13:11. It shall be judged an inveterate leprosy, and grown into the skin. The priest therefore shall declare him unclean: and shall not shut him up, because he is evidently unclean.
13:12. But if the leprosy spring out running about in the skin, and cover all the skin from the head to the feet, whatsoever falleth under the sight of the eyes:
13:13. The priest shall view him, and shall judge that the leprosy which he has is very clean: because it is all turned into whiteness, and therefore the man shall be clean.
13:14. But when the live flesh shall appear in him:
13:15. Then by the judgment of the priest he shall be defiled, and shall be reckoned among the unclean. For live flesh, if it be spotted with leprosy, is unclean.
13:16. And if again it be turned into whiteness, and cover all the man:
13:17. The priest shall view him, and shall judge him to be clean.
13:18. When also there has been an ulcer in the flesh and the skin, and it has been healed:
13:19. And in the place of the ulcer, there appeareth a white scar, or somewhat red, the man shall be brought to the priest.
13:20. And when he shall see the place of the leprosy lower than the other flesh, and the hair turned white: he shall declare him unclean, for the plague of leprosy is broken out in the ulcer.
13:21. But if the hair be of the former colour, and the scar somewhat obscure, and be not lower than the flesh that is near it: he shall shut him up seven days.
13:22. And if it spread, he shall judge him to have the leprosy:
13:23. But if it stay in its place, it is but the scar of an ulcer: and the man shall be clean.
13:24. The flesh also and skin that hath been burnt, and after it is healed hath a white or a red scar:
13:25. The priest shall view it, and if he see it turned white, and the place thereof is lower than the other skin: he shall declare him unclean, because the evil of leprosy is broken out in the scar.
13:26. But if the colour of the hair be not changed, nor the blemish lower than the other flesh, and the appearance of the leprosy be somewhat obscure: he shall shut him up seven days,
13:27. And on the seventh day he shall view him. If the leprosy be grown farther in the skin, he shall declare him unclean.
13:28. But if the whiteness stay in its place, and be not very clear, it is the sore of a burning: and therefore he shall be cleansed, because it is only the scar of a burning.
13:29. If the leprosy break out in the head or the beard of a man or woman, the priest shall see them,
13:30. And if the place be lower than the other flesh, and the hair yellow, and thinner than usual: he shall declare them unclean, because it is the leprosy of the head and the beard;
13:31. But if he perceive the place of the spot is equal with the flesh that is near it, and the hair black: he shall shut him up seven days,
13:32. And on the seventh day he shall look upon it. If the spot be not grown, and the hair keep its colour, and the place of the blemish be even with the other flesh:
13:33. The man shall be shaven all but the place of the spot: and he shall be shut up other seven days.
13:34. If on the seventh day the evil seem to have stayed in its place, and not lower than the other flesh, he shall cleanse him: and his clothes being washed he shall be clean.
13:35. But if after his cleansing the spot spread again in the skin:
13:36. He shall seek no more whether the hair be turned yellow, because he is evidently unclean.
13:37. But if the spot be stayed, and the hair be black, let him know that the man is healed: and let him confidently pronounce him clean.
13:38. If a whiteness appear in the skin of a man or a woman,
13:39. The priest shall view them. If he find that a darkish whiteness shineth in the skin, let him know that it is not the leprosy, but a white blemish, and that the man is clean.
13:40. The man whose hair falleth off from his head, he is bald and clean:
13:41. And if the hair fall from his forehead, he is bald before and clean.
13:42. But if in the bald head or in the bald forehead there be risen a white or reddish colour:
13:43. And the priest perceive this, he shall condemn him undoubtedly of leprosy which is risen in the bald part.
13:44. Now whosoever shall be defiled with the leprosy, and is separated by the judgment of the priest:
13:45. Shall have his clothes hanging loose, his head bare, his mouth covered with a cloth: and he shall cry out that he is defiled and unclean.
13:46. All the time that he is a leper and unclean he shall dwell alone without the camp.
13:47. A woollen or linen garment that shall have the leprosy
13:48. In the warp, and the woof: or skin, or whatsoever is made of a skin:
13:49. If it be infected with a white or red spot, it shall be accounted the leprosy, and shall be shewn to the priest.
13:50. And he shall look upon it and shall shut it up seven days.
13:51. And on the seventh day when he looketh on it again, if he find that it is grown, it is a fixed leprosy. He shall judge the garment unclean, and every thing wherein it shall be found.
13:52. And therefore it shall be burnt with fire.
13:53. But if he see that it is not grown,
13:54. He shall give orders, and they shall wash that part wherein the leprosy is: and he shall shut it up other seven days.
