Leviticus 21–23

The Holiness of Priests

²¹The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

“No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his relatives,^{* 2}except for his nearest kin: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother; ³likewise, for a virgin sister close to him because she has had no husband, he may defile himself for her. ⁴But he shall not defile himself for those related to him by marriage and so profane himself. ⁵They shall not make bald spots upon their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or make any gashes in their flesh.^{* 6}They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the Lord’s offerings by fire,^m the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy.^{* 7}They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled; neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband. For they are holy to their God,^{* 8}and you shall treat them as holy, since they offer the food of your God; they shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, I who sanctify you, am holy. ⁹When the daughter of a priest profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned to death.

¹⁰“The priest who is exalted above his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the vestments, shall not dishevel his hair nor tear his vestments.^{* 11}He shall not go where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother.^{* 12}He shall not go outside the sanctuary and thus profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord.^{* 13}He shall marry only a woman who is a virgin.^{* 14}A widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been defiled, a prostitute—these he shall not marry. He shall marry a virgin of his own people, ¹⁵that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord; I sanctify him.”

¹⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“Speak to Aaron and say: No one of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the food of his God.^{* 18}Indeed, no one who has a blemish shall draw near, one who is blind or lame, or one who is mutilated or deformed,^{n* 19}or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, ²⁰or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles.^{* 21}No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire;^o since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God.^{* 22}He may eat the food of his God, of the most holy as well as of the holy. ²³But he shall not come near the curtain or approach the altar because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord; I sanctify them.”^{* 24}Thus Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israelites.

The Use of Holy Offerings

²²The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Direct Aaron and his sons to deal carefully with the sacred donations of the Israelites, which they dedicate to me, so that they may not profane my holy name: I am the Lord.^{* 3}Say to them, ‘If anyone among all your offspring throughout your generations comes near the sacred donations, which the Israelites dedicate to the Lord, while he is in a state of uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord.’^{* 4}No one of Aaron’s offspring who has a defiling skin disease or suffers a discharge may eat of the sacred donations until he is clean. Whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse or a man who has had an emission of semen,^{* 5}and whoever touches any swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or any human being by whom he may be made unclean—whatever his uncleanness may be^*—⁶the person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the sacred donations unless he has washed his body in water. ⁷When the sun sets he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the sacred donations, for they are his food. ⁸That which died or was torn by wild animals he shall not eat, becoming unclean by it: I am the Lord.^{* 9}They shall keep my charge, so that they may not incur guilt and die because of it for having profaned them: I am the Lord; I sanctify them.^*

¹⁰“No layperson shall eat of the sacred donations. No bound or hired servant of the priest shall eat of the sacred donations,^{* 11}but if a priest acquires anyone by purchase, the person may eat of them, and those who are born in his house may eat of his food. ¹²If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the sacred donations, ¹³but if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced, without offspring, and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No layperson shall eat of it.^{* 14}If a man eats of the sacred donation unintentionally, he shall add one-fifth of its value to it and give the sacred donation to the priest.^{* 15}No one shall profane the sacred donations of the Israelites, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶causing them to bear guilt requiring a guilt offering, by eating their sacred donations, for I am the Lord; I sanctify them.”^*

Acceptable Offerings

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites and say to them: When anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing in Israel presents an offering, whether in payment of a vow or as a freewill offering that is offered to the Lord as a burnt offering, ¹⁹to be acceptable on your behalf it shall be a male without blemish, of the cattle or the sheep or the goats.^{* 20}You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable on your behalf.^*

²¹“When anyone offers a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, in fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill offering, from the herd or from the flock, to be acceptable it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.^{* 22}Anything blind or injured or maimed or having a discharge or an itch or scabs—these you shall not offer to the Lord or put any of them on the altar as offerings by fire^p to the Lord. ²³An ox or a lamb that is deformed or stunted you may present for a freewill offering, but it will not be accepted for a vow. ²⁴Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the Lord; such you shall not do within your land, ²⁵nor shall you accept any such animals from a foreigner to offer as food to your God; since they are mutilated, with a blemish in them, they shall not be accepted on your behalf.”^*

²⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷“When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as the Lord’s offering by fire.^{q* 28}But you shall not slaughter, from the herd or the flock, an animal with its young on the same day.^{* 29}When you sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that it may be acceptable on your behalf.^{* 30}It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall not leave any of it until morning: I am the Lord.^*

³¹“Thus you shall keep my commandments and observe them: I am the Lord.^{* 32}You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the Israelites: I am the Lord; I sanctify you,^{* 33}I who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord.”^*

Appointed Festivals

²³The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are the appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed festivals.^*

The Sabbath, Passover, and Unleavened Bread

³“Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a Sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements.^*

⁴“These are the appointed festivals of the Lord, the holy convocations, that you shall celebrate at the time appointed for them.^{* 5}In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight,^r there shall be a Passover offering to the Lord,^{* 6}and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ⁷On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations.^{* 8}For seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire;^s on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation: you shall not work at your occupations.”

The Offering of First Fruits

⁹The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁰“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.^{* 11}He shall raise the sheaf before the Lord, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall raise it. ¹²On the day when you raise the sheaf, you shall offer a lamb a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³And the grain offering with it shall be two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire^t of pleasing odor to the Lord, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin.^{* 14}You shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.

The Festival of Weeks

¹⁵“And from the day after the Sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the elevation offering, you shall count seven full weeks.^{* 16}You shall count until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the Lord.^{* 17}You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering, each made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of choice flour, baked with leaven, as first fruits to the Lord.^{* 18}You shall present…