Rules for Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron,^(A) and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean^(B) for any of his people who die,^{(C) 2} except for a close relative, such as his mother or father,^(D) his son or daughter, his brother, ³ or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean.^{(E) 4} He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage,^[a] and so defile himself.

⁵ “‘Priests must not shave^(F) their heads or shave off the edges of their beards^(G) or cut their bodies.^{(H) 6} They must be holy to their God^(I) and must not profane the name of their God.^(J) Because they present the food offerings to the Lord,^(K) the food of their God,^(L) they are to be holy.^(M)

⁷ “‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands,^(N) because priests are holy to their God.^{(O) 8} Regard them as holy,^(P) because they offer up the food of your God.^(Q) Consider them holy, because I the Lord am holy—I who make you holy.^(R)

⁹ “‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.^(S)

¹⁰ “‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head^(T) and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments,^(U) must not let his hair become unkempt^[b] or tear his clothes.^{(V) 11} He must not enter a place where there is a dead body.^(W) He must not make himself unclean,^(X) even for his father or mother,^{(Y) 12} nor leave the sanctuary^(Z) of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil^(AA) of his God. I am the Lord.

¹³ “‘The woman he marries must be a virgin.^{(AB) 14} He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵ so that he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.’”

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect^(AC) may come near to offer the food of his God.^{(AD) 18} No man who has any defect^(AE) may come near: no man who is blind^(AF) or lame,^(AG) disfigured or deformed; ¹⁹ no man with a crippled foot or hand, ²⁰ or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.^{(AH) 21} No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect^(AI) is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord.^(AJ) He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.^{(AK) 22} He may eat the most holy food of his God,^(AL) as well as the holy food; ²³ yet because of his defect,^(AM) he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary.^(AN) I am the Lord, who makes them holy.^(AO)’”

²⁴ So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

¹⁴ Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” ^[16] [a]

¹⁷ After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him^(A) about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods^(B) clean.)^(C)

²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed,^(D) malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Jesus Honors a Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith^(E)

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.^[b](F) He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit^(G) came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.