day announce that the people must gather together for a holy meeting. You must not do any regular work. This is a rule that will continue forever for all your descendants, wherever you live.

22 When you harvest your crops, do not harvest all the way to the edges of your fields. Do not pick up the grain that falls on the ground. Leave it for poor people and foreigners. Remember: I am Yahweh your God.”

23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, 24 “Tell the Israelite people: On the first day of the seventh month, you must have a special day of rest. You must gather together for a holy meeting when you hear the trumpet blast. 25 You must not do any regular work on that day. Instead you must bring a present to Yahweh.”

26 Yahweh spoke to Moses, 27 “On tenth day of this seventh month you must gather together for a holy meeting. Show that you are sorry for sinning by not eating. Bring a food present to Yahweh. This will be a special day for asking Yahweh to forgive you for the sins that you have committed. 28 Because on that day the priests will offer sacrifices to Yahweh your God to ask him to forgive your sins, you must not do any work all day. 29 You must expel from your group and from the Israelite nation anyone who does not show that he is sorry for sinning by not eating on that day. 30 I will kill anyone who does any work on that day, right in the middle of his family! 31 You must not work at all! You and all your descendants must always obey these commands, wherever you live. 32 That day you must all rest completely. Also, you must not eat to show that you are sorry for having sinned. Rest from the evening of the ninth day of the month until the evening of the tenth day of the month.”

33 Yahweh spoke to Moses, 34 “Tell the Israelite people: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Shelters. This festival to honor Yahweh will last for seven days. 35 On the first day you must gather together for a holy meeting. You must not do any regular work. 36 On each of the seven days of this festival you must bring food presents to Yahweh. On the eighth day you must gather together again for a holy meeting and bring another food present to Yahweh. This is a special gathering. You must not do any regular work.

37 (To summarize, these are the festivals that Yahweh has appointed. You must announce that these are holy meetings in order to give presents to Yahweh. You will bring these: animal presents that you will burn completely, presents you make from flour, presents to promise friendship with Yahweh, and presents of wine. Bring each present on the day that Yahweh commanded. 38 You must celebrate these festivals in addition to worshiping Yahweh on the Sabbath days. You must give Yahweh all those offerings in addition to his regular presents, the presents that people give when they solemnly promise to do something, and any presents that people give to Yahweh voluntarily.)

39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have harvested your crops, be sure to celebrate the Festival of Shelters to honor Yahweh for seven days. Rest completely on the first day and on the eighth day. 40 On the first day, take the best fruit from your trees, palm branches, leafy branches, and willow branches from the riverbank. Celebrate with joy before Yahweh your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate this festival to honor Yahweh for seven days each year. You must celebrate it in the seventh month. You and all your descendants must always obey these commands. 42 During the seven days of that festival, all of you people who have been Israelites all of your lives must live in shelters. 43 That will remind your descendants that I made their ancestors live in shelters after I rescued them from Egypt. Do not forget that I, Yahweh your God, am the one who is commanding this.”

44 So Moses told the Israelites about all these special times that Yahweh had chosen.

24 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelite people to constantly bring you clear oil made from pressed olives. This is to burn in the lamps in the sacred tent in order that those lamps will be lit all the time. 3 Aaron must take care of the lamps in Yahweh’s presence continually, so that they will burn all night long. You must obey this rule forever. Outside the curtain of the very holy place which is in the sacred tent 4 on the lampstand that is dedicated to Yahweh, he must constantly take care of the lamps that burn in Yahweh’s presence.

5 Also, each week you must take some fine flour and bake twelve very big loaves of bread, using four and one-half liters of flour for each loaf. 6 Put the loaves in two rows, with six loaves in each row, on the table covered with pure gold, in Yahweh’s presence. 7 Along each row, place on the gold table some pure incense. It will represent the bread and the priest will burn it as a present for Yahweh instead of the bread. 8 The priests must put new loaves of bread on the table each Sabbath day. You Israelites continually offering this gift to me, Yahweh, represents the never-ending covenant between us. 9 When they remove the loaves from the table, they will belong to Aaron and his descendants. They must eat them in a sacred place set aside for this purpose, because they are a very sacred part of the presents to Yahweh. This food will always be for the priestly family.”

10-11 10-11There was a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father. His mother’s name was Shelomith. Her father was Dibri from the tribe of Dan. One day the half-Israelite man was walking in the Israelite camp and he and an Israelite man started fighting there in the camp. While they were fighting, the half-Israelite man said bad things about Yahweh and cursed Yahweh. Then some people took the half-Israelite man to Moses. 12 Moses had some people guard him until they could find out from Yahweh what they should do to him.

