(from One New Man Bible translated by William Morford)
K’doshim
19.1. And the LORD* spoke to Moses saying, 2. “Speak to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them,
“You will be holy! For I, the LORD* your God, AM holy. (1 Pe. 1:16) 3. You, every person, will respect his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths. I AM the LORD* your God!
19:4. “Do not turn to idols, or make molten gods for yourselves! I AM the LORD* your God!
19:5. “And if you offer a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD*, you will offer it at your own will. 6. It will be eaten the same day you offer it and on the next day, and if any of it remains until the third day, it will be burned in the fire. 7. If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it will not be accepted. 8. Therefore whoever eats it will bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD*, and that soul will be cut off from among his people.”
Commandments
19:9. “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you will not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor will you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10. And you will not glean your vineyard, nor will you gather every grape of your vineyard; you will leave them for the poor and the stranger. I AM the LORD* your God!
19:11. “You will not steal, or deal falsely, neither lie one to another. 12. And you will not swear by My name falsely, neither will you profane the name of your God. I AM the LORD*! (Matt. 5:37)
19:13. “You will not defraud or rob your neighbor. The wages of him that is hired will not stay with you all night until the morning. 14. You will not curse the deaf, or put a stumbling-block before the blind, but will revere your God. I AM the LORD*! 15. You will do no unrighteousness in judgment: you will not respect the person of the poor, or honor the person of the mighty: in righteousness you will judge your neighbor. 16. You will not go up and down as a talebearer among your people neither will you stand against the blood of your neighbor. I AM the LORD*!
19:17. “You will not hate your brother in your heart: you will surely rebuke your neighbor and not sin because of him. 18. You will not avenge or bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you will love your neighbor as yourself. I AM the LORD*!
19:19. “You will keep My statutes. You will not let your cattle breed with a different kind: you will not sow your field with mixed seed: neither will a garment mixed of linen and woolen threads come upon you.
19:20. “And whoever lies carnally with a woman that is a bond maid, betrothed to a husband, and not at all redeemed or freedom given her, there will be punishment. They will not be put to death because she was not free. 21. And he will bring his guilt offering to the LORD*, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. 22. And the priest will make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD* for his sin which he has done, and the sin which he has done will be forgiven him.
19:23. “And when you come into the land and have planted all manner of trees for food, then you will count its fruit as uncircumcised: three years will it be as uncircumcised to you. It will not be eaten. 24. But in the fourth year all its fruit will be holy for a celebration to the LORD*. 25. And in the fifth year you will eat its fruit, so it can yield to you its increase. I AM the LORD* your God!
19:26. “You will not eat anything with the blood: neither will you use enchantment or practice magic.
19:27. “You will not trim the corners of your heads, nor will you mar the corners of your beard.
19:28. “You will not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead or print a tattoo upon you. I AM the LORD*!
19:29. “Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot lest the land fall to harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.
19:30. “You will keep My Sabbaths and revere My Sanctuary. I AM the LORD*!
19:31. “Do not turn to familiar spirits (1 Sam. 28:1ff) or seek after wizards! To be defiled by them. I AM the LORD* your God!
19:32. “You will rise up before an aged person and honor the face of the old man, and revere your God. I AM the LORD*!
19:33. “And if a stranger stays with you in your land, you will not vex him. 34. But the stranger who lives with you will be to you as one born among you and you will love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I AM the LORD* your God!
19:35. “You will do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measuring, in weight, or in quantity. 36. You will have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. I AM the LORD* your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt! 37. Therefore you will observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and do them! I AM the LORD*!”
More Commandments
20.1. And the LORD* spoke to Moses, saying, 2. “Again, you will say to the children of Israel, Whoever he is of the children of Israel or of the strangers that stay in Israel, that gives any of his seed to Molech; he will surely be put to death! The people of the land will stone him with stones. 3. And I shall set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he has given of his seed to Molech, to defile My Sanctuary and to profane My holy name. 4. And if the people of the land hide their eyes from the man when he gives of his seed to Molech, and do not kill him, 5. then I shall set My face against that man and against his family, and will cut him off and all that go astray after him, to go astray after Molech, from among their people. 6. And whoever turns after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards, to go astray after them, I shall even set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. 7. Therefore sanctify yourselves and be holy! (1 Pe. 1:16) For I AM the LORD* your God! 8. And you will keep My statutes and do them. I AM the LORD* Who sanctifies you! 9. For everyone who curses his father or his mother will surely be put to death: he has cursed his father or his mother, his blood will be upon him. 10. And the man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he that commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress will surely be put to death. 11. And the man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them will surely be put to death; their blood will be upon them. 12. And if a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them will surely be put to death; they have wrought corruption; their blood will be upon them. 13. If a man also lies with a man as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they will surely be put to death; their blood will be upon them. 14. And if a man takes a wife and her mother, it is incest: they will be burned with fire, both he and they, so there is no incest among you. 15. And if a man lies with a beast, he will surely be put to death, and you will slay the beast. 16. And if a woman approaches any beast and lies down with it, you will kill the woman and the beast: they will surely be put to death; their blood will be upon them. 17. And if a man will take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter and see her nakedness and she see his nakedness; it is an abomination; and they will be cut off in the sight of their people: he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his iniquity. 18. And if a man will lie with a woman having her sickness, and will uncover her nakedness; he has discovered her fountain and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them will be cut off from among their people. 19. And you will not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, nor of your father’s sister: for he uncovers his near kin: they will bear their iniquity.
20:20. “And if a man will lie with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they will bear their sin; they will die childless. 21. And if a man will take his brother’s wife, it is an abomination: he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they will be childless.
20:22. “You will therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments and do them, so the land where I bring you to dwell does not vomit you out. 23. And you will not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you, for they committed all these things and therefore I abhorred them. 24. But I have said to you, You will inherit their land and I shall give it to you to possess it, a land that flows with milk and honey. I AM the LORD* your God, Who has separated you from other people. 25. You will therefore make a distinction between clean beasts and unclean and between unclean fowls and clean, and you will not make your souls abominable by beast or by fowl or by any manner of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26. And you will be holy to Me. For I, the LORD*, AM holy, and have separated you from other people, so you could be Mine.
20:27. “A man or a woman who divines by a ghost or a familiar spirit will surely be put to death: they will stone them with stones: their blood will be on them.”
Next week’s Torah readings: Emor
I agree. That leads to a kind of fatalism, when soiemtmes we’re supposed to keep knocking, look for a window, or even break down the closed doors. It can also be an excuse. Gravity, entropy, ongoing unseen opposition sigh. I’m beginnning to see that once I accept the fact that resistance is something I’ll wake up to, and go to sleep to, every day in the spiritual as well as the natural, it helps me to approach life more wisely, creatively and hopefully more proactively. What about you?