13:55. And when he shall see that the former colour is not returned, nor yet the leprosy spread, he shall judge it unclean: and shall burn it with fire, for the leprosy has taken hold of the outside of the garment, or through the whole.
13:56. But if the place of the leprosy be somewhat dark, after the garment is washed, he shall tear it off, and divide it from that which is sound.
13:57. And if after this there appear in those places that before were without spot, a flying and wandering leprosy: it must be burnt with fire.
13:58. If it cease, he shall wash with water the parts that are pure, the second time: and they shall be clean.
13:59. This is the law touching the leprosy of any woollen or linen garment, either in the warp or woof, or any thing of skins: how it ought to be cleaned, or pronounced unclean.
Leviticus Chapter 14
The rites of sacrifices in cleansing the leprosy. Leprosy in houses.
14:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
14:2. This is the rite of a leper, when he is to be cleansed. He shall be brought to the priest:
14:3. Who going out of the camp, when he shall find that the leprosy is cleansed,
14:4. Shall command him that is to be purified, to offer for himself two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.
14:5. And he shall command one of the sparrows to be immolated in an earthen vessel over living waters.
Living waters... That is, waters taken from a spring, brook, or river.
14:6. But the other that is alive, he shall dip, with the cedar wood, and the scarlet and the hyssop, in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated:
14:7. Wherewith he shall sprinkle him that is to be cleansed seven times, that he may be rightly purified. And he shall let go the living sparrow, that it may fly into the field.
14:8. And when the man hath washed his clothes, he shall shave all the hair of his body, and shall be washed with water: and being purified he shall enter into the camp, yet so that he tarry without his own tent seven days.
14:9. And on the seventh day he shall shave the hair of his head, and his beard and his eyebrows, and the hair of all his body. And having washed again his clothes, and his body,
14:10. On the eighth day, he shall take two lambs without blemish, and an ewe of a year old without blemish, and three tenths of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil apart.
A sextary... Heb. log: a measure of liquids, which was the twelfth part of a hin; and held about as much as six eggs.
14:11. And when the priest that purifieth the man, hath presented him, and all these things before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony:
14:12. He shall take a lamb, and offer it for a trespass offering with the sextary of oil. And having offered all before the Lord,
14:13. He shall immolate the lamb, where the victim for sin is wont to be immolated, and the holocaust, that is, in the holy place. For as that which is for sin, so also the victim for a trespass offering pertaineth to the priest: it is holy of holies.
14:14. And the priest taking of the blood of the victim that was immolated for trespass, shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot.
Taking of the blood, etc... These ceremonies used in the cleansing of a leper, were mysterious and very significative. The sprinkling seven times with the blood of the little bird, the washing himself and his clothes, the shaving his hair and his beard, signify the means which are to be used in the reconciliation of a sinner, and the steps by which he is to return to God, viz., by the repeated application of the blood of Christ: the washing his conscience with the waters of compunction: and retrenching all vanities and superfluities, by employing all that is over and above what is necessary in alms deeds. The sin offering, and the holocaust or burnt offering, which he was to offer at his cleansing, signify the sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart, and that of adoration in spirit and truth, with gratitude and thankfulness, for the forgiveness of sins, with which we are ever to appear before the Almighty. The touching the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, first with the blood of the victim, and then with the remainder of the oil, which had been sprinkled seven times before the Lord, signify the application of the blood of Christ, and the unction of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Ghost; to the sinner's right ear, that he may duly hearken to and obey the law of God; and to his right hand and foot, that the works of his hands, and all the steps or affections of his soul, signified by the feet, may be rightly directed to God.
14:15. And he shall pour of the sextary of oil into his own left hand,
14:16. And shall dip his right finger in it, and sprinkle it before the Lord seven times.
14:17. And the rest of the oil in his left hand, he shall pour upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot, and upon the blood that was shed for trespass:
14:18. And upon his head.
14:19. And he shall pray for him before the Lord, and shall offer the sacrifice for sin. Then shall he immolate the holocaust.
14:20. And put it on the altar with the libations thereof: and the man shall be rightly cleansed.
14:21. But if he be poor, and his hand cannot find the things aforesaid: he shall take a lamb for an offering for trespass, that the priest may pray for him, and a tenth part of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil:
14:22. And two turtles or two young pigeons, of which one may be for sin, and the other for a holocaust.
14:23. And he shall offer them on the eighth day of his purification to the priest, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony before the Lord.
14:24. And the priest receiving the lamb for trespass, and the sextary of oil, shall elevate them together.
14:25. And the lamb being immolated, he shall put of the blood thereof upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot.
14:26. But he shall pour part of the oil into his own left hand,
14:27. And dipping the finger of his right hand in it, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord.
14:28. And he shall touch the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot, in the place of the blood that was shed for trespass.
