The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 God spoke to Moses:
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And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the congregation of Israel. Tell them: Be holy because I, God, your God, am holy.
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Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.
3 "Every one of you must respect his mother and father. "Keep my Sabbaths. I am God, your God.
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Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
4 "Don't take up with no-god idols. Don't make gods of cast metal. I am God, your God.
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Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.
5 "When you sacrifice a Peace-Offering to God, do it as you've been taught so it is acceptable.
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And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will.
6 Eat it on the day you sacrifice it and the day following. Whatever is left until the third day is to be burned up.
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It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.
7 If it is eaten on the third day it is polluted meat and not acceptable.
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And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.
8 Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has violated what is holy to God. That person will be cut off from his people.
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Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
9 "When you harvest your land, don't harvest right up to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings from the harvest.
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And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 Don't strip your vineyard bare or go back and pick up the fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am God, your God.
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And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
11 "Don't steal. "Don't lie. "Don't deceive anyone.
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Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
12 "Don't swear falsely using my name, violating the name of your God. I am God.
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And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
13 "Don't exploit your friend or rob him. "Don't hold back the wages of a hired hand overnight.
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Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
14 "Don't curse the deaf; don't put a stumbling block in front of the blind; fear your God. I am God.
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Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.
15 "Don't pervert justice. Don't show favoritism to either the poor or the great. Judge on the basis of what is right.
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Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
16 "Don't spread gossip and rumors. "Don't just stand by when your neighbor's life is in danger. I am God.
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Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.
17 "Don't secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out into the open; otherwise you are an accomplice in his guilt.
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Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
18 "Don't seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people. "Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God.
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Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
19 "Keep my decrees. "Don't mate two different kinds of animals. "Don't plant your fields with two kinds of seed. "Don't wear clothes woven of two kinds of material.
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Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.
20 "If a man has sex with a slave girl who is engaged to another man but has not yet been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be an investigation. But they aren't to be put to death because she wasn't free.
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And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.
21 The man must bring a Compensation-Offering to God at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, a ram of compensation.
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And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.
22 The priest will perform the ritual of atonement for him before God with the ram of compensation for the sin he has committed. Then he will stand forgiven of the sin he committed.
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And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.
23 "When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, don't eat the fruit for three years; consider it inedible.
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And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.
24 By the fourth year its fruit is holy, an offering of praise to God.
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But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal.
25 Beginning in the fifth year you can eat its fruit; you'll have richer harvests this way. I am God, your God.
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And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God.
26 "Don't eat meat with blood in it. "Don't practice divination or sorcery.
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Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
27 "Don't cut the hair on the sides of your head or trim your beard.
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Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
28 "Don't gash your bodies on behalf of the dead. "Don't tattoo yourselves. I am God.
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Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
29 "Don't violate your daughter by making her a whore - the whole country would soon become a brothel, filled with sordid sex.
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Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.
30 "Keep my Sabbaths and revere my Sanctuary: I am God.
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Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
31 "Don't dabble in the occult or traffic with mediums; you'll pollute your souls. I am God, your God.
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Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
32 "Show respect to the aged; honor the presence of an elder; fear your God. I am God.
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Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.
33 "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don't take advantage of him.
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And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.
34 Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God.
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But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
35 "Don't cheat when measuring length, weight, or quantity.
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Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
36 Use honest scales and weights and measures. I am God, your God. I brought you out of Egypt.
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Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 "Keep all my decrees and all my laws. Yes, do them. I am God."
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Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.