Leviticus 22:1–16

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.’”