14:29. And the other part of the oil that is in his left hand, he shall pour upon the head of the purified person, that he may appease the Lord for him.
14:30. And he shall offer a turtle, or young pigeon:
14:31. One for trespass, and the other for a holocaust, with their libations.
14:32. This is the sacrifice of a leper, that is not able to have all things that appertain to his cleansing.
14:33. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
14:34. When you shall come into the land of Chanaan, which I will give you for a possession, if there be the plague or leprosy in a house:
14:35. He whose house it is, shall go and tell the priest, saying: It seemeth to me, that there is the plague of leprosy in my house,
14:36. And he shall command, that they carry forth all things out of the house, before he go into it, and see whether it have the leprosy, let all things become unclean that are in the house. And afterwards he shall go in to view the leprosy of the house.
14:37. And if he see in the walls thereof as it were little dints, disfigured with paleness or redness, and lower than all he rest:
14:38. He shall go out of the door of the house, and forthwith shut it up seven days,
14:39. And returning on the seventh day, he shall look upon it. If he find that the leprosy is spread,
14:40. He shall command, that the stones wherein the leprosy is, be taken out, and cast without the city into an unclean place:
14:41. And that the house be scraped on the inside round about, and the dust of the scrapings be scattered without the city into an unclean place:
14:42. And that other stones be laid in the place of them that were taken away, and the house be plastered with other mortar.
14:43. But if after the stones be taken out, and the dust scraped off, and it be plastered with other earth.
14:44. The priest going in perceive that the leprosy is returned, and the walls full of spots, it is a lasting leprosy, and the house is unclean.
14:45. And they shall destroy it forthwith, and shall cast the stones and timber thereof, and all the dust without the town into an unclean place.
14:46. He that entereth into the house when it is shut, shall be unclean until evening,
14:47. And he that sleepeth in it, and eateth any thing, shall wash his clothes.
14:48. But if the priest going in perceive that the leprosy is not spread in the house, after it was plastered again, he shall purify it, it being cured.
14:49. And for the purification thereof he shall take two sparrows, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.
14:50. And having immolated one sparrow in an earthen vessel, over living waters,
14:51. He shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living sparrow, and shall dip all in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated, and in the living water: and he shall sprinkle the house seven times.
14:52. And shall purify it as well with the blood of the sparrow, as with the living water, and with the living sparrow, and with the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet.
14:53. And when he hath let go the sparrow to fly freely away into the field, he shall pray for the house: and it shall be rightly cleansed.
14:54. This is the law of every kind of leprosy and stroke.
14:55. Of the leprosy of garments and houses,
14:56. Of a scar and of blisters breaking out of a shining spot, and when the colours are diversely changed:
14:57. That it may be known when a thing is clean or unclean.
Leviticus Chapter 15
Other legal uncleannesses.
15:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
15:2. Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: The man that hath an issue of seed, shall be unclean.
Issue of seed shall be unclean... These legal uncleannesses were instituted in order to give the people a horror of carnal impurities.
15:3. And then shall he be judged subject to this evil, when a filthy humour, at every moment, cleaveth to his flesh, and gathereth there.
15:4. Every bed on which he sleepeth, shall be unclean, and every place on which he sitteth.
15:5. If any man touch his bed, he shall wash his clothes and being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening.
15:6. If a man sit where that man hath sitten, he also shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening.
15:7. He that toucheth his flesh, shall wash his clothes: and being himself washed with water shall be unclean until the evening.
15:8. If such a man cast his spittle upon him that is clean, he shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening.
15:9. The saddle on which he hath sitten shall be unclean.
15:10. And whatsoever has been under him that hath the issue of seed, shall be unclean until the evening. He that carrieth any of these things, shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening.
15:11. Every person whom such a one shall touch, not having washed his hands before, shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening.
15:12. If he touch a vessel of earth, it shall be broken: but if a vessel of wood, it shall be washed with water.
15:13. If he who suffereth this disease be healed, he shall number seven days after his cleansing: and having washed his clothes, and all his body in living water, he shall be clean.
15:14. And on the eighth day he shall take two turtles, or two young pigeons, and he shall come before the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and shall give them to the priest.
15:15. Who shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust: and he shall pray for him before the Lord, that he may be cleansed of the issue of his seed.
15:16. The man from whom the seed of copulation goeth out, shall wash all his body with water: and he shall be unclean until the evening.
15:17. The garment or skin that he weareth, he shall wash with water: and it shall be unclean until the evening.
15:18. The woman, with whom he copulateth, shall be washed with water: and shall be unclean until the evening.
15:19. The woman, who at the return of the month, hath her issue of blood, shall be separated seven days.
15:20. Every one that toucheth her, shall be unclean until the evening.
