The Levitical Priests

¹⁵ “But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall attend me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.^{(A) 16} It is they who shall enter my sanctuary; it is they who shall approach my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. ¹⁷ When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen vestments; they shall have nothing of wool on them while they minister at the gates of the inner court and within the temple.^{(B) 18} They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their loins; they shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.^{(C) 19} When they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall remove the vestments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, so that they may not communicate holiness to the people with their vestments.^{(D) 20} They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. ²¹ No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.^{(E) 22} They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest.^{(F) 23} They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.^{(G) 24} In a dispute they shall act as judges, and they shall decide it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.^{(H) 25} They shall not defile themselves by going near a dead person; for father or mother, however, and for son or daughter and for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves.^{(I) 26} After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him.^{(J) 27} On the day that he goes into the holy place, into the inner court, to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his purification offering, says the Lord God.

²⁸ “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you shall give them no holding in Israel; I am their holding.^{(K) 29} They shall eat the grain offering, the purification offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.^{(L) 30} The first of all the first fruits of all kinds and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings shall belong to the priests; you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, in order that a blessing may rest on your house.^{(M) 31} The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or animal, that died of itself or was torn by animals.^(N)