< Leviticus 21 >

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt tell them [that] they shall not defile themselves in their nation for the dead,
Yahweh said to Moses: “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'No one among you shall make himself unclean for those who die among his people,
2 but [they may mourn] for a relative who is very near to them, for a father and mother, and sons and daughters, for a brother,
except for his closest relatives—his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,
3 and for a virgin sister that is near to one, that is not espoused to a man; for these one shall defile himself.
or his virgin sister who is dependent on him, since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean.
4 He shall not defile himself suddenly among his people to profane himself.
But he must not make himself unclean for other relatives and so defile himself.
5 And ye shall not shave your head for the dead with a baldness on the top; and they shall not shave their beard, neither shall they make gashes on their flesh.
Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the corners of their beards, nor cut their bodies.
6 They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God; for they offer the sacrifices of the Lord as the gifts of their God, and they shall be holy.
They must be holy to their God and not disgrace the name of their God, because the priests offer Yahweh's food offerings, the bread of their God. Therefore the priests must be holy.
7 They shall not take a woman who is a harlot and profaned, or a woman put away from her husband; for he is holy to the Lord his God.
They must not marry any woman who is a prostitute and who is defiled, and they must not marry a woman divorced from her husband, for they are separate for their God.
8 And thou shalt hallow him; he offers the gifts of the Lord your God: he shall be holy, for I the Lord that sanctify them [am] holy.
You will set him apart, for he is the one who offers bread to your God. He must be holy to you, because I, Yahweh who makes you holy, am holy.
9 And if the daughter of a priest should be profaned to go a whoring, she profanes the name of her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
Any daughter of any priest who defiles herself by becoming a prostitute disgraces her father. She must be burned.
10 And the priest that is chief among his brethren, the oil having been poured upon the head of the anointed one, and he having been consecrated to put on the garments, shall not take the mitre off his head, and shall not rend his garments:
The one who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and who has been consecrated to wear the special garments of the high priest, must not wear his hair loose or tear his clothes.
11 neither shall he go in to any dead body, neither shall he defile himself for his father or his mother.
He must not go anywhere that a dead body is present and defile himself, even for his father or his mother.
12 And he shall not go forth out of the sanctuary, and he shall not profane the sanctuary of his God, because the holy anointing oil of God [is] upon him: I [am] the Lord.
The high priest must not leave the sanctuary area of the tabernacle or profane the sanctuary of his God, because he has been consecrated as high priest by the anointing oil of his God. I am Yahweh.
13 He shall take for a wife a virgin of his own tribe.
The high priest must marry a virgin as his wife.
14 But a widow, or one that is put away, or profaned, or a harlot, these he shall not take; but he shall take for a wife a virgin of his own people.
He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman who is a prostitute. He will not marry these kinds of women. He may only marry a virgin from his own people,
15 And he shall not profane his seed among his people: I [am] the Lord that sanctifies him.
so he will not defile his children among his people, for I am Yahweh, who makes him holy.'”
16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
17 Say to Aaron, A man of thy tribe throughout your generations, who shall have a blemish on him, shall not draw nigh to offer the gifts of his God.
“Speak to Aaron and tell him, 'Whoever of your descendants throughout their generations has a bodily defect, he must not approach to offer the food to his God.
18 No man who has a blemish on him shall draw nigh; a man blind, lame, with his nose disfigured, or his ears cut,
Any man who has a bodily defect must not approach Yahweh, such as a blind man or a man who is unable to walk, one who is disfigured or deformed,
19 a man who has a broken hand or a broken foot,
a man with a crippled hand or foot,
20 or hump-backed, or blear-eyed, or that has lost his eye-lashes, or a man who has a malignant ulcer, or tetter, or one that has lost a testicle.
a man who has a hump in his back or is abnormally thin or short, or a man with a defect in his eyes, or with a disease, sore, scabs, or whose testicles have been crushed.
21 Whoever of the seed of Aaron the priest has a blemish on him, shall not draw nigh to offer sacrifices to thy God, because he has a blemish on him; he shall not draw nigh to offer the gifts of God.
No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest with a bodily defect may come near to perform the offerings made by fire for Yahweh. Such a man has a bodily defect; he must not come near to offer the bread of his God.
22 The gifts of God [are] most holy, and he shall eat of the holy things.
He may eat the food of his God, whether some of the most holy or some of the holy.
23 Only he shall not approach the veil, and he shall not draw nigh to the altar, because he has a blemish; and he shall not profane the sanctuary of his God, for I am the Lord that sanctifies them.
However, he must not enter inside the curtain or come near the altar, because he has a bodily defect, so that he does not defile my holy place, for I am Yahweh, who makes them holy.'”
24 And Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel.
So Moses spoke these words to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the people of Israel.

< Leviticus 21 >