Leviticus 22:1-16

GOD’S WORD Translation

Eating the Priests’ Share of the Sacrifice

22 The Lord spoke to Moses, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons that they must respect the holy offerings which the Israelites set apart for me. In this way they will not dishonor my holy name. I am the Lord.

³ “Tell them: In future generations if any of your descendants, while unclean, comes near the holy offerings the Israelites set apart for the Lord, that person must be excluded from my presence. I am the Lord.

⁴ “No descendant of Aaron who has a skin disease or a discharge may eat any of the holy offerings until he is clean. Any person who has an emission of semen or touches a dead body, ⁵ an unclean swarming creature or an unclean person ⁶ will be unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy offerings unless he has washed himself. ⁷ When the sun has set, he will be clean. Then he may eat the holy offerings because they are his food. ⁸ He must never eat the meat of an animal that dies naturally or is killed by wild animals. It will make him unclean. I am the Lord. ⁹ The priests must do what I order, or their sin will bring them death because they dishonored a holy offering. I am the Lord, who sets them apart as holy.

¹⁰ “Laypeople must never eat any holy offering, even if they are visiting a priest or are working for him. ¹¹ But if a priest buys a slave, the slave and anyone born in his household may eat the priest’s food. ¹² However, if a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she must never eat the food taken from the holy contributions. ¹³ If a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced, doesn’t have any children, and comes back to live in her father’s home, she may eat her father’s food. But a layperson must never eat it.

¹⁴ “Those who eat a holy offering by mistake must give another holy offering to the priest and add one-fifth more to it. ¹⁵ Priests must not dishonor the holy offerings that the Israelites contribute to the Lord. ¹⁶ They must make those people pay the penalty for their guilt because they have eaten the priests’ holy offerings. I am the Lord, who sets them apart as holy.”