Leviticus 22:1-16

International Standard Version

Holy Offerings

22 Later on, the Lord told Moses, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons that they are to separate themselves for the sacred things of the Israelis and that they are not to defile my holy name. I am the Lord. ³ Tell them that whoever among your descendants throughout your generations approaches the sacred things that the Israelis had consecrated to the Lord while still remaining unclean is to be eliminated from my presence. I am the Lord. ⁴ If one of Aaron’s descendants has an infectious skin disease or a discharge, he is not to eat anything sacred until he has been cleansed. Anyone who touches an unclean thing on account of the dead, or who has a seminal discharge, ⁵ or who becomes unclean by touching a creeping creature or another human being, whatever the uncleanness may be— ⁶ such a person^[a] who comes in contact with anything like this will become unclean until evening. As a result, he is not to eat the sacred things unless he has bathed himself^[b] with water. ⁷ When the sun has gone down and he has been cleansed, he may eat of the sacred things, since that’s his food. ⁸ He is not to eat the carcass of an animal that was torn by animals,^[c] thereby defiling himself with it. I am the Lord. ⁹ They are to keep my charge. By doing so, they won’t bear the punishment of sin because of it and therefore die if they’ve been defiled by it. I am the Lord, who sets them apart.”

Other Prohibitions

¹⁰ “No resident alien is to eat anything sacred. Neither the visitor^[d] of the priest nor a hired laborer is to eat anything sacred. ¹¹ If a priest acquires a slave as property with his own money, he may eat with him. Those who were born in his house may eat his food. ¹² If a priest’s daughter marries a resident alien, she is not to eat the sacred raised offerings. ¹³ If the priest’s daughter is a widow, or is divorced and childless,^[e] so that she has to return to her father’s house as in her younger days,^[f] she may eat her father’s food, but no resident alien may eat it. ¹⁴ If a person eats anything sacred inadvertently, he is to add a fifth part to it and then give the sacred thing to the priest. ¹⁵ They are not to defile the sacred things of the Israelis that they have offered^[g] to the Lord, ¹⁶ thereby causing them to bear the punishment of their iniquity for wrongdoing when they eat their sacred things, because I am the Lord, who sets them apart.”