UNROLL
Evening on a hill-country farm: a harvested barley field with a broad band of standing gold grain left uncut along its edges and corner, a terrace of vines above, under a wide glowing sky.

The Book of

Leviticus 19

Holiness comes down to earth: the edge of a field, a worker’s wages, a blind man’s path, a stranger at the door.

37 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–7The offeringsHow sinners draw near
  2. 8–10The priestsOrdained, and a warning
  3. 11–15Clean and uncleanLife before a holy God
  4. 16The Day of AtonementSins carried away
  5. 17–27A holy peopleBe holy, for I am holyChapter 19

Commandments for Holiness

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Leviticus 19:1–2

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

The law

Holy at home and in worship

  1. Home

    Respect parents; keep My Sabbaths

    Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.

  2. Worship

    No idols, no molten gods

    Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.

  3. A peace offering, rightly made

    When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it for your acceptance.

  4. Eaten by the second day

    It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the next day; but what remains on the third day must be burned up.

  5. Not on the third day

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

  6. Profaning the holy: cut off

    Whoever eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned what is holy to the LORD. That person must be cut off from his people.

Be holy, for I am holy

Be holybecause I am holy(19:2)Home andworshipparents, Sabbaths, noidols (3–8)The poor andthe workeredges left, wages paid(9–14)The court andthe heartfair judgment, nogrudge (15–18)Body, land andmarketthe aged, thestranger, scales(19–36)I am the LORDthe refrain of everylaw (37)

Whiteboard

God told “the whole congregation of Israel” to be holy, and then showed them what it looks like. Not only at the altar, but at home, in the harvest field, in the courtroom, in the heart, at the market stall and at the tent door. Every corner of life belongs to Him. Again and again the laws close with the same words: “I am the LORD.”

Reflect

Every corner

God did not say, “Be holy” and leave it at worship. He went straight on to parents, Sabbaths and meals. Holiness reaches into ordinary days. Is there a corner of your life you have kept for yourself: your money, your words, your time, a relationship? Write it down, and hand it to Him.

Love Your Neighbor

When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.

The law

Your neighbor

  1. Honesty

    Do not steal

    You must not steal.

  2. Do not lie or deceive

    You must not lie or deceive one another.

  3. No false oaths by My name

    You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

  4. Fairness

    Do not defraud or rob

    You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him.

  5. Pay the worker before morning

    You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.

  6. The weak

    Not the deaf, not the blind

    You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

  7. Court

    Fair judgment for poor and rich

    You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

  8. Speech

    No slander

    You must not go about spreading slander among your people.

  9. Life

    Do not endanger his life

    You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.

On a stony village path in morning light, a young man takes the arm of a white-bearded blind man with a wooden staff and guides him around a loose rock.

You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him.

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18

Pray

A neighbor by name

God put “love your neighbor as yourself” straight after “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge.” Love starts by letting go. Ask God to bring to mind one person you find hard to love, and one person near you who is in need. Pray for each by name. Ask for grace to drop the grudge, and for a way to do them good this week.

Keep My Statutes

The law

Two kinds, and a hard case

  1. Keep My statutes

    You are to keep My statutes.

  2. Kept distinct

    Do not mix two kinds

    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.

  3. Guilt

    A slave woman promised to another

    If 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.

  4. He brings a ram

    The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting as his guilt offering to the LORD.

  5. Atonement, and he is forgiven

    The 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.

On a wooden weaving bench beside an upright loom, a hank of white linen thread and a hank of undyed brown wool lie apart; through the open tent side, a field of blue-flowered flax and grazing sheep.
God

The law

Not the nations’ ways

  1. Food

    Nothing with blood in it

    You must not eat anything with blood still in it.

  2. Occult

    No divination or sorcery

    You must not practice divination or sorcery.

  3. Mourning

    No pagan cut of hair or beard

    You must not cut off the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

  4. No cuts or marks for the dead

    You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

  5. Family

    Never make a daughter a prostitute

    You must not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.

  6. Worship

    Keep Sabbaths, revere My sanctuary

    You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD.

  7. Occult

    Do not turn to mediums

    You 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.

You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.

Dusk at the door of a goat-hair tent: a man of the house hands bread and a water skin to a dusty traveler in a foreign striped wrap, warm firelight glowing inside.

When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. You 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.

0:13

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

On a rough wooden market table in morning light, a small bronze balance with two pans, polished stone weights beside it, a clay measure of barley and a clay jar of oil.

The law

Honest measures

  1. No false measures

    You must not use dishonest measures of length, weight, or volume.

  2. Honest scales, ephah and hin

    You shall maintain honest scales and weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin.

  3. The LORD who brought you out

    I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and follow them. I am the LORD.”

Question

Quick question

A farmer in Israel was told not to harvest everything his field and vineyard produced.

What was he to leave behind, and for whom?

You’ve experienced

Leviticus 19

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A verse to carry with you

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18

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