Leviticus 21–23

Regulations for Conduct of Priests

21And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ^a‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, ²except for his relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; ³also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. ⁴Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a ¹chief man among his people, to profane himself.

^5b‘They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh. ⁶They shall be ^choly to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the ^dbread of their God; ^etherefore they shall be holy. ^7fThey shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman ^gdivorced from her husband; for ²the priest is holy to his God. ⁸Therefore you shall ³consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ^hI the Lord, who ⁱsanctify you, am holy. ⁹The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be ^jburned with fire.

¹⁰‘He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was ^kpoured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not ^luncover ⁴his head nor tear his clothes; ¹¹nor shall he go ^mnear any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; ¹²ⁿnor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the ^oconsecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. ¹³And he shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. ¹⁵Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the Lord sanctify him.’ ”

¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸For any man who has a ^pdefect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb ^qtoo long, ¹⁹a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch. ²¹No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²²He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; ²³only he shall not go near the ^rveil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest ^she profane My sanctuaries; for I the Lord sanctify them.’ ”

²⁴And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

22Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to Aaron and his sons, that they ^aseparate ¹themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they ^bdo not profane My holy name by what they ^cdedicate to Me: I am the Lord. ³Say to them: ‘Whoever of all your descendants throughout your generations, who goes near the holy things which the children of Israel dedicate to the Lord, ^dwhile he has ²uncleanness upon him, that person shall be cut off from My presence: I am the Lord.

⁴‘Whatever man of the descendants of Aaron, who is a ^eleper or has ^fa discharge, shall not eat the holy offerings ^guntil he is clean. And ^hwhoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or ⁱa man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵or ^jwhoever touches any creeping thing by which he would be made unclean, or ^kany person by whom he would become unclean, whatever his uncleanness may be—⁶the person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat the holy offerings unless he ^lwashes his body with water. ⁷And when the sun goes down he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat the holy offerings, because ^mit is his food. ⁸ⁿWhatever dies naturally or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself with it: I am the Lord.

⁹‘They shall therefore keep ^oMy ³ordinance, ^plest they bear sin for it and die thereby, if they profane it: I the Lord sanctify them.

^10q‘No outsider shall eat the holy offering; one who ⁴dwells with the priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat the holy thing. ¹¹But if the priest ^rbuys a person with his money, he may eat it; and one who is born in his house may eat his food. ¹²If the priest’s daughter is married to an outsider, she may not eat of the holy offerings. ¹³But if the priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food; but no outsider shall eat it.

¹⁴‘And if a man eats the holy offering unintentionally, then he shall restore a holy offering to the priest, and add one-fifth to it. ¹⁵They shall not profane the ^sholy offerings of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶or allow them to bear the guilt of trespass when they eat their holy offerings; for I the Lord sanctify them.’ ”

Offerings Accepted and Not Accepted

¹⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: ^t‘Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who ⁵offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the Lord as a burnt offering—^19uyou shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats. ^20vWhatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. ²¹And ^wwhoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, ^xto fulfill his vow, or a freewill offering from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it. ^22yThose that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ⁶ulcer or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make ^zan offering by fire of them on the altar to the Lord. ²³Either a bull or a lamb that has any limb ^atoo long or too short you may offer as a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

²⁴‘You shall not offer to the Lord what is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut; nor shall you make any offering of them in your land. ²⁵Nor ^bfrom a foreigner’s hand shall you offer any of these as ^cthe bread of your God, because their ^dcorruption is in them, and defects are in them. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.’ ”

²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^27e“When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall be seven days with its mother; and from the eighth day and thereafter it shall be accepted as an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸Whether it is a cow or ewe, do not kill both her ^fand her young on the same day. ²⁹And when you ^goffer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, offer it of your own free will. ³⁰On the same day it shall be eaten; you shall leave ^hnone of it until morning: I am the Lord.

³¹ⁱ“Therefore you shall keep My commandments, and perform them: I am the Lord. ^32jYou shall not profane My holy name, but ^kI will be ⁷hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who ^lsanctifies you, ^33mwho brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord.”

Feasts of the Lord

23And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be ^aholy convocations, these are My feasts.

The Sabbath

^3b‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

The Passover and Unleavened Bread

^4c‘These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. ^5dOn the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ^7eOn the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no ¹customary work on it. ⁸But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’ ”

The Feast of Firstfruits

⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^f‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of ^gthe firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹He shall ^hwave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹²And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, for a ²sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. ¹⁴You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

The Feast of Weeks

¹⁵‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. ¹⁶Count ⁱfifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer ^ja new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are ^kthe firstfruits to the Lord. ¹⁸And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young…