Regulations Concerning Priests

21 Then^[a] Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and say to them, ‘One must not make himself unclean for a dead person among his own people, ² except for his direct relative closest to him: his mother and his father, and his son and his daughter, and his brother, ³ and for his sister, a virgin, who is closest to him, who has not had a husband^[b]—for her he may defile himself. ⁴ He must not make himself unclean as a kinsman by marriage,^[c] defiling himself.

⁵ “‘And they shall not shave bald patches on their head, and they shall not shave off the corner of their beard, and they shall not make a cut in their body. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, because they are bringing near the offerings made by fire to^[d] Yahweh—their God’s food—and they shall be holy.

⁷ “‘They shall not marry^[e] a woman who is a prostitute and defiled, nor shall they marry^[f] a woman divorced from her husband, because each priest^[g] is holy for his God. ⁸ And you shall consecrate him, because he is bringing near your God’s food; he shall be holy to you, since I, Yahweh, who consecrates you, am holy.

⁹ “‘As for^[h] the daughter of any priest, if she is defiled by prostituting, she is disgracing her father—she shall be burned in the fire.

¹⁰ “‘As for^[i] the priest who is higher than his brothers, on whose head the oil of anointment is poured and he was ordained^[j] to wear the garments, he shall not dishevel his head, and he shall not tear his garments. ¹¹ And he shall not go near any dead person, nor shall he make himself unclean for his father or^[k] for his mother. ¹² And he shall not go out from the sanctuary, and he shall not profane his God’s sanctuary, because the dedication of his God’s oil of anointment is on him; I am Yahweh.

¹³ “‘And he himself must take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴ A widow or^[l] a divorced woman or^[m] a defiled woman, a prostitute—these he must not take; he shall take only^[n] a virgin from his people as wife. ¹⁵ And he shall not profane his offspring among his people, because I am Yahweh, who consecrates him.’”

¹⁶ Then^[o] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘A man from your offspring throughout their generations, in whom is a physical defect, shall not come near to present your God’s food. ¹⁸ Indeed,^[p] any man in whom is a physical defect shall not come near: a blind man or lame or disfigured or deformed, ¹⁹ or a man in whom is a broken foot or a broken hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf, or a spot in his eye or a skin disorder or a skin eruption or a crushed testicle. ²¹ Any man from Aaron the priest’s offspring in whom is a physical defect shall not come near to present offerings made by fire to^[q] Yahweh; a physical defect is in him; he shall not come near to present his God’s food. ²² He may eat his God’s food, from the most holy things^[r] and from the holy things. ²³ But he must not enter the curtain, and he must not come near to the altar, because a physical defect is in him, and he must not profane my sanctuary, because I am Yahweh, who consecrates them.’”

²⁴ Thus^[s] Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israelites.^[t]