Leviticus 21:1-22:16

Modern English Version

Rules for Priestly Conduct

21 Then the Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, ² but for his closest relatives, that is, for his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, ³ and his virgin sister (who is near him because she has not had a husband), for her he may be made unclean. ⁴ And he shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people because of the dead and so defile himself.

⁵ They shall not make bald areas on their heads, nor shall they shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh. ⁶ They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the food of their God. Therefore they shall be holy.

⁷ They shall not take a wife who is a whore or has been defiled, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband, for he is holy unto his God. ⁸ You shall sanctify him, for he offers the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy.

⁹ The daughter of any priest, if she defiles herself by being a whore, she also defiles her father. She shall be burned with fire.

¹⁰ He who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not dishevel his hair, nor tear his clothes; ¹¹ nor shall he approach any dead body, nor make himself unclean, even for his father or his mother; ¹² nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, so as not to defile 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 take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴ A widow, or a divorced woman, or a defiled woman, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take for a wife a virgin of his own people, ¹⁵ so that he does not defile his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁷ Speak to Aaron, saying: None of your offspring in their generations who has any blemish may approach to offer the food of his God. ¹⁸ For whoever has a blemish, he shall not approach, whether a blind or lame man, or one who has a physical flaw on his face or a limb that is too long, ¹⁹ or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scabs, or is a eunuch. ²¹ No man who has a blemish from the offspring of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the food offerings of the Lord made by fire. He has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²² He shall eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy. ²³ Only he shall not go in through the veil or come to the altar, because he has a blemish, so that he does not defile My sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

²⁴ Moses spoke this to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

Holy Offerings

22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to Aaron and to his sons that they should be very respectful with the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they do not defile My holy name with those things which the people have consecrated to Me: I am the Lord.

³ Say to them: Whoever from your offspring through your generations approaches the holy things, which the children of Israel have dedicated to the Lord, while he has uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from My presence: I am the Lord.

⁴ If a man of the offspring of Aaron is a leper or has a discharge, he shall not eat of the holy offerings until he is clean. And whoever touches anything that is unclean by contact with the dead or a man who had an emission of semen, ⁵ or whoever touches any crawling thing whereby he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may receive uncleanness, whatever uncleanness he has, ⁶ the person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy things unless he washes his body with water. ⁷ When the sun goes down, he shall be clean, and afterward he shall eat of the holy things, because it is his food. ⁸ That which dies of itself or is torn by animals he shall not eat, becoming unclean by it: I am the Lord.

⁹ They shall therefore keep My ordinance, lest they bear sin from it and therefore die if they defile it: I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁰ There shall be no outsider^[a] who eats of a holy thing, whether a foreign guest of the priest or a hired servant, he shall not eat of a holy offering. ¹¹ But if a priest buys a person with his money, the person acquired shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house shall eat of his food. ¹² If the priest’s daughter marries an outsider, she may not eat of an offering of the holy things. ¹³ But 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 of her father’s food; but no outsider may eat of it.

¹⁴ If a man eats the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall add a fifth of the value to it and shall give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵ They shall not defile the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶ and cause them to suffer and to bear the iniquity of guilt when they eat their holy things, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.