Leviticus 10:1–20:2

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

10Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan, put live coals in it, added incense, and presented it to the Lord. But this fire was not holy, because the Lord had not commanded them to present it. ²Suddenly the Lord sent fire, and it burnt them to death there in the presence of the Lord. ³Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord was speaking about when he said, ‘All who serve me must respect my holiness; I will reveal my glory to my people.’ ”^c But Aaron remained silent.

⁴Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, “Come here and carry your cousins’ bodies away from the sacred Tent and put them outside the camp.” ⁵So they came and took hold of the clothing on the corpses and carried them outside the camp, just as Moses had commanded.

⁶Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not leave your hair uncombed or tear your clothes to show that you are in mourning. If you do, you will die, and the Lord will be angry with the whole community. But all your fellow-Israelites are allowed to mourn this death caused by the fire which the Lord sent. ⁷Do not leave the entrance of the Tent or you will die, because you have been consecrated by the anointing oil of the Lord.” So they did as Moses said.

Rules for Priests

⁸The Lord said to Aaron, ⁹“You and your sons are not to enter the Tent of my presence after drinking wine or beer; if you do, you will die. This is a law to be kept by all your descendants. ¹⁰You must distinguish between what belongs to God and what is for general use, between what is ritually clean and what is unclean. ¹¹You must teach the people of Israel all the laws which I have given to you through Moses.”

^12*Moses said to Aaron and his two remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that is left over from the food offered to the Lord, make unleavened bread with it and eat it beside the altar, because this offering is very holy. ^13*Eat it in a holy place; it is the part that belongs to you and your sons from the food offered to the Lord. That is what the Lord commanded me. ^14*But you and your families may eat the breast and the hind leg that are presented as the special gift and the special contribution to the Lord for the priests. You may eat them in any ritually clean place. These offerings have been given to you and your children as the part that belongs to you from the fellowship offerings of the people of Israel. ^15*They shall bring the hind leg and the breast at the time the fat is presented as a food offering to the Lord. These parts belong to you and your children for ever, just as the Lord commanded.”

¹⁶Moses asked about the goat for the sin offering and learnt that it had already been burnt. This made him angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, and he demanded, ^17*“Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in a sacred place? It is very holy, and the Lord has given it to you in order to take away the sin of the community. ¹⁸Since its blood was not brought into the sacred tent, you should have eaten the sacrifice there, as I commanded.”

¹⁹Aaron answered, “If I had eaten the sin offering today, would the Lord have approved? The people presented their sin offering to the Lord today, and they brought their burnt offering, but still these terrible things have happened to me.” ²⁰When Moses heard this, he was satisfied.

Animals That May Be Eaten

11The Lord gave Moses and Aaron the following regulations ²for the people of Israel. You may eat any land animal ³that has divided hoofs and that also chews the cud, ^4–6but you must not eat camels, rock-badgers, or rabbits. They must be considered unclean; they chew the cud, but do not have divided hoofs. ⁷Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs, but do not chew the cud. ⁸Do not eat these animals or even touch their dead bodies; they are unclean.

⁹You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales, ¹⁰but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales must not be eaten. ¹¹Such creatures must be considered unclean. You must not eat them or even touch their dead bodies. ¹²You must not eat anything that lives in the water and does not have fins and scales.

^13–19You must not eat any of the following birds: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants;^d hoopoes; or bats.

²⁰All winged insects are unclean, ²¹except those that hop. ²²You may eat locusts, crickets, or grasshoppers. ²³But all other small things that have wings and also crawl must be considered unclean.

^24–28Whoever touches the dead bodies of the following animals will be unclean until evening: all animals with hoofs, unless their hoofs are divided and they chew the cud, and all four-footed animals with paws. Whoever carries their dead bodies must wash his clothes, but he will still be unclean until evening.

