Leviticus 21–23

21ST CHAPTER

Holiness for All the Priests

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, “Tell the priests, Aaron’s sons: None of you should become unclean by touching one of your relatives who has died. ²However, you are allowed to become unclean when one of your nearest relatives dies. These relatives include your mother, father, son, daughter, or brother, ³and especially an unmarried virgin sister who is still close to you. ⁴As the head of your people, you should never become unclean. That would make you unholy. 

⁵“You should never mourn by shaving bald spots on your heads, shaving the edges of your beards, or slashing your bodies. 

⁶“Be God’s holy men, and don’t dishonor the name of your God. Be holy because you bring sacrifices by fire to the Lord. It is the food of your God. ⁷You should never marry prostitutes, those who have lost their virginity, or divorced women because a priest is God’s holy man. ⁸Be holy because you offer the food of your God. Be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I set you apart as holy. ⁹When a priest’s daughter dishonors herself by becoming a prostitute, she dishonors her father. She must be burned. 

Holiness for the Chief Priest

¹⁰“The priest who is anointed with oil and wears the chief priest’s clothes is chief over his brothers. He must never mourn by leaving his hair uncombed or by tearing his clothes. ¹¹He must never go near any dead bodies or become unclean, even for his father or mother. ¹²He must not leave the holy tent of his God. If he does, he will be dishonoring it, because he is dedicated with the anointing oil of his God. I am the Lord. 

¹³“The anointed priest must marry a virgin. ¹⁴He must never marry a widow, a divorced woman, a woman who has lost her virginity, or a prostitute. He may only marry a virgin from his own people. ¹⁵He must not dishonor his children among his people because I, the Lord, set him apart as holy.” 

¹⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁷“Tell Aaron: If any of your descendants (now or in future generations) has a physical defect, he must never bring food to offer to God. ¹⁸Indeed, no one who has a physical defect may ever come near ⸤the altar⸥. That means anyone who is blind or lame, who has a disfigured face, a deformity, ¹⁹or a crippled hand or foot, ²⁰who is a hunchback or dwarf, who has defective sight, skin diseases, or crushed testicles. ²¹If a descendant of the priest Aaron has a physical defect, he must never bring sacrifices by fire to the Lord. He has a defect. He must never bring food to offer to God. ²²He may eat the food of his God—what is holy and what is very holy. ²³However, he must never come up to the canopy or to the altar, since he has a physical defect. He must never dishonor the holy places because I, the Lord, set them apart as holy.” 

²⁴So Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites. 

22ND CHAPTER

Eating the Priests’ Share of the Sacrifice

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“Tell Aaron and his sons that they must respect the holy offerings which the Israelites set apart for me. In this way they will not dishonor my holy name. I am the Lord. 

³“Tell them: In future generations if any of your descendants, while unclean, comes near the holy offerings the Israelites set apart for the Lord, that person must be excluded from my presence. I am the Lord. 

⁴“No descendant of Aaron who has a skin disease or a discharge may eat any of the holy offerings until he is clean. Any person who has an emission of semen or touches a dead body, ⁵an unclean swarming creature or an unclean person ⁶will be unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy offerings unless he has washed himself. ⁷When the sun has set, he will be clean. Then he may eat the holy offerings because they are his food. ⁸He must never eat the meat of an animal that dies naturally or is killed by wild animals. It will make him unclean. I am the Lord. ⁹The priests must do what I order, or their sin will bring them death because they dishonored a holy offering. I am the Lord, who sets them apart as holy. 

¹⁰“Laypeople must never eat any holy offering, even if they are visiting a priest or are working for him. ¹¹But if a priest buys a slave, the slave and anyone born in his household may eat the priest’s food. ¹²However, if a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she must never eat the food taken from the holy contributions. ¹³If a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced, doesn’t have any children, and comes back to live in her father’s home, she may eat her father’s food. But a layperson must never eat it. 

¹⁴“Those who eat a holy offering by mistake must give another holy offering to the priest and add one-fifth more to it. ¹⁵Priests must not dishonor the holy offerings that the Israelites contribute to the Lord. ¹⁶They must make those people pay the penalty for their guilt because they have eaten the priests’ holy offerings. I am the Lord, who sets them apart as holy.” 