13 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 14 “Take the man who cursed me outside the camp. There all those who heard what he said must put their hands on his head to indicate that he is guilty. Then all the people must kill him by throwing stones at him. 15 Tell the Israelites, ‘If anyone curses God, you must punish him for sinning. 16 So you must surely execute anyone who curses Yahweh. All the people must throw stones at him until he is dead. It does not matter if he is a foreigner or an Israelite from birth. You must surely execute anyone who curses Yahweh

17 Also, if anyone murders another person, the people must surely execute him. 18 And anyone who kills another person’s animal must give that person a live animal to replace the one that he killed. 19 If one Israelite injures another Israelite, injure the person who caused the injury in the same way as the injury he caused. 20 If someone breaks one of another person’s bones, break the same bone of the person who caused the injury. If someone injures another person’s eye, injure his eye. If someone knocks out another person’s tooth, knock out one of his teeth. Do to the offender the same as what he did to the other person. 21 Whoever kills another person’s animal must give that person a live animal to replace the one that he killed, but the people must execute anyone who murders another person. 22 You Israelites and foreigners who live among you must all have that same law. Remember: I am Yahweh your God.”

23 Then Moses told the Israelites everything Yahweh had said. So they took the man who had cursed Yahweh outside the camp and killed him by throwing stones at him. The Israelites did exactly what Yahweh commanded them to do through Moses.

25 Yahweh said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2 “Tell the Israelites this: When you enter the land that I am about to give you, you must regularly let the ground rest for a Sabbath to honor me, Yahweh. 3 For six years plant crops in your fields, prune your grapevines, and harvest your crops. 4 But during the seventh year you must allow your fields to rest completely, as a Sabbath to honor me, Yahweh. Do not plant seeds in your fields or prune your grapevines during the seventh year. 5 Do not organize harvesting grain or gathering grapes that grow on their own without your planting or pruning. You must allow the land to rest for that one year. 6 But even while it is resting, the land will provide you with food. You and your male and female servants, and workers whom you have hired, and people who are living among you temporarily—you all may eat those things. 7 Your livestock and other animals on your land are also permitted to eat whatever the land produces during that year.

8 Count how many rest years you have had. After seven rest years, that is after seven times seven years (which is 49 years), 9 blow trumpets everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month of the next year. These trumpets will announce the Day of Atonement throughout the land. 10 Make this 50th year a special celebration and announce that everyone in the country is free. This is the year for restoring! (When you come into the land Yahweh will give each family some land that is to be theirs permanently.) You must give back any of that land that they have had to sell because of debts. You must also free and send any Israelites who had to become slaves because of debts back to their families. 11 The fiftieth year will be a year for restoring. During that year do not plant anything, and do not harvest in your usual manner the crops or grapes that have grown by themselves. 12 Because it is a time of restoring you will treat it as sacred and eat only what you take directly from the fields.

13 In that year of restoring, everyone should return to his own inherited property.

14 If you sell some of your land to a fellow Israelite or if you buy some land from one of them, you must treat that person fairly because he is your fellow Israelite. 15 Pay another Israelite for his land an amount depending on the number of years since the last celebration of restoring. He should sell it for an amount based on how many years that you can harvest until the next time for restoring. 16 If there will be many years before the next time for restoring, the price will be higher. If there will be only a few years until the next time for restoring, the price will be lower. He is really selling you the number of crops you can harvest before the next year of restoring. 17 Do not cheat each other. Instead, honor your God. Remember: I, Yahweh am your God.

18 Obey all my rules and instructions carefully. If you do that, you will continue to live safely in your country. 19 The crops will grow well on the land, you will have plenty to eat, and you will live safely in your country. 20 But you may ask, ‘If we do not plant or harvest our crops during the seventh year, what will we have to eat?’ 21 Do not worry, I will bless your crops very much during the sixth year. That year there will be enough crops to feed for you for three years. 22 You will be able to plant seed during the eighth year and wait for the crops to grow, while still eating the food grown in the sixth year. You will continue to eat it until you harvest your crops in the ninth year.

23 You must not sell any of your land to belong to someone else permanently, because the land is not yours. It is really mine, and you are only living on it temporarily like foreigners and farming it for me. 24 Throughout the country that you will possess, you must remember that if someone sells some of his land to you, he is permitted to buy it back from you at any time.

