Levicitus 21 to 27

Leviticus 21

And the LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people. But for his kin that is near him, for his mother and for his father and for his son and for his daughter and for his brother and for his sister, a virgin, who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may be defiled. A leader shall not defile himself among his people, to pollute himself. They shall not make baldness on their head, nor shall they shave the corner of their beard, nor make any cutting in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the fire offerings of the LORD, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy. They shall not take a wife who is a whore, or defiled. Neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband. For he is holy to his God. And you shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you. For I am holy, the LORD who sanctifies you. And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by going whoring, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire.

Fuck, again? We get it. Except death by fire for profanity for a daughter against her father.

And the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes. Neither shall he come near to any dead person, nor defile himself for his father nor for his mother. Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the LORD. And he shall take a wife in her virginity. He shall not take a widow or a divorced woman, or profane, or a harlot, but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife. And he shall not defile his seed among his people. For I the LORD do sanctify him.

If you are a priest, don’t take off your hat, clothes in public. You can have a wife, as long as she is a virgin. They can’t marry divorced or harlot woman.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron, saying, No man of your seed in their generations shall draw near to offer the bread of his God if there is a blemish in him. For no man in whom there is a blemish shall draw near, a blind man, or a lame man, or disfigured, or deformed, or a man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed, or crook-backed, or a crushed one, or who has a blemish in his eye, or a scurvy or scabbed person, or one with crushed testicles. No man of the seed of Aaron, the priest, in whom there is a blemish shall come near to offer the fire offerings of the LORD. He has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He shall eat the bread of his God, of the most holy and of the holy. Only he shall not go in to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a blemish; so that he does not profane My sanctuaries. For I the LORD do sanctify them. And Moses told Aaron and his sons, and all the sons of Israel.

No ugly people allowed into the temple.

Leviticus 22

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they set themselves apart from the holy things of the sons of Israel, and that they do not profane My holy name in what they devote to Me. I am the LORD. Say to them, Any man of all your seed among your generations who draws near to the holy things, which the sons of Israel set apart to the Lord, if he has his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from My presence. I am the LORD. Any man of the seed of Aaron who is leprous, or has a discharge, he shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. And he who touches any uncleanness of a person, or a man whose semen has gone out from him, or a man who touches any swarming thing by which he may be made unclean, or touches a man who is unclean to him, by any uncleanness he has, the soul which has touched it shall be unclean until evening. And he shall not eat of the holy things unless he washes his flesh with water. And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things, because it is his food. He shall not eat a dead body or one torn, to defile himself with them. I am the LORD. And they shall keep My ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, that they may not die for it when they defile it. I the LORD sanctify them.

Take a shower after sex, we get it.

There shall no stranger eat of the holy things. A tenant of a priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing. But if the priest buys a soul with his silver, he shall eat of it. And one born in his house shall eat of his food. And a priest’s daughter, when she belongs to a man, a stranger, she may not eat of the heave offering of the holy things. But if the priest’s daughter is a widow, or put away, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s food. But no stranger shall eat of it. And if a man eats a holy thing without knowing it, then he shall put the fifth part to it, and shall give to the priest with the holy thing. And they shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel which they offer to the LORD, and so load on them the iniquity of the guilt offering in their eating of their holy things. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

Boring rules for daughters of priests.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them: Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who offers his sacrifices for his vows, for all his free-will offerings, which they will offer to the LORD for a burnt offering, you shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the cattle, of the sheep, or of the goats. You shall not offer that which has a blemish. For it shall not be acceptable for you. And when a man offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to carry out his vow, or a free-will offering in cattle or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish in them. Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a flow, or having scurvy, or scabbed, you shall not offer these to the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to the LORD. As to a young bull or a sheep that is deformed or dwarfed, you may offer that for a free-will offering. But for a vow it shall not be accepted. You shall not offer to the LORD that which is bruised or crushed, or broken or cut. You shall not make any offering of it in your land. And you shall not offer the bread of your God out of the hand of a son of a stranger, or any of these, because their uncleanness is in them, and blemishes are in them. They shall not be accepted for you. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, When a bull or a lamb or a goat is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam. And from the eighth day and from then on, it shall be accepted for a fire offering to the LORD. But a bull or sheep, it and its young one, you shall not kill it in one day. And when you will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it at your own will. On the same day it shall be eaten up. You shall leave none of it until morning. I am the LORD. And you shall keep My commandments, and do them. I am the LORD. And you shall not profane My holy name. But I will be holy among the sons of Israel. I am the LORD who is sanctifying you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am the LORD.

