Old Testament Commentary - Leviticus 19

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 19 Israel commanded: Be holy, live righteously, love thy neighbor, and keep the commandments—The Lord reveals and reaffirms sundry laws and commandments—Enchantments, wizardry, prostitution, and all evil practices forbidden.
1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be ^aholy: for I the LORD your God am holy.
3 ¶ Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my ^asabbaths: I am the ^bLORD your God.
4 ¶ Turn ye not unto ^aidols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.
5 ¶ And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall ^aoffer it at your own ^bwill. 6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.
7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is ^aabominable; it shall not be accepted. 8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall ^abear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
9 ¶ And when ye reap the ^aharvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly ^breap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the ^cgleanings of thy harvest. 10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the ^apoor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
11 ¶ Ye shall not ^asteal, neither ^bdeal falsely, neither ^clie one to another.
12 ¶ And ye shall not ^aswear by my name ^bfalsely, neither shalt thou ^cprofane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
13 ¶ Thou shalt not ^adefraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the ^bwages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
14 ¶ Thou shalt not ^acurse the ^bdeaf, nor put a ^cstumblingblock before the ^dblind, but shalt fear thy God: I am ^ethe LORD.
15 ¶ Ye shall do no ^aunrighteousness in ^bjudgment: thou shalt not ^crespect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in ^drighteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
16 ¶ Thou shalt not go up and down as a ^atalebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.
17 ¶ Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine ^aheart: thou shalt in any wise ^brebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
18 ¶ Thou shalt not ^aavenge, nor bear any ^bgrudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt ^clove thy ^dneighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
19 ¶ Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a ^adiverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with ^bmingled seed: neither shall a garment ^cmingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.
20 ¶ And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to ^aan husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; ^bshe shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. 21 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering. 22 And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be ^aforgiven him.
23 ¶ And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of. 24 But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal. 25 And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God.
26 ¶ Ye shall not eat any thing with the ^ablood: ^bneither shall ye use ^cenchantment, nor ^dobserve times. 27 Ye shall not ^around the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. 28 Ye shall not make any ^acuttings in your ^bflesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
29 ¶ Do not ^aprostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to ^bwhoredom, and the land become full of ^cwickedness.
30 ¶ Ye shall keep my ^asabbaths, and ^breverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
31 ¶ ^aRegard not them that have ^bfamiliar ^cspirits, neither seek after ^dwizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
32 ¶ Thou shalt ^arise up before the ^bhoary head, and ^chonour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.
33 ¶ And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not ^avex him. 34 But the ^astranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you ^bas one born among you, and thou shalt ^clove him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
35 ¶ Ye shall do no ^aunrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. 36 Just balances, just ^aweights, a just ^bephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes^a, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.	37^a observe all my statutes Here then are the 'statutes' and 'judgments' of the Lord which are built upon and further explain the operations and implications of the Ten Commandments in the operation of the daily laws to be kept by the people. It is important that these are required by the Lord to be kept by his people and even in Malachi 4:4 the Lord connects their observance in connection to preservation against the day of the Lord's coming when the wick shall be burned. Often we look merely to the Ten Commandments but there are observances beyond that which we are to keep also.