^29–30Moles, rats, mice, and lizards must be considered unclean. ³¹Whoever touches them or their dead bodies will be unclean until evening. ³²And if their dead bodies fall on anything, it will be unclean. This applies to any article of wood, cloth, leather, or sacking, no matter what it is used for. It shall be dipped in water, but it will remain unclean until evening. ³³And if their bodies fall into a clay pot, everything that is in it shall be unclean, and you must break the pot. ³⁴Any food which could normally be eaten, but on which water from such a pot has been poured, will be unclean, and anything drinkable in such a pot is unclean. ³⁵Anything on which the dead bodies fall is unclean; a clay stove or oven shall be broken, ³⁶but a spring or a cistern remains clean, although anything else that touches their dead bodies is unclean. ³⁷If one of them falls on seed that is going to be sown, the seed remains clean. ³⁸But if the seed is soaking in water and one of them falls on it, the seed is unclean.

³⁹If any animal that may be eaten dies, anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁰And if anyone eats any part of the animal, he must wash his clothes, but he will still be unclean until evening; anyone who carries the dead body must wash his clothes, but he will still be unclean until evening.

⁴¹You must not eat any of the small animals that move on the ground, ⁴²whether they crawl, or walk on four legs, or have many legs. ⁴³Do not make yourselves unclean by eating any of these. ^44*I am the Lord your God, and you must keep yourselves holy, because I am holy. ⁴⁵I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt so that I could be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy.

⁴⁶This, then, is the law about animals and birds, about everything that lives in the water, and everything that moves on the ground. ⁴⁷You must be careful to distinguish between what is ritually clean and unclean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.

The Purification of Women after Childbirth

12The Lord gave Moses the following regulations ²for the people of Israel. For seven days after a woman gives birth to a son, she is ritually unclean, as she is during her monthly period. ^3*On the eighth day, the child shall be circumcised. ⁴Then it will be 33 more days before she is ritually clean from her loss of blood; she must not touch anything that is holy or enter the sacred Tent until the time of her purification is completed.

⁵For fourteen days after a woman gives birth to a daughter, she is ritually unclean, as she is during her monthly period. Then it will be 66 more days before she is ritually clean from her loss of blood.

⁶When the time of her purification is completed, whether for a son or daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord’s presence a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. ⁷The priest shall present her offering to the Lord and perform the ritual to take away her impurity, and she will be ritually clean. This, then, is what a woman must do after giving birth.

^8*If the woman cannot afford a lamb, she shall bring two doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall perform the ritual to take away her impurity, and she will be ritually clean.

Laws Concerning Skin-Diseases

13The Lord gave Moses and Aaron these regulations. ²If anyone has a sore on his skin or a boil or an inflammation which could develop into a dreaded skin disease, he shall be brought to the Aaronite priest. ³The priest shall examine the sore, and if the hairs in it have turned white and the sore appears to be deeper than the surrounding skin, it is a dreaded skin disease, and the priest shall pronounce the person unclean. ⁴But if the sore is white and does not appear to be deeper than the skin round it and the hairs have not turned white, the priest shall isolate the person for seven days. ⁵The priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and if in his opinion the sore looks the same and has not spread, he shall isolate him for another seven days. ⁶The priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and if the sore has faded and has not spread, he shall pronounce him ritually clean; it is only a sore. The person shall wash his clothes and be ritually clean. ⁷But if the sore spreads after the priest has examined him and pronounced him clean, he must appear before the priest again. ⁸The priest will examine him again, and if it has spread, he shall pronounce him unclean; it is a dreaded skin disease.

⁹If anyone has a dreaded skin disease, he shall be brought to the priest, ¹⁰who will examine him. If there is a white sore on his skin which turns the hairs white and is full of pus, ¹¹it is a chronic skin disease. The priest shall pronounce him unclean; there is no need to isolate him, because he is obviously unclean. ¹²If the skin disease spreads and covers the person from head to foot, ¹³the priest shall examine him again. If he finds that it…