Leviticus 22

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.”