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Leviticus 21-22

Chapter 21

Sanctity of the Priesthood. ¹^[a]The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and tell them: None of you shall make himself unclean for any dead person among his kindred,^(A) ²except for his nearest relatives, his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother^(B) ³or his unmarried sister, who is of his own family while she remains single; for these he may make himself unclean. ⁴But as a husband among his kindred^[b] he shall not make himself unclean and thus profane himself.

⁵The priests shall not make bald the crown of their head, nor shave the edges of their beard, nor lacerate their body.^(C) ⁶They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane their God’s name, since they offer the oblations of the Lord, the food of their God; so they must be holy.

⁷^[c]A priest shall not marry a woman debased by prostitution, nor a woman who has been divorced by her husband; for the priest is holy to his God.^(D) ⁸Honor him as holy for he offers the food^(E) of your God; he shall be holy to you, because I, the Lord, am holy who make you holy.

⁹If a priest’s daughter debases herself by prostitution, she thereby debases her father; she shall be burned with fire.^(F)

¹⁰The most exalted of the priests, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the special vestments, shall not dishevel his hair or rend his garments, ¹¹nor shall he go near any dead person.^(G) Not even for his father or mother may he thus become unclean; ¹²nor shall he leave the sanctuary and profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him.^(H) I am the Lord.

¹³He shall marry only a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴He shall not marry a widow or a woman who has been divorced or one who has been debased by prostitution, but only a virgin, taken from his kindred, he shall marry,^(I) ¹⁵so that he not profane his offspring among his kindred. I, the Lord, make him holy.

Priestly Blemishes.^[d] ¹⁶The Lord said to Moses: ¹⁷Say to Aaron: None of your descendants, throughout their generations, who has any blemish shall come forward to offer the food of his God. ¹⁸Anyone who has any of the following blemishes may not come forward:^(J) he who is blind, or lame, or who has a split lip, or a limb too long, ¹⁹or a broken leg or arm, ²⁰or who is a hunchback or dwarf or has a growth in the eye, or who is afflicted with sores, scabs, or crushed testicles. ²¹No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any such blemish may draw near to offer the oblations of the Lord; on account of his blemish he may not draw near to offer the food of his God. ²²He may, however, eat the food of his God: of the most sacred as well as sacred offerings.^(K) ²³Only, he may not enter through the veil nor draw near to the altar on account of his blemish; he shall not profane my sacred precincts, for it is I, the Lord, who make them holy.

²⁴Moses, therefore, told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Chapter 22

Priestly Purity.^[e] ¹The Lord said to Moses: ²Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings which the Israelites consecrate to me; otherwise they will profane my holy name. I am the Lord.

³^[f]Tell them: If any one of you, or of your descendants in any future generation, dares, while he is in a state of uncleanness, to draw near the sacred offerings which the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, such a one shall be cut off from my presence.^(L) I am the Lord.

⁴No descendant of Aaron who is stricken with a scaly infection,^(M) or who suffers from a genital discharge,^(N) may eat of the sacred offerings, until he again becomes clean. Moreover, if anyone touches a person who has become unclean by contact with a corpse,^(O) or if anyone has had an emission of semen,^(P) ⁵or if anyone touches any swarming creature^(Q) whose uncleanness is contagious or any person whose uncleanness, of whatever kind it may be, is contagious—^(R) ⁶the one who touches such as these shall be unclean until evening and may not eat of the sacred portions until he has first bathed his body in water.^(S) ⁷Then, when the sun sets, he shall be clean.^(T) Only then may he eat of the sacred offerings, for they are his food. ⁸^[g]He shall not make himself unclean by eating of any animal that has died of itself or has been killed by wild beasts.^(U) I am the Lord.

⁹They shall keep my charge so that they will not bear the punishment in this matter and die^(V) for their profanation. I am the Lord who makes them holy.

¹⁰Neither an unauthorized person nor a priest’s tenant or laborer may eat of any sacred offering.^(W) ¹¹But a slave^[h] whom a priest acquires by purchase or who is born in his house may eat of his food. ¹²^[i]A priest’s daughter who is married to an unauthorized person may not eat of the sacred contributions. ¹³But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and, having no children, returns to her father’s house, she may then eat of her father’s food as in her youth. No unauthorized person, however, may eat of it. ¹⁴^(X)If such a one eats of a sacred offering through inadvertence, that person shall make restitution to the priest for the sacred offering, with an increment of one fifth of the amount. ¹⁵The priests shall not allow the sacred offerings which the Israelites contribute to the Lord to be profaned^(Y) ¹⁶nor make them incur a penalty when they eat their sacred offerings. For I, the Lord, make them holy.

