Leviticus 21–23

CHAPTER 21

The Holiness of the Priests

¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

‘^aNo one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people,

^2aexcept for his ¹blood relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother,

³also for his virgin sister, who is near to him ¹because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.

⁴‘He shall not defile himself as a ¹relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself.

⁵‘^aThey shall not make any baldness on their heads ^bnor shave off the edges of their beards ^cnor make any cuts in their flesh.

⁶‘They shall be holy to their God and ^anot profane the name of their God, for they bring near the offerings ¹to Yahweh by fire, ^bthe food of their God; so they shall be holy.

⁷‘^aThey shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God.

⁸‘Therefore, you shall set him apart as holy, for he brings near ^athe food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who makes you holy, am holy.

⁹‘^aAlso the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

¹⁰‘And the priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and ¹who has been ordained to wear the garments, ^ashall not ²uncover his head nor tear his clothes;

^11anor shall he approach any dead person nor defile himself even for his father or his mother;

^12anor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for ^bthe dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am Yahweh.

¹³‘And he shall take a wife in her virginity.

¹⁴‘^aA widow or a divorced woman or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife,

¹⁵so that he will not profane his seed among his people; for I am Yahweh who makes him holy.’”

¹⁶Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷“Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your seed throughout their generations who has a defect shall come near to offer the ^afood of his God.

¹⁸‘^aFor no one who has a defect shall come near: a blind man or a lame man or he who has a ^1bdisfigured face or any deformed limb,

¹⁹or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand,

²⁰or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a ¹defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or ^acrushed testicles.

²¹‘No man among the seed of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall approach to bring near the offerings to Yahweh by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not approach to bring near ^athe food of his God.

²²‘He may eat ^athe food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy,

²³only he shall not go in to the veil or approach the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am Yahweh who makes them holy.’”

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

CHAPTER 22

Various Statutes for Priests

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they set apart to Me as holy, so as not to profane My holy name; I am Yahweh.

³“Say to them, ‘^aIf any man among all your seed throughout your generations comes near to the holy gifts which the sons of Israel set apart as holy to Yahweh, and he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before Me; I am Yahweh.

⁴‘^aNo man of the seed of Aaron, who is a leper or who has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. ^bAnd if one touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or if ^ca man has a seminal emission,

⁵or ^aif a man touches any teeming things by which he is made unclean or any man by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness,

⁶a ¹person who touches any such thing shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the holy gifts unless he has bathed his ²body in water.

⁷‘But the sun will set, and he will be clean. And afterward he shall eat of the holy gifts, for ^ait is his ¹food.

⁸‘He shall not eat ^aan animal which dies or is torn by beasts, becoming unclean by it; I am Yahweh.

⁹‘They shall therefore keep ^aMy charge so that ^bthey will not bear sin because of it and die thereby because they profane it; I am Yahweh who makes them holy.

¹⁰‘^aNo ¹layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a foreign resident with the priest or a hired man shall not eat of the holy gift.

¹¹‘^aBut if a priest buys a person as his property with his money, ¹that one may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his ²food.

¹²‘If a priest’s daughter is married to a ¹layman, she shall not eat of the ²contribution of the holy gifts.

¹³‘But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no seed, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s ¹food; ^abut no ²layman shall eat of it.

¹⁴‘^aBut if a man eats a holy gift unintentionally, then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy gift to the priest.

¹⁵‘^aThey shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they raise up to Yahweh,

¹⁶and so cause them ^ato bear ¹punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts; for I am Yahweh who makes them holy.’”

Offerings Without Blemish

¹⁷Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^aAny man of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel who brings near his offering, whether it is any of their ¹votive or any of their freewill offerings, which they bring near to Yahweh for a burnt offering—

^19afor you to be accepted—it must be a male without blemish from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats.

²⁰‘^aWhatever has a defect, you shall not bring it near, for it will not be accepted for you.

²¹‘And when a man brings a sacrifice of peace offerings near to Yahweh ^ato ¹fulfill a special vow or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it must be without blemish to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it.

²²‘Those that are blind or fractured or maimed or have a running sore or eczema or scabs, you shall not bring near to Yahweh nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to Yahweh.

²³‘Now in respect to an ox or a lamb which has ¹an overgrown or stunted member, you may offer it for a freewill offering, but for a votive offering it will not be accepted.

²⁴‘Also ^aanything with its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not bring near to Yahweh, and you shall not do thus in your land,

²⁵nor shall you bring near any such thing from the hand of a foreigner for offering ^aas the ¹food of your God; for their corruption is in them, they have a defect; they shall not be accepted for you.’”

²⁶Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁷“When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall ¹remain ^aseven days ²with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to Yahweh.

²⁸“^aBut, whether it is an ox or a sheep, you shall not slaughter both it and its young in one day.

²⁹“And when you sacrifice ^aa sacrifice of thanksgiving to Yahweh, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.

³⁰“It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until morning; I am Yahweh.

³¹“^aSo you shall keep My commandments and do them; I am Yahweh.

³²“And you shall not profane My holy name, but I will be treated as holy among the sons of Israel; I am Yahweh who makes you holy,

^33awho brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am Yahweh.”

CHAPTER 23

Yahweh’s Appointed Times

¹And Yahweh spoke again to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^aThe appointed times of Yahweh which you shall ^bproclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:

The Sabbath

³‘^aFor six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to Yahweh in all your places of habitation.

The Passover

⁴‘These are the ^aappointed times of Yahweh, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.

⁵‘^aIn the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month ¹at twilight is the Passover of Yahweh.

⁶‘Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the ^aFeast of Unleavened Bread to Yahweh; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

⁷‘On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall ^anot do any laborious work.

⁸‘But for seven days you shall bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”

The Feast of the Harvest

⁹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁰“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and ^areap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.

¹¹‘And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

¹²‘Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without blemish for a burnt offering to Yahweh.

¹³‘Its ^agrain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ¹ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to Yahweh for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a ²hin of wine.

¹⁴‘Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, ^ayou shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your places of habitation.

The Feast of Weeks

¹⁵‘^aYou shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths.

¹⁶‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall bring a ^anew grain offering near to Yahweh.

¹⁷‘You shall bring in from your places of habitation two loaves of bread for…