“Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” — Leviticus 19:2
Leviticus 19 (NRSV)
Ritual and Moral Holiness
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
The idea behind the word holy is “separate.” As it is applied to God, it describes God’s apartness. It means that God is different than man and from all other beings in the greatness and majesty of His attributes. He has a righteousness unlike any other; a justice unlike any other; a purity unlike any other; and love, grace, and mercy unlike any other. Part of this idea is that God is not merely a super-man; His being and character are divine, not human.
–David Guzik
3You shall each revere your mother and father,
Exodus 20:12 (ESV)
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”
and you shall keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
Exodus 20:8 (ESV)
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
4Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.
Exodus 20:4 (ESV)
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
5When you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it in such a way that it is acceptable on your behalf. 6It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it, or on the next day; and anything left over until the third day shall be consumed in fire. 7If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination; it will not be acceptable. 8All who eat it shall be subject to punishment, because they have profaned what is holy to the Lord; and any such person shall be cut off from the people.
9When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
Ruth 2:2 (NLT)
One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.”
Naomi replied, “All right, my daughter, go ahead.”
11You shall not steal;
Exodus 20:15 (ESV)
“You shall not steal.”
you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.
12And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.
Exodus 20:7 (ESV)
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
13You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.
14You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
Luke 14:13-14 (NIV)
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
15You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.
1 Timothy 5:21 (NIV)
I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.
16You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
Psalm 15:1-5 (NIV)
LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heartand has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman.
17You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.
Galatians 6:1 (The Message)
Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.
18You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
19You shall keep my statutes.
You shall not let your animals breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.
“Treat yourself to a spot of everyday luxury with this handsome, luxurious ‘casual’ shirt cut from a fine blend of 45% silk and 55% cotton.”
20If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave, designated for another man but not ransomed or given her freedom, an inquiry shall be held. They shall not be put to death, since she has not been freed; 21but he shall bring a guilt offering for himself to the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram as guilt offering. 22And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he committed; and the sin he committed shall be forgiven him.
23When you come into the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall regard their fruit as forbidden; three years it shall be forbidden to you, it must not be eaten. 24In the fourth year all their fruit shall be set apart for rejoicing in the Lord. 25But in the fifth year you may eat of their fruit, that their yield may be increased for you: I am the Lord your God.
26You shall not eat anything with its blood.
You shall not practice augury or witchcraft.
27You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.
To do this was to imitate pagan customs of that day; today, Jewish orthodox men are conspicuous by their untrimmed beards and long, curly locks on the sides of their heads.
28You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.
But I want a tattoo like this!!!
29Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, that the land not become prostituted and full of depravity.
30You shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
31Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
Do not enter.
John 6:68 (NIV)
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
32You shall rise before the aged, and defer to the old; and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
Proverbs 16:31 (CEV)
Gray hair is a glorious crown
worn by those
who have lived right.
33When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Philippians 3:20 (NIV)
But our citizenship is in heaven.
35You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight, or quantity. 36You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and observe them: I am the Lord.
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Music:
Psalm 51:10-12 (NKJV)
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
HERE is “Lord, Make Me Pure in Heart” by Lenny LeBlanc.
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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
DWELLING in the Word 
