Leviticus 22:1–16

Priests and Their Food

22 Thena Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tellb Aaron and his sonsc thatd they must deal respectfully with the ⌊Israelites⌋’e votive offerings, and they must not profane my holy name, which they are consecrating to me; I am Yahweh.

3 “Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, any man from any of your offspring who comes near the votive offerings that the ⌊Israelites⌋f consecrate to Yahweh withg his uncleanness on him, that person shall be cut offh from ⌊before me⌋;i I am Yahweh.

4 “ ‘⌊Anyone⌋j from Aaron’s offspring, ifk he is afflicted with a skin disease or a fluid discharge, shall not eat in the sanctuary ⌊until⌋l he is clean; and the one who touches any unclean person or a man from whom an emission of semen goes out, 5 or a man who touches any swarmer that is unclean for him or who touches a person who is unclean for him ⌊due to⌋m whatever his uncleanness, 6 a person who touches such a thingn shall be unclean until the evening, and he shall not eat from the votive offerings, excepto when he washesp his body with water 7 and ⌊the sun sets⌋,q and he shall be clean; thenr afterward he may eat from the votive offerings, because it is his food. 8 He shall not eat a naturally dead body ors a mangled carcass, ⌊so that he becomes unclean⌋t by it; I am Yahweh.

9 “ ‘And they shall keep my obligation, and they shall not incur guilt because of it, so thatu they die through it, because they have profaned it; I am Yahweh who consecrates them.

10 “ ‘⌊No stranger shall eat⌋v the votive offering; nor shall a temporary resident withw a priest orx a hired worker eat the votive offering. 11 Buty a priest, if with his money he buys a person as ⌊his possession⌋,z that one may eat it, and the descendants of his house themselves may eat his food. 12 And a priest’s daughter, when ⌊she marries a layman⌋,a she herself may not eat ⌊the votive offering⌋.b 13 Butc a priest’s daughter, when she becomes a widow ord divorced or there is no offspring for her, and she returns to her father’s house as in her childhood, she may eat from her father’s food, bute ⌊no layman may eat it⌋.f 14 And if a man eats the votive offering unintentionally, theng he shall add to it a fifth of it, and he shall give the votive offering to the priest. 15 And they shall not profane the ⌊Israelites⌋’h votive offerings that they present to Yahweh, 16 and so cause them, by their eating their votive offerings, to bear guilt requiring a guilt offering, because I am Yahweh, who consecrates them.’ ”

a	Or “And”
b	Or “Speak to”
c	Literally “to Aaron and to his sons”
d	Or “and”
e	Literally “sons/children of Israel”
f	Literally “sons/children of Israel”
g	Or “and”
h	Or “and that person shall be cut off”
i	Literally “to the faces of me”
j	Literally “A man a man”
k	Or “and”
l	Literally “until which”
m	Literally “for”
n	Hebrew “him” or “it”
o	Or “but if” or “but rather”
p	Or “bathes”
q	Literally “the sun goes” or “the sun enters”
r	Or “and”
s	Or “and”
t	Literally “to become unclean”
u	Or “and”
v	Literally “And any stranger shall not eat”
w	Hebrew “of”
x	Or “and”
y	Or “And”
z	Literally “property of”
a	Literally “she becomes for a strange man”
b	Literally “the offering/lifting of the votive offering”
c	Or “And”
d	Or “and”
e	Or “and”
f	Literally “any stranger shall not eat it”
g	Or “and”
h	Literally “sons/children of Israel”