Levítico 21

Holiness and the Priests

1 And the Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, *Ezek. 44:25No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5 *Ezek. 44:20;[ch. 19:27, 28;Deut. 14:1]They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6 They shall be holy to their God and *See ch. 18:21not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, *See ch. 3:11the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 *ver. 13, 14;Ezek. 44:22They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman *See Deut. 24:1-4divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for *ch. 22:9,16I, the Lord, who sanctify you, *See ch. 11:44am holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; *[Gen. 38:24]she shall be burned with fire.

10 *ch. 8:12;16:32;Ex. 29:29,30;Num. 35:25"The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, *ch. 10:6shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11 He shall not *Num. 19:14;[ver. 1, 2]go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 *ch. 10:7He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he *ver. 23profane the sanctuary of his God, for the *[ch. 8:9,12,30]consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.*21:13 Or a young wife14 A widow, *ver. 7;Ezek. 44:22or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin*21:14 Hebrew young woman of his own people, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for *[See ver. 8above]I am the Lord who sanctifies him."

16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 "Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may *ch. 10:3;[Num. 16:5;Ps. 65:4]approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man *ch. 22:22blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face *[ch. 22:23]or a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a *[See ver. 18above] defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or *[Deut. 23:1]crushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to *ver. 6offer the Lord’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of *ch. 2:3,10;6:17,25;7:1;10:12,17;14:13;24:9;Num. 18:9the most holy and of the *ch. 22:10,12holy things, 23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not *ver. 12profane my sanctuaries,*21:23 Or my holy precincts*ch. 22:9,16for I am the Lord who sanctifies them." 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.