Leviticus 21–23

How Priests Must Behave

21The Lord said to Moses, “Tell these things to Aaron’s sons, the priests: ‘A priest must not make himself unclean by touching a dead person. ²But if the dead person was one of his close relatives, he may touch him. The priest may make himself unclean if the dead person is his mother or father, son or daughter, brother or ³unmarried sister who is close to him because she has no husband. The priest may make himself unclean for her if she dies. ⁴But a priest must not make himself unclean if the dead person was only related to him by marriage.

⁵“ ‘Priests must not shave their heads, or shave off the edges of their beards, or cut their bodies. ⁶They must be holy to their God and show respect for God’s name, because they present the offerings made by fire to the Lord, which is the food of their God. So they must be holy.

⁷“ ‘A priest must not marry an unclean prostitute or a divorced woman, because he is holy to his God. ⁸Treat him as holy, because he offers up the food of your God. Think of him as holy; I am the Lord who makes you holy, and I am holy.

⁹“ ‘If a priest’s daughter makes herself unclean by becoming a prostitute, she shames her father. She must be burned with fire.

¹⁰“ ‘The high priest, who was chosen from among his brothers, had the special olive oil poured on his head. He was also appointed to wear the priestly clothes. So he must not show his sadness by letting his hair go uncombed or tearing his clothes. ¹¹He must not go into a house where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even if it is for his own father or mother. ¹²The high priest must not go out of the Holy Place, because if he does and becomes unclean, he will make God’s Holy Place unclean. The special oil used in appointing priests was poured on his head to separate him from the rest of the people. I am the Lord.

¹³“ ‘The high priest must marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a prostitute. He must marry a virgin from his own people ¹⁵so the people will respect his children as his own. I am the Lord. I have set the high priest apart for his special job.’ ”

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷“Tell Aaron: ‘If any of your descendants have something wrong with them, they must never come near to offer the special food of their God. ¹⁸Anyone who has something wrong with him must not come near: blind men, crippled men, men with damaged faces, deformed men, ¹⁹men with a crippled foot or hand, ²⁰hunchbacks, dwarfs, men who have something wrong with their eyes, men who have an itching disease or a skin disease, or men who have damaged sex glands.

²¹“ ‘If one of Aaron’s descendants has something wrong with him, he cannot come near to make the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has something wrong with him; he cannot offer the food of his God. ²²He may eat the most holy food and also the holy food. ²³But he may not go through the curtain into the Most Holy Place, and he may not go near the altar, because he has something wrong with him. He must not make my Holy Place unfit. I am the Lord who makes these places holy.’ ”

²⁴So Moses told these things to Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and all the people of Israel.

22The Lord said to Moses, ²“Tell Aaron and his sons: ‘The people of Israel will give offerings to me. These offerings are holy, and they are mine, so you must respect them to show that you respect my holy name. I am the Lord.’ ³Say to them: ‘If any one of your descendants from now on is unclean and comes near the offerings that the Israelites made holy for me, that person must be cut off from appearing before me. I am the Lord.

⁴“ ‘If one of Aaron’s descendants has a harmful skin disease, or if he discharges a body fluid, he cannot eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean. He could also become unclean from touching a dead body, from his own semen, ^{n 5}from touching any unclean crawling animal, or from touching an unclean person (no matter what made the person unclean). ⁶Anyone who touches those things will become unclean until evening. That person must not eat the holy offerings unless he washes with water. ⁷He will be clean only after the sun goes down. Then he may eat the holy offerings; the offerings are his food.

⁸“ ‘If a priest finds an animal that died by itself or that was killed by some other animal, he must not eat it. If he does, he will become unclean. I am the Lord.

⁹“ ‘If the priests keep all the rules I have given, they will not become guilty; if they are careful, they will not die. I am the Lord who has made them holy. ¹⁰Only people in a priest’s family may eat the holy offering. A visitor staying with the priest or a hired worker must not eat it. ¹¹But if the priest buys a slave with his own money, that slave may eat the holy offerings; slaves who were born in his house may also eat his food. ¹²If a priest’s daughter marries a person who is not a priest, she must not eat any of the holy offerings. ¹³But if the priest’s daughter becomes widowed or divorced, with no children to support her, and if she goes back to her father’s house where she lived as a child, she may eat some of her father’s food. But only people from a priest’s family may eat this food.