25 So if one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of his property, his closest relative (that is, his redeemer) may come and buy back that land back from you for the poor man. 26 However, even if a man has no one to buy the land for him, he may prosper again and save enough money to buy that land back. 27 He must calculate how many years there will be until the next year of restoring. Then he must pay to the man who bought the land the money that the other man would have earned by growing crops on that land for those years. The buyer must sell it back to the original owner. 28 But if the original owner does not save enough money to buy back the land that he sold, it will continue to belong to the man who bought it until the next year of restoring. In that year the buyer must restore it to him, and the original owner will be able to farm it again.

29 If someone sells a house in a city that has a wall around it, he may buy it back from the man who bought it for one year. 30 If he does not buy it back during that year, then the house in the walled city will belong permanently to the man who bought it, and to that man’s descendants. He does not need to return it to the original owner in the year of restoring. 31 But houses that are in villages without walls are considered to be as though they were in a field. So if someone sells one of those houses, he may buy it back at any time. And even if he does not buy it, he will take possession of it again at the year of restoring.

32 The descendants of Levi are a special case, however. If they sell their houses in the cities that belong to them, they may buy them back at any time. 33 But even if they do not buy back those houses, they will become theirs again in the year of restoring, because those houses are in their cities, on land that the other Israelites had given to them. 34 But they may not sell the pastureland near their towns. It must belong to the original owners permanently.

35 If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and is unable to buy what he needs, others of you must help him as you would help a foreigner who is living among you temporarily. You will help him stay living in your country. 36 If you lend money to him, do not make him pay back more than he borrowed. Instead, show by what you do that you honor your God; you must help that Israelite, in order that he will be able to continue to live among you. 37 If you lend him money, do not make him pay back more than he borrowed. If you sell food to him, charge him only what you paid for it. 38 Remember: I am Yahweh your God. I brought you out of Egypt to be your God and to give you the land of Canaan.

39 If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells himself to you, do not force him to work like a slave. 40 Treat him as you treat workers whom you hire or like someone who is living on your land temporarily. He must work for you only until the year of restoring. 41 During that year, you must free him and his children, and he may go back to his family and to the property that his ancestors owned. 42 You will do this because all the Israelites are my slaves. I freed them from being slaves in Egypt. So none of you should buy each other and make each other into slaves. 43 And do not treat the Israelites whom you buy cruelly. Instead, honor your God.

44 If you want to have slaves, you may buy them from nearby people groups. 45 You may also buy some of the foreigners who are living temporarily among you, and members of their clans that were born in your country. You may own them 46 for the rest of your life. After you die, your children may own them. But you must not act in brutal ways toward your fellow Israelites because they are your relatives.

47 Suppose a foreigner who is living among you becomes rich, and a fellow Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to that foreigner or to a member of his clan. 48 Even after he sells himself, someone may pay back his debt so he can go free. One of his relatives may pay back his debt so he can go free. 49 An uncle or a cousin or another relative in his clan may pay back his debt so he can go free. Or, if he prospers and gets enough money, he may pay back his own debt so he can go free. 50 He and his master must count the number of years from when he sold himself to the next year of restoring. The price he pays to the man who bought him will depend on the standard pay that a master would give to a hired worker for that number of years. 51 If there are a lot of years that remain until the year of restoring, he must pay a larger amount of the money to go free. 52 If there are only a few years that remain until the year of restoring, he and his master must agree on a smaller amount for him to go free. 53 While he works for a foreign master, the master must treat him like he would treat an annual hired worker. All of you Israelites must make sure that the foreigner does not treat him cruelly.

54 And even if a fellow Israelite who has sold himself to a foreigner is not able to pay to go free by any of these ways, he and his children must go free in the year of restoring. 55 This is because the Israelites are my slaves. I freed them from being slaves in Egypt to be my slaves. Remember: I am Yahweh your God.”

26 Yahweh also said this to Moses on Mount Sinai, “Do not make idols or set up carved figures or sacred stones to worship as if they were God. And do not put on your property a stone that you have carved so you can bow down to it. You must worship only me, Yahweh, your God.

2 Honor the Sabbath days and revere my sacred tent, because I, Yahweh, live there.

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

6 If you obey all my laws, there will be peace in your country, and when you lie down to sleep. Nothing will cause you to be afraid. I will get rid of the dangerous animals in your country, and there will be no wars in your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies and kill them with your swords. 8 Five of you will pursue a hundred of them, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand of them and kill them.

9 If you obey all my laws, I will bless you and cause you to have many children. And I will do what I said that I would do in the covenant that I made with you. 10 When you are still eating food from the harvest from the previous year, it will be necessary for you to throw away some of it to make space to store the new harvest. 11 I will live among you in my sacred tent, and I will never reject you. 12 I will live among you and continue to be your God, and you will continue to be my people. 13 I am Yahweh your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt in order that you would no longer be slaves of the people of Egypt. When you were there, it was as though you were animals that were pulling plows for the people of Egypt, but I broke the bars of the yokes that they had put around your necks; I made you able to walk with your heads up.