Unacceptable Victims. ¹⁷^[j]The Lord said to Moses: ¹⁸Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites, and tell them: When anyone of the house of Israel, or any alien residing in Israel, who presents an offering, brings a burnt offering^(Z) as a votive offering or as a voluntary offering to the Lord, ¹⁹if it is to be acceptable for you, it must be an unblemished male of the herd, of the sheep or of the goats.^(AA) ²⁰You shall not offer one that has any blemish, for such a one would not be acceptable on your behalf.^(AB) ²¹When anyone presents a communion sacrifice^(AC) to the Lord from the herd or the flock in fulfillment of a vow, or as a voluntary offering, if it is to find acceptance, it must be unblemished; it shall not have any blemish. ²²One that is blind or lame or maimed, or one that has running lesions or sores or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord; do not put such an animal on the altar as an oblation to the Lord. ²³^[k]An ox or a sheep that has a leg that is too long or is stunted you may indeed present as a voluntary offering, but it will not be acceptable as a votive offering. ²⁴One that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn out or cut off you shall not offer to the Lord. You shall neither do this in your own land ²⁵nor receive from a foreigner any such animals to offer up as the food of your God; since they are deformed or blemished, they will not be acceptable on your behalf.

²⁶^[l]The Lord said to Moses: ²⁷When an ox or a lamb or a goat is born, it shall remain with its mother for seven days; only from the eighth day onward will it be acceptable, to be offered as an oblation to the Lord.^(AD) ²⁸You shall not slaughter an ox or a sheep on one and the same day with its young. ²⁹Whenever you offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord, so offer it that it may be acceptable on your behalf; ³⁰it must be eaten on the same day; none of it shall be left over until morning.^(AE) I am the Lord.

³¹Be careful to observe my commandments. I am the Lord. ³²Do not profane my holy name, that in the midst of the Israelites I may be hallowed. I, the Lord, make you holy, ³³who led you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.

Footnotes

21:1–12 While off duty the regular priests are not to become corpse-contaminated except for the close relatives listed in vv. 2–3. While on duty they presumably could not become impure at all. The high priest is restricted from all corpse contamination, on or off duty (vv. 11–12). Lay Israelites are not restricted from corpse contamination, except when in contact with what is holy (cf. Dt 26:14). See note on Lv 11:39–40. Israelites who undertake a nazirite vow enter into a sanctified state and cannot contact corpses (Nm 6:6–12). Cf. Ez 44:25–27.
21:4 Husband among his kindred: this probably refers to relatives by marriage and may even include his wife.
21:7 The ideal seems to be that a priest marry a virgin. This is explicitly stated for the high priest (cf. vv. 13–14; so also Ez 44:22, except there priests may marry widows of priests). The high priest has the added limitation that his wife must come from his kindred, i.e., the priestly family (cf. Ez 44:22).
21:16–23 Though priests with certain bodily imperfections cannot serve at the altar (vv. 18–20), they are not impure, since they may still eat of the offerings, which are holy, and do so within the sanctuary precincts since it is there the most holy offerings are to be eaten (v. 22).
22:1–16 While priests with bodily imperfections may eat the holy sacrifices (21:16–23), those impure and those not of the priestly household may not.
22:3–8 On uncleanness, see chaps. 11–15 and notes there.
22:8 See note on 11:39–40.
22:11 Slave: in contrast to the tenant or hired worker of v. 10, the slave, who is by definition a foreigner, is part of the priest’s household and therefore may eat of sacrifices.
22:12–13 A priest’s daughter, when a dependent of her father, may eat of the lesser holy offerings.
22:17–25 This passage complements the section on the bodily imperfections of priests in 21:16–23. The laws taken together indicate that whoever and whatever approaches and contacts the altar needs to be physically unimpaired.
22:23 Burnt offerings and communion sacrifices brought as voluntary offerings may have slight defects, probably because they are freely given and do not depend upon a prior promise as do votive offerings.
22:26–30 Other activities and procedures that would impair sacrifice are appended here. The rules in vv. 27–28 are reminiscent of the rule not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk (Ex 23:19; 34:26; Dt 14:21) and not to take a bird and its eggs (Dt 22:6–7), all of which have a humanitarian tenor.

Matthew 28

Chapter 28^[a]

The Resurrection of Jesus. ¹^(A)After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning,^[b] Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ²^[c]^(B)And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. ³^(C)His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. ⁴The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. ⁵Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. ⁶^[d]He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷^(D)Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” ⁸Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce^[e] this to his disciples. ⁹^[f]^(E)And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

The Report of the Guard.^[g] ¹¹While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. ¹²They assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, ¹³telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy [him] and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present [day].

The Commissioning of the Disciples.^[h] ¹⁶^(F)The eleven^[i] disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. ¹⁷^[j]When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. ¹⁸^[k]^(G)Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹^(H)Go, therefore,^[l] and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, ²⁰^(I)teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.^[m] And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Footnotes