Who cares? Really? I am guessing less than 0.1% of the world’s population has read this passage.

Leviticus 23

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim, holy convocations, even these are My appointed feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.

How many fucking times do you have to repeat the sabbath is fucking holy? WE GET IT!

These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings, is the LORD’s Passover, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no work of labor, but you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no work of labor. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be received for you. On the next day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering to the LORD. And its food offering shall be two-tenth parts of fine flour mixed with oil, a fire offering to the LORD for a sweet savor. And the drink offering of it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor green ears, until the same day, until you have brought an offering to your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Wheee, this is the sixth to 15th time I have read this passage.

And you shall count to you from the next day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete. To the next day after the seventh sabbath you shall number fifty days. And you shall offer a new food offering to the LORD. You shall bring out of your homes two wave loaves of two-tenth parts. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, firstfruits to the LORD. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bull, and two rams. They shall be for a burnt offering to the LORD, with their food offering, and their drink offerings, a fire offering of sweet savor to the LORD. Then you shall sacrifice one he-goat for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits, a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it may be a holy convocation to you. You shall do no work of labor. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not completely reap the corner of your field. When you reap the gleaning of your harvest, you shall not gather. You shall leave them to the poor and to the stranger. I am the LORD your God.

For everything holy, please don’t repeat this…again.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel saying: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial summons, a holy convocation. You shall do no work of labor but you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Also, on the tenth of this seventh month, this is a day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. And you shall afflict your souls and offer a fire offering to the LORD. And you shall do no work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, in order to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. For any soul who is not humbled in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And any soul who does any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. You shall do no kind of work. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall humble your souls. In the ninth of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your sabbath.

Fuck, again.

And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no work of labor. Seven days you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. And you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly. And you shall do no work of labor. These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer a fire offering to the LORD, a burnt offering and a food offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything on its day; besides the sabbath of the LORD, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your free-will offerings which you give to the LORD. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days. On the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And you shall take the fruit of majestic trees for yourselves on the first day, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. And you shall keep it a feast to the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths seven days. All that are born Israelites shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. And Moses declared the feasts of the LORD to the sons of Israel.

Origin of Palm Sunday? Enough of the repetition.

Leviticus 24

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you pure olive oil, beaten, for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Aaron shall order it from evening until the morning before the LORD forever outside the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall order the lamps on the pure lampstand before the LORD forever. And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes of it. Two-tenth parts shall be in one cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before the LORD. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, so that it may be on the bread for a memorial, a fire offering to the LORD. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD forever, from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. And they shall eat it in the holy place, for it is most holy to him of the fire offerings of the LORD, by a never-ending statute.

This FUCKING AGAIN! More fine fucking flower, oil for the lamps. How dense were these Jews?

And the son of a woman of Israel, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the sons of Israel. And this son of the woman of Israel and a man of Israel struggled together in the camp. And the son of the woman of Israel blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him to Moses. (And his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) And they put him under guard, so that the mind of the LORD might be declared to them. And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, Bring forth the despiser outside the camp. And let all that heard lay their hands on his head. Let all the congregation stone him. And you shall speak to the sons of Israel saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemes the Name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall surely stone him. And the stranger as well, even as he that is born in the land; when he blasphemes the Name, he shall be put to death. And he who kills any man shall surely be put to death. And he who kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal. And if a man causes a blemish in his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him: break for break, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him. And he who kills an animal shall restore it. And he who kills a man shall be put to death. One judgment shall be for you whether an alien or a native; for I am the LORD your God. And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel that they should bring the despiser outside the camp, and stone him with stones. And the sons of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Rewording of the same shit we have been reading for the last 10,000 fucking words, except for the death to blasphemer. It really strikes me as odd that one of the commandments is shall not kill, but stoning is the punishment of sin?

Leviticus 25

And the LORD spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to the LORD. You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in the fruit of it. But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for the LORD. You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. You shall not reap that which grows of its own accord of your harvest, neither gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It is a year of rest to the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be food for you, for you and for your servant, and for your slave woman and for your hired servant, and for your stranger who stays with you, and for your cattle, and for the beast that is in your land, shall all the increase of it be for food.

Again, over and over and over.

