Leviticus 21:1-15

Amplified Bible

Regulations concerning Priests

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

‘No one shall defile himself [that is, become ceremonially unclean] for the dead among his people [by touching a corpse or assisting in preparing it for burial], ² except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother, ³ also his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may become unclean. ⁴ He shall not become unclean as a relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself. ⁵ The priests ^[a]shall not shave their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their body. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God; for they present the offerings by fire to the Lord, the food of their God; so they shall be holy. ⁷ They shall not take [as a wife] a woman who is a prostitute, nor a woman who is divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. ⁹ The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by prostitution profanes her father; she shall be burned in fire.^(A)

¹⁰ ‘But he who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the [sacred] garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes [in mourning], ¹¹ nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself [by doing so, even] for his father or for his mother; ¹² nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane (make ceremonially unclean) the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord. ¹³ He shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴ He may not marry a widow or a divorced woman or one who is profaned by prostitution, but he is to marry a virgin from his own people,^{(B) 15} so that he will not profane or dishonor his children among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies the high priest.’”