Leviticus 21

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.