Leviticus 21

Chapter 21

Regulations concerning Priests

¹Then the Lord 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 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 present the offerings by fire ¹to the Lord, ^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‘You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers ^athe food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, 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‘The priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and ¹who has been consecrated 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 consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord.

¹³‘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 is to ¹marry a virgin of his own people,

¹⁵so that he will not profane his ¹offspring among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’ ”

¹⁶Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷“Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your ¹offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the ^afood of his God.

¹⁸‘^aFor no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a ¹disfigured 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 ¹descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer ^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 come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’ ”

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