The Chronological Bible Reading Plan
February 14
Leviticus 17-19
Chapter 17
Blood for Atonement
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say
to them, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded, saying,
3 “Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a
goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp,
4 and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it
as an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, bloodguiltiness
is to be reckoned to that man. He has shed blood and that man shall be cut off
from among his people.
5 “The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices
which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them in to
the Lord, at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest, and sacrifice
them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord.
6 “The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the Lord at the
doorway of the tent of meeting, and offer up the fat in smoke as a soothing aroma
to the Lord.
7 “They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with
which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout
their generations.” ’
8 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel,
or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice,
9 and does not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to offer it to
the Lord, that man also shall be cut off from his people.
10 ‘And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn
among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats
blood and will cut him off from among his people.
11 ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you
on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason
of the life that makes atonement.’
12 “Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you
may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.’
13 “So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn
among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall
pour out its blood and cover it with earth.
14 “For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its
life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood
of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be
cut off.’
15 “When any person eats an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, whether
he is a native or an alien, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and
remain unclean until evening; then he will become clean.
16 “But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then he shall bear
his guilt.”
Chapter 18
Laws on Immoral Relations
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your
God.
3 ‘You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived,
nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you;
you shall not walk in their statutes.
4 ‘You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord
with them; I am the Lord your God.
5 ‘So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live
if he does them; I am the Lord.
6 ‘None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness;
I am the Lord.
7 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness
of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness.
8 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it
is your father’s nakedness.
9 ‘The nakedness of your sister, either your father’s daughter or
your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness
you shall not uncover.
10 ‘The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s
daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for their nakedness is yours.
11 ‘The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, born to
your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
12 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister;
she is your father’s blood relative.
13 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister,
for she is your mother’s blood relative.
14 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother;
you shall not approach his wife, she is your aunt.
15 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is
your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
16 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it
is your brother’s nakedness.
17 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter,
nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter,
to uncover her nakedness; they are blood relatives. It is lewdness.
18 ‘You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while
she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.
19 ‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during
her menstrual impurity.
20 ‘You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to
be defiled with her.
21 ‘You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor
shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.
22 ‘You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
23 ‘Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with
it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
24 ‘Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the
nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.
25 ‘For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment
upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.
26 ‘But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall
not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns
among you
27 (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations,
and the land has become defiled);
28 so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has
spewed out the nation which has been before you.
29 ‘For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so
shall be cut off from among their people.
30 ‘Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the
abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile
yourselves with them; I am the Lord your God.’ ”
Chapter 19
Idolatry Forbidden
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You
shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
3 ‘Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you
shall keep My sabbaths; I am the Lord your God.
4 ‘Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the Lord
your God.
5 ‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall
offer it so that you may be accepted.
6 ‘It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and the next day; but what
remains until the third day shall be burned with fire.
7 ‘So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an offense; it will
not be accepted.
8 ‘Everyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned the
holy thing of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.
Sundry Laws
9 ‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the
very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.
10 ‘Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen
fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger.
I am the Lord your God.
11 ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.
12 ‘You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of
your God; I am the Lord.
13 ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired
man are not to remain with you all night until morning.
14 ‘You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before
the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.
15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to
the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
16 ‘You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are
not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the Lord.
17 ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely
reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.
18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons
of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
19 ‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds
of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear
a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.
20 ‘Now if a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave acquired for
another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there
shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death, because she was
not free.
21 ‘He shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the doorway of the
tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.
22 ‘The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt
offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which
he has committed will be forgiven him.
23 ‘When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then
you shall count their fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to
you; it shall not be eaten.
24 ‘But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of
praise to the Lord.
25 ‘In the fifth year you are to eat of its fruit, that its yield may increase
for you; I am the Lord your God.
26 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination
or soothsaying.
27 ‘You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the
edges of your beard.
28 ‘You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any
tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.
29 ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land
will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness.
30 ‘You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the Lord.
31 ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled
by them. I am the Lord your God.
32 ‘You shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the aged, and you
shall revere your God; I am the Lord.
33 ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him
wrong.
34 ‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among
you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt;
I am the Lord your God.
35 ‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity.
36 ‘You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just
hin; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt.
37 ‘You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do
them; I am the Lord.’ ”
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)