Leviticus 22

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Use of Holy Offerings

22 And the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons to keep away from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so that they may not profane my holy name: I am the Lord. ³ Say to them, ‘If any one of all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy things, which the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. ⁴ None of the line of Aaron who is a leper or suffers a discharge may eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or a man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵ and whoever touches a creeping thing by which he may be made unclean or a man from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— ⁶ the person who touches any such shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water. ⁷ When the sun is down he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because such are his food. ⁸ That which dies of itself or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, defiling himself by it: I am the Lord.’ ⁹ They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: I am the Lord who sanctify them.

¹⁰ “An outsider shall not eat of a holy thing. A sojourner of the priest’s or a hired servant shall not eat of a holy thing; ¹¹ but if a priest buys a slave as his property for money, the slave may eat of it; and those that are born in his house may eat of his food. ¹² If a priest’s daughter is married to an outsider she shall not eat of the offering of the holy things. ¹³ But if a priest’s daughter is 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 food; yet no outsider shall eat of it. ¹⁴ And if a man eats of a holy thing unwittingly, he shall add the fifth of its value to it, and give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵ The priests shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶ and so cause them to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: for I am the Lord who sanctify them.”

Acceptable Offerings

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Say to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents his offering, whether in payment of a vow or as a freewill offering which is offered to the Lord as a burnt offering, ¹⁹ to be accepted you shall offer a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. ²⁰ You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. ²¹ And when any one offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, to fulfil a vow or as a freewill offering, from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. ²² Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord or make of them an offering by fire upon the altar to the Lord. ²³ A bull or a lamb which has a part too long or too short you may present for a freewill offering; but for a votive offering it cannot be accepted. ²⁴ Any animal which has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the Lord or sacrifice within your land; ²⁵ neither shall you offer as the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”

²⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, ²⁷ “When a bull or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother; and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ And whether the mother is a cow or a ewe, you shall not kill both her and her young in one day. ²⁹ And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰ It shall be eaten on the same day, you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.

³¹ “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 hallowed among the people of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctify you, ³³ who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord.”