14 But suppose you pay no attention to me; suppose you refuse to obey what I have told you to do. 15 Suppose that you reject my decrees and laws, and do not obey me, but that instead you reject the covenant that I made with you. 16 In that case, these are the things that I will do to you. I will suddenly send disasters that will ruin you. You will have diseases that cannot be cured, and fevers that will cause you to become blind and will slowly kill you. It will be useless for you to plant your fields, because your enemies will eat the crops that grow. 17 I will reject you, so your enemies will conquer you. Then they will rule over you, and you will be so terrified that you will run away even if they do not pursue you.

18 But after all these things happen to you, if you still refuse to obey me, I will continue to punish you again and again for the sins that you have committed. 19 I will punish you so much that you will no longer be stubborn or proud. I will not let any rain fall in your land. It will be as though the sky were made of iron, and the ground were as hard as bronze. 20 You will uselessly work very hard to plant seeds, because crops will not grow in the hard soil in your fields, and fruit will not grow on your trees.

21 If you continue to act against me and refuse to obey me, I will cause you to experience disasters again and again, as you deserve to experience because of your sins. 22 I will send wild animals to attack you, and they will kill your little children and destroy your cattle. There will be very few of you who will remain alive, with the result that there will be very few people traveling about on the roads in your country.

23 When you experience those things that I do to punish you, if you still do not pay attention to me, and if you continue to act against me, 24 I myself will act against you, and I will punish you for your sins again and again. 25 I will send armies to you to punish you for not doing the things that I commanded you to do in the covenant that I made with you. If you try to escape from your enemies by hiding behind your city walls, I will send plagues to you, and I will allow your enemies to capture you. 26 When I destroy your supplies of food, there will be very little flour with which to make bread. As a result, ten women will be able to bake all their bread in only one oven. When the bread is baked, each woman will divide it among the members of her family, but there will be very little for each one, and when they have eaten all of it, they will still be hungry.

27 After all those things happen, if you still do not obey me, if you still act against me, 28 I will be very angry with you, and I will act against you; I myself will punish you for your sins again and again. 29 You will be so hungry that you will kill your sons and daughters and eat their flesh. 30 I will make sure that other people destroy the hills where you have worshiped idols. I will smash the altars where you burn incense to worship your gods, and I will cause your corpses to be piled on the lifeless figures of your idols. And I will hate you. 31 I will cause your cities to become heaps of ruins, and I will cause the buildings that you built for your idols to collapse. And I will not be pleased at all with the aroma of your offerings that are burned on the altar. 32 I will completely ruin your country, with the result that even your enemies who capture it will be shocked when they see this happen. 33 I will enable your enemies to kill you with their swords, and I will cause them to scatter the rest of you among other people groups. I will make sure that they ruin your country and destroy your cities. 34 After that happens, as long as you are living in your enemies’ countries, I will allow your land to rest, as you should have done every seven years. 35 During all the time that no one is in your land, it will be able to rest. This will be unlike you, who never allowed it to rest while you were there.

36 As for you people who will remain alive in the countries to which your enemies will have taken you, I will make you very afraid, so when you hear the wind blowing leaves, you will run away. 37 You will run as if a man with a sword were chasing you, and you will fall down, even though no one is coming behind you. You will stumble over each other trying to flee. You will not be able to stand and fight your enemies. 38 Many of you will die in your enemies’ countries. 39 And those of you who remain alive will slowly die and rot there because of your sins and the sins of your ancestors.

40-41 40-41But your descendants must confess their sins and the sins that their ancestors committed. Their ancestors acted unfaithfully toward me and were hostile to me, so I forced them to go to their enemies’ countries. But when your descendants humble themselves and stop being very stubborn and accept being punished for their sins, 42 I will keep in mind the covenant that I made with your ancestors Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and what I promised to them about the land of Canaan. 43 But before that happens, my people will be forced to leave their land, with the result that the land will be able to rest while no one is in it, and while I am punishing the people for rejecting my laws and hating my decrees. 44 But I will still not reject them or hate them and destroy them completely. I will not cancel the covenant that I made with them. I will still be Yahweh, the God whom they should worship. 45 I will keep in mind the covenant that I made with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, something that the people of all nations heard about. I did this so that I, Yahweh, would be your God.”

46 Those are the commandments, the decrees, and the laws that Yahweh established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelite people by giving them to Moses to tell to them.