¹⁴“ ‘If someone eats some of the holy offering by mistake, that person must pay back the priest for that holy food, adding another one-fifth of the price of that food.

¹⁵“ ‘When the Israelites give their holy offerings to the Lord, the priest must not treat these holy things as though they were not holy. ¹⁶The priests must not allow those who are not priests to eat the holy offerings. If they do, they cause the ones who eat the holy offerings to become guilty, and they will have to pay for it. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’ ”

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸“Tell Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel: ‘A citizen of Israel or a foreigner living in Israel might want to bring a whole burnt offering, either for some special promise he has made or for a special gift he wants to give to the Lord. ¹⁹If he does, he must bring a male animal that has nothing wrong with it—a bull, a sheep, or a goat—so it might be accepted for him. ²⁰He must not bring an animal that has something wrong with it, or it will not be accepted for him.

²¹“ ‘If someone brings a fellowship offering to the Lord, either as payment for a special promise the person has made or as a special gift the person wants to give the Lord, it might be from the herd or from the flock. But it must be healthy, with nothing wrong with it, so that it will be accepted. ²²You must not offer to the Lord any animal that is blind, that has broken bones or is crippled, that has running sores or any sort of skin disease. You must not offer any animals like these on the altar as an offering by fire to the Lord.

²³“ ‘If an ox or lamb is smaller than normal or is not perfectly formed, you may give it as a special gift to the Lord; it will be accepted. But it will not be accepted as payment for a special promise you have made.

²⁴“ ‘If an animal has bruised, crushed, torn, or cut sex glands, you must not offer it to the Lord. You must not do this in your own land, ²⁵and you must not take such animals from foreigners as sacrifices to the Lord. Because the animals have been hurt in some way and have something wrong with them, they will not be accepted for you.’ ”

²⁶The Lord said to Moses, ²⁷“When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must stay seven days with its mother. But from the eighth day on, this animal will be accepted as a sacrifice by fire to the Lord. ²⁸But you must not kill the animal and its mother on the same day, either an ox or a sheep.

²⁹“If you want to offer some special offering of thanks to the Lord, you must do it in a way that pleases him. ³⁰You must eat the whole animal that same day and not leave any of the meat for the next morning. I am the Lord.

³¹“Remember my commands and obey them; I am the Lord. ³²Show respect for my holy name. You Israelites must remember that I am holy; I am the Lord, who has made you holy. ³³I brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”

Special Holidays

23The Lord said to Moses, ²“Tell the people of Israel: ‘You will announce the Lord’s appointed feasts as holy meetings. These are my special feasts.

The Sabbath

³“ ‘There are six days for you to work, but the seventh day will be a special day of rest. It is a day for a holy meeting; you must not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your homes.

The Passover and Unleavened Bread

⁴“ ‘These are the Lord’s appointed feasts, the holy meetings, which you will announce at the times set for them. ⁵The Lord’s Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month, beginning at twilight. ⁶The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the fifteenth day of the same month. You will eat bread made without yeast for seven days. ⁷On the first day of this feast you will have a holy meeting, and you must not do any work. ⁸For seven days you will bring an offering made by fire to the Lord. There will be a holy meeting on the seventh day, and on that day you must not do any regular work.’ ”

The First of the Harvest

⁹The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰“Tell the people of Israel: ‘You will enter the land I will give you and gather its harvest. At that time you must bring the first bundle of grain from your harvest to the priest. ¹¹The priest will present the bundle before the Lord, and it will be accepted for you; he will present the bundle on the day after the Sabbath.

¹²“ ‘On the day when you present the bundle of grain, offer a male lamb, one year old, that has nothing wrong with it, as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³You must also offer a grain offering—four quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil as an offering made by fire to the Lord; its smell will be pleasing to him. You must also offer a quart of wine as a drink offering. ¹⁴Until the day you bring your offering to your God, do not eat any new grain, roasted grain, or bread made…