The Altar on Mount Ebal

       Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: "Keep all these commands that I give you today. When you have crossed the Jordan into the land The Lord your GOD is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land The Lord your GOD is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as The Lord, The GOD of your fathers, promised you. And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to The Lord your GOD, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool upon them. Build the altar of The Lord your GOD with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to The Lord your GOD. Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of The Lord your GOD. And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up."


The Book of Deuteronomy: chapter 27, verses 1 - 8

Curses From Mount Ebal

       Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, "Be silent, O Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of The Lord your GOD. Obey The Lord your GOD and follow His commands and decrees that I give you today."
       On the same day Moses commanded the people:
       When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
       The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

       "Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol--a thing detestable to The Lord, the work of the craftsman's hands--and sets it up in secret."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor's boundary stone."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who sleeps with his father's wife, for he dishonors his father's bed."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who sleeps with his mother-in-law."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who kills his neighbor secretly."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
       "Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out."
                                          Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"


The Book of Deuteronomy: chapter 27, verses 9 - 26

Blessings for Obedience

       If you fully obey The Lord your GOD and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, The Lord your GOD will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey The Lord your GOD:

       You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
       The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
       Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
       You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

       The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
       The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your GOD will bless you in the land He is giving you.
       The Lord will establish you as His holy people, as He promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of The Lord your GOD and walk in His ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of The Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land He swore to your forefathers to give you.
       The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of The Lord your GOD that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.


The Book of Deuteronomy: chapter 28, verses 1 - 14

Curses for Disobedience

       However, if you do not obey The Lord your GOD and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

       You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
       Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
       The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
       You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

       The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking Him. The Lord will plague you with diseases until He has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
       The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.
       You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. The sights you see will drive you mad. The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
       The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where The Lord will drive you.
       You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
       The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.
       All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey The Lord your GOD and observe the commands and decrees He gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve The Lord your GOD joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies The Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
       The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land The Lord your GOD is giving you.
       Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters The Lord your GOD has given you. Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. The most gentle and sensitive woman among you--so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot--will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.
       If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name--The Lord your GOD--The Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the law, until you are destroyed. You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey The Lord your GOD. Just as it pleased The Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please Him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
       Then The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods--gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There The Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"--because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.


The Book of Deuteronomy: chapter 28, verses 15 - 68

Miscellaneous Laws

       If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master. Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.
       No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of The Lord your GOD to pay any vow, because The Lord your GOD detests them both.
       Do not charge your brother interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite, so that The Lord your GOD may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.
       If you make a vow to The Lord your GOD, do not be slow to pay it, for The Lord your GOD will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to The Lord your GOD with your own mouth.
       If you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. If you enter your neighbor's grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain.
       If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of The Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land The Lord your GOD is giving you as an inheritance.
       If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.
       Do not take a pair of millstones--not even the upper one--as security for a debt, because that would be taking a man's livelihood as security.
       If a man is caught kidnapping one of his brother Israelites and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.
       In cases of leprous diseases be very careful to do exactly as the priests, who are Levites, instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them. Remember what The Lord your GOD did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.
       When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into his house to get what he is offering as a pledge. Stay outside and let the man to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession. Return his cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of The Lord your GOD.
       Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to The Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
       Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.
       Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and The Lord your GOD redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.
       When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that The Lord your GOD may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.
       When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and have him flogged in his presence with the number of lashes his crime deserves, but he must not give him more than forty lashes. If he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes.
       Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
       If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
       However, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me." Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, "I do not want to marry her," his brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line." That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.
       If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.
       Do not have two differing weights in your bag--one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house--one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land The Lord your GOD is giving you. For The Lord your GOD detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.
       Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of GOD. When The Lord your GOD gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!