Animals Accepted for Sacrifice

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁸“Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites: Israelites or foreigners may bring burnt offerings to the Lord for anything they vowed or as freewill offerings. ¹⁹The offering must be a male that has no defects from your cattle, sheep, or goats in order to be accepted. ²⁰Never bring any animal with a physical defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. ²¹A person may bring the Lord a fellowship offering to fulfill a vow or for a freewill offering. Whether it is from the cattle, sheep, or goats, it must be an animal that has no defects in order to be accepted. It must never be an animal that has defects. ²²Never bring the Lord an animal that is blind, has broken bones, cuts, warts, scabs, or ringworm. Never give the Lord any of these in a sacrifice by fire on the altar. ²³You may use a bull or a sheep with a deformity or one that is stunted in growth as a freewill offering. However, it will not be accepted for a vow. ²⁴Never bring the Lord an animal that has bruised, crushed, torn out, or cut out testicles. Never do any of these things to an animal in your land. ²⁵Never bring any kind of castrated animal received from a foreigner as a food offering for your God. A castrated animal will not be accepted on your behalf because castration is a physical defect.” 

²⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, ²⁷“When a calf, a lamb, or a goat is born, it must stay with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on it may be accepted as a sacrifice by fire to the Lord. ²⁸Never slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young the same day. 

²⁹“When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord, do it in the proper way. ³⁰Eat it the same day. Never leave any of it until morning. I am the Lord. 

³¹“Carefully obey my commands. I am the Lord. ³²Never dishonor my holy name. I will show my holiness among the Israelites. I am the Lord, who sets you apart as holy. ³³I brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.” 

23RD CHAPTER

The Day of Rest and Other Holy Assemblies

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites: These are the appointed festivals with the Lord, which you must announce as holy assemblies. ³You may work for six days. But the seventh day is a day of rest, a day when you don’t work, a holy assembly. Don’t do any work. It is the Lord’s day of rest—a holy day wherever you live. 

⁴“The following are the Lord’s appointed festivals with holy assemblies, which you must announce at their appointed times. 

The Spring Festivals

⁵“The fourteenth day of the first month, in the evening, is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶The fifteenth day of this same month is the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ⁷On the first day there will be a holy assembly. Don’t do any regular work. ⁸Bring the Lord a sacrifice by fire for seven days. On the seventh day there will be a holy assembly. Don’t do any regular work.” 

⁹The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁰“Tell the Israelites: When you come to the land I am going to give you and you harvest grain, bring the priest a bundle of the first grain you harvest. ¹¹He will present it to the Lord so that you will be accepted. He will present it on the day after Passover. ¹²On the day you present the bundle, you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb that has no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³Bring a grain offering of four quarts of flour mixed with olive oil with it. This will be a sacrifice by fire made to the Lord, a soothing aroma. Use one quart of wine for the wine offering. ¹⁴Don’t eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this same day, when you bring the offering to your God. It is a permanent law for generations to come wherever you live. 

¹⁵“Count seven full weeks from the day after Passover (the day you bring the bundle of grain as an offering presented to the Lord) ¹⁶until the day after the seventh week. This is a total of fifty days. Then bring a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷Bring two loaves of bread from your homes to present to the Lord. Bake them with four quarts of flour. They are the first harvested grain for the Lord. ¹⁸With the bread bring seven one-year-old lambs that have no defects, one bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord. With these offerings also bring grain and wine offerings. They will be a sacrifice by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹Also sacrifice one male goat as an offering for sin and two one-year-old lambs as a fellowship offering. ²⁰The priest must present them along with the bread of the first harvested grain as an offering to the Lord. All this, along with the two lambs, will be holy and will belong to the Lord’s priests. ²¹Make an announcement that there will be a holy assembly on that same day. Don’t do any regular work. It is a permanent law for generations to come wherever you live. 

²²“When you harvest the grain in your land, don’t harvest the grain in the corners of your fields or gather what is left after you’re finished. Leave it for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your…