Leviticus 19

God calls the whole people of Israel to be holy because He is holy, and then shows what holiness looks like in daily life. Worship, family, farming, work, courts, neighbors, and strangers all fall under His rule. The chapter is best known for the command to love your neighbor as yourself.

Leviticus 19:1-2

God speaks to the whole congregation, not just priests. Holiness is for every ordinary Israelite. The reason is simple: God Himself is holy, so His people are to reflect Him. Everything that follows is a picture of what belonging to a holy God looks like.

BSA: holy (“set apart, sacred, having God’s nature”): Holiness means being set apart for God and growing to share His character, not only avoiding what is wrong.

Hebrew: קְדֹשִׁים (qedoshim, H6918) — “holy ones, set apart ones.” The root idea is being cut off from common use and given to God. Israel is to be different from the nations because it belongs to Him.

See also: 1 Peter 1:16.

Leviticus 19:3

Holiness starts at home and in worship. Honoring father and mother is paired with keeping the Sabbath. Both mean respecting what God has put in place. Mother is named first, which stresses that both parents deserve honor. God’s own name seals the command.

BSA: respect (“honor, give reverence to”): The respect asked for is deep reverence, not just polite obedience.

See also: Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:2.

Leviticus 19:4

Idols are worthless things, and turning toward them means turning away from the living God. Molten gods were images cast from metal. The Lord who has just said who He is will not share the heart of His people with anything made by human hands.

BSA: idols (“false gods, worthless objects”): The Hebrew word for idols suggests nothingness. They are empty things that cannot help anyone.

See also: Exodus 20:4.

Leviticus 19:5-8

The peace offering was a freewill meal of fellowship with God. It had to be eaten within two days, and what was left on the third day was burned. Eating it later treated a holy thing as ordinary. The one who did so carried his own guilt and could be cut off from his people.

BSA: bear (“lift, carry”): He picks up the weight of his own sin and carries it, because no sacrifice covers contempt for the sacrifice. profaned (“defiled, desecrated”): To profane is to treat what belongs to God as if it were common.

See also: Leviticus 7:15-18.

Leviticus 19:9-10

Farmers were to leave the field corners and the dropped grapes for the poor and the foreigner. The poor were not given handouts. They worked to gather what was left. Generosity was built into the way Israel farmed, and it was done in obedience to the Lord.

BSA: Leave (“loosen, relinquish”): The owner lets go of what he has a legal right to hold, trusting God to provide for him.

Hebrew: תַּעֲזֹב (ta’azov, H5800) — “you shall leave behind, abandon.” The word means to let go and leave something for another. The owner is not left only with what remains. He is giving up part of what he could take.

See also: Deuteronomy 24:19-22; Ruth 2:2-3.

Leviticus 19:11-12

These commands deal with honesty. They forbid stealing, lying, and deceiving. A false oath in God’s name is also forbidden, since it makes God’s name a cover for a lie. Truthful speech between neighbors reflects the God who is truth.

BSA: name (“identity, character”): God’s name stands for who He is, so a lie spoken in it slanders His character.

See also: Exodus 20:7; Matthew 5:33-37.

Leviticus 19:13

Do not cheat or rob a neighbor, and pay a day laborer before the day ends. A poor worker lives on each day’s pay and cannot afford to wait. Holding back wages is a quiet way of crushing someone who has little.

BSA: wages (“payment, reward”): Pay is what the worker has earned, so withholding it is a kind of theft.

See also: Deuteronomy 24:14-15; James 5:4.

Leviticus 19:14

Someone who cannot hear you curse, or cannot see the obstacle you place, cannot defend himself. That is exactly why it is wrong. God sees what the victim cannot, so fear of Him protects the helpless.

BSA: stumbling block (“obstacle, hindrance”): It is anything set in someone’s path to make them fall, and the verse treats this as cruelty.

Hebrew: מִכְשֹׁל (mikshol, H4383) — “stumbling block, thing to trip over.” This is a hidden trap for a person who cannot see it coming. Later Scripture uses the same picture for leading others into sin.

See also: Deuteronomy 27:18.

Leviticus 19:15

Judges must not twist justice. They must not lean toward the poor out of pity or toward the rich out of respect. Fair judgment looks at the case, not the person. It reflects God, who judges without favoritism.

BSA: partiality (“respect the person of”): The Hebrew idea is to lift up someone’s face. It means letting status or sympathy outweigh what is right.

See also: James 2:1.

Leviticus 19:16

Slander travels from person to person and harms reputations. Do not take part in it, and do not stand by when a neighbor’s life is at stake, whether by false testimony or by silence. Words can wound or even kill.

Hebrew: רָכִיל (rakil, H7400) — “slanderer, talebearer.” It describes someone who goes about from place to place carrying stories. The picture is a peddler, only the goods are damaging gossip.

Leviticus 19:17

Hatred kept in the heart festers. God’s way is to speak plainly and honestly to the person. Rebuke done out of love, not in anger, helps to heal. Staying silent leaves you sharing in the guilt of a wrong that could have been dealt with.

BSA: rebuke (“correct or argue with”): The word means reasoning with someone face to face so the matter can be settled.

See also: Matthew 18:15.

