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^(A) is to come near to present the food^(B) 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,^[a](C) or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs,^(D) or a crushed testicle.^{(E) 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^(F) or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate my holy places, for I am the Lord who sets them apart.”^{(G) 24} Moses said this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.