Leviticus 21:16-22

English Standard Version

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may ^(A)approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸ For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man ^(B)blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face ^(C)or a limb too long, ¹⁹ or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a ^(D)defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or ^(E)crushed testicles. ²¹ No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to ^(F)offer the Lord's food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²² He may eat the bread of his God, both of ^(G)the most holy and of the ^(H)holy things, ²³ but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not ^(I)profane my sanctuaries,^{[a] (J)}for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” ²⁴ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.

22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they ^(K)abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they ^(L)dedicate to me, so that they do not ^(M)profane my holy name: I am the Lord. ³ Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while ^(N)he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. ⁴ None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a ^(O)discharge may eat of the holy things ^(P)until he is clean. ^(Q)Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or ^(R)a man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵ and ^(S)whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or ^(T)a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— ⁶ the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has ^(U)bathed his body in water. ⁷ When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because ^(V)they are his food. ^8 (W)He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ ⁹ They shall therefore keep my charge, ^(X)lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: ^(Y)I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

^10 (Z)“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, ¹¹ but if a priest buys a slave^[b] as his property for money, the slave^[c] may eat of it, and ^(AA)anyone born in his house may eat of his food. ¹² If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. ¹³ But if a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and ^(AB)returns to her father's house, ^(AC)as in her youth, she may eat of her father's food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. ^14 (AD)And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add ^(AE)the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵ They ^(AF)shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, ¹⁶ and so cause them ^(AG)to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: ^(AH)for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”