16. “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the lord.
17. “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.
18. “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the lord.
19. “You must obey all my decrees.“Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.
20. “If a man has sex with a slave girl whose freedom has never been purchased but who is committed to become another man’s wife, he must pay full compensation to her master. But since she is not a free woman, neither the man nor the woman will be put to death.
21. The man, however, must bring a ram as a guilt offering and present it to the lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
22. The priest will then purify him before the lord with the ram of the guilt offering, and the man’s sin will be forgiven.
23. “When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years and consider it forbidden. Do not eat it.
24. In the fourth year the entire crop must be consecrated to the lord as a celebration of praise.
25. Finally, in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the lord your God.