15:21. And every thing that she sleepeth on, or that she sitteth on in the days of her separation, shall be defiled.
15:22. He that toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes: and being himself washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening.
15:23. Whosoever shall touch any vessel on which she sitteth, shall wash his clothes: and himself being washed with water, shall be defiled until the evening.
15:24. If a man copulateth with her in the time of her flowers, he shall be unclean seven days: and every bed on which he shall sleep, shall be defiled.
15:25. The woman that hath still issue of blood many days out of her ordinary time, or that ceaseth not to flow after the monthly courses, as long as she is subject to this disease, shall be unclean, in the same manner as if she were in her flowers.
15:26. Every bed on which she sleepeth, and every vessel on which she sitteth, shall be defiled.
15:27. Whosoever toucheth them shall wash his clothes: and himself being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening.
15:28. If the blood stop and cease to run, she shall count seven days of her purification:
15:29. And on the eighth day she shall offer for herself to the priest, two turtles, or two young pigeons, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony:
15:30. And he shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and he shall pray for her before the Lord, and for the issue of her uncleanness.
15:31. You shall teach therefore the children of Israel to take heed of uncleanness, that they may not die in their filth, when they shall have defiled my tabernacle that is among them.
15:32. This is the law of him that hath the issue of seed, and that is defiled by copulation.
15:33. And of the woman that is separated in her monthly times, or that hath a continual issue of blood, and of the man that sleepeth with her.
Leviticus Chapter 16
When and how the high priest must enter into the sanctuary. The feast of expiation.
16:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they were slain upon their offering strange fire:
16:2. And he commanded him, saying: Speak to Aaron thy brother, that he enter not at all into the sanctuary, which is within the veil before the propitiatory, with which the ark is covered, lest he die, (for I will appear in a cloud over the oracle),
Enter not... No one but the high priest, and he but once a year, could enter into the sanctuary; to signify that no one could enter into the sanctuary of heaven, till Christ our high priest opened it by his passion. Heb. 10.8.
16:3. Unless he first do these things. He shall offer a calf for sin, and a ram for a holocaust.
16:4. He shall be vested with a linen tunick: he shall cover his nakedness with linen breeches: he shall be girded with a linen girdle, and he shall put a linen mitre upon his head. For these are holy vestments: all which he shall put on, after he is washed.
16:5. And he shall receive from the whole multitude of the children of Israel two buck goats for sin, and one ram for a holocaust.
16:6. And when he hath offered the cattle and prayed for himself and for his own house:
16:7. He shall make the two buck goats to stand before the Lord in the door of the tabernacle of the testimony.
16:8. And casting lots upon them both, one to be offered to the Lord, and the other to be the emissary goat:
16:9. That whose lot fell to be offered to the Lord, he shall offer for sin.
16:10. But that whose lot was to be the emissary goat, he shall present before the Lord, that he may pour prayers upon him, and let him go into the wilderness.
16:11. After these things are duly celebrated, he shall offer the calf: and praying for himself and for his own house, he shall immolate it.
16:12. And taking the censer, which he hath filled with the burning coals of the altar, and taking up with his hands the compounded perfume for incense, he shall go in within the veil into the holy place:
16:13. That when the perfumes are put upon the fire, the cloud and vapour thereof may cover the oracle, which is over the testimony, and he may not die.
16:14. He shall take also of the blood of the calf, and sprinkle with his finger seven times towards the propitiatory to the east.
16:15. And when he hath killed the buck goat for the sin of the people, he shall carry in the blood thereof within the veil, as he was commanded to do with the blood of the calf, that he may sprinkle it over against the oracle:
16:16. And may expiate the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and from their transgressions, and all their sins. According to this rite shall he do to the tabernacle of the testimony, which is fixed among them in the midst of the filth of their habitation.
16:17. Let no man be in the tabernacle when the high priest goeth into the sanctuary, to pray for himself and his house, and for the whole congregation of Israel, until he come out.
16:18. And when he is come out to the altar that is before the Lord, let him pray for himself: and taking the blood of the calf, and of the buck goat, let him pour it upon the horns thereof round about.
16:19. And sprinkling with his finger seven times, let him expiate, and sanctify it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
16:20. After he hath cleaned the sanctuary, and the tabernacle, and the altar, then let him offer the living goat.
16:21. And putting both hands upon his head, let him confess all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their offences and sins. And praying that they may light on its head, he shall turn him out by a man ready for it, into the desert.
16:22. And when the goat hath carried all their iniquities into an uninhabited land, and shall be let go into the desert:
16:23. Aaron shall return into the tabernacle of the testimony, and putting off the vestments, which he had on him before when he entered into the sanctuary, and leaving them there,
16:24. He shall wash his flesh in the holy place, and shall put on his own garments. And after that he is come out and hath offered his own holocaust, and that of the people, he shall pray both for himself, and for the people.