Leviticus 19:18

No revenge and no grudge, but love for your neighbor as yourself. The standard is the care you naturally show to your own needs. This is the high point of the chapter. Jesus and the apostles later called it a summary of the law’s demands toward others.

BSA: love (“have affection for, be devoted to”): This love is practical devotion that acts for another’s good, not just a warm feeling.

Hebrew: וְאָהַבְתָּ (ve’ahavta, H157) — “and you shall love.” This is a command to act with steady, loyal love. It is the same word used for loving God, and here it reaches to the neighbor.

See also: Matthew 22:39; Romans 12:19; Galatians 5:14.

Leviticus 19:19

God’s statutes forbid mixing certain kinds of animals, seeds, and fabrics. The reasons are not stated here. Many see in this a picture of Israel’s separateness and of God’s ordered creation. Christians understand the application of these ceremonial rules in different ways.

BSA: kinds (“diverse, mixed”): The word points to mixing things that God made distinct.

Leviticus 19:20-22

This is a hard case. A slave woman, engaged but not yet freed, was wronged by a man. The law did not treat it as the same as with a free woman, but it still required punishment. The man had to bring a guilt offering, and the priest’s atonement brought forgiveness. Sin against another person is also sin against God.

BSA: atonement (“cover, reconcile”): The sin is covered and the relationship with God is restored through the sacrifice.

See also: Leviticus 5:15-16.

Leviticus 19:23-25

Fruit from newly planted trees was not to be eaten for three years. The Hebrew calls it uncircumcised. In the fourth year the fruit was holy and offered to God in praise. In the fifth year it was the owner’s. Giving God the first fruits comes before enjoying the harvest.

BSA: forbidden (“uncircumcised, unclean”): The fruit is pictured as not yet fit for use, like something not yet set apart.

Hebrew: עֲרֵלִים (arelim, H6189) — “uncircumcised.” The Hebrew literally calls the early fruit uncircumcised. It is a vivid way of saying it is not yet ready to be used.

Leviticus 19:26

Blood was not to be eaten, for life is in the blood and belongs to God. Divination and sorcery try to learn or control the future apart from Him. God’s people are to live by His word and trust Him with what is hidden.

See also: Genesis 9:4; Deuteronomy 18:10-11.

Leviticus 19:27-28

Israel was not to adopt the mourning and marking customs of surrounding pagan peoples, such as cutting the hair, gashing the flesh for the dead, or tattooing. God’s people grieve differently, with hope, and they carry His name rather than the marks of other religions. Christians differ on how this applies today.

BSA: tattoo marks (“tattoo marks, imprints”): These were marks put on the skin, probably tied to pagan ritual or ownership.

Hebrew: קַעֲקַע (qa’aqa’, H7085) — “incised mark, tattoo.” This word appears only here in the Bible. It names a mark cut or pricked into the skin.

See also: Deuteronomy 14:1.

Leviticus 19:29

A father must not push his daughter into prostitution. Such an act harms her and also spreads corruption through the whole land. A society’s sexual sin reaches deeper than private lives.

BSA: prostituted (“fall to whoredom, become morally corrupt”): The land itself is pictured as taking part in unfaithfulness when its people do.

Leviticus 19:30

Keeping Sabbath and honoring the sanctuary go together. One sets apart time for God and the other sets apart place. Reverence means holding God’s things in awe and refusing to treat them casually.

BSA: reverence (“deep respect, awe”): The word means more than politeness. It is a sense of awe before God’s presence.

Leviticus 19:31

Consulting mediums and spiritists meant seeking the dead for guidance instead of God. God says it defiles the person. He has spoken to His people and invites them to trust Him directly.

BSA: mediums (“those who consult the spirits of the dead”): These people claimed to talk with the dead, which God forbids because it replaces His voice with another.

See also: Deuteronomy 18:10-12.

Leviticus 19:32

Standing when an older person enters is a small, visible act of respect. It is tied to fearing God, who made every stage of life. A community that honors its elders reflects a right view of Him.

BSA: elderly (“greyheaded”): The word pictures gray hair, a sign of long life and experience worth honoring.

See also: Proverbs 16:31.

Leviticus 19:33-34

The foreigner living in Israel was to be treated as a native and loved as oneself. Israel knew from Egypt what it feels like to be an outsider with no power. God’s people are to give the kindness they once needed.

BSA: foreigner (“sojourner, temporary resident”): The word describes someone living in a land that is not his own, without family land or rights.

Hebrew: גֵּר (ger, H1616) — “resident alien, sojourner.” A ger lived among the people without belonging by birth. God makes the same standard of love and justice apply to him as to a native.

See also: Exodus 23:9.

Leviticus 19:35-36

Honest scales and measures matter to God. Cheating in trade is a sin against Him, not just against the buyer. The God who rescued Israel from Egypt expects fair dealing in the marketplace.

BSA: honest (“just, righteous”): Fair scales are called righteous, so honest business is part of righteousness.

See also: Proverbs 11:1; Deuteronomy 25:13-16.

Leviticus 19:37

The chapter closes by calling Israel to keep all God’s statutes and ordinances and to follow them. Holiness is lived out in action, covering worship, family, work, justice, and mercy. The refrain I am the LORD stands behind each command.

BSA: keep (“protect, attend to, guard”): To keep God’s law is to guard it carefully, as something precious.