Leviticus 21:1-15

Christian Standard Bible

The Holiness of the Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives,^{(A) 2} except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. ³ He may make himself unclean for his unmarried virgin sister in his immediate family. ⁴ He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage^[a] and so defile himself.

⁵ “Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies.^{(B) 6} They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God.^(C) For they present the food offerings to the Lord, the food of their God, and they must be holy. ⁷ They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution.^[b](D) They are not to marry one divorced^(E) by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ You are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, the Lord who sets you apart, am holy. ⁹ If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by promiscuity,^[c](F) she defiles her father; she must be burned to death.^(G)

¹⁰ “The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained^[d] to wear the clothes, must not dishevel his hair^[e] or tear his clothes.^{(H) 11} He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or mother.^{(I) 12} He must not leave the sanctuary or he will desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him;^(J) I am the Lord.

¹³ “He is to marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴ He is not to marry a widow,^(K) a divorced woman,^(L) or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵ so that he does not corrupt his bloodline^[f] among his people, for I am the Lord who sets him apart.”