And you shall number seven sabbaths of years to you, seven times seven years. And the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be forty-nine years to you. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth of the seventh month; in the day of atonement, the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And you shall make the fiftieth year holy, one year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you, and you shall return each man to his possession, and you shall return each man to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it of your undressed vine. For it is the jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat the increase of it out of the field. In the year of this jubilee you shall return each man to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the jubilee you shall buy of your neighbor, according to the number of years of the fruits he shall sell to you. According to the number of years you shall increase the price of it, and according to the fewness of years you shall diminish the price of it, for he is selling to you the number of crops. And you shall not oppress one another. But you shall fear your God. For I am the LORD your God. And you shall do My statutes, and keep My judgments and do them. And you shall dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall yield its fruits, and you shall eat your fill and dwell in it in safety. And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase! Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat of old fruit until the ninth year; until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old fruit.

Again…

The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is Mine. For you are strangers and pilgrims with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land. If your brother has become poor, and has sold his possessions, and if any of his relatives come to redeem it, then he shall redeem that which his brother sold. And if the man has no redeemer, and he himself is able to redeem it, and he has enough for its redemption; then let him count the years of the sale of it, and restore the overplus to the man to whom he sold it, so that he may return to his possession. But if he is not able to restore to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that has bought it until the year of jubilee. And in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return to his possession. And if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold. He may redeem it within a full year. And if it is not redeemed within the time of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall be made sure forever its buyer throughout his generations. It shall not go out in the jubilee. But the houses of the villages which have no walls around them shall be counted as the field of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee. As to the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites shall have a never-ending redemption. And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold and the city of his possession shall go out in the year of jubilee. For the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. But the field of the open land of their cities may not be sold, for it is theirs forever. And if your brother has become poor, and his hand has failed with you, then you shall help him; yes, even if he is a stranger or a visitor, so that he may live with you. You shall take no interest from him, or increase. But you shall fear your God, so that your brother may live with you. You shall not give him your silver on interest, nor lend him your food for increase. I am the LORD your God who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

Reads like some sort of ancient bankruptcy laws. About as exciting as modern laws.

And if your brother who lives beside you has become poor, and is sold to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bond-servant. As a hired servant, as a temporary resident, he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the year of jubilee. And he shall depart from you, he and his sons with him, and shall return to his own family. And he shall return to the possession of his fathers. For they are My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as a slave. You shall not rule over him with rigor, but shall fear your God. Both your male slaves, and your female slaves whom you shall have, shall be of the nations that are all around you. You shall buy male slaves and female slaves from them. And also you may buy of the sons of the tenants who are staying with you; and from their families that are with you, whom they fathered in your land. And they shall be your possession. And you shall take them as an inheritance for your sons after you, to hold for a possession; you may lay service on them forever. But you shall not rule over your brothers, the sons of Israel, over one another, with harshness. And if an alien or a tenant lifts up a hand among you, and your brother who dwells beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the alien or tenant by you, or to the offshoot of the alien’s family, after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; either his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or any that is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him. Or if he is able, he may redeem himself. And he shall count with his buyer from the year that he was sold to him, until the year of jubilee. And the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant it shall be with him. If there are still many years, he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the silver that he was bought for, according to the years. And if there remain but few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall count with him, and according to his years he shall give him again the price of his redemption. As a yearly hired servant he shall be with him; he shall not rule with harshness in your sight. And if he is not redeemed in this way, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. For to Me the sons of Israel are servants. They are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

More boring inheritance laws.

Leviticus 26

You shall make no idols to yourselves; and you shall not set up for yourselves graven images, or a memorial pillar. And you shall not set up any image of stone in your land in order to bow down to it. For I am the LORD your God. You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary. I am the LORD. If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time. And you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid. And I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight. And your enemies shall fall by the sword in front of you. For I will have respect to you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish My covenant with you. And you shall eat of the old provision, and clear away the old because of the new. And I will set My tabernacle among you. And My soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from being their bondmen. And I have broken the bonds of your yoke, and made you go upright.

Same thing, somehow reworded even more long winded.

