Leviticus 21

1 The Lord also said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them: Do not allow a priest to be contaminated by the death of his citizens,

Yahweh also said to Moses/me, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them,

2 except only by his blood-relatives and near-relatives, that is, by a father or mother, or by a son or daughter, or also a brother,

‘You priests must not cause yourselves to become unfit to do my work by [touching] corpses. Priests are permitted to touch only the corpses of close relatives, such as the priest’s mother or father or his son or daughter or his brother.

3 or a virgin sister, who is not married to a husband.

Priests are also permitted to touch the corpse of a sister if she is not married, because she has no husband [to bury her body].

4 But not even by the leader of his people shall he be contaminated.

Priests must not cause themselves to become unfit to do my work [DOU] by [touching corpses of] people who were married to one of their close relatives.

5 Neither shall they shave their head or their beard, and they shall not make incisions in their flesh.

You priests must not shave your heads or shave the edges of your beards or cut your bodies [to show that you are mourning for someone who has died].

6 They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not pollute his name. For they offer the incense of the Lord and the bread of their God, and because of this they shall be holy.

You must act in ways that I, your God, consider to be holy, and not disgrace my name/reputation. You are the ones who present to me the offerings that are burned. [It is as though] those offerings are food for me, your God; so you must act in ways that are holy.

7 They shall not take as a wife a promiscuous woman, or a prostitute, or her who has been repudiated by her husband. For they are consecrated to their God,

You priests must not marry women who have been prostitutes or who have been divorced from their husbands, because you priests are (set apart for me/holy).

8 and they offer the bread of the presence. Therefore, let them be holy, for I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctifies them.

You must consider that you are holy, because you offer food to me, your God. Consider yourselves to be holy because I, Yahweh, [the one who caused you to be priests and] the one who enables you to be holy, am holy.

9 If the daughter of a priest will have been taken into prostitution, and will have violated the name of her father, she shall be consumed by fire.

If a priest’s daughter disgraces herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; and she must be killed by being burned in a fire.

10 The high priest, that is, the priest who is the greatest among his brothers, upon whose head the oil of anointing has been poured, and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood, and who has been vested with the holy vestments: he shall not expose his head; he shall not rend his vestments.

The Supreme Priest is the one among his relatives who has been [appointed for that work] by having his head anointed with olive oil. He is also the one who has been appointed to wear the special garments that priests wear. He must not allow the hair on his [head] to remain uncombed, and he must not tear his clothes [when he is mourning for someone].

11 And he shall not enter to any dead body whatsoever; likewise, not even by his father or mother shall he be contaminated.

He must not enter some place where there is a corpse. He must not do that and cause himself to become unfit for his work, even if it is his father or his mother who has died.

12 Neither shall he exit from the holy places, lest he pollute the Sanctuary of the Lord. For the oil of the holy anointing of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.

He must not leave the Sacred Tent [to join those who are mourning], because he would cause himself to become unfit for his work and would also defile/desecrate the Sacred Tent. He must not leave the Sacred Tent [at that time], because by being anointed with olive oil he has been (appointed/set apart) to serve his God [in the Sacred Tent]. I, Yahweh, [am the one who am commanding this].

13 He shall take a virgin as his wife.

Women whom you priests marry must be virgins.

14 But a widow, or one who has been repudiated or defiled, or also a mistress, he shall not accept, but only a maiden from among his own people.

You priests must not marry widows or prostitutes or divorced women, because if you did that, [if you later have] sons, they would not be acceptable to be priests among your people. You must marry only virgins from among your own people. I am Yahweh, who sets priests apart to be holy.’”

15 He shall not mingle the stock of his family with the common people of his nation. For I am the Lord, who sanctifies him.

16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

17 Say to Aaron: A man from your offspring, throughout their families, who has a blemish, shall not offer the bread to his God.

“Say this to Aaron: 'For all future time, none of your descendants who has any defects [on his body] will be allowed to come near [the altar] to offer [sacrifices to me which will be like] [MET] my food:

18 Neither shall he approach to minister to him: if he is blind, if he is lame, if he is small, or large, or has a crooked nose,

No one who is blind or lame or deformed, or whose [face is] disfigured,

19 if his foot or hand is broken,

no man with a crippled foot or a crippled hand,

20 if he has a bulging back or bleary eyes, or if he has a white spot in his eye, or a chronic scab, or a skin disease on his body, or a hernia.

no man who is a hunchback or a dwarf, no man whose eyes are defective, no man who has a skin disease [DOU] or whose testicles have been damaged is allowed to brings sacrifices.

21 Anyone from the offspring of Aaron, the priest, who has a blemish, shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor the bread to his God.

No descendant of Aaron, the [first Supreme] Priest, who has any defect is allowed to come to the altar to offer to me, his God, sacrifices that will be burned.

22 Nevertheless, he shall eat from the loaves which are offered in the Sanctuary.

Priests who have defects are permitted to eat the various kinds of holy food offered to me.

23 But even so, he may not enter within the veil, nor approach to the altar. For he has a blemish, and he must not contaminate my Sanctuary. I am the Lord, who sanctifies them.

But because of their defects, they must not go near the curtain [in the Sacred Tent] or near the altar, because if they did that, they would desecrate my Sacred Tent. I am Yahweh, the one who sets those places apart as being holy.'”

24 Therefore, Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all of Israel, everything that had been commanded to him.

So Moses/I told this to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israeli people.