16:25. And the fat that is offered for sins, he shall burn on the altar.
16:26. But he that hath let go the emissary goat, shall wash his clothes, and his body with water, and so shall enter into the camp.
16:27. But the calf and the buck goat, that were sacrificed for sin, and whose blood was carried into the sanctuary, to accomplish the atonement, they shall carry forth without the camp, and shall burn with fire: their skins and their flesh, and their dung.
16:28. And whosoever burneth them shall wash his clothes, and flesh with water: and so shall enter into the camp.
16:29. And this shall be to you an everlasting ordinance. The seventh month, the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no work, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you.
16:30. Upon this day shall be the expiation for you, and the cleansing from all your sins. You shall be cleansed before the Lord.
16:31. For it is a sabbath of rest: and you shall afflict your souls by a perpetual religion.
16:32. And the priest that is anointed, and whose hands are consecrated to do the office of the priesthood in his father's stead, shall make atonement. And he shall be vested with the linen robe and the holy vestments.
16:33. And he shall expiate the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar: the priest also and all the people.
16:34. And this shall be an ordinance for ever, that you pray for the children of Israel, and for all their sins once a year. He did therefore as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Leviticus Chapter 17
No sacrifices to be offered but at the door of the tabernacle: a prohibition of blood.
17:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
17:2. Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, saying to them: This is the word, which the Lord hath commanded, saying:
17:3. Any man whosoever of the house of Israel, if he kill an ox, or a sheep, or a goat in the camp, or without the camp,
If he kill, etc... That is, in order to sacrifice. The law of God forbids sacrifices to be offered in any other place but at the tabernacle or temple of the Lord; to signify that no sacrifice would be acceptable to God, out of his true temple, the one holy, catholic, apostolic church.
17:4. And offer it not at the door of the tabernacle an oblation to the Lord, shall be guilty of blood. As if he had shed blood, so shall he perish from the midst of his people.
17:5. Therefore the children of Israel shall bring to the priest their victims, which they kill in the field, that they may be sanctified to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: and they may sacrifice them for peace offerings to the Lord.
17:6. And the priest shall pour the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: and shall burn the fat for a sweet odour to the Lord.
17:7. And they shall no more sacrifice their victims to devils, with whom they have committed fornication. It shall be an ordinance for ever to them and to their posterity.
17:8. And thou shalt say to them: The man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who sojourn among you, that offereth a holocaust or a victim,
17:9. And bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be offered to the Lord, shall perish from among his people.
17:10. If any man whosoever of the house of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among them, eat blood, I will set my face against his soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
Eat blood... To eat blood was forbidden in the law; partly, because God reserved it to himself, to be offered in sacrifices on the altar, as to the Lord of life and death; and as a figure of the blood of Christ; and partly, to give men a horror of shedding blood. Gen. 9.4, 5, 6.
17:11. Because the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you, that you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your souls, and the blood may be for an expiation of the soul.
17:12. Therefore I have said to the children of Israel: No soul of you, nor of the strangers that sojourn among you, shall eat blood.
17:13. Any man whosoever of the children of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among you, if by hunting or fowling, he take a wild beast or a bird, which is lawful to eat, let him pour out its blood, and cover it with earth.
17:14. For the life of all flesh is in the blood. Therefore I said to the children of Israel: you shall not eat the blood of any flesh at all, because the life of the flesh is in the blood, and whosoever eateth it, shall be cut off.
17:15. The soul that eateth that which died of itself, or has been caught by a beast, whether he be one of your own country or a stranger, shall wash his clothes and himself with water, and shall be defiled until the evening: and in this manner he shall be made clean.
17:16. But if he do not wash his clothes, and his body, he shall bear his iniquity.
Leviticus Chapter 18
Marriage is prohibited in certain degrees of kindred: Anda all unnatural lusts.
18:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
18:2. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: I am the Lord your God.
18:3. You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you. Nor shall you walk in their ordinances.
18:4. You shall do my judgments, and shall observe my precepts, and shall walk in them. I am the Lord your God.
18:5. Keep my laws and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them, I am the Lord.
18:6. No man shall approach to her that is near of kin to him, to uncover her nakedness. I am the Lord.
18:7. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother: she is thy mother, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
18:8. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife: for it is the nakedness of thy father.
18:9. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy sister by father or by mother: whether born at home or abroad.
18:10. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy son's daughter, or thy daughter's daughter: because it is thy own nakedness.
18:11. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, whom she bore to thy father: and who is thy sister.
18:12. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: because she is the flesh of thy father.
18:13. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: because she is thy mother's flesh.