But if you will not listen to Me, and will not do all these commandments, and if you shall despise My statutes, or if your soul hates My judgments, so that you will not do all My commandments, so that you break My covenant; I will also do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, consumption, and burning fever, consuming the eyes and causing sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set My face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you. And you shall flee when none pursues you. And if you will not yet listen to Me for all this, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain. For your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the field yield their fruits. And if you walk contrary to Me, and will not listen to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, who shall bereave you. And I will destroy your cattle, and make you few. And your highways shall be deserted. And if you will not be reformed by Me by these things, but will still walk contrary to Me, then I will walk contrary to you and will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will bring a sword on you that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant. And when you are gathered inside your cities, I will send the plague among you. And you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight. And you shall eat and not be satisfied. And if you will not for all of this listen to Me, but will walk contrary to Me, then I will walk contrary to you also in fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. And I will destroy your high places and cut down your images, and throw your carcasses on the carcasses of your idols, and My soul shall despise you. And I will make your cities waste and cause your sanctuaries to be deserted. And I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I will turn the land into wasteland. And your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you. And your land shall be waste, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lies waste, and you are in your enemies’ land; then shall the land rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies waste it shall rest, because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you lived on it. And on those of you that are left I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee as if fleeing from a sword. And they shall fall when none pursues. And they shall fall on one another, as if it were before a sword, when none pursues. And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And you shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall putrefy in their wilful sin in your enemies’ lands. And also they shall putrefy with them in the perversities of their fathers.

Wow, don’t obey all of these ridiculous commandment and GOD WILL FUCK YOUR SHIT UP. What a petty, horrible god.

If they shall confess their wilfulness and the wilfulness of their fathers, with their sin which they sinned against Me, and that also they have walked contrary to Me– I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies. If then their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they then pay for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham I will remember. And I will remember the land. The land also shall be forsaken by them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it lies waste without them. And they shall accept the punishment of their iniquities; because, even because they despised My judgments, and because their soul hated My statutes. And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I hate them, to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them. For I am the LORD their God. But for their sakes, I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, so that I might be their God. I am the LORD. These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between Him and the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Obey me, and I will let you prosper. Does not seem very loving to me.

Leviticus 27

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When a man shall make a special vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by your evaluation. And your judgment shall be of the male from twenty years old even to sixty years old, even your judgment shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And if it is a female, then your judgment shall be thirty shekels. And if from five years old to twenty years old, then your judgment shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if from a month old to five years old, then your judgment shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female your judgment shall be three shekels of silver. And if from sixty years old and above, if it is a male then your judgment shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. But if he is poorer than your judgment, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him. The priest shall value him according to the ability of him who vowed. And if it is an animal of which they bring an offering to the LORD, all that one gives of such to the LORD shall be holy. He shall not alter it nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good. And if he shall at all change animal for animal, then it and the exchange of it shall be holy. And if it is any unclean animal, of which they do not offer a sacrifice to the LORD, then he shall present the animal before the priest. And the priest shall value it, whether it is good or bad. As you the priest value it, so shall it be. But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part of it to what you judged.

Really, what is the point of this?

And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy to the LORD, then the priest shall judge it, whether it is good or bad. As the priest shall judge it, so shall it stand. And if he who sanctified it desires to redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the silver of your judgment, and it shall be his. And if a man shall sanctify to the LORD some part of a field that he owns, then your judgment shall be according to its seed; a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver. If he sanctifies his field from the year of jubilee, according to your judgment it shall stand. But if he sanctifies his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the silver according to the years that remain, even until the year of jubilee, and it shall be taken from your estimation. And if he who sanctified the field desires in any way to redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your estimation to it, and it shall be made sure to him. And if he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more. But the field, when it goes out in the jubilee, shall be holy to the LORD, as a field devoted. The possession of it shall be the priest’s. And if a man sanctifies to the LORD a field which he has bought, which is not of the fields he owns, then the priest shall count to him the worth of your estimation, until the year of jubilee. And he shall give your estimation in that day, a holy thing to the LORD. In the year of the jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to him who owns it in the land. And all your judgments shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary, twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.

Priestly scam to ‘bless’ houses and property with a fee to garnish more money for the church.

However, the first-born of an animal, which should be the LORD’s first-born, no man shall sanctify it, whether an ox, or sheep, it is the LORD’s. And if it is of an unclean animal, then he shall redeem it according to your estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it to it. Or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your estimation. However, no devoted thing that a man shall devote to the LORD of all that he has, either of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed. Every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD. Nothing devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death. And all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD. And if a man will at all redeem anything of his tithes, he shall add to it the fifth part of it. And all the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, all that passes under the rod, a tenth shall be holy to the LORD He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it. And if he changes it at all, then both it and the change of it shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed. These are the commandments which the LORD commanded Moses for the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai.

More scams to get more money. I am getting really cynical with all these tithes. It is an obvious scam. The number of commandments is way over ten and probably in the hundreds at this point. I am so glad the United States of America was not based on this, frankly, terrifying, list of ancient, barbaric rules. The death penalty for something petty as swearing at your parents is insane. Anyone who claims their morals come from this book is insane or delusional, or, more likely, has never read it.

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