Numbers 5; Leviticus 18; Leviticus 20

Numbers 5

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.

3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”

4 The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.

5 The LORD said to Moses,

6 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD is guilty

7 and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged.

8 But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer.

9 All the sacred contributions the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him.

10 Sacred things belong to their owners, but what they give to the priest will belong to the priest.’ ”

11 Then the LORD said to Moses,

12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him

13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act),

14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure—

15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.

16 “ ‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the LORD.

17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water.

18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse.

19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you.

20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”—

21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the LORD cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell.

22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.” “ ‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”

23 “ ‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water.

24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her.

25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD and bring it to the altar.

26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water.

27 If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse.

28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.

29 “ ‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband,

30 or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the LORD and is to apply this entire law to her.

31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’ ”

Leviticus 18

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God.

3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.

4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God.

5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.

6 “ ‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.

7 “ ‘Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.

8 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father.

9 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

10 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; that would dishonor you.

11 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.

12 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.

13 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative.

14 “ ‘Do not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.

15 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; do not have relations with her.

16 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.

17 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.

18 “ ‘Do not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.

19 “ ‘Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.

20 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.

21 “ ‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

22 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.

23 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.

24 “ ‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.

25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

26 But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things,

27 for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled.

28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

29 “ ‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things—such persons must be cut off from their people.

30 Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.’ ”

Leviticus 20

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him.

3 I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.

4 If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death,

5 I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek.

6 “ ‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.

7 “ ‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.

8 Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.

9 “ ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.

10 “ ‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.

11 “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

12 “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them are to be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.

13 “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

14 “ ‘If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.

15 “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is to be put to death, and you must kill the animal.

16 “ ‘If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

17 “ ‘If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible.

18 “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them are to be cut off from their people.

19 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father, for that would dishonor a close relative; both of you would be held responsible.

20 “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless.

21 “ ‘If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.

22 “ ‘Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.

23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

24 But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations.

25 “ ‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those that I have set 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 my own.

27 “ ‘A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’ ”