18:14. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother: neither shalt thou approach to his wife, who is joined to thee by affinity.
18:15. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: because she is thy son's wife, neither shalt thou discover her shame.
18:16. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: because it is the nakedness of thy brother.
18:17. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy wife and her daughter. Thou shalt not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, to discover her shame: because they are her flesh, and such copulation is incest.
18:18. Thou shalt not take thy wife's sister for a harlot, to rival her: neither shalt thou discover her nakedness, while she is yet living.
18:19. Thou shalt not approach to a woman having her flowers: neither shalt thou uncover her nakedness.
18:20. Thou shalt not lie with thy neighbour's wife: nor be defiled with mingling of seed.
18:21. Thou shalt not give any of thy seed to be consecrated to the idol Moloch, nor defile the name of thy God. I am the Lord.
18:22. Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: because it is an abomination.
18:23. Thou shalt not copulate with any beast: neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it: because it is a heinous crime.
Because it is a heinous crime... In Hebrew, this word heinous crime is expressed by the word confusion, signifying the shamefulness and baseness of this abominable sin.
18:24. Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, which I will cast out before you,
18:25. And with which the land is defiled: the abominations of which I will visit, that it may vomit out its inhabitants.
18:26. Keep ye my ordinances and my judgments: and do not any of these abominations. Neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you.
18:27. For all these detestable things the inhabitants of the land have done, that were before you, and have defiled it.
18:28. Beware then, lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the like things: as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
18:29. Every soul that shall commit any of these abominations, shall perish from the midst of his people.
18:30. Keep my commandments. Do not the things which they have done, that have been before you: and be not defiled therein. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus Chapter 19
Divers ordinances, partly moral, partly ceremonial or judicial.
19:1. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
19:2. Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel. And thou shalt say to them: Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy.
19:3. Let every one fear his father, and his mother. Keep my sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
19:4. Turn ye not to idols: nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God.
19:5. If ye offer in sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, that he may be favourable:
19:6. You shall eat it on the same day it was offered, and the next day. And whatsoever shall be left until the third day, you shall burn with fire.
19:7. If after two days any man eat thereof, he shall be profane and guilty of impiety:
19:8. And shall bear his iniquity, because he hath defiled the holy thing of the Lord. And that soul shall perish from among his people.
19:9. When thou reapest the corn of thy land, thou shalt not cut down all that is on the face of the earth to the very ground: nor shalt thou gather the ears that remain.
19:10. Neither shalt thou gather the bunches and grapes that fall down in thy vineyard: but shalt leave them to the poor and the strangers to take. I am the Lord your God.
19:11. You shall not steal. You shall not lie: neither shall any man deceive his neighbour.
19:12. Thou shalt not swear falsely by my name, nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord.
19:13. Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbour, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that hath been hired by thee shall not abide with thee until the morning.
19:14. Thou shalt not speak evil of the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind: but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord.
19:15. Thou shalt not do that which is unjust, nor judge unjustly. Respect not the person of the poor: nor honour the countenance of the mighty. But judge thy neighbour according to justice.
19:16. Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people. Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour. I am the Lord.
19:17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: But reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him.
19:18. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord.
19:19. Keep ye my laws. Thou shalt not make thy cattle to gender with beasts of any other kind. Thou shalt not sow thy field with different seeds. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of two sorts.
Different seeds, etc... This law tends to recommend simplicity and plain dealing in all things, and to teach the people not to join any false worship or heresy with the worship of the true God.
19:20. If a man carnally lie with a woman that is a bondservant and marriageable, and yet not redeemed with a price, nor made free: they both shall be scourged: and they shall not be put to death, because she was not a free woman.
19:21. And for his trespass he shall offer a ram to the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony.
19:22. And the priest shall pray for him: and for his sin before the Lord: and he shall have mercy on him, and the sin shall be forgiven.
19:23. When you shall be come into the land, and shall have planted in it fruit trees, you shall take away the firstfruits of them. The fruit that comes forth shall be unclean to you: neither shall you eat of them.
Firstfruits... Proeputia, literally, their foreskins; it alludes to circumcision, and signifies that for the first three years the trees were to be as uncircumcised, and their fruit unclean: till in the fourth year their increase was sanctified and given to the Lord, that is, to the priests.
19:24. But in the fourth year, all their fruit shall be sanctified, to the praise of the Lord.
19:25. And in the fifth year you shall eat the fruits thereof, gathering the increase thereof. I am the Lord your God.
19:26. You shall not eat with blood. You shall not divine nor observe dreams.
19:27. Nor shall you cut your hair roundwise: nor shave your beard.
19:28. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, for the dead: neither shall you make in yourselves any figures or marks. I am the Lord.
