Leviticus 21

1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:

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

2 But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his 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 And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which has had no husband; for her may he be defiled.

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 he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.

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 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings 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 unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore 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 a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his 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 You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God: he shall be holy unto you: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.

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 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profanes her father: she shall be burnt with 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 And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;

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 Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;

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 go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil 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 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.

Women whom you priests marry must be virgins.

14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.

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 Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.

16 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of 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 For whatsoever man he be that has a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that has a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,

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

19 Or a man that is broken footed, or broken handed,

no man with a crippled foot or a crippled hand,

20 Or crooked back, or a dwarf, or that has a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or has his stones broken;

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 No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of 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 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.

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

23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he has a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify 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 And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.

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