Leviticus 21

1 YHWH said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'A priest shall not defile himself 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 except for his relatