Leviticus 19:9-37

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

9 ¹"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 ²"You shall not steal; ³you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.

12 ⁴You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so ⁵profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

13 ⁶"You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. ⁷The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

14 ⁸You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall ⁹fear your God: I am the LORD.

15 ¹⁰"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 ¹¹You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not ¹²stand up against the life^[a] of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

17 ¹³"You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but ¹⁴you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you ¹⁵incur sin because of him.

18 ¹⁶You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but ¹⁷you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

You Shall Keep My Statutes

19 ¹⁸"You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. ¹⁹You 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 ²⁰he 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.^[b] 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 ²¹"You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. ²²You shall not interpret omens or ²³tell fortunes.

27 ²⁴You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.

28 You shall not make any ²⁵cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.

29 ²⁶"Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.

30 ²⁷You shall keep my Sabbaths and ²⁸reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

31 ²⁹"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 ³⁰"You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall ³¹fear your God: I am the LORD.

33 ³²"When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

34 ³³You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and ³⁴you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

35 ³⁵"You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.

36 ³⁶You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin:^[c] I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

37 And ³⁷you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the LORD."

Leviticus 19:9-37 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 19

This chapter contains various laws, ceremonial and moral, tending to the sanctification of men, in imitation of the holy God, Le 19:1,2; as concerning the reverence of parents, and observing the sabbaths, Le 19:3; against idolatry, Le 19:4; about offering and eating of peace offerings, Le 19:5-8; concerning harvest and gleaning of fields and vineyards, Le 19:9,10; respecting the breach of several of the commandments of the law, as the eighth, ninth, and third, particularly, Le 19:11-13; and others relating to the ill usage of the deaf and blind, and having respect to persons rich or poor in judgment, and acting the part of a tale bearer among people, Le 19:14-16; and bearing hatred and ill will to any of their neighbours, Le 19:17,18; and others forbidding mixtures in the generation of cattle, sowing fields, and wearing apparel, Le 19:19; and concerning the punishment of a man that lay with a bondmaid, and the offering he should bring for his atonement, Le 19:20-22; then follow certain laws concerning fruit trees, when the fruit of them should be eaten, Le 19:23-25; and concerning eating with blood, using enchantments, and observing times, and managing the hair of the head and beard, and avoiding to make any marks, prints, and cuttings in the flesh for the dead, Le 19:26-28; a caution not to prostitute a daughter to whoredom, and to observe the sabbath, and reverence the sanctuary of God, and pay no regard to wizards and familiar spirits, Le 19:29-31; to show reverence to ancient persons, and not to vex and distress strangers, Le 19:32-34; and to do no injustice in weight and measure, Le 19:35,36; all which instructions are to be carefully observed, and put in execution, Le 19:37.

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:19-21; [Ruth 2:15, 16]
• 2. See Exodus 20:15
• 3. [Leviticus 6:2, 3; Ephesians 4:15, 25; Colossians 3:9]
• 4. See Exodus 20:7
• 5. See Leviticus 18:21
• 6. Leviticus 6:2, 3
• 7. Deuteronomy 24:14, 15; Malachi 3:5; [James 5:4]
• 8. Deuteronomy 27:18
• 9. ver. 32; Leviticus 25:17; Ecclesiastes 5:7; Ecclesiastes 12:13; 1 Peter 2:17
• 10. Exodus 23:2, 3; Deuteronomy 1:17; Deuteronomy 16:19; Deuteronomy 27:19; Psalms 82:2; Proverbs 24:23; James 2:9; [2 Chronicles 19:6, 7]
• 11. Proverbs 11:13; Proverbs 20:19
• 12. Exodus 23:1, 7; [Matthew 26:60, 61]; See 1 Kings 21:10-13; Acts 6:11-13
• 13. 1 John 2:9, 11; 1 John 3:15
• 14. Proverbs 27:5, 6; Matthew 18:15; Luke 17:3; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 5:11
• 15. [Leviticus 22:16; Romans 1:32; 1 Timothy 5:22; 2 John 11]
• 16. Proverbs 20:22; Romans 12:17, 19; Hebrews 10:30
• 17. Matthew 5:43; Cited Matthew 19:19; Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8
• 18. See Leviticus 18:4, 5
• 19. Deuteronomy 22:9-11
• 20. Leviticus 5:15; Leviticus 6:6, 7
• 21. See Leviticus 3:17
• 22. Deuteronomy 18:10; 2 Kings 17:17
• 23. 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6
• 24. Leviticus 21:5; [Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 9:26; Jeremiah 48:37]
• 25. Leviticus 21:1, 4, 5; Deuteronomy 14:1; 1 Kings 18:28; Jeremiah 16:6; Jeremiah 41:5; Jeremiah 47:5; Jeremiah 48:37
• 26. [Deuteronomy 23:17]
• 27. ver. 3; Leviticus 26:2; See Exodus 20:8
• 28. Ecclesiastes 5:1; [Matthew 21:12, 13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45, 46; John 2:14-16]
• 29. Leviticus 20:6, 27; Deuteronomy 18:11; Isaiah 8:19; [Exodus 22:18; 1 Sam. 28:3, 7, 9; 1 Chronicles 10:13; Acts 16:16]
• 30. Proverbs 20:29; [Lamentations 5:12]
• 31. See ver. 14
• 32. Exodus 22:21; Exodus 23:9; Malachi 3:5
• 33. See Leviticus 16:29
• 34. Deuteronomy 10:19; See ver. 18
• 35. See ver. 15
• 36. Deuteronomy 25:13, 15; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10; Ezekiel 45:10; [Amos 8:5; Micah 6:11]
• 37. See Leviticus 18:4, 5

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew blood
• [b]. Hebrew as its uncircumcision
• [c]. An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters; a hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters