Chapter 4

Enter not... No one but the high priest, and he but once a year, could enter into the sanctuary; to signify that no one could enter into the sanctuary of heaven, till Christ our high priest opened it by his passion. Heb. 10.8.

16:3. Unless he first do these things. He shall offer a calf for sin, and a ram for a holocaust.

16:4. He shall be vested with a linen tunick: he shall cover his nakedness with linen breeches: he shall be girded with a linen girdle, and he shall put a linen mitre upon his head. For these are holy vestments: all which he shall put on, after he is washed.

16:5. And he shall receive from the whole multitude of the children of Israel two buck goats for sin, and one ram for a holocaust.

16:6. And when he hath offered the cattle and prayed for himself and for his own house:

16:7. He shall make the two buck goats to stand before the Lord in the door of the tabernacle of the testimony.

16:8. And casting lots upon them both, one to be offered to the Lord, and the other to be the emissary goat:

16:9. That whose lot fell to be offered to the Lord, he shall offer for sin.

16:10. But that whose lot was to be the emissary goat, he shall present before the Lord, that he may pour prayers upon him, and let him go into the wilderness.

16:11. After these things are duly celebrated, he shall offer the calf: and praying for himself and for his own house, he shall immolate it.

16:12. And taking the censer, which he hath filled with the burning coals of the altar, and taking up with his hands the compounded perfume for incense, he shall go in within the veil into the holy place:

16:13. That when the perfumes are put upon the fire, the cloud and vapour thereof may cover the oracle, which is over the testimony, and he may not die.

16:14. He shall take also of the blood of the calf, and sprinkle with his finger seven times towards the propitiatory to the east.

16:15. And when he hath killed the buck goat for the sin of the people, he shall carry in the blood thereof within the veil, as he was commanded to do with the blood of the calf, that he may sprinkle it over against the oracle:

16:16. And may expiate the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and from their transgressions, and all their sins. According to this rite shall he do to the tabernacle of the testimony, which is fixed among them in the midst of the filth of their habitation.

16:17. Let no man be in the tabernacle when the high priest goeth into the sanctuary, to pray for himself and his house, and for the whole congregation of Israel, until he come out.

16:18. And when he is come out to the altar that is before the Lord, let him pray for himself: and taking the blood of the calf, and of the buck goat, let him pour it upon the horns thereof round about.

16:19. And sprinkling with his finger seven times, let him expiate, and sanctify it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

16:20. After he hath cleaned the sanctuary, and the tabernacle, and the altar, then let him offer the living goat.

16:21. And putting both hands upon his head, let him confess all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their offences and sins. And praying that they may light on its head, he shall turn him out by a man ready for it, into the desert.

16:22. And when the goat hath carried all their iniquities into an uninhabited land, and shall be let go into the desert:

16:23. Aaron shall return into the tabernacle of the testimony, and putting off the vestments, which he had on him before when he entered into the sanctuary, and leaving them there,

16:24. He shall wash his flesh in the holy place, and shall put on his own garments. And after that he is come out and hath offered his own holocaust, and that of the people, he shall pray both for himself, and for the people.

16:25. And the fat that is offered for sins, he shall burn on the altar.

16:26. But he that hath let go the emissary goat, shall wash his clothes, and his body with water, and so shall enter into the camp.

16:27. But the calf and the buck goat, that were sacrificed for sin, and whose blood was carried into the sanctuary, to accomplish the atonement, they shall carry forth without the camp, and shall burn with fire: their skins and their flesh, and their dung.

16:28. And whosoever burneth them shall wash his clothes, and flesh with water: and so shall enter into the camp.

16:29. And this shall be to you an everlasting ordinance. The seventh month, the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no work, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you.

16:30. Upon this day shall be the expiation for you, and the cleansing from all your sins. You shall be cleansed before the Lord.

16:31. For it is a sabbath of rest: and you shall afflict your souls by a perpetual religion.

16:32. And the priest that is anointed, and whose hands are consecrated to do the office of the priesthood in his father's stead, shall make atonement. And he shall be vested with the linen robe and the holy vestments.

16:33. And he shall expiate the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar: the priest also and all the people.

16:34. And this shall be an ordinance for ever, that you pray for the children of Israel, and for all their sins once a year. He did therefore as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Leviticus Chapter 17

No sacrifices to be offered but at the door of the tabernacle: a prohibition of blood.

17:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

17:2. Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, saying to them: This is the word, which the Lord hath commanded, saying:

17:3. Any man whosoever of the house of Israel, if he kill an ox, or a sheep, or a goat in the camp, or without the camp,

If he kill, etc... That is, in order to sacrifice. The law of God forbids sacrifices to be offered in any other place but at the tabernacle or temple of the Lord; to signify that no sacrifice would be acceptable to God, out of his true temple, the one holy, catholic, apostolic church.

17:4. And offer it not at the door of the tabernacle an oblation to the Lord, shall be guilty of blood. As if he had shed blood, so shall he perish from the midst of his people.

17:5. Therefore the children of Israel shall bring to the priest their victims, which they kill in the field, that they may be sanctified to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: and they may sacrifice them for peace offerings to the Lord.

17:6. And the priest shall pour the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: and shall burn the fat for a sweet odour to the Lord.

17:7. And they shall no more sacrifice their victims to devils, with whom they have committed fornication. It shall be an ordinance for ever to them and to their posterity.

17:8. And thou shalt say to them: The man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who sojourn among you, that offereth a holocaust or a victim,

17:9. And bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be offered to the Lord, shall perish from among his people.

17:10. If any man whosoever of the house of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among them, eat blood, I will set my face against his soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

Eat blood... To eat blood was forbidden in the law; partly, because God reserved it to himself, to be offered in sacrifices on the altar, as to the Lord of life and death; and as a figure of the blood of Christ; and partly, to give men a horror of shedding blood. Gen. 9.4, 5, 6.

17:11. Because the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you, that you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your souls, and the blood may be for an expiation of the soul.

17:12. Therefore I have said to the children of Israel: No soul of you, nor of the strangers that sojourn among you, shall eat blood.

17:13. Any man whosoever of the children of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among you, if by hunting or fowling, he take a wild beast or a bird, which is lawful to eat, let him pour out its blood, and cover it with earth.

17:14. For the life of all flesh is in the blood. Therefore I said to the children of Israel: you shall not eat the blood of any flesh at all, because the life of the flesh is in the blood, and whosoever eateth it, shall be cut off.

17:15. The soul that eateth that which died of itself, or has been caught by a beast, whether he be one of your own country or a stranger, shall wash his clothes and himself with water, and shall be defiled until the evening: and in this manner he shall be made clean.

17:16. But if he do not wash his clothes, and his body, he shall bear his iniquity.

Leviticus Chapter 18

Marriage is prohibited in certain degrees of kindred: Anda all unnatural lusts.

18:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

18:2. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: I am the Lord your God.

18:3. You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you. Nor shall you walk in their ordinances.

18:4. You shall do my judgments, and shall observe my precepts, and shall walk in them. I am the Lord your God.

18:5. Keep my laws and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them, I am the Lord.

18:6. No man shall approach to her that is near of kin to him, to uncover her nakedness. I am the Lord.

18:7. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother: she is thy mother, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

18:8. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife: for it is the nakedness of thy father.

18:9. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy sister by father or by mother: whether born at home or abroad.

18:10. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy son's daughter, or thy daughter's daughter: because it is thy own nakedness.

18:11. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, whom she bore to thy father: and who is thy sister.

18:12. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: because she is the flesh of thy father.

18:13. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: because she is thy mother's flesh.

18:14. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother: neither shalt thou approach to his wife, who is joined to thee by affinity.

18:15. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: because she is thy son's wife, neither shalt thou discover her shame.

18:16. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: because it is the nakedness of thy brother.

18:17. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy wife and her daughter. Thou shalt not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, to discover her shame: because they are her flesh, and such copulation is incest.

18:18. Thou shalt not take thy wife's sister for a harlot, to rival her: neither shalt thou discover her nakedness, while she is yet living.

18:19. Thou shalt not approach to a woman having her flowers: neither shalt thou uncover her nakedness.

18:20. Thou shalt not lie with thy neighbour's wife: nor be defiled with mingling of seed.

18:21. Thou shalt not give any of thy seed to be consecrated to the idol Moloch, nor defile the name of thy God. I am the Lord.

18:22. Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: because it is an abomination.

18:23. Thou shalt not copulate with any beast: neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it: because it is a heinous crime.

Because it is a heinous crime... In Hebrew, this word heinous crime is expressed by the word confusion, signifying the shamefulness and baseness of this abominable sin.

18:24. Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, which I will cast out before you,

18:25. And with which the land is defiled: the abominations of which I will visit, that it may vomit out its inhabitants.

18:26. Keep ye my ordinances and my judgments: and do not any of these abominations. Neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you.

18:27. For all these detestable things the inhabitants of the land have done, that were before you, and have defiled it.

18:28. Beware then, lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the like things: as it vomited out the nation that was before you.

18:29. Every soul that shall commit any of these abominations, shall perish from the midst of his people.

18:30. Keep my commandments. Do not the things which they have done, that have been before you: and be not defiled therein. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus Chapter 19

Divers ordinances, partly moral, partly ceremonial or judicial.

19:1. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

19:2. Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel. And thou shalt say to them: Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy.

19:3. Let every one fear his father, and his mother. Keep my sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

19:4. Turn ye not to idols: nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God.

19:5. If ye offer in sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, that he may be favourable:

19:6. You shall eat it on the same day it was offered, and the next day. And whatsoever shall be left until the third day, you shall burn with fire.

19:7. If after two days any man eat thereof, he shall be profane and guilty of impiety:

19:8. And shall bear his iniquity, because he hath defiled the holy thing of the Lord. And that soul shall perish from among his people.

19:9. When thou reapest the corn of thy land, thou shalt not cut down all that is on the face of the earth to the very ground: nor shalt thou gather the ears that remain.

19:10. Neither shalt thou gather the bunches and grapes that fall down in thy vineyard: but shalt leave them to the poor and the strangers to take. I am the Lord your God.

19:11. You shall not steal. You shall not lie: neither shall any man deceive his neighbour.

19:12. Thou shalt not swear falsely by my name, nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord.

19:13. Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbour, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that hath been hired by thee shall not abide with thee until the morning.

19:14. Thou shalt not speak evil of the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind: but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord.

19:15. Thou shalt not do that which is unjust, nor judge unjustly. Respect not the person of the poor: nor honour the countenance of the mighty. But judge thy neighbour according to justice.

19:16. Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people. Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour. I am the Lord.

19:17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: But reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him.

19:18. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord.

19:19. Keep ye my laws. Thou shalt not make thy cattle to gender with beasts of any other kind. Thou shalt not sow thy field with different seeds. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of two sorts.

Different seeds, etc... This law tends to recommend simplicity and plain dealing in all things, and to teach the people not to join any false worship or heresy with the worship of the true God.

19:20. If a man carnally lie with a woman that is a bondservant and marriageable, and yet not redeemed with a price, nor made free: they both shall be scourged: and they shall not be put to death, because she was not a free woman.

19:21. And for his trespass he shall offer a ram to the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony.

19:22. And the priest shall pray for him: and for his sin before the Lord: and he shall have mercy on him, and the sin shall be forgiven.

19:23. When you shall be come into the land, and shall have planted in it fruit trees, you shall take away the firstfruits of them. The fruit that comes forth shall be unclean to you: neither shall you eat of them.

Firstfruits... Proeputia, literally, their foreskins; it alludes to circumcision, and signifies that for the first three years the trees were to be as uncircumcised, and their fruit unclean: till in the fourth year their increase was sanctified and given to the Lord, that is, to the priests.

19:24. But in the fourth year, all their fruit shall be sanctified, to the praise of the Lord.

19:25. And in the fifth year you shall eat the fruits thereof, gathering the increase thereof. I am the Lord your God.

19:26. You shall not eat with blood. You shall not divine nor observe dreams.

19:27. Nor shall you cut your hair roundwise: nor shave your beard.

19:28. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, for the dead: neither shall you make in yourselves any figures or marks. I am the Lord.

19:29. Make not thy daughter a common strumpet, lest the land be defiled, and filled with wickedness.

19:30. Keep ye my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

19:31. Go not aside after wizards: neither ask any thing of soothsayers, to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

19:32. Rise up before the hoary head, and honour the person of the aged man: and fear the Lord thy God. I am the Lord.

19:33. If a stranger dwell in your land, and abide among you, do not upbraid hin:

19:34. But let him be among you as one of the same country. And you shall love him as yourselves: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

19:35. Do not any unjust thing in judgment, in rule, in weight, or in measure.

19:36. Let the balance be just and the weights equal, the bushel just, and the sextary equal. I am the Lord your God, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.

19:37. Keep all my precepts, and all my judgments: and do them. I am the Lord.

Leviticus Chapter 20

Divers crimes to be punished with death.

20:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

20:2. Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children Israel, or of the strangers that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die. The people of the land shall stone him.

20:3. And I will set my face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled my sanctuary, and profaned my holy name.

20:4. And if the people of the land neglecting, and as it were little regarding my commandment, let alone the man that hath given of his seed to Moloch, and will not kill him:

20:5. I will set my face against that man, and his kindred, and will cut off both him and all that consented with him, to commit fornication with Moloch, out of the midst of their people.

20:6. The soul that shall go aside after magicians, and soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them: I will set my face against that soul, and destroy it out of the midst of its people.

20:7. Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy: because I am the Lord your God.

20:8. Keep my precepts, and do them. I am the Lord that sanctify you.

20:9. He that curseth his father, or mother, dying let him die. He hath cursed his father, and mother: let his blood be upon him.

20:10. If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour's wife: let them be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress.

20:11. If a man lie with his stepmother, and discover the nakedness of his father, let them both be put to death: their blood be upon them.

20:12. If any man lie with his daughter in law: let both die, because they have done a heinous crime. Their blood be upon them.

20:13. If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination: let them be put to death. Their blood be upon them.

20:14. If any man after marrying the daughter, marry her mother, he hath done a heinous crime. He shall be burnt alive with them: neither shall so great an abomination remain in the midst of you.

20:15. He that shall copulate with any beast or cattle, dying let him die: the beast also ye shall kill.

The beast also ye shall kill... The killing of the beast was for the greater horror of the crime, and to prevent the remembrance of such abaomination.

20:16. The woman that shall lie under any beast, shall be killed together with the same. Their blood be upon them.

20:17. If any man take his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and see her nakedness, and she behold her brother's shame: they have committed a crime. They shall be slain, in the sight of their people, because they have discovered one another's nakedness. And they shall bear their iniquity.

20:18. If any man lie with a woman in her flowers, and uncover her nakedness, and she open the fountain of her blood: both shall be destroyed out of the midst of their people.

20:19. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy aunt by thy mother, and of thy aunt by thy father. He that doth this, hath uncovered the shame of his own flesh: both shall bear their iniquity.

20:20. If any man lie with the wife of his uncle by the father, or of his uncle by the mother, and uncover the shame of his near akin, both shall bear their sin. They shall die without children.

20:21. He that marrieth his brother's wife, doth an unlawful thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be without children.

20:22. Keep my laws and my judgments, and do them: lest the land into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out.

20:23. Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you. For they have done all these things: and therefore I abhorred them.

20:24. But to you I say: Possess their land which I will give you for an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other people.

20:25. Therefore do you also separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the clean fowl from the unclean. Defile not your souls with beasts, or birds, or any things that move on the earth, and which I have shewn you to be unclean:

20:26. You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy: and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine.

20:27. A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die. They shall stone them. Their blood be upon them.

Leviticus Chapter 21

Ordinances relating to the priests.

21:1. The Lord said also to Moses: Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt say for them: Let not a priest incur an uncleanness at the death of his citizens.

An uncleanness... Viz., such as was contracted in laying out the dead body, or touching it; or in going into the house, or assisting at the funeral, etc.

21:2. But only for his kin, such as are near in blood: that is to say, for his father and for his mother, and for his son, and for his daughter, for his brother also:

21:3. And for a maiden sister, who hath had no husband.

21:4. But not even for the prince of his people shall he do any thing that may make him unclean.

21:5. Neither shall they shave their head, nor their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh.

21:6. They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane his name. For they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God: and therefore they shall be holy.

21:7. They shall not take to wife a harlot or a vile prostitute, nor one that has been put away from her husband: because they are consecrated to their God,

21:8. And offer the loaves of proposition. Let them therefore be holy because I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctify them.