28:1–20 Except for Mt 28:1–8 based on Mk 16:1–8, the material of this final chapter is peculiar to Matthew. Even where he follows Mark, Matthew has altered his source so greatly that a very different impression is given from that of the Marcan account. The two points that are common to the resurrection testimony of all the gospels are that the tomb of Jesus had been found empty and that the risen Jesus had appeared to certain persons, or, in the original form of Mark, that such an appearance was promised as soon to take place (see Mk 16:7). On this central and all-important basis, Matthew has constructed an account that interprets the resurrection as the turning of the ages (Mt 28:2–4), shows the Jewish opposition to Jesus as continuing to the present in the claim that the resurrection is a deception perpetrated by the disciples who stole his body from the tomb (Mt 28:11–15), and marks a new stage in the mission of the disciples once limited to Israel (Mt 10:5–6); now they are to make disciples of all nations. In this work they will be strengthened by the presence of the exalted Son of Man, who will be with them until the kingdom comes in fullness at the end of the age (Mt 28:16–20).
28:1 After the sabbath…dawning: since the sabbath ended at sunset, this could mean in the early evening, for dawning can refer to the appearance of the evening star; cf. Lk 23:54. However, it is probable that Matthew means the morning dawn of the day after the sabbath, as in the similar though slightly different text of Mark, “when the sun had risen” (Mk 16:2). Mary Magdalene and the other Mary: see notes on Mt 27:55–56; 57–61. To see the tomb: cf. Mk 16:1–2 where the purpose of the women’s visit is to anoint Jesus’ body.
28:2–4 Peculiar to Matthew. A great earthquake: see note on Mt 27:51–53. Descended from heaven: this trait is peculiar to Matthew, although his interpretation of the “young man” of his Marcan source (Mk 16:5) as an angel is probably true to Mark’s intention; cf. Lk 24:23 where the “two men” of Mt 24:4 are said to be “angels.” Rolled back the stone…upon it: not to allow the risen Jesus to leave the tomb but to make evident that the tomb is empty (see Mt 24:6). Unlike the apocryphal Gospel of Peter (9:35—11:44), the New Testament does not describe the resurrection of Jesus, nor is there anyone who sees it. His appearance was like lightning…snow: see note on Mt 17:2.
28:6–7 Cf. Mk 16:6–7. Just as he said: a Matthean addition referring to Jesus’ predictions of his resurrection, e.g., Mt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19. Tell his disciples: like the angel of the Lord of the infancy narrative, the angel interprets a fact and gives a commandment about what is to be done; cf. Mt 1:20–21. Matthew omits Mark’s “and Peter” (Mk 16:7); considering his interest in Peter, this omission is curious. Perhaps the reason is that the Marcan text may allude to a first appearance of Jesus to Peter alone (cf. 1 Cor 15:5; Lk 24:34) which Matthew has already incorporated into his account of Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi; see note on Mt 16:16. He is going…Galilee: like Mk 16:7, a reference to Jesus’ prediction at the Last Supper (Mt 26:32; Mk 14:28). Matthew changes Mark’s “as he told you” to a declaration of the angel.
28:8 Contrast Mk 16:8 where the women in their fear “said nothing to anyone.”
28:9–10 Although these verses are peculiar to Matthew, there are similarities between them and John’s account of the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene (Jn 20:17). In both there is a touching of Jesus’ body, and a command of Jesus to bear a message to his disciples, designated as his brothers. Matthew may have drawn upon a tradition that appears in a different form in John. Jesus’ words to the women are mainly a repetition of those of the angel (Mt 28:5a, 7b).
28:11–15 This account indicates that the dispute between Christians and Jews about the empty tomb was not whether the tomb was empty but why.
28:16–20 This climactic scene has been called a “proleptic parousia,” for it gives a foretaste of the final glorious coming of the Son of Man (Mt 26:64). Then his triumph will be manifest to all; now it is revealed only to the disciples, who are commissioned to announce it to all nations and bring them to belief in Jesus and obedience to his commandments.
28:16 The eleven: the number recalls the tragic defection of Judas Iscariot. To the mountain…ordered them: since the message to the disciples was simply that they were to go to Galilee (Mt 28:10), some think that the mountain comes from a tradition of the message known to Matthew and alluded to here. For the significance of the mountain, see note on Mt 17:1.
28:17 But they doubted: the Greek can also be translated, “but some doubted.” The verb occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Mt 14:31 where it is associated with Peter’s being of “little faith.” For the meaning of that designation, see note on Mt 6:30.
28:18 All power…me: the Greek word here translated power is the same as that found in the LXX translation of Dn 7:13–14 where one “like a son of man” is given power and an everlasting kingdom by God. The risen Jesus here claims universal power, i.e., in heaven and on earth.
28:19 Therefore: since universal power belongs to the risen Jesus (Mt 28:18), he gives the eleven a mission that is universal. They are to make disciples of all nations. While all nations is understood by some scholars as referring only to all Gentiles, it is probable that it included the Jews as well. Baptizing them: baptism is the means of entrance into the community of the risen one, the Church. In the name of the Father…holy Spirit: this is perhaps the clearest expression in the New Testament of trinitarian belief. It may have been the baptismal formula of Matthew’s church, but primarily it designates the effect of baptism, the union of the one baptized with the Father, Son, and holy Spirit.
28:20 All that I have commanded you: the moral teaching found in this gospel, preeminently that of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5–7). The commandments of Jesus are the standard of Christian conduct, not the Mosaic law as such, even though some of the Mosaic commandments have now been invested with the authority of Jesus. Behold, I am with you always: the promise of Jesus’ real though invisible presence echoes the name Emmanuel given to him in the infancy narrative; see note on Mt 1:23. End of the age: see notes on Mt 13:39 and Mt 24:3.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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