Leviticus 21:1-24
21 Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “Talk to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and say to them, ‘No one should defile himself for a dead person* among his people.+
2 But he may do so for a close blood relative, for his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,
3 and he may defile himself for his sister if she is a virgin who is near to him and has not yet married.
4 He may not defile himself and make himself profane for a woman who belongs to a husband of his people.
5 They should not make their heads bald+ or shave off the fringe of their beard or make cuts on their body.+
6 They should be holy to their God,+ and they should not profane the name of their God,+ for they are presenting Jehovah’s offerings made by fire, the bread* of their God, and they must be holy.+
7 They should not marry a prostitute,+ a woman who has been defiled, or a woman divorced from her husband,+ because the priest is holy to his God.
8 You must sanctify him,+ because he is one presenting the bread of your God. He should be holy to you, because I, Jehovah, the one sanctifying you, am holy.+
9 “‘Now if the daughter of a priest should profane herself by committing prostitution, she is profaning her father. She should be burned in the fire.+
10 “‘The high priest of his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured+ and who has been installed* to wear the priestly garments,+ should not let his head go ungroomed or tear his garments.+
11 He should not approach any dead person;*+ he may not defile himself even for his father or his mother.
12 He should not go out from the sanctuary and should not profane the sanctuary of his God,+ for the sign of dedication, the anointing oil of his God,+ is upon him. I am Jehovah.
13 “‘He must take as a wife a woman who is a virgin.+
14 He may not marry a widow, a divorced woman, one who has been defiled, or a prostitute; but he should take a virgin from his people as a wife.
15 He should not profane his offspring* among his people,+ for I am Jehovah, who is sanctifying him.’”
16 Jehovah continued to speak to Moses, saying:
17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man of your offspring* throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to present the bread of his God.
18 If there is any man who has a defect, he may not approach: a man who is blind or lame or has a disfigured face* or one limb too long,
19 a man with a fractured foot or a fractured hand,
20 a hunchback or a dwarf,* or a man with an eye defect or eczema or ringworm or damaged testicles.+
21 No man of the offspring* of Aaron the priest who has a defect may approach to present Jehovah’s offerings made by fire. Because he has a defect, he may not approach to present the bread of his God.
22 He may eat the bread of his God from the most holy things+ and from the holy things.+
23 However, he may not come near the curtain,+ and he may not approach the altar,+ because there is a defect in him; and he should not profane my sanctuary,+ for I am Jehovah, who is sanctifying them.’”+
24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites.
Footnotes
^ Or “for a soul.”
^ Or “food,” referring to sacrifices.
^ Lit., “whose hand was filled.”
^ Or “any dead soul.” The Hebrew word neʹphesh is here connected to a Hebrew word meaning “dead.”
^ Lit., “seed.”
^ Lit., “seed.”
^ Lit., “or with his nose slit.”
^ Or possibly, “emaciated.”
^ Lit., “seed.”
