Leviticus 19; Leviticus 20; Matthew 27:51-66

1 The Lord spoke to Moses:

2 "Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

3 "Each of you is to respect his mother and father. You are to keep My Sabbaths; I am the Lord your God.

4 Do not turn to idols or make cast images of gods for yourselves; I am the Lord your God.

5 "When you offer a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, sacrifice it that you may be accepted.

6 It is to be eaten on the day you sacrifice [it] or on the next day, but what remains on the third day must be burned up.

7 If any is eaten on the third day, it is a repulsive thing; it will not be accepted.

8 Anyone who eats it will bear his punishment, for he has profaned what is holy to the Lord. That person must be cut off from his people.

9 "When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

10 You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident; I am the Lord your God.

11 "You must not steal. You must not act deceptively or lie to one another.

12 You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God; I am the Lord.

13 "You must not oppress your neighbor or rob [him]. The wages due a hired hand must not remain with you until morning.

14 You must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you are to fear your God; I am the Lord.

15 "You must not act unjustly when rendering judgment. Do not be partial to the poor or give preference to the rich; judge your neighbor fairly.

16 You must not go about spreading slander among your people; you must not jeopardize your neighbor's life; I am the Lord.

17 "You must not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him.

18 Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

19 "You are to keep My statutes. You must not crossbreed two different kinds of your livestock, sow your fields with two kinds of seed, or put on a garment made of two kinds of material.

20 "If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman who is a slave designated for [another] man, but she has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there must be punishment. They are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.

21 However, he must bring his ram as a restitution offering to the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

22 The priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord with the ram of the restitution offering for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven for the sin he committed.

23 "When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden. It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten.

24 In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering to the Lord.

25 But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you; I am the Lord your God.

26 "You are not to eat [anything] with blood [in it]. You are not to practice divination or sorcery.

27 You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard.

28 You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the Lord.

29 "Do not debase your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.

30 You must keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the Lord.

31 "Do not turn to mediums or consult spiritists, or you will be defiled by them; I am the Lord your God.

32 "You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. Fear your God; I am the Lord.

33 "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress him.

34 You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

35 "You must not act unfairly in measurements of length, weight, or volume.

36 You are to have honest balances, honest weights, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

37 You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord."

1 The Lord spoke to Moses:

2 "Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him.

3 I will turn against that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling My sanctuary and profaning My holy name.

4 But if the people of the country look the other way when that man gives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,

5 then I will turn against that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow him, prostituting themselves with Molech.

6 "Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn against that person and cut him off from his people.

7 Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.

8 Keep My statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sets you apart.

9 "If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood is on his own hands.

10 If a man commits adultery with a married woman-if he commits adultery with his neighbor's wife-both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

11 If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has shamed his father. Both of them must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.

12 If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own hands.

13 If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.

14 If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned with fire, so that there will be no depravity among you.

15 If a man has sexual intercourse with an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal.

16 If a woman comes near any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their [own] blood is on them.

17 If a man marries his sister, whether his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his punishment.

18 If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her [flow], and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from their people.

19 You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother's sister or your father's sister, for it is exposing one's own blood relative; both people will bear their punishment.

20 If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has shamed his uncle; they will bear their guilt and die childless.

21 If a man marries his brother's wife, it is impurity. He has shamed his brother; they will be childless.

22 "You are to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.

23 You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.

24 And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God who set you apart from the peoples.

25 Therefore you must distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. You are not to make yourselves detestable by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.

26 You are to be holy to Me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be Mine.

27 A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their blood is on their own hands."

51 Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split.

52 The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had gone to their rest were raised.

53 And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.

54 When the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, "This man really was God's Son!"

55 Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and ministered to Him were there, looking on from a distance.

56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

57 When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.

58 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Then Pilate ordered that it be released.

59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen,

60 and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb.

61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb.

62 The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate

63 and said, "Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive, He said, 'After three days I will rise again.'

64 Therefore give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come, steal Him, and tell the people, 'He has been raised from the dead.' Then the last deception will be worse than the first."

65 "You have a guard [of soldiers]," Pilate told them. "Go and make it as secure as you know how."

66 Then they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting the guard.