Leviticus 21:1-15

New King James Version

Regulations for Conduct of Priests^(A)

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ^(B)‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, 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, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. ⁴ Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a ^[a]chief man among his people, to profane himself.

^5 (C)‘They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh. ⁶ They shall be ^(D)holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the ^(E)bread of their God; ^(F)therefore they shall be holy. ^7 (G)They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman ^(H)divorced from her husband; for ^[b]the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ Therefore you shall ^[c]consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ^(I)I the Lord, who ^(J)sanctify you, am holy. ⁹ The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be ^(K)burned with fire.

¹⁰ ‘He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was ^(L)poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not ^(M)uncover^[d] his head nor tear his clothes; ¹¹ nor shall he go ^(N)near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; ^12 (O)nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the ^(P)consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. ¹³ And he shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴ A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. ¹⁵ Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the Lord sanctify him.’ ”