Knox Bible

1

And the Lord spoke to Moses,

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giving him this message for the sons of Israel: If any Israelite, or alien living among you, sacrifices a child of his to the false god Moloch, his life must pay for it; he must be stoned publicly.

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On such a man my ban rests, and I will not let him live among my people any longer, once he has outraged my sanctuary, dragged my holy name in the dust, by sacrificing his child to Moloch.

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Does the people neglect its duty, defy my commandments? Does it condone the sacrifice, and refuse to kill him?

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Then shall my ban rest upon all his kindred too, and I will rid my people of the man who played the wanton with Moloch, and all who consented to it.

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If anyone betakes himself to sorcerers and wizards, on him too my ban shall rest for prostituting himself to such arts, and I will rid my people of him.

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Keep yourselves apart, and be a holy people; remembering what God you worship.

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Keep these commandments of mine and live by them; I, the Lord, have set you apart.

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If a man curses father or mother, his life must pay for it; he has put himself beyond hope of pardon,✻ in cursing father or mother.

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If a man commits adultery by having commerce with his neighbour’s wife, the lives of both, adulterer and adulteress, must pay for it.

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If a man has commerce with his step-mother, coming between his own father’s sheets, the lives of both must pay for it; they must find no mercy.

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No mercy must be shewn when a man has commerce with his daughter-in-law; order has been violated, and both must die.

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No mercy, either, when a man has commerce with another man as if he had been a woman; either is guilty of a foul deed, and both must die.

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The man who mates with daughter and mother both, is guilty of a foul deed; he and they must be burnt alive, and such guilt as theirs be found in your midst no longer.✻

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If a man has commerce with a beast, his life must pay for it; the beast too must be killed;

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and the woman who allows a beast to have commerce with her, must die with the beast; no mercy must be shewn to any such.

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If a man takes his own sister to his bed, whether she is his father’s daughter or his mother’s, to her shame and his, it is great disgrace; both must be held to account for it, and be put to death publicly, for bringing shame on one another.

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If a man has commerce with a woman in her monthly time, and intrudes upon the flowing of her blood, both must be lost to their people.

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Thou shalt not mate with any sister of thy father or thy mother; the man who does this dishonours his own flesh and blood, and both will be held to account for it.

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If a man has commerce with the wife of his father’s brother, or his mother’s brother, bringing shame on his own kindred, man and woman will be held to account; they shall not live to breed children.

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The man who takes his brother’s wife in marriage does a forbidden thing, bringing shame on his own brother; children they shall have never.✻

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Remember these laws and decrees of mine, and live by them, or you too will be vomited up again by the land you are soon to invade and occupy;

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it is not for you to imitate the practices of the nations I am driving out to make room for you. Was it not these very practices that made me their enemy?

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And now, if I bid you take possession of their land, a land all milk and honey, and make it your home, it is because I, the Lord your God, have set you apart among all the nations of the world;

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and you too must set what is clean apart from what is unclean, whether beast or bird; you are not to incur defilement over such beasts and birds and other living things as I have bidden you hold abominable.

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You must be set apart for my service, as I am set apart, I, your God, who have chosen you out among all the nations of the world, to belong to me.

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If man or woman is possessed by a spirit of witchcraft or divination, their lives must pay for it by stoning; they have put themselves beyond hope of pardon.