27 Yahweh also said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelite people these things for me: ‘If a man solemnly promises to set apart another person to belong only to Yahweh, Yahweh will be willing to set that person free from having to do that if the responsible man pays the priest an amount of money. The priest must calculate the amount of money in terms of the silver pieces that they use in Yahweh’s sacred tent. 3 These are the amounts that Yahweh has set for this kind of transaction:

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

4 thirty pieces of silver for adult women who are between twenty and sixty years old.

5 Twenty pieces of silver would be paid for young men who are between five and twenty years old;

ten pieces of silver for young women who are between five and twenty years old;

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

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

7 Fifteen pieces of silver would be paid for men who are more than sixty years old;

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

8 If anyone who has made such a solemn promise is very poor and unable to pay to set free the person whom he has given to Yahweh, he must take that person to the priest. The priest will set the price for freeing him to an amount that the person can pay.

9 If someone solemnly promises Yahweh to give him an animal that is acceptable to him, that animal becomes very special to Yahweh; it belongs to him alone. 10 The person who promised to give it must not give another animal instead of the one that he promised. He must not substitute a bad one for a good one or even a better one than the one offered. If he tries to do that, both animals will become dedicated to Yahweh. 11 If the animal that he wishes to give to Yahweh is a kind that is unacceptable to be an offering, he must take the animal to the priest. 12 The priest then will decide what its value is, according to the animal’s quality. Whatever value the priests sets will be the value, and that is the price of the animal. 13 If the man who gave the animal later decides that he wants to buy it back, he must pay to the priest that price plus an added one-fifth.

14 Similarly, if someone dedicates his house, and to set it apart for the honor of Yahweh, the priest will decide how much it is worth, which will depend on the house’s condition. Whatever the priest says that it is worth, that will be its value. 15 If a man set apart his house for the honor of Yahweh, but later he wants to buy it back, he must pay that price plus an added one-fifth, and then the house will belong to him again.

16 If someone sets apart for the honor of Yahweh some of the property that belongs to him and his family, its value will be determined by the quantity of seed that would be needed to sow that entire tract of land. It will be ten pieces of silver for each 220 liters of seed. 17 If the man sets apart for the honor of Yahweh the land during the year of the celebration of Jubilee, its value will be the full amount. 18 But if he sets apart his field to Yahweh after the year of the celebration of Jubilee, the priest will count the number of years until the next year of the celebration of Jubilee, and if there are not many years that remain, the price will be much lower than the full price. 19 If the person who set apart the field for Yahweh later wants to buy it back, he must pay to the priest the price that the priest says it is worth, plus an added one-fifth, and then the field will belong to that man again. 20 However, if he does not buy it back, or if it has been sold to someone else, he will never be permitted to buy it back again. 21 In the year of the celebration of Jubilee, it will be permanently set apart as a holy gift for Yahweh, and it will be given to the priest.

22 If someone sets apart for the honor of Yahweh some land that he has bought, land which is not part of the land that his family has always owned, 23 the priest must count the number of years until the next year of the celebration of Jubilee to determine how much it is worth, and the man must pay that amount to the priest on that day, and then that land will belong to him again, and his payment becomes a holy gift to Yahweh. 24 However, in the year of the celebration of Jubilee, the land will again come into the possession of the person from whom he bought it, the person whose family had always owned that land. 25 All the silver that is paid must be calculated in terms of the official pieces of silver in the sacred tent.

26 No one is permitted to dedicate the firstborn of any cow or sheep for any purpose, because the firstborn already belongs to Yahweh. 27 If someone gives to him an animal that is not acceptable to him, that person may later buy it back by paying what it is worth plus an added one-fifth of its value. If he does not buy it back, it must be sold for its standard price.

28 However, no slave or animal or family land that someone owns can be sold or bought back after it has been dedicated to Yahweh. It becomes holy to Yahweh.

29 No person who has done something that Yahweh considers to be very wicked is permitted to go free. The people must certainly execute such a person.

30 One tenth of all the crops and grain or fruit that is produced on anyone’s land is sacred and belongs to Yahweh. 31 If anyone wants to buy back any of that tenth, he must pay to the priest what it is worth plus an added one-fifth. 32 And every ten domestic animals belongs to Yahweh. When a shepherd counts them as they pass under his walking stick, to decide which ones he will give to me, he must mark every tenth one as belonging to Yahweh. 33 When he does that, he must not pick out the good ones or leave the bad ones or substitute bad ones for good ones. If he substitutes one animal for another, both animals will belong to Yahweh, and the shepherd will not be permitted to buy them back.”

34 Those are the commands that Yahweh gave to Moses on Mount Sinai to tell to the people.