Leviticus 22:1-16

New American Standard Bible

Various Rules for Priests

22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the Lord. ³ Say to them, ‘^(A)Any man among all your ^[a]descendants throughout your generations who approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel consecrate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from My presence; I am the Lord. ^4 (B)No man of the ^[b]descendants of Aaron, who has ^[c]leprosy or has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. ^(C)And one who touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or ^(D)a man who has a seminal emission, ⁵ or ^(E)a man who touches any swarming things by which he is made unclean, or touches any person by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness; ⁶ a ^[d]person who touches any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy gifts unless he has bathed his ^[e]body in water. ⁷ But when the sun sets, he will be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy gifts, for ^(F)it is his ^[f]food. ⁸ He shall not eat ^(G)an animal which dies or is torn by animals, becoming unclean by it; I am the Lord. ⁹ They shall therefore perform their ^(H)duty to Me, so that ^(I)they do not bear sin because of it and die by it because they profane it; I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁰ ‘^(J)No ^[g]layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a foreign resident with the priest or a hired worker shall not eat the holy gift. ^11 (K)But if a priest buys a ^[h]slave as his property with his money, ^[i]that person may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his ^[j]food. ¹² If a priest’s daughter is married to a ^[k]layman, she shall not eat of the ^[l]offering of the holy gifts. ¹³ But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s ^[m]food; ^(L)but no ^[n]layman shall eat of it. ^14 (M)If, however, someone eats a holy food unintentionally, then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy food to the priest. ¹⁵ And ^(N)they shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶ and thereby ^(O)bring upon them ^[o]punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts; for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”