Leviticus 22:1–16

Sundry Rules for Priests

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

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

³“Say to them, ‘^aIf any man among all your ¹descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before Me; I am the Lord.

⁴‘^aNo man of the ¹descendants 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 shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy gifts unless he has bathed his ²body in water.

⁷‘But when the sun sets, 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 the Lord.

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 the Lord who sanctifies them.

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

¹¹‘^aBut if a priest buys a ¹slave as his property with his money, ²that one may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his ³food.

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

¹³‘But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child 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 offer to the Lord,

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