Keep My Statutes
Israel must keep the LORD's statutes even in ordinary boundaries of breeding, sowing, and clothing. Distinction is woven into the fabric of daily life.
Y19ou are to keep My statutes. You shall not crossbreed two different kinds of livestock; you shall not sow your fields with two kinds of seed; and you shall not wear clothing made of two kinds of material.
A sexual offense involving a slave woman brings punishment and a guilt offering, and atonement is made before the LORD. The wrong is named, judged, and brought into the sphere of forgiveness.
20If a man lies carnally with a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. But they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. 21The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting as his guilt offering to the LORD. 22The priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD with the ram of the guilt offering for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven the sin he has committed.
Fruit from newly planted trees is withheld for three years, consecrated in the fourth, and only then eaten. Even the harvest's increase is received through patience and dedication to the LORD.
23When you enter the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you shall regard the fruit as forbidden. For three years it will be forbidden to you and must not be eaten. 24In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering to the LORD. 25But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit; thus your harvest will be increased. I am the LORD your God.
Israel must reject practices tied to blood, ritual markings, prostitution, irreverence, and the seeking of mediums. Bodily habits, family conduct, worship, and spiritual allegiance all remain under the LORD's claim.
26You must not eat anything with blood still in it. 27You must not cut off the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. 28You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD. 29You must not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity. 30You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD. 31You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
The people must honor the aged and refuse to oppress the foreigner, loving the foreigner as one of their own. Their own memory of being foreigners in Egypt shapes this command.
32You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD. 33When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. 34You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
Dishonest measures are forbidden, and honest scales and standard measures are required. The section ends by gathering all statutes and ordinances under the authority of the LORD who brought Israel out of Egypt.
35You must not use dishonest measures of length, weight, or volume. 36You shall maintain honest scales and weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and follow them. I am the LORD.”