Leviticus 21–23

Holiness and the Priests

21And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ^aNo one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, ²except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, ³or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). ⁴He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. ^5bThey shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. ⁶They shall be holy to their God and ^cnot profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, ^dthe bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. ^7eThey shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman ^fdivorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ^gI, the Lord, who sanctify you, ^ham holy. ⁹And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ⁱshe shall be burned with fire.

^10j“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, ^kshall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. ¹¹He shall not ^lgo in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. ^12mHe shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he ⁿprofane the sanctuary of his God, for the ^oconsecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. ¹³And he shall take a wife in her virginity.^{1 14}A widow, ^por a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin² of his own people, ¹⁵that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for ^gI am the Lord who sanctifies him.”

¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may ^qapproach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man ^rblind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face ^sor a limb too long, ¹⁹or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, ²⁰or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a ^rdefect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or ^tcrushed testicles. ²¹No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to ^uoffer the Lord’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²²He may eat the bread of his God, both of ^vthe most holy and of the ^wholy things, ²³but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not ^xprofane my sanctuaries,^{3 y}for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” ²⁴So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.

22And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they ^zabstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they ^adedicate to me, so that they do not ^bprofane my holy name: I am the Lord. ³Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while ^che has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. ⁴None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a ^ddischarge may eat of the holy things ^euntil he is clean. ^fWhoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or ^ga man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵and ^hwhoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or ⁱa person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— ⁶the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has ^jbathed his body in water. ⁷When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because ^kthey are his food. ^8lHe shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ ⁹They shall therefore keep my charge, ^mlest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: ⁿI am the Lord who sanctifies them.

^10o“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, ¹¹but if a priest buys a slave¹ as his property for money, the slave² may eat of it, and ^panyone born in his house may eat of his food. ¹²If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. ¹³But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and ^qreturns to her father’s house, ^ras in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. ^14sAnd if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add ^tthe fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵They ^ushall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, ¹⁶and so cause them ^mto bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: ⁿfor I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”

Acceptable Offerings

¹⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, ^vWhen any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, ¹⁹if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a ^wmale without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. ^20xYou shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. ²¹And when anyone ^yoffers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord ^zto fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. ²²Animals ^ablind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or ^ban itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food ^coffering on the altar. ²³You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part ^dtoo long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. ²⁴Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, ²⁵neither shall you offer as ^ethe bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a ^fblemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”

²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^27g“When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep ^hand her young in one day. ²⁹And when you sacrifice a ⁱsacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰It shall be eaten on the same day; ^jyou shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.

^31k“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. ^32lAnd you shall not profane my holy name, that ^mI may be sanctified among the people of Israel. ⁿI am the Lord who sanctifies you, ³³who brought you out of the land of Egypt ^oto be your God: I am the Lord.”

Feasts of the Lord

23The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^pThese are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall ^qproclaim as ^rholy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.

The Sabbath

^3s“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

The Passover

^4p“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the ^tholy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. ^5uIn the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight,¹ is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ^7vOn the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ⁸But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

The Feast of Firstfruits

⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^wWhen you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of ^xthe firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹and he shall ^ywave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹²And on the day when you ^ywave the sheaf, you shall offer a ^zmale lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. ^13aAnd the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah² of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, ^band the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.^{3 14}And you shall eat neither bread nor grain ^cparched or ^cfresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

The Feast of Weeks

^15d“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the ^ywave offering. ¹⁶You shall count ^efifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of ^fnew grain to the Lord. ¹⁷You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as ^gfirstfruits to the Lord. ¹⁸And you shall present with the bread seven…