19:29. Make not thy daughter a common strumpet, lest the land be defiled, and filled with wickedness.
19:30. Keep ye my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
19:31. Go not aside after wizards: neither ask any thing of soothsayers, to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
19:32. Rise up before the hoary head, and honour the person of the aged man: and fear the Lord thy God. I am the Lord.
19:33. If a stranger dwell in your land, and abide among you, do not upbraid hin:
19:34. But let him be among you as one of the same country. And you shall love him as yourselves: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
19:35. Do not any unjust thing in judgment, in rule, in weight, or in measure.
19:36. Let the balance be just and the weights equal, the bushel just, and the sextary equal. I am the Lord your God, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.
19:37. Keep all my precepts, and all my judgments: and do them. I am the Lord.
Leviticus Chapter 20
Divers crimes to be punished with death.
20:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
20:2. Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children Israel, or of the strangers that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die. The people of the land shall stone him.
20:3. And I will set my face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled my sanctuary, and profaned my holy name.
20:4. And if the people of the land neglecting, and as it were little regarding my commandment, let alone the man that hath given of his seed to Moloch, and will not kill him:
20:5. I will set my face against that man, and his kindred, and will cut off both him and all that consented with him, to commit fornication with Moloch, out of the midst of their people.
20:6. The soul that shall go aside after magicians, and soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them: I will set my face against that soul, and destroy it out of the midst of its people.
20:7. Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy: because I am the Lord your God.
20:8. Keep my precepts, and do them. I am the Lord that sanctify you.
20:9. He that curseth his father, or mother, dying let him die. He hath cursed his father, and mother: let his blood be upon him.
20:10. If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour's wife: let them be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress.
20:11. If a man lie with his stepmother, and discover the nakedness of his father, let them both be put to death: their blood be upon them.
20:12. If any man lie with his daughter in law: let both die, because they have done a heinous crime. Their blood be upon them.
20:13. If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination: let them be put to death. Their blood be upon them.
20:14. If any man after marrying the daughter, marry her mother, he hath done a heinous crime. He shall be burnt alive with them: neither shall so great an abomination remain in the midst of you.
20:15. He that shall copulate with any beast or cattle, dying let him die: the beast also ye shall kill.
The beast also ye shall kill... The killing of the beast was for the greater horror of the crime, and to prevent the remembrance of such abaomination.
20:16. The woman that shall lie under any beast, shall be killed together with the same. Their blood be upon them.
20:17. If any man take his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and see her nakedness, and she behold her brother's shame: they have committed a crime. They shall be slain, in the sight of their people, because they have discovered one another's nakedness. And they shall bear their iniquity.
20:18. If any man lie with a woman in her flowers, and uncover her nakedness, and she open the fountain of her blood: both shall be destroyed out of the midst of their people.
20:19. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy aunt by thy mother, and of thy aunt by thy father. He that doth this, hath uncovered the shame of his own flesh: both shall bear their iniquity.
20:20. If any man lie with the wife of his uncle by the father, or of his uncle by the mother, and uncover the shame of his near akin, both shall bear their sin. They shall die without children.
20:21. He that marrieth his brother's wife, doth an unlawful thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be without children.
20:22. Keep my laws and my judgments, and do them: lest the land into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out.
20:23. Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you. For they have done all these things: and therefore I abhorred them.
20:24. But to you I say: Possess their land which I will give you for an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other people.
20:25. Therefore do you also separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the clean fowl from the unclean. Defile not your souls with beasts, or birds, or any things that move on the earth, and which I have shewn you to be unclean:
20:26. You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy: and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine.
20:27. A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die. They shall stone them. Their blood be upon them.
Leviticus Chapter 21
Ordinances relating to the priests.
21:1. The Lord said also to Moses: Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt say for them: Let not a priest incur an uncleanness at the death of his citizens.
An uncleanness... Viz., such as was contracted in laying out the dead body, or touching it; or in going into the house, or assisting at the funeral, etc.
21:2. But only for his kin, such as are near in blood: that is to say, for his father and for his mother, and for his son, and for his daughter, for his brother also:
21:3. And for a maiden sister, who hath had no husband.
21:4. But not even for the prince of his people shall he do any thing that may make him unclean.
21:5. Neither shall they shave their head, nor their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh.
21:6. They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane his name. For they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God: and therefore they shall be holy.
21:7. They shall not take to wife a harlot or a vile prostitute, nor one that has been put away from her husband: because they are consecrated to their God,
21:8. And offer the loaves of proposition. Let them therefore be holy because I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctify them.
21:9. If the daughter of a priest be taken in whoredom and dishonour the name of her father, she shall be burnt with fire.
