Leviticus 22:1-16

International Children’s Bible

22 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons: ‘The people of Israel will give offerings to me. These offerings are holy, and they are mine. So you must respect these offerings. This will show that you respect my holy name. I am the Lord. ³ The people of Israel made the offerings holy for me. One of your descendants might be unclean and touch the offerings. From now on, anyone who does must be separated from appearing before me. I am the Lord.

⁴ “‘One of Aaron’s descendants might have one of the harmful skin diseases. Or he might discharge a body fluid. He cannot eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean. He can become unclean from touching a dead body or from his own semen.^{[a] 5} He will become unclean if he touches any unclean crawling animal. He will become unclean if he touches an unclean person. It doesn’t matter what made him unclean. ⁶ Anyone who touches those things will become unclean until evening. That person must not eat the holy offerings. But if he washes with water, he may eat the holy offerings. ⁷ He will be clean only after the sun goes down. Then he may eat the holy offerings. The offerings are his food.

⁸ “‘A priest might find an animal that died by itself. Or he might find one that was killed by some other animal. He must not eat that dead animal. If he eats it, he will become unclean. I am the Lord.

⁹ “‘The priests must keep all the rules I have given. That way they will not become guilty. If they are careful, they will not die. I am the Lord. I have made them holy. ¹⁰ Only people in a priest’s family may eat the holy offerings. A visitor staying with the priest must not eat it. A hired worker must not eat it. ¹¹ But the priest might buy a slave with his own money. If he does, that slave may eat the holy offerings. Slaves who were born in the priest’s house may also eat the priest’s food. ¹² A priest’s daughter might marry a person who is not a priest. If she does, she must not eat any of the holy offerings. ¹³ The husband of a priest’s daughter might die. Or the daughter might become divorced. She might not have children to support her. So she might go back to her father’s house where she lived as a child. If this happens, she may eat some of her father’s food. But only people from a priest’s family may eat this food.

¹⁴ “‘Someone might eat some of the holy offering by mistake. That person must pay back the priest for that holy food. He must also pay the priest another one-fifth of the price of that food.

¹⁵ “‘The people of Israel will give offerings to the Lord. These gifts become holy. So the priest must not treat these holy things as though they were not holy. ¹⁶ The priests might allow someone who is not a priest to eat the holy offerings. If they do, they are treating those offerings as though they were not holy. The person who eats will become guilty. He will have to pay for it. I am the Lord. I make them holy.’”