The Holiness of the Priests

21 Then Yahweh 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 ^[a]blood relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother, ³ also for his virgin sister, who is near to him ^[b]because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. ⁴ He shall not defile himself as a ^[c]relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself. ^5 (C)They shall not make any baldness on their heads ^(D)nor shave off the edges of their beards ^(E)nor make any cuts in their flesh. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and ^(F)not profane the name of their God, for they bring near the offerings ^[d]to Yahweh by fire, ^(G)the food of their God; so they shall be holy. ^7 (H)They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. ⁸ Therefore, you shall set him apart as holy, for he brings near ^(I)the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who makes you holy, am holy. ^9 (J)Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

¹⁰ ‘And the priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and ^[e]who has been ordained to wear the garments, ^(K)shall not ^[f]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 go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for ^(N)the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am Yahweh. ¹³ And he shall take a wife in her virginity. ^14 (O)A widow or a divorced woman or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife, ¹⁵ so that he will not profane his seed among his people; for I am Yahweh who makes him holy.’”

¹⁶ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your seed throughout their generations who has a defect shall come near to offer the ^(P)food of his God. ^18 (Q)For no one who has a defect shall come near: a blind man or a lame man or he who has a ^[g](R)disfigured face or any deformed limb, ¹⁹ or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a ^[h]defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or ^(S)crushed testicles. ²¹ No man among the seed of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall approach to bring near the offerings to Yahweh by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not approach to bring near ^(T)the food of his God. ²² He may eat ^(U)the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, ²³ only he shall not go in to the veil or approach the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am Yahweh who makes them holy.’” ²⁴ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.