Along The Way (April 18 - 24, 2025)
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Leviticus 19
Ritual and Moral Holiness
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
“Speak to all the congregation of the Israelites and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.
“When you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it in such a way that it is acceptable on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day, and anything left over until the third day shall be consumed in fire. If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is an abomination; it will not be acceptable. All who eat it shall be subject to punishment, because they have profaned what is holy to the Lord, and any such person shall be cut off from the people.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.
“You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
“You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand idly by when the blood of your neighbor is at stake: I am the Lord.
“You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your animals breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.
“If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave, designated for another man but not ransomed or given her freedom, an inquiry shall be held. They shall not be put to death, since she has not been freed, but he shall bring a guilt offering for himself to the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram as guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he committed, and the sin he committed shall be forgiven him.
“When you come into the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall regard their fruit as forbidden; three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all their fruit shall be set apart for rejoicing in the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat of their fruit, that their yield may be increased for you: I am the Lord your God.
“You shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice augury or witchcraft. You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.
“Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, that the land not become prostituted and full of depravity. You shall keep my Sabbaths and revere my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
“Do not turn to mediums and spiritualists; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
“You shall rise before the aged and defer to the old, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
“You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight, or quantity. You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and observe them: I am the Lord.”
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Leviticus 20
Penalties for Violations of Holiness
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Say further to the Israelites:
“Any of the Israelites or of the aliens who reside in Israel who give any of their offspring to Molech shall be put to death; the people of the land shall stone them to death. I myself will set my face against them and will cut them off from the people, because they have given of their offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary and profaning my holy name. And if the people of the land should ever close their eyes to them, when they give of their offspring to Molech, and do not put them to death, I myself will set my face against them and against their family and will cut them off from among their people, them and all who follow them in prostituting themselves to Molech.
“If any turn to mediums or spiritualists, prostituting themselves to them, I will set my face against them and will cut them off from the people. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep my statutes and observe them: I am the Lord; I sanctify you. All who curse father or mother shall be put to death; having cursed father or mother, their bloodguilt is upon them.
“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed perversion; their bloodguilt is upon them. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them. If a man takes a wife and her mother also, it is depravity; they shall be burned to death, both he and they, that there may be no depravity among you. If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he shall be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. If a woman approaches any animal and has sexual relations with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.
“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 their people; he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall be subject to punishment. If a man lies with a woman during her period and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow, and she has laid bare her flow of blood; both of them shall be cut off from their people. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to lay bare one’s own flesh; they shall be subject to punishment. If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall be subject to punishment; they shall die childless. If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.
“You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and observe them, so that the land to which I bring you to settle in may not vomit you out. You shall not follow the practices of the nation that I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God; I have separated you from the peoples.’ You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not bring abomination on yourselves by animal or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine.
“A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritualist shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.”
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Leviticus 21
The Holiness of Priests
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:
“No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his relatives, except for his nearest kin: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother; likewise, for a virgin sister close to him because she has had no husband, he may defile himself for her. But he shall not defile himself for those related to him by marriage and so profane himself. They shall not make bald spots upon their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or make any gashes in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the Lord’s offerings by fire, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy. They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled; neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband. For they are holy to their God, and you shall treat them as holy, since they offer the food of your God; they shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, I who sanctify you, am holy. When the daughter of a priest profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned to death.
“The priest who is exalted above his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the vestments, shall not dishevel his hair nor tear his vestments. He shall not go where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother. He shall not go outside the sanctuary and thus profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. He shall marry only a woman who is a virgin. A widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been defiled, a prostitute — these he shall not marry. He shall marry a virgin of his own people, that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord; I sanctify him.”
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and say: No one of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the food of his God. Indeed, no one who has a blemish shall draw near, one who is blind or lame, or one who is mutilated or deformed, or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God. He may eat the food of his God, of the most holy as well as of the holy. But he shall not come near the curtain or approach the altar because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord; I sanctify them.” Thus Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israelites.
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Leviticus 22
The Use of Holy Offerings
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Direct Aaron and his sons to deal carefully with the sacred donations of the Israelites, which they dedicate to me, so that they may not profane my holy name: I am the Lord. Say to them, ‘If anyone among all your offspring throughout your generations comes near the sacred donations, which the Israelites dedicate to the Lord, while he is in a state of uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord.’ No one of Aaron’s offspring who has a defiling skin disease or suffers a discharge may eat of the sacred donations until he is clean. Whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse or a man who has had an emission of semen, and whoever touches any swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or any human being by whom he may be made unclean — whatever his uncleanness may be — the person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the sacred donations unless he has washed his body in water. When the sun sets he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the sacred donations, for they are his food. That which died or was torn by wild animals he shall not eat, becoming unclean by it: I am the Lord. They shall keep my charge, so that they may not incur guilt and die because of it for having profaned them: I am the Lord; I sanctify them.