21:10. The high priest, that is to say, the priest who is the greatest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of unction hath been poured; and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood; and who hath been vested with the holy vestments. He shall not uncover his head: he shall not rend his garments.
21:11. Nor shall he go in at all to any dead person: not even for his father, or his mother, shall he be defiled.
21:12. Neither shall he go out of the holy places, lest he defile the sanctuary of the Lord: because the oil of the holy unction of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.
21:13. He shall take a virgin unto his wife.
21:14. But a widow or one that is divorced, or defied, or a harlot, he shall not take: but a maid of his own people.
21:15. He shall not mingle the stock of his kindred with the common people of this nation: for I am the Lord who sanctify him.
21:16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
21:17. Say to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families, hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to his God.
21:18. Neither shall he approach to minister to him: If he be blind; if he be lame; if he have a little, or a great, or a crooked nose;
21:19. If his foot, or if his hand be broken;
21:20. If he be crookbacked; or blear eyed; or have a pearl in his eye, or a continual scab, or a dry scurf in his body, or a rupture.
21:21. Whosoever of the seed of Aaron the priest hath a blemish: he shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor bread to his God.
21:22. He shall eat nevertheless of the loaves that are offered in the sanctuary.
21:23. Yet so that he enter not within the veil, nor approach to the altar: because he hath a blemish, and he must not defile my sanctuary. I am the Lord who sanctify them.
21:24. Moses, therefore spoke to Aaron, and to his sons and to all Israel, all the things that had been commanded him.
Leviticus Chapter 22
Who may eat the holy things: and what things may be offered.
22:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying:
22:2. Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they beware of those things that are consecrated of the children of Israel: and defile not the name of the things sanctified to me, which they offer. I am the Lord.
22:3. Say to them and to their posterity: Every man of your race, that approacheth to those things that are consecrated, and which the children of Israel have offered to the Lord, in whom there is uncleanness, shall perish before the Lord. I am the Lord.
Approacheth, etc... This is to give us to understand, with what purity of soul we are to approach to the blessed sacrament of which these meats that had been offered in sacrifice were a figure.
22:4. The man of the seed of Aaron, that is a leper, or that suffereth a running of the seed, shall not eat of those things that are sanctified to me, until he be healed. He that toucheth any thing unclean by occasion of the dead: and he whose seed goeth from him as in generation:
22:5. And he that toucheth a creeping thing, or any unclean thing, the touching of which is defiling:
22:6. Shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat those things that are sanctified. But when he hath washed his flesh with water,
22:7. And the sun is down, then being purified, he shall eat of the sanctified things, because it is his meat.
22:8. That which dieth of itself, and that which was taken by a beast, they shall not eat, nor be defiled therewith. I am the Lord.
22:9. Let them keep my precepts, that they may not fall into sin, and die in the sanctuary, when they shall have defiled it. I am the Lord who sanctify them.
22:10. No stranger shall eat of the sanctified things: a sojourner of the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of them.
22:11. But he whom the priest hath bought, and he that is his servant, born in his house, these shall eat of them.
22:12. If the daughter of a priest be married to any of the people, she shall not eat of those things that are sanctified nor of the firstfruits.
22:13. But if she be a widow, or divorced, and having no children return to her father's house, she shall eat of her father's meats, as she was wont to do when she was a maid. No stranger hath leave to eat of them.
22:14. He that eateth of the sanctified things through ignorance, shall add the fifth part with that which he ate, and shall give it to the priest into the sanctuary.
22:15. And they shall not profane the sanctified things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord:
22:16. Lest perhaps they bear the iniquity of their trespass, when they shall have eaten the sanctified things. I am the Lord who sanctify them.
22:17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
22:18. Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who dwell with you, that offereth his oblation, either paying his vows, or offering of his own accord, whatsoever it be which he presenteth for a holocaust of the Lord,
22:19. To be offered by you: it shall be a male without blemish of the beeves, or of the sheep, or of the goats.
22:20. If it have a blemish you shall not offer it: neither shall it be acceptable.
22:21. The man that offereth a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, either paying his vows, or offering of his own accord, whether of beeves or of sheep, shall offer it without blemish, that it may be acceptable. There shall be no blemish in it.
22:22. If it be blind, or broken, or have a scar or blisters, or a scab, or a dry scurf: you shall not offer them to the Lord, nor burn any thing of them upon the Lord's altar.
22:23. An ox or a sheep, that hath the ear and the tail cut off, thou mayst offer voluntarily: but a vow may not be paid with them.
22:24. you shall not offer to the Lord any beast that hath the testicles bruised, or crushed, or cut and taken away: neither shall you do any such things in your land.
22:25. you shall not offer bread to your God, from the hand of a stranger, nor any other thing that he would give: because they are all corrupted, and defiled. You shall not receive them.