Laws About Bodily Discharges

1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^hWhen any man has a discharge from his body,¹ his discharge is unclean. 3 And this is the law of his uncleanness for a discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. 4 Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. 5 And anyone who touches his bed ⁱshall wash his clothes and ^jbathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 6 And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 7 And whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 8 And if the one with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 9 And any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean. 10 And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 11 Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 12 And an ^kearthenware vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

13 “And when the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then ^lhe shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes. And he shall bathe his body in fresh water and shall be clean. 14 And on the eighth day he shall take two ^mturtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. 15 And the priest shall use them, ⁿone for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ^oAnd the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord for his discharge.

16 ^p“If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening. 17 And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. 18 If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe themselves in water and ^qbe unclean until the evening.

19 “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. 20 ^rAnd everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean. 21 And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 22 And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. 24 And ^sif any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

25 “If ^ta woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. 27 And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 28 But ^uif she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she shall take two ^vturtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. 30 And the priest shall use one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.

31 “Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by ^wdefiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.”

32 This is the law ^xfor him who has a discharge and ^yfor him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby; 33 ^zalso for her who is unwell with her menstrual impurity, that is, for anyone, ^xmale or ^afemale, who has a discharge, and for the ^bman who lies with a woman who is unclean.

The Day of Atonement

1 The Lord spoke to Moses after ^cthe death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to ^dcome at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For ^eI will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: ^fwith a bull from the herd for a sin offering and ^ga ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on ^hthe holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. ⁱHe shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5 And he shall take from ^jthe congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

6 “Aaron shall ^koffer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall ^lmake atonement for himself and for his house. 7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for ^mAzazel.² 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for ^mAzazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to ^mAzazel.

11 “Aaron shall present ^kthe bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12 And he shall take ⁿa censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13 ^oand put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover ^pthe mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 14 And ^qhe shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 ^r“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood ^sinside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16 Thus he shall ^tmake atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 ^uNo one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 Then he shall go out to the altar that is ^vbefore the Lord and ^wmake atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19 And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.

20 “And when he has made an end of ^xatoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall ^yput them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall ^zbear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and ^ahe shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

23 “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and ^bshall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. 24 And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and ^coffer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 And ^dthe fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26 And he who lets the goat go to ^eAzazel shall wash his clothes and ^fbathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27 ^gAnd the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. 28 And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

29 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that ^hin the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall ⁱafflict yourselves³ and shall do no work, either ^jthe native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you ^kto cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 31 ^lIt is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall ⁱafflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 ^mAnd the priest who is anointed and ⁿconsecrated as priest in his father’s place ^oshall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. 33 He shall make atonement for ^pthe holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for ^qthe altar, and he shall make atonement for ^rthe priests and for ^sall the people of the assembly. 34 And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel ^tonce in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron⁴ did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Place of Sacrifice

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel and say to them, This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. 3 If any one of the house of Israel ^ukills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp, 4 and ^vdoes not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man ^wshall be cut off from among his people. 5 This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice ^xin the open field, that they may bring them to the Lord, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them ^yas sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord. 6 And the priest shall ^ythrow the blood on the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat ^zfor a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 7 So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they ^awhore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.

8 “And you shall say to them, Any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who ^boffers a burnt offering or sacrifice 9 and ^cdoes not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord, ^wthat man shall be cut off from his people.

Laws Against Eating Blood

10 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them ^deats any blood, I will ^eset my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11 ^fFor the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar ^gto make atonement for your souls, ^hfor it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. 12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

13 “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall ⁱpour out its blood and ^jcover it with earth. 14 For the life of every creature⁵ is its ^kblood: its blood is its life.⁶ Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. 15 ^lAnd every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts, ^mwhether he is a native or a sojourner, ⁿshall wash his clothes and ^obathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean. 16 But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh, ^phe shall bear his iniquity.”

Unlawful Sexual Relations

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^qI am the Lord your God. 3 ^rYou shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and ^syou shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 ^tYou shall follow my rules⁷ and keep my statutes and walk in them. ^qI am the Lord your God. 5 ^tYou shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; ^uif a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

6 “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7 ^vYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 ^wYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 ^xYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 ^yYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 ^zYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18 And you shall not take a woman as a ^arival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness ^bwhile her sister is still alive.

19 ^c“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 ^dAnd you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21 You shall not give any of your children to ^eoffer them⁸ to ^fMolech, and so ^gprofane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 ^hYou shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 ⁱAnd you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is ^jperversion.

24 ^k“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, ^lfor by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the ^mland became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land ⁿvomited out its inhabitants. 26 But ^oyou shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the ^pnative or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 ^qSo keep my charge never to practice ^rany of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: ^sI am the Lord your God.”

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.