The Book of Deuteronomy: chapter 23, verses 15 - 25 & chapter 24 & chapter 25

More Various Laws

       If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under GOD's curse. You must not desecrate the land The Lord your GOD is giving you as an inheritance.
       If you see your brother's ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. If the brother does not live near you or if you do not know who he is, take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. Do the same if you find your brother's donkey or his cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it.
       If you see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help him get it to its feet.
       A Woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for The Lord your GOD detests anyone who does this.
       If you come across a bird's nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
       When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.
       Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.
       Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
       Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.
       Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.


The Book of Deuteronomy: chapter 21, verses 22 & 23 & chapter 22, verses 1 - 12

Marriage Violations

       If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity," then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. The girl's father will say to the elders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.
       If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.
       If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
       If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death--the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
       But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. Do nothing to the girl; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders his neighbor, for the man found the girl out in the country, and though the betrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her.
       If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.
       A man is not to marry his father's wife; he must not dishonor his father's bed.


The Book of Deuteronomy: chapter 22, verses 13 - 30

Punishments for Freemasonry/Sin

       The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to molech must be put to death. The people of the community are to stone him. I will set My face against that man and I will cut him off from his people; for by giving his children to molech, he has defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name. If the people of the community close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to molech and they fail to put him to death, I will set My face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves to molech.
       " 'I will set My face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people.
       " 'Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I Am The Lord your GOD. Keep My decrees and follow them. I Am The Lord, who makes you holy.
       " 'If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.
       " 'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
       " 'If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
       " 'If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.
       " 'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
       " 'If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.
       " 'If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal.
       " 'If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
       " 'If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off before the eyes of their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible.
       " 'If a man lies with a woman during her monthly period and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them must be cut off from their people.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father, for that would dishonor a close relative; both of you would be held responsible.
       " 'If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless.
       " 'If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.
       " 'Keep all My decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." I Am The Lord your GOD, who has set you apart from the nations.
       " 'You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground--those which I have set apart as unclean for you. You are to be holy to Me because I, The Lord, Am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.
       " 'A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.' "


The Book of Leviticus: chapter 20

Unlawful Sexual Relations

       The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'I Am The Lord your GOD. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey My laws and be careful to follow My decrees. I Am The Lord your GOD. Keep My decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I Am The Lord.
       " 'No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I Am The Lord.
       " 'Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father; she is your sister.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister; she is your father's close relative.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative.
       " 'Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law, She is your son's wife; do not have relations with her.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.
       " 'Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
       " 'Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her.
       " 'Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your GOD. I Am The Lord.
       " 'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
       " 'Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
       " 'Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep My decrees and My laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
       " 'Everyone who does any of these detestable things--such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep My requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I Am The Lord your GOD.' "


The Book of Leviticus: chapter 18

Various Laws

       The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, The Lord your GOD, Am holy.
       " 'Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe My Sabbaths. I Am The Lord your GOD.
       " 'Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I Am The Lord your GOD.
       " 'When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to The Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned up. If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted. Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has desecrated what is holy to The Lord; that person must be cut off from his people.
       " 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I Am The Lord your GOD.
       " 'Do not steal.
       " 'Do not lie.
       " 'Do not deceive one another.
       " 'Do not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your GOD. I Am The Lord.
       " 'Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him.
       " 'Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.
       " 'Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your GOD. I Am The Lord.
       " 'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
       " 'Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
       " 'Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I Am The Lord.
       " 'Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
       " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I Am The Lord.
       " 'Keep My decrees.
       " 'Do not mate different kinds of animals.
       " 'Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
       " 'Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
       " 'If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for a guilt offering to The Lord. With the ram of the guilt offering the priest is to make atonement for him before The Lord for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven.
       " 'When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to The Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I Am The Lord your GOD.
       " 'Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.
       " 'Do not practice divination or sorcery.
       " 'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
       " 'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I Am The Lord.
       " 'Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.
       " 'Observe My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I Am The Lord.
       " 'Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I Am The Lord your GOD.
       " 'Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your GOD. I Am The Lord.
       " 'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I Am The Lord your GOD.
       " 'Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I Am The Lord your GOD, who brought you out of Egypt.
       " 'Keep all My decrees and all My laws and follow them. I Am The Lord.' "


The Book of Leviticus: chapter 19