Leviticus 21-22

New King James Version

Regulations for Conduct of Priests^(A)

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ^(B)‘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 ^[a]chief man among his people, to profane himself.

⁵^(C)‘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 ^(D)holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the ^(E)bread of their God; ^(F)therefore they shall be holy. ⁷^(G)They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman ^(H)divorced from her husband; for ^[b]the priest is holy to his God. ⁸Therefore you shall ^[c]consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ^(I)I the Lord, who ^(J)sanctify you, am holy. ⁹The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be ^(K)burned with fire.

¹⁰‘He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was ^(L)poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not ^(M)uncover^[d] his head nor tear his clothes; ¹¹nor shall he go ^(N)near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; ¹²^(O)nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the ^(P)consecration 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 ^(Q)defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb ^(R)too 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 ^(S)veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest ^(T)he 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.

The Holiness of the Offerings

22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to Aaron and his sons, that they ^(U)separate^[e] themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they ^(V)do not profane My holy name by what they ^(W)dedicate 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, ^(X)while he has ^[f]uncleanness 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 ^(Y)leper or has ^(Z)a discharge, shall not eat the holy offerings ^(AA)until he is clean. And ^(AB)whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or ^(AC)a man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵or ^(AD)whoever touches any creeping thing by which he would be made unclean, or ^(AE)any 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 ^(AF)washes his body with water. ⁷And when the sun goes down he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat the holy offerings, because ^(AG)it is his food. ⁸^(AH)Whatever 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 ^(AI)My ^[g]ordinance, ^(AJ)lest they bear sin for it and die thereby, if they profane it: I the Lord sanctify them.

¹⁰^(AK)‘No outsider shall eat the holy offering; one who ^[h]dwells with the priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat the holy thing. ¹¹But if the priest ^(AL)buys 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 ^(AM)holy 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: ^(AN)‘Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who ^[i]offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the Lord as a burnt offering— ¹⁹^(AO)you shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats. ²⁰^(AP)Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. ²¹And ^(AQ)whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, ^(AR)to 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. ²²^(AS)Those that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ^[j]ulcer or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make ^(AT)an offering by fire of them on the altar to the Lord. ²³Either a bull or a lamb that has any limb ^(AU)too 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 ^(AV)from a foreigner’s hand shall you offer any of these as ^(AW)the bread of your God, because their ^(AX)corruption is in them, and defects are in them. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.’ ”

²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁷^(AY)“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 ^(AZ)and her young on the same day. ²⁹And when you ^(BA)offer 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 ^(BB)none of it until morning: I am the Lord.

³¹^(BC)“Therefore you shall keep My commandments, and perform them: I am the Lord. ³²^(BD)You shall not profane My holy name, but ^(BE)I will be ^[k]hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who ^(BF)sanctifies you, ³³^(BG)who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord.”

Footnotes

Leviticus 21:4 Lit. master or husband
Leviticus 21:7 Lit. he
Leviticus 21:8 set him apart
Leviticus 21:10 In mourning
Leviticus 22:2 keep themselves apart from
Leviticus 22:3 defilement
Leviticus 22:9 charge
Leviticus 22:10 As a visitor
Leviticus 22:18 brings his offering
Leviticus 22:22 running sore
Leviticus 22:32 treated as holy

Psalm 69

New King James Version

An Urgent Plea for Help in Trouble

To the Chief Musician. Set to ^[a]“The Lilies.” A Psalm of David.

69 Save me, O God!
For ^(A)the waters have come up to my ^[b]neck.
²^(B)I sink in deep mire,
Where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters,
Where the floods overflow me.
³^(C)I am weary with my crying;
My throat is dry;
^(D)My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

⁴Those who ^(E)hate me without a cause
Are more than the hairs of my head;
They are mighty who would destroy me,
Being my enemies wrongfully;
Though I have stolen nothing,
I still must restore it.

⁵O God, You know my foolishness;
And my sins are not hidden from You.
⁶Let not those who ^[c]wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me;
Let not those who seek You be ^[d]confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
⁷Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Shame has covered my face.
⁸^(F)I have become a stranger to my brothers,
And an alien to my mother’s children;
⁹^(G)Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up,
^(H)And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
¹⁰When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting,
That became my reproach.
¹¹I also ^[e]made sackcloth my garment;
I became a byword to them.
¹²Those who ^[f]sit in the gate speak against me,
And I am the song of the ^(I)drunkards.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to You,
O Lord, in the acceptable time;
O God, in the multitude of Your mercy,
Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.
¹⁴Deliver me out of the mire,
And let me not sink;
Let me be delivered from those who hate me,
And out of the deep waters.
¹⁵Let not the floodwater overflow me,
Nor let the deep swallow me up;
And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.

¹⁶Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good;
Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
¹⁷And do not hide Your face from Your servant,
For I am in trouble;
Hear me speedily.
¹⁸Draw near to my soul, and redeem it;
Deliver me because of my enemies.

¹⁹You know ^(J)my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor;
My adversaries are all before You.
²⁰Reproach has broken my heart,
And I am full of ^[g]heaviness;
^(K)I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none;
And for ^(L)comforters, but I found none.
²¹They also gave me gall for my food,
^(M)And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

²²^(N)Let their table become a snare before them,
And their well-being a trap.
²³^(O)Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see;
And make their loins shake continually.
²⁴^(P)Pour out Your indignation upon them,
And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.
²⁵^(Q)Let their dwelling place be desolate;
Let no one live in their tents.
²⁶For they persecute the ones ^(R)You have struck,
And talk of the grief of those You have wounded.
²⁷^(S)Add iniquity to their iniquity,
^(T)And let them not come into Your righteousness.
²⁸Let them ^(U)be blotted out of the book of the living,
^(V)And not be written with the righteous.

²⁹But I am poor and sorrowful;
Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
³⁰^(W)I will praise the name of God with a song,
And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
³¹^(X)This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bull,
Which has horns and hooves.
³²^(Y)The humble shall see this and be glad;
And you who seek God, ^(Z)your hearts shall live.
³³For the Lord hears the poor,
And does not despise ^(AA)His prisoners.

³⁴^(AB)Let heaven and earth praise Him,
The seas ^(AC)and everything that moves in them.
³⁵^(AD)For God will save Zion
And build the cities of Judah,
That they may dwell there and possess it.
³⁶Also, ^(AE)the ^[h]descendants of His servants shall inherit it,
And those who love His name shall dwell in it.