Leviticus 21–23

The Holiness of the Priests

21The Lord said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives, ^e2except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. ³He may make himself unclean for his young unmarried sister in his immediate family. ⁴He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage ^fand so defile himself.

⁵“Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies. ^g6They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. ^hFor they present the fire offerings to Yahweh, the food of their God, and they must be holy. ⁷They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution. ^ijThey are not to marry one divorced ^kby her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸You are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, Yahweh who sets you apart, am holy. ⁹If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by promiscuity, ^lmshe defiles her father; she must be burned up. ⁿ

¹⁰“The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained ^oto wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair ^por tear his garments. ^q11He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or mother. ^r12He must not leave the sanctuary or he will desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; ^sI am Yahweh.

¹³“He is to marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴He is not to marry a widow, ^ta divorced woman, ^uor one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵so that he does not corrupt his bloodline ^vamong his people, for I am Yahweh who sets him apart.”

Physical Defects and Priests

¹⁶The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁷“Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect ^wis to come near to present the food ^xof his God. ¹⁸No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed; ¹⁹no man who has a broken foot or hand, ²⁰or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, ^yzor who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs, ^aor a crushed testicle. ^b21No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to present the fire offerings to the Lord. He has a defect and is not to come near to present the food of his God. ²²He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy. ²³But because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain ^cor approach the altar. He is not to desecrate My sanctuaries, for I am Yahweh who sets them apart.” ^d24Moses said this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Priests and Their Food

22The 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; ^eI am Yahweh. ³Say 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 Yahweh. ⁴No man of Aaron’s descendants who has a skin disease ^for 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, ⁵or whoever touches any swarming creature that makes him unclean or any person who makes him unclean—whatever his uncleanness— ⁶the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening ^gand is not to eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body with water. ⁷When the sun has set, he will become clean, and then he may eat from the holy offerings, for that is his food. ^h8He must not eat an animal that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts, ^ijmaking himself unclean by it; I am Yahweh. ⁹They must keep My instruction, ^kor they will be guilty and die because they profane it; I am Yahweh who sets them apart.

¹⁰“No one outside a priest’s family ^lmis to eat the holy offering. A foreigner staying with a priest or a hired hand is not to eat the holy offering. ¹¹But if a priest purchases someone with his money, that person may eat it, and those born in his house may eat his food. ¹²If the priest’s daughter is married to a man outside a priest’s family, ⁿshe is not to eat from the holy contributions. ^o13But if the priest’s daughter becomes widowed or divorced, has no children, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may share her father’s food. But no outsider may share it. ¹⁴If anyone eats a holy offering in error, ^phe must add a fifth to its value and give the holy offering to the priest. ^q15The priests must not profane the holy offerings the Israelites give to the Lord ¹⁶by letting the people eat their holy offerings and having them bear the penalty of restitution. ^rFor I am Yahweh who sets them apart.”

Acceptable Sacrifices

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁸“Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: Any man of the house of Israel or of the foreign residents ^sin Israel who presents his offering ^t—whether they present freewill gifts or payment of vows to the Lord as burnt offerings— ¹⁹must offer an unblemished male ^ufrom the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for you to be accepted. ²⁰You are not to present anything that has a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²¹“When a man presents a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or flock, it has to be unblemished to be acceptable; there must be no defect in it. ²²You are not to present any animal to the Lord that is blind, injured, maimed, or has a running sore, festering rash, ^vor scabs; you may not put any of them on the altar as a fire offering to the Lord. ^w23You may sacrifice as a freewill offering any animal from the herd or flock that has an elongated or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable as a vow offering. ²⁴You are not to present to the Lord anything that has bruised, crushed, torn, or severed testicles; ^xyou must not sacrifice them in your land. ²⁵Neither you nor ^ya foreigner are to present food to your God from any of these animals. They will not be accepted for you because they are deformed and have a defect.” ^z

²⁶The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁷“When an ox, sheep, or goat is born, it must remain with ^aits mother for seven days; from the eighth day ^bon, it will be acceptable as a gift, a fire offering to the Lord. ²⁸But you are not to slaughter an animal from the herd or flock on the same day as its young. ^c29When you sacrifice a thank offering ^dto the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰It is to be eaten on the same day. ^eDo not let any of it remain until morning; I am Yahweh.

³¹“You are to keep My commands and do them; I am Yahweh. ³²You must not profane My holy name; I must be treated as holy ^famong the Israelites. I am Yahweh who sets you apart, ³³the One who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am Yahweh.”

Holy Days

23The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: These are My appointed times, ^gthe times of the Lord that you will proclaim as sacred assemblies. ^h

³“Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, ⁱa sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; it is a Sabbath ^jto the Lord wherever you live.

⁴“These are the Lord’s appointed times, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. ⁵The Passover ^kto the Lord comes in the first month, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the month. ⁶The Festival of Unleavened Bread ^lto the Lord is on the fifteenth day of the same month. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ⁷On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any daily work. ⁸You are to present a fire offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day there will be a sacred assembly; you must not do any daily work.”

⁹The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁰“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, ^myou are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹He will wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹²On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a year-old male lamb ⁿwithout blemish ^oas a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³Its grain offering is to be four quarts ^pof fine flour mixed with oil as a fire offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering will be one quart ^qof wine. ¹⁴You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or any new grain ^runtil this very day, and until you have brought the offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations wherever you live.

¹⁵“You are to count seven ^scomplete weeks ^tustarting from the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the presentation offering. ^v16You are to count 50 days until the day after the seventh Sabbath and then present an offering of new grain ^wto the Lord. ¹⁷Bring two loaves of bread from your settlements as a presentation offering, each of them made from four quarts ^xof fine flour, baked with yeast, as firstfruits ^yto the Lord. ¹⁸You are to present with the bread seven unblemished male lambs a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offerings and drink offerings, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹You are also to prepare one male goat as a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a fellowship sacrifice. ²⁰The priest will wave the lambs with the bread of firstfruits as a presentation offering before the Lord; the bread and the two lambs will be…