“No layperson shall eat of the sacred donations. No bound or hired servant of the priest shall eat of the sacred donations, but if a priest acquires anyone by purchase, the person may eat of them, and those who are born in his house may eat of his food. If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the sacred donations, but if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced, without offspring, and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No layperson shall eat of it. If a man eats of the sacred donation unintentionally, he shall add one-fifth of its value to it and give the sacred donation to the priest. No one shall profane the sacred donations of the Israelites, which they offer to the Lord, causing them to bear guilt requiring a guilt offering, by eating their sacred donations, for I am the Lord; I sanctify them.”
Acceptable Offerings
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites and say to them: When anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing in Israel presents an offering, whether in payment of a vow or as a freewill offering that is offered to the Lord as a burnt offering, to be acceptable on your behalf it shall be a male without blemish, of the cattle or the sheep or the goats. You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable on your behalf.
“When anyone offers a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, in fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill offering, from the herd or from the flock, to be acceptable it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. Anything blind or injured or maimed or having a discharge or an itch or scabs — these you shall not offer to the Lord or put any of them on the altar as offerings by fire to the Lord. An ox or a lamb that is deformed or stunted you may present for a freewill offering, but it will not be accepted for a vow. Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the Lord; such you shall not do within your land, nor shall you accept any such animals from a foreigner to offer as food to your God; since they are mutilated, with a blemish in them, they shall not be accepted on your behalf.”
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as the Lord’s offering by fire. But you shall not slaughter, from the herd or the flock, an animal with its young on the same day. When you sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that it may be acceptable on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall not leave any of it until morning: I am the Lord.
“Thus you shall keep my commandments and observe them: I am the Lord. You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the Israelites: I am the Lord; I sanctify you, I who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord.”
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Leviticus 23:1-22
Appointed Festivals
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are the appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed festivals.
The Sabbath, Passover, and Unleavened Bread
“Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a Sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements.
“These are the appointed festivals of the Lord, the holy convocations, that you shall celebrate at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, there shall be a Passover offering to the Lord, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. For seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire; on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation: you shall not work at your occupations.”
The Offering of First Fruits
The Lord spoke to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall raise the sheaf before the Lord, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall raise it. On the day when you raise the sheaf, you shall offer a lamb a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the grain offering with it shall be two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. You shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.
The Festival of Weeks
“And from the day after the Sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the elevation offering, you shall count seven full weeks. You shall count until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the Lord. You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering, each made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of choice flour, baked with leaven, as first fruits to the Lord. You shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, one bull of the herd, and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, along with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord. You shall also offer one male goat for a purification offering and two lambs a year old as a sacrifice of well-being. The priest shall raise them with the bread of the first fruits as an elevation offering before the Lord, together with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. On that same day you shall make proclamation; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a statute forever in all your settlements throughout your generations.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the Lord your God.”
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Leviticus 23:23-44
The Festival of Trumpets
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts. You shall not work at your occupations, and you shall present the Lord’s offering by fire.”
The Day of Atonement
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Now, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you: you shall humble yourselves and present the Lord’s offering by fire, and you shall do no work during that entire day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. For those who do not humble themselves during that entire day shall be cut off from the people. And anyone who does any work during that entire day, such a one I will destroy from the midst of the people. You shall do no work. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements. It shall be to you a Sabbath of complete rest, and you shall humble yourselves; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your Sabbath.”
The Festival of Booths
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and lasting seven days, there shall be the Festival of Booths to the Lord. The first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. Seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire; on the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation and present the Lord’s offerings by fire; it is a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.
“These are the appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall celebrate as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord offerings by fire — burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day — apart from the Sabbaths of the Lord and apart from your gifts and apart from all your votive offerings and apart from all your freewill offerings that you give to the Lord.
“Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the Lord, lasting seven days, a complete rest on the first day and a complete rest on the eighth day. On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a festival to the Lord lasting seven days in the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall live in booths for seven days; all who are native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Thus Moses declared to the Israelites the appointed festivals of the Lord.
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Leviticus 24
The Lamp
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. Aaron shall set it up in the tent of meeting, outside the curtain of the covenant, to burn from evening to morning before the Lord regularly; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. He shall set up the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord regularly.
The Bread for the Tabernacle
“You shall take choice flour and bake twelve loaves of it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. You shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. You shall put pure frankincense with each row, to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire to the Lord. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall set them in order before the Lord regularly as a commitment of the Israelites, as a covenant forever. They shall be for Aaron and his descendants, who shall eat them in a holy place, for they are most holy portions for him from the offerings by fire to the Lord, a perpetual due.”
Blasphemy and Its Punishment
A man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian came out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and a certain Israelite began fighting in the camp. The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name in a curse. And they brought him to Moses — now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan — and they put him in custody, until the decision of the Lord should be made clear to them.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and let all who were within hearing lay their hands on his head, and let the whole congregation stone him. And speak to the Israelites, saying: Anyone who curses God shall incur guilt. One who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as the native-born, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death. Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to death. Anyone who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, life for life. Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered. One who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, but one who kills a human being shall be put to death. You shall have one law for the alien and for the native-born, for I am the Lord your God.” Moses spoke thus to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death. The Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.