A repetition of sundry laws, partly ceremonial, and partly moral.

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ND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto' all the congregation of the children of Israel, speak to the elders, and let them speak to the people, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy, separated from all the aforementioned defilements, and entirely consecrated to my service; be pure in heart, and active in obeying all my commands: for I the LORD your 3 God [am] holy. Ye shall fear every man his mother, (she is first mentioned because most apt to be despised,) and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I (am) the LORD your God. Turn ye not unto idols, neither to worship them, nor to look at them, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I, the selfexistent and'eternal Jehovah, [am] the LORD your God.

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And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will, what you think proper, but in the way which God hath prescribed, and observing his di6 rections. It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on' the morrow: and if aught remain until the third day, it shall 7 be burnt in the fire: And if it be eaten at all on the third day, 8 it [is] abominable; it shall not be accepted.

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Therefore [every one] that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest, what drops down by chance. 10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather [every] grape of thy vineyard, single grapes that do not grow in clusters; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I [am] the LORD your God, who gave you this land, and require this charity, and that you be ready to pity and do good.

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Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another upon any occasion whatever, and particularly, not there12 by to defraud another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God, by rash, vain, unadvised, needless, or false oaths, or any other abuse of my name, by using it in common discourse, whereby it might come into contempt; for I [am] the LORD, I am JEHOVAH, and expect you to reverence my awful and venerable name.

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Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour by craft, neither rob [him] by violence: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning, because he is poor, 14 and wants it for support. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, who

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cannot hear, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, to make them fall, but shalt fear thy God: I [am] the LORD, who see and hear what injury is done to these unhappy persons, though they do not; and I will reckon for them, and plead their cause.

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: [but] in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour; you are not to regard the qualifications or condi

16 tions of men, but the merits of the cause. Thou shalt not go up and down [as] a talebearer among thy people, to pick up stories here and there, and carry them about the country, to thy neighbour's hurt ; neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour, not do any thing against his life, particularly, not appear as a false accuser or witness in courts of justice; I [am] the LORD.

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Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, whatever scorn, wrath, or loss it may expose thee to; therefore reprove him when he doeth wrong, and do not suffer sin upon him, be not 18 accessary to his sin and ruin. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD. This advice and command was given by our Lord himself, Matt. v. 43. and he tells us who is meant by our neighbour, Matt. xxii. 39.

19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. These things are mentioned, to teach them to abominate the mixtures forbidden in the foregoing chapter, and to deter them from the idolatry of those who used to propagate heterogeneous cattle in honour of their gods.

20 And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that [is] a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her, she shall be scourged; (the Hebrew signifies, there shall be a scourging, probably of both of them;) they shall not be put to death, because she was not

21 free, for then the punishment was death. 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 32 offering. 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 forgiven him.

• This is a very vile, but too common practice. One evil tongue hurts three per sans, say the Jews, the speaker, the hearer, and the person spoken of.

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, as unclean: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of; in opposition to the custom of the heathen, who consecrated the fruit

24 to their gods. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy, given to the priests as first fruits, (and part of them was given to the poor widows, fatherless, and strangers, Deut. xiv. 28, 29.) to praise the Lord [withal,] by whose goodness and

25 power the trees bring forth fruit to perfection. And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof abundantly, as a reward of your obedience: I [am] the LORD your God.

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Ye shall not eat [any thing) with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, whereby persons pretend to discover hidden things by the superstitious use of words and ceremonies, or by observation of the flight of birds, or other contingencies ; nor observe times, not count one day lucky, another unlucky, in 27 which to begin any work. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard, not shave off the hair, in token of excessive mourning, as the 28 heathen did. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you, as tokens of idolatry or superstition: I [am] the LORD.

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Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore, as the gentiles frequently did, in token of honour to some of their idols; all those things were practised by the heathen, and therefore wisely forbidden to the Israelites; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.

Ye shall keep my sabbaths free from ceremonial pollutions, and reverence my sanctuary, attend there with serious, humble dispositions of mind; I [am] the LORD, who inhabit it, and 31 expect all my worshippers to be devout and holy. Regard not them that pretend to have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, those who pretend to tell fortunes, or foretell future events, to be defiled by them: I [am] the LORD your God; nothing can happen without me, and none shall be applied to but

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Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, or elder, persons eminent for wisdom, learning, and piety, and fear thy God; I [am] the LORD, who require this at thy hand.*

And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall 84 not vex or oppress him. (But) the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou

• Religion is a friend to good manners; the fear of God teaches all social duty; and Juvenal, an heathen, says, the neglect of this reverence to age and wisdom is a great Wickedness, and punishable with death.

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shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, 36 in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I [am] the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.

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Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I [am] the LORD, your sovereign, who have a right to your obedience, and am able to make you happy, and richly reward your constancy and fidelity.

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REFLECTION.

E learn hence to be thankful that we are delivered from the burden of ceremonial precepts, and to be more careful in practising the moral ones. Let us ever remember what a great stress is laid upon them in the New Testament; and earnestly pray, that God would write them upon our hearts, and make us willing and obedient, to his glory, and our everlasting joy.

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CHAP. XX.

Of giving seed to Molech; of wizards; of cursing parents, &c.

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ND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever [he be] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth [any]' of his seed unto Molech, (see ch. xviii. 21.) he shall surely be put to death: the people of 3 the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to 4 defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, 5 and kill him not: Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off by some awful judgment, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.

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And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, (see ch. xix. 31.) I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy for I [am] 8 the LORD your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I [am] the LORD which sanctify you, separate you

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From the rest of the world, and give you my Spirit and grace to make you holy.

For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood [shall be upon him.

And the man that committeth adultery with [another] man's wife, [even he] that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put 12 to death; their blood [shall be] upon them. And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood [shall be] upon them.

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If a man also lie with mankind, as he feth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them.

And if a man take a wife and her mother, it [is] wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.

And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to 16 death: and ye shall slay the beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman and the beast : they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them.

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And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it [is] a wicked thing: and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's 18 nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity. And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

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And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's sister: for he uncovereth his near 20 kin: they shall bear their iniquity. And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it [is] an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.

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Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to 23 dwell therein, spue you not out. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred 24 them. But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land,