Leviticus 19

1The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 2“Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them: ‘You must be holy, because I, the LORD your God, am holy. 3Every one of you is to show reverence to mother and father, and you are to keep my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God. 4Do not turn aside to idols, and do not make yourselves gods of molten metal. I am the LORD your God. 5When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, sacrifice it in the way that wins acceptance for you. 6Eat it on the day of your sacrifice or on the following day, and burn with fire whatever is still left on the third day. 7If any of it is eaten on the third day, it has become foul meat and will not be accepted. 8Anyone who eats it will bear the consequences of their guilt, because they have profaned what is holy to the LORD. That person must be cut off from the people. 9When you gather in your land’s harvest, do not cut the grain right up to the edges of your field, and do not collect what is left lying after the reapers. 10Do not go back through your vineyard to take every last cluster, or collect the grapes that drop to the ground. Leave them for the poor and for the outsider. I am the LORD your God. 11Do not steal, do not deny what you owe, and do not deal dishonestly with one another. 12Do not take an oath in my name to back up a lie; that would profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 13Do not exploit your neighbor or take what is theirs by force. When you hire a laborer, the pay must not stay in your hands overnight until morning. 14Do not curse someone who is deaf, and do not set something in the path of someone who is blind to make them trip. Fear your God. I am the LORD. 15Do not do wrong when you judge a case. Do not take the side of the poor because they are poor, and do not give special honor to the powerful. Judge your fellow citizen fairly. 16Do not go from one person to another spreading slander among your people. Do not take a stand against your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD. 17Do not hold hatred in your heart for one of your own people. Be sure to correct your neighbor when they do wrong, so that you do not carry sin because of them. 18Do not pay back any of your own people with revenge, and do not keep holding a grudge against them. Instead, love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. 19Keep my statutes. Do not let two different kinds of your animals breed together. Do not sow your field with two kinds of seed. Do not put on clothing made from two kinds of thread mixed together.

20If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave promised to another man, and she has not been bought back or given her freedom, compensation must be paid. They are not to be put to death, since she was not free. 21The man is to bring a ram to the entrance of the tent of meeting as his guilt offering to the LORD. 22With the ram of the guilt offering the priest is to make atonement for him before the LORD for the sin he committed, and he will be forgiven for that sin.

23When you enter the land and plant any tree that bears food, you are to regard its fruit as uncircumcised. For three years it will be uncircumcised for you, and none of it may be eaten. 24In the fourth year all its fruit is to be set apart as holy, given in praise to the LORD. 25From the fifth year on you may eat its fruit. Doing this will make the tree yield more for you. I am the LORD your God. 26Do not eat anything with its blood still in it. Do not try to read the future, whether by divining or by soothsaying. 27Do not shave off the hair around the sides of your head, and do not cut away the corners of your beard. 28Do not gash your flesh in mourning for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD. 29Do not dishonor your daughter by giving her over to prostitution, or the land will prostitute itself and fill up with lewd wickedness. 30You are to keep my Sabbaths and stand in awe of my sanctuary. I am the LORD. 31Do not consult mediums or spiritists. Do not seek their help, or you will become unclean through them. I am the LORD your God. 32Rise to your feet in the presence of the gray-haired, and give honor to the old. Fear your God. I am the LORD.

33If an outsider comes to live among you in your land, you are not to take advantage of them. 34The outsider living among you is to count as one of your own native-born. You are to love them as yourself, since you yourselves were outsiders in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. 35Do not act unjustly when you decide cases, or when you measure length, weight or volume. 36Keep scales that are true and weights that are true, and a true dry measure (about 20 quarts) and a true liquid measure (about a gallon). I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37Keep all my statutes and all my rulings, and put them into practice. I am the LORD.’”