Parashah Kedoshiym (holy ones) 
Vayrikra (Lev) 19:1 - 20:27

 

 

 

READING 1

CHAPTER 19  

1          YHWH said to Mosheh,

2          Speak to the entire assembly of Yisrael (Kohl Edat B’nei Yisrael) and say to them: Be holy (qadosh, set apart) because I, YHWH Eloheykhem am holy.

3          Each of you must respect his mother and father and you must observe My Shabbats. I am YHWH Eloheykhem.

4          Do not turn to idols or make ‘gods’ of cast metal for yourselves. I am YHWH Eloheykhem.

5          When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to YHWH, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf.

6          It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day and anything left over until the third day must be burned up.

7          If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted.

8          Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has desecrated what is qodesh, set apart to YHWH and that person must be cut off from his people.

9          When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

10        Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am YHWH Eloheykhem.

11        Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.

12        Do not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of Eloheykha. I am YHWH.

13        Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.

14        Do not slight or treat lightly the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear Eloheykha. I am YHWH.

 

READING 2

 

15        Do not pervert justice and do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

16        Do not go about tale bearing, spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am YHWH.

17        Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

18        Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people but love your countryman as yourself. I am YHWH.

19        Keep My decrees.  Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

20        If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death because she had not been freed.

21        The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Appointment (Ohel Mow-ed) for a guilt offering (chatta’ah) to YHWH.

22        With the ram of the guilt offering (chatta’ah) the priest is to make atonement for him before YHWH for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven.

 

READING 3

23        When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden and it must not be eaten.

24        In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy set apart, an offering of praise to YHWH.

25        But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am YHWH Eloheykhem.

26        Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. Do not practice divination or sorcery.

27        Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

28        Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am YHWH.

29        Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.

30        Observe my Shabbats and have reverence for My Miqdash. I am YHWH.

31        Do not turn to mediums or seek out soothsayers for you will be defiled by them. I am YHWH Eloheykhem.

32        Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere Eloheykhem. I am YHWH.

 

READING 4

 

33        When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.

34        The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself for you were aliens in Egypt (Mitzrayim). I am YHWH Eloheykhem.

35        Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity.

36        Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am YHWH Eloheykhem who brought you out of Egypt (Mitzrayim).

37        Keep all My decrees and all My laws and follow them. I am YHWH.

 

READING 5

 

CHAPTER 20

 

1          YHWH said to Mosheh,

2          Say to the Israelites: Any one of the house of Yisrael or any alien living in Yisrael who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the community are to stone him.

3          I will set My face against that man and I will cut him off from his people for by giving his children to Molech, he has defiled My sanctuary and profaned M Qodesh, Set Apart Name.

4          If the people of the community close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to Molech and they fail to put him to death,

5          I will set My face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molech.

6          I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute him self by following them and I will cut him off from his people.

7          Consecrate yourselves and be qadash, set apart, because I am YHWH Eloheykhem.

 

READING 6

8          Keep My decrees and follow them. I am
YHWH, who makes you set apart.

9          If anyone slights or trifles with his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has treated as no account his father or his mother and his blood will be on his own head.

10        If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, with the wife of his friend or brother, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

11        If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman must be put to death and their blood will be on their own heads.

12        If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is a perversion and their blood will be on their own heads.

13        If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death and 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 must 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 must be put to death and 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 must be cut off before the eyes of their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible.

18        If a man lies with a woman during her monthly period and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow and she has also uncovered it. Both of them must 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 and both of you would be held responsible.

20        If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible and they will die childless.

21        If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity and 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.

 

READING 7

 

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 YHWH  Eloheykha, 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 which I have set apart as unclean for you.

26        You are to be qadash to Me because I, YHWH, am set apart 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 and their blood will be on their own heads.'"

 

 

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