Leviticus - Chapter 21

¹ Yahweh said to Moses: 'Speak to the priests descended from Aaron and say: "None of them must make himself unclean by touching the corpse of one of his people,

² unless it be of one of his closest relations-father, mother, son, daughter, brother,

³ or virgin sister, since she being unmarried is still his close relation: he can make himself unclean for her;

⁴ but for a close female relation who is married he will not make himself unclean; he would profane himself.

⁵ "They will not make tonsures on their heads, shave the edges of their beards, or gash their bodies.

⁶ They will be consecrated to their God and will not profane the name of their God. For their function is to offer the food burnt for Yahweh, the food of their God, and so they must be holy.

⁷ "They will not marry a woman profaned by prostitution, or one divorced by her husband, for the priest is consecrated to his God.

⁸ "You will treat him as holy, for he offers the food of your God. For you, he will be a holy person, for I, Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.

⁹ "If a priest's daughter profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father and will be burnt alive.

¹⁰ "The priest who is pre-eminent over his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and who, robed in the sacred vestments, has received investiture, will not disorder his hair or tear his clothes;

¹¹ he will not go near any corpse or make himself unclean even for his father or mother.

¹² He will not leave the holy place in such a way as to profane the sanctuary of his God; for he bears the consecration of the anointing oil of his God. I am Yahweh.

¹³ "He will marry a woman who is still a virgin.

¹⁴ He will not marry a woman who has been widowed or divorced or profaned by prostitution, but will marry a virgin from his own people:

¹⁵ he must not make his own children profane, for I, Yahweh, have sanctified him." '

¹⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

¹⁷ 'Speak to Aaron and say: "None of your descendants, for all time, may come forward to offer the food of his God if he has any infirmity,

¹⁸ for none may come forward if he has an infirmity, be he blind or lame, disfigured or deformed,

¹⁹ or with an injured foot or arm,

²⁰ a hunchback, someone with rickets or ophthalmia or the scab or running sores, or a eunuch.

²¹ No descendant of the priest Aaron may come forward to offer the food burnt for Yahweh if he has any infirmity; if he has an infirmity, he will not come forward to offer the food of his God.

²² "He may eat the food of his God, things especially holy and things holy,

²³ but he will not go near the curtain or approach the altar, since he has an infirmity and must not profane my holy things; for I, Yahweh, have sanctified them." '

²⁴ And Moses promulgated this to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the Israelites.

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