Leviticus 21-24

New American Standard Bible

Regulations concerning Priests

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

‘^(A)No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, ²^(B)except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother, ³also for his virgin sister who is near to him ^[a]because she has not had a husband; for her, he may defile himself. ⁴He shall not defile himself as a ^[b]relative by marriage among his people, so as to profane himself. ⁵^(C)They shall not shave any area on their heads bald, ^(D)nor shave off the edges of their beards, ^(E)nor make any cuts in their flesh. ⁶They shall be holy to their God and ^(F)not profane the name of their God, because they present the offerings by fire ^[c]to the Lord, ^(G)the food of their God; so they shall be holy. ⁷^(H)They shall not take a woman who is a prostitute and ^[d]profaned, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. ⁸You shall consecrate him, therefore, because he offers ^(I)the food of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. ⁹^(J)Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

¹⁰‘The priest who is ^[e]highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and ^[f]who has been consecrated to wear the garments, ^(K)shall not ^[g]uncover his head nor tear his clothes; ¹¹^(L)nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother; ¹²^(M)nor shall he leave the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for ^(N)the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord. ¹³He shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴^(O)A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by prostitution, these he shall not take; but rather he is to ^[h]marry a virgin of his own people, ¹⁵so that he will not profane his ^[i]children among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”

¹⁶Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘None of your ^[j]descendants throughout their generations who has an impairment shall approach to offer the ^(P)food of his God. ¹⁸^(Q)For no one who has an impairment shall approach: a man who is blind, or one who limps, or one who has a ^(R)slit nose, or one with any conspicuous feature, ¹⁹or someone who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰or a contorted back, or one who is a dwarf, or has a spot in his eye, or a festering rash or scabs, or ^(S)crushed testicles. ²¹No man among the ^[k]descendants of Aaron the priest who has an impairment is to come forward to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has an impairment, he shall not come forward to offer ^(T)the food of his God. ²²He may eat ^(U)the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, ²³only he shall not come up to the veil or approach the altar, since he has an impairment, so that he does not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” ²⁴So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.

Various Rules for Priests

22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the Lord. ³Say to them, ‘^(V)Any man among all your ^[l]descendants throughout your generations who approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel consecrate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from My presence; I am the Lord. ⁴^(W)No man of the ^[m]descendants of Aaron, who has ^[n]leprosy or has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. ^(X)And one who touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or ^(Y)a man who has a seminal emission, ⁵or ^(Z)a man who touches any swarming things by which he is made unclean, or touches any person by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness; ⁶a ^[o]person who touches any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy gifts unless he has bathed his ^[p]body in water. ⁷But when the sun sets, he will be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy gifts, for ^(AA)it is his ^[q]food. ⁸He shall not eat ^(AB)an animal which dies or is torn by animals, becoming unclean by it; I am the Lord. ⁹They shall therefore perform their ^(AC)duty to Me, so that ^(AD)they do not bear sin because of it and die by it because they profane it; I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁰‘^(AE)No ^[r]layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a foreign resident with the priest or a hired worker shall not eat the holy gift. ¹¹^(AF)But if a priest buys a ^[s]slave as his property with his money, ^[t]that person may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his ^[u]food. ¹²If a priest’s daughter is married to a ^[v]layman, she shall not eat of the ^[w]offering of the holy gifts. ¹³But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s ^[x]food; ^(AG)but no ^[y]layman shall eat of it. ¹⁴^(AH)If, however, someone eats a holy food unintentionally, then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy food to the priest. ¹⁵And ^(AI)they shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶and thereby ^(AJ)bring upon them ^[z]punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts; for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

Flawless Animals for Sacrifice

¹⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘^(AK)Anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers in Israel who presents his offering, whether it is any of their ^[aa]vows or any of their ^[ab]voluntary offerings, which they present to the Lord as a burnt offering— ¹⁹^(AL)for you to be accepted—it must be a male without defect ^[ac]from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats. ²⁰^(AM)Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you. ²¹When someone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord ^(AN)to fulfill a special vow or for a ^[ad]voluntary offering, ^[ae]of the herd or ^[af]of the flock, it must be without defect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it. ²²Those that are blind, fractured, maimed, or have a wart, a festering rash, or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the Lord. ²³Now as for an ox or a lamb which has an ^[ag]overgrown or stunted member, you may present it as a ^[ah]voluntary offering, but for a vow it will not be accepted. ²⁴Also ^(AO)anything with its testicles squashed, crushed, torn off, or cut off, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor ^[ai]sacrifice in your land, ²⁵nor shall you offer any of these animals taken from the hand of a ^[aj]foreigner ^(AP)as the ^[ak]food of your God; for their deformity is in them, they have an impairment. They will not be accepted for you.’”

²⁶Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷“When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall ^[al]remain ^(AQ)seven days ^[am]with its mother, and from the eighth day on it will be considered acceptable as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸^(AR)But, whether it is an ox or a sheep, you shall not slaughter both it and its young in one day. ²⁹When you sacrifice ^(AS)a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until morning. I am the Lord. ³¹^(AT)So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the Lord.

³²“And you shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctifies you, ³³^(AU)who brought you out from the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the Lord.”

Laws of Holy Days

23 The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^(AV)The Lord’s appointed times which you shall ^(AW)proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:

³‘^(AX)For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.

⁴‘These are the ^(AY)appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. ⁵^(AZ)In the ^[an]first month, on the fourteenth day of the month ^[ao]at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the ^(BA)Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ⁷On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall ^(BB)not do any laborious work. ⁸But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”

⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and you ^(BC)gather its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹²Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³Its ^(BD)grain offering shall then be ^[ap]two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a ^[aq]fourth of a hin of wine. ¹⁴Until this very day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, ^(BE)you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new produce. It is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

¹⁵‘^(BF)You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. ¹⁶You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a ^(BG)new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread as a wave offering, made of ^[ar]two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked ^(BH)with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. ¹⁸Along with the bread you shall present seven one-year-old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹You shall also offer ^(BI)one male goat as a ^[as]sin offering, and two male lambs one year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. ²⁰The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹On this very day you shall ^(BJ)make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious ^(BK)work. It is to be a permanent statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

²²‘^(BL)When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.’”

²³Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘^(BM)In the ^[at]seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a ^[au]rest, a ^(BN)reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵You shall ^(BO)not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.’”

The Day of Atonement

²⁶Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷“On exactly ^(BP)the tenth day of this seventh month is ^(BQ)the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble ^[av]yourselves and present an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸You shall not do any work on this very day, for it is a ^(BR)Day of Atonement, ^(BS)to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. ²⁹If there is any ^[aw]person who does not humble himself on this very day, ^(BT)he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰As for any person who does any work on this very day, that person I will eliminate from among his people. ³¹You shall not do any work. It is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ³²It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble ^[ax]yourselves; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”

³³Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On ^(BU)the fifteenth of this ^[ay]seventh month is the ^(BV)Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. ³⁵On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall ^(BW)not do any laborious work. ³⁶^(BX)For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On ^(BY)the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall not do any laborious work.

³⁷‘These are ^(BZ)the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, ^(CA)each day’s matter on its own day— ³⁸besides those of the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts and besides all your ^[az]vowed and ^[ba]voluntary offerings, which you give to the Lord.

³⁹‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, ^(CB)when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a ^[bb]rest on the first day and a ^[bc]rest on the eighth day. ⁴⁰Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the ^[bd]foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and branches of trees with thick branches and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹So you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴²You shall live ^(CC)in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, ⁴³so that ^(CD)your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” ⁴⁴So Moses declared to the sons of Israel ^(CE)the appointed times of the Lord.

The Lamp and the Bread of the Sanctuary

24 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you ^(CF)clear oil from beaten olives for the ^[be]light, to make a lamp ^[bf]burn continually. ³Outside the veil of the testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations. ⁴He shall keep the lamps in order on the ^(CG)pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually.

⁵“^(CH)Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve ^[bg]cakes with it; ^[bh]two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. ⁶And you shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the ^(CI)pure gold table before the Lord. ⁷You shall put pure frankincense on each row so that it may be ^(CJ)a memorial portion for the bread, an offering by fire to the Lord. ⁸^(CK)Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the Lord ^(CL)continually; it is an everlasting covenant ^[bi]for the sons of Israel. ⁹And ^(CM)it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the Lord’s offerings by fire, his portion forever.”

¹⁰Now the son of an Israelite woman—his father was an Egyptian—went out among the sons of Israel; and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man had a fight within the camp. ¹¹And the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the ^(CN)Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) ¹²Then they put him in custody, waiting for Moses to give them a clear decision in accordance with ^(CO)the command of the Lord.

¹³Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁴“Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and have all who heard him ^(CP)lay their hands on his head; then ^(CQ)have all the congregation stone him. ¹⁵You shall also speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘^(CR)If anyone curses his God, then he will bear the responsibility for his sin. ¹⁶Moreover, the one who ^(CS)blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The stranger as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

An Eye for an Eye

¹⁷‘Now ^(CT)if someone ^[bj]takes any human life, he must be put to death. ¹⁸But ^(CU)the one who ^[bk]takes the life of an animal shall make restitution, life for life. ¹⁹If someone injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so shall it be done to him: ²⁰^(CV)fracture for fracture, ^(CW)eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a person, so shall it be ^[bl]inflicted on him. ²¹So the one who ^[bm]kills an animal shall make restitution, but ^(CX)the one who ^[bn]kills a person shall be put to death. ²²There shall be only ^(CY)one ^[bo]standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God.’” ²³Then Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and they brought the one who had cursed outside the camp, and stoned him with stones. So the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.