16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘None of your [a]descendants throughout their generations who has an impairment shall approach to offer the (A)food of his God. 18 (B)For no one who has an impairment shall approach: a man who is blind, or one who limps, or one who has a (C)slit nose, or one with any conspicuous feature, 19 or someone who has a broken foot or broken hand, 20 or a contorted back, or one who is a dwarf, or has a spot in his eye, or a festering rash or scabs, or (D)crushed testicles. 21 No man among the [b]descendants of Aaron the priest who has an impairment is to come forward to offer the Lords offerings by fire; since he has an impairment, he shall not come forward to offer (E)the food of his God. 22 He may eat (F)the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, 23 only he shall not come up to the veil or approach the altar, since he has an impairment, so that he does not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 21:17 Lit seed
  2. Leviticus 21:21 Lit seed

16 Then the Lord said to Moses, 17 “Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God. 18 No one who has a defect qualifies, whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, 19 or has a broken foot or arm, 20 or is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores or scabs, or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the Lord. Since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God. 22 However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and the most holy offerings. 23 Yet because of his physical defect, he may not enter the room behind the inner curtain or approach the altar, for this would defile my holy places. I am the Lord who makes them holy.”

24 So Moses gave these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

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