The Holiness of the Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives,^{(A) 2} except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. ³ He may make himself unclean for his unmarried virgin sister in his immediate family. ⁴ He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage^[a] and so defile himself.

⁵ “Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies.^{(B) 6} They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God.^(C) For they present the food offerings to the Lord, the food of their God, and they must be holy. ⁷ They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution.^[b](D) They are not to marry one divorced^(E) by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ You are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, the Lord who sets you apart, am holy. ⁹ If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by promiscuity,^[c](F) she defiles her father; she must be burned to death.^(G)

¹⁰ “The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained^[d] to wear the clothes, must not dishevel his hair^[e] or tear his clothes.^{(H) 11} He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or mother.^{(I) 12} He must not leave the sanctuary or he will desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him;^(J) I am the Lord.

¹³ “He is to marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴ He is not to marry a widow,^(K) a divorced woman,^(L) or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵ so that he does not corrupt his bloodline^[f] among his people, for I am the Lord who sets him apart.”

Physical Defects and Priests

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁷ “Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect^(M) is to come near to present the food^(N) of his God. ¹⁸ No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed; ¹⁹ no man who has a broken foot or hand, ²⁰ or who is a hunchback or a dwarf,^[g](O) or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs,^(P) or a crushed testicle.^{(Q) 21} No descendant of the priest Aaron who has a defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect and is not to come near to present the food of his God. ²² He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy. ²³ But because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain^(R) or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate my holy places, for I am the Lord who sets them apart.”^{(S) 24} Moses said this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Priests and Their Food

22 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Tell Aaron and his sons to deal respectfully with the holy offerings of the Israelites that they have consecrated to me, so they do not profane my holy name;^(A) I am the Lord. ³ Say to them: If any man from any of your descendants throughout your generations is in a state of uncleanness yet approaches the holy offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, that person will be cut off from my presence; I am the Lord. ⁴ No man of Aaron’s descendants who has a skin disease^[a] or a discharge is to eat from the holy offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything made unclean by a dead person or by a man who has an emission of semen, ⁵ or whoever touches any swarming creature that makes him unclean or any person who makes him unclean—whatever his uncleanness— ⁶ the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening^(B) and is not to eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body with water. ⁷ When the sun has set, he will become clean, and then he may eat from the holy offerings, for that is his food.^{(C) 8} He must not eat an animal that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts,^[b](D) making himself unclean by it; I am the Lord. ⁹ They must keep my instruction,^(E) or they will be guilty and die because they profane it; I am the Lord who sets them apart.

¹⁰ “No one outside a priest’s family^[c](F) is to eat the holy offering. A foreigner staying with a priest or a hired worker is not to eat the holy offering. ¹¹ But if a priest purchases someone with his own silver, that person may eat it, and those born in his house may eat his food. ¹² If the priest’s daughter is married to a man outside a priest’s family,^[d] she is not to eat from the holy contributions.^{[e] 13} But if the priest’s daughter becomes widowed or divorced, has no children, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may share her father’s food. But no outsider may share it. ¹⁴ If anyone eats a holy offering in error,^(G) he is to add a fifth to its value and give the holy offering to the priest.^{(H) 15} The priests must not profane the holy offerings the Israelites give to the Lord ¹⁶ by letting the people eat their holy offerings and having them bear the penalty of restitution.^(I) For I am the Lord who sets them apart.”

Acceptable Sacrifices

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁸ “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: Any man of the house of Israel or of the resident aliens^(J) in Israel who presents his offering^(K)—whether they present payment of vows or freewill gifts to the Lord as burnt offerings— ¹⁹ must offer an unblemished male^(L) from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for you to be accepted. ²⁰ You are not to present anything that has a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²¹ “When a man presents a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or flock, it has to be unblemished to be acceptable; there must be no defect in it. ²² You are not to present any animal to the Lord that is blind, injured, maimed, or has a running sore, festering rash,^(M) or scabs; you may not put any of them on the altar as a food offering to the Lord.^{(N) 23} You may sacrifice as a freewill offering any animal from the herd or flock that has an elongated or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable as a vow offering. ²⁴ You are not to present to the Lord anything that has bruised, crushed, torn, or severed testicles;^(O) you must not sacrifice them in your land. ²⁵ Neither you nor^[f] a foreigner are to present food to your God from any of these animals. They will not be accepted for you because they are deformed and have a defect.”^(P)

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁷ “When an ox, sheep, or goat is born, it is to remain with^[g] its mother for seven days; from the eighth day^(Q) on, it will be acceptable as an offering, a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸ But you are not to slaughter an animal from the herd or flock on the same day as its young.^{(R) 29} When you offer a thanksgiving sacrifice^(S) to the Lord, offer it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰ It is to be eaten on the same day.^(T) Do not let any of it remain until morning; I am the Lord.

³¹ “You are to keep my commands and do them; I am the Lord. ³² You must not profane my holy name; I must be treated as holy^(U) among the Israelites. I am the Lord who sets you apart, ³³ the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord.”