The Lord Is Holy

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, ^tYou shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3 ^uEvery one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and ^vyou shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 ^wDo not turn to idols ^xor make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

5 ^y“When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so ^zthat you may be accepted. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is ^atainted; it will not be accepted, 8 and everyone who eats it shall ^bbear his iniquity, because ^che has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

9 ^d“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

11 ^e“You shall not steal; ^fyou shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 ^gYou shall not swear by my name falsely, and so ^hprofane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

13 ⁱ“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. ^jThe wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 ^kYou shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall ^lfear your God: I am the Lord.

15 ^m“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 ⁿYou shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not ^ostand up against the life¹ of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

17 ^p“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but ^qyou shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you ^rincur sin because of him. 18 ^sYou shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but ^tyou shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

You Shall Keep My Statutes

19 ^u“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. ^vYou shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

20 “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; 21 but ^whe shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.² Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

26 ^x“You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. ^yYou shall not interpret omens or ^ztell fortunes. 27 ^aYou shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any ^bcuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

29 ^c“Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. 30 ^dYou shall keep my Sabbaths and ^ereverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

31 ^f“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

32 ^g“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall ^hfear your God: I am the Lord.

33 ⁱ“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 ^jYou shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and ^kyou shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

35 ^l“You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36 ^mYou shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin:³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 And ⁿyou shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.”

Punishment for Child Sacrifice

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ^oAny one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 ^pI myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary ^qunclean and ^rto profane my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not ^sput him to death, 5 then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in ^twhoring after Molech.

6 “If ^ua person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, ^vI will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. 7 ^wConsecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 ^xKeep my statutes and do them; ^yI am the Lord who sanctifies you. 9 For ^zanyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; ^ahis blood is upon him.

Punishments for Sexual Immorality

10 “If a ^bman commits adultery with the wife of⁴ his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 ^cIf a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12 ^dIf a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed ^eperversion; their blood is upon them. 13 ^fIf a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14 ^gIf a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. 15 ^hIf a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 ^hIf a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

17 ⁱ“If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18 ^jIf a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 ^kYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked ^lone’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20 ^mIf a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 ⁿIf a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity.⁵ He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

You Shall Be Holy

22 ^o“You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not ^pvomit you out. 23 ^qAnd you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But ^rI have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land ^sflowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, ^twho has separated you from the peoples. 25 ^uYou shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 ^vYou shall be holy to me, ^wfor I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

27 ^x“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be ^ystoned with stones; ^ztheir blood shall be upon them.”

Holiness and the Priests

1 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ^aNo one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5 ^bThey shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6 They shall be holy to their God and ^cnot profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, ^dthe bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 ^eThey shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman ^fdivorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ^gI, the Lord, who sanctify you, ^ham holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ⁱshe shall be burned with fire.

10 ^j“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, ^kshall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11 He shall not ^lgo in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 ^mHe shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he ⁿprofane the sanctuary of his God, for the ^oconsecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.⁶ 14 A widow, ^por a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin⁷ of his own people, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for ^gI am the Lord who sanctifies him.”

16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may ^qapproach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man ^rblind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face ^sor a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a ^rdefect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or ^tcrushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to ^uoffer the Lord’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of ^vthe most holy and of the ^wholy things, 23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not ^xprofane my sanctuaries,^{8 y}for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.

Christ Our Advocate

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, ^ywe have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 ^zHe is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but ^aalso for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we ^bkeep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments ^cis a liar, and ^cthe truth is not in him, 5 but whoever ^dkeeps his word, in him truly ^ethe love of God is perfected. ^fBy this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he ^gabides in him ^hought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The New Commandment

7 Beloved, I am writing you ⁱno new commandment, but ^jan old commandment ^kthat you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is ^la new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because^{1 m}the darkness is passing away and ⁿthe true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and ^ohates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him² there is no ^pcause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and ^qwalks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Do Not Love the World

15 ^vDo not love the world or the things in the world. ^wIf anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—^xthe desires of the flesh and ^ythe desires of the eyes and pride of life³—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And ^zthe world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Warning Concerning Antichrists

18 Children, ^ait is the last hour, and as you have heard that ^bantichrist is coming, so now ^cmany antichrists have come. ^dTherefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 ^eThey went out from us, but they were not of us; for ^fif they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, ^gthat it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been ^hanointed by ⁱthe Holy One, and ^jyou all have knowledge.⁴ 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but ^khe who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is ^bthe antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 ^lNo one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let ^mwhat you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then ⁿyou too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us⁵—^oeternal life.

26 I write these things to you about ^pthose who are trying to deceive you. 27 But ^qthe anointing that you received from him abides in you, and ^ryou have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and ^sis true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

Children of God

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that ^twhen he appears ^uwe may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his ^vcoming. 29 If you know that ^whe is righteous, you may be sure that ^xeveryone who practices righteousness has been born of him.