Leviticus 22:1–8

PRIESTS AND THEIR FOOD

22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to deal respectfully with the holy offerings of the Israelites that they have consecrated to me, so they do not profane my holy name;a I am the Lord. 3 Say to them: If any man from any of your descendants throughout your generations is in a state of uncleanness yet approaches the holy offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, that person will be cut off from my presence; I am the Lord. 4 No man of Aaron’s descendants who has a skin diseaseF or a discharge is to eat from the holy offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything made unclean by a dead person or by a man who has an emission of semen, 5 or whoever touches any swarming creature that makes him unclean or any person who makes him unclean—whatever his uncleanness—6 the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until eveningb and is not to eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body with water. 7 When the sun has set, he will become clean, and then he may eat from the holy offerings, for that is his food.c 8 He must not eat an animal that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts,A,d making himself unclean by it; I am the Lord.