Leviticus 21:1-11

English Standard Version

Holiness and the Priests

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ^(A)No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, ² except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, ³ or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). ⁴ He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. ^5 (B)They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and ^(C)not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord's food offerings, ^(D)the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. ^7 (E)They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman ^(F)divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ^(G)I, the Lord, who sanctify you, ^(H)am holy. ⁹ And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ^(I)she shall be burned with fire.

^10 (J)“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, ^(K)shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. ¹¹ He shall not ^(L)go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother.