22The Lord commanded Moses ²to say to Aaron and his sons, “You must not bring disgrace on my holy name, so treat with respect the sacred offerings that the people of Israel dedicate to me. I am the Lord. ³If any of your descendants, while he is ritually unclean, comes near the sacred offerings which the people of Israel have dedicated to me, he can never again serve at the altar. This applies for all time to come. I am the Lord.

⁴“None of the descendants of Aaron who has a dreaded skin disease or a discharge may eat any of the sacred offerings until he is ritually clean. Any priest is unclean if he touches anything which is unclean through contact with a corpse or if he has an emission of semen ⁵or if he has touched an unclean animal or person. ⁶Any priest who becomes unclean remains unclean until evening, and even then he may not eat any of the sacred offerings until he has had a bath. ⁷After the sun sets he is clean, and then he may eat the sacred offerings, which are his food. ⁸He shall not eat the meat of any animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by wild animals; it will make him unclean. I am the Lord.

⁹“All priests shall observe the regulations that I have given. Otherwise, they will be guilty and die, because they have disobeyed the sacred regulations. I am the Lord and I make them holy.

¹⁰“Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of the sacred offerings; no one else may eat them—not even someone staying with a priest or hired by him. ¹¹But a priest’s slaves, bought with his own money or born in his home, may eat the food the priest receives. ¹²A priest’s daughter who marries someone who is not a priest may not eat any of the sacred offerings. ¹³But a widowed or divorced daughter who has no children and who has returned to live in her father’s house as a dependant may eat the food her father receives as a priest. Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of it.

¹⁴“If any person who is not a member of a priestly family eats any of the sacred offerings without intending to, he must repay the priest its full value plus an additional twenty per cent. ¹⁵The priests shall not profane the sacred offerings ¹⁶by letting any unauthorized person eat them; this would bring guilt and punishment on such a person. I am the Lord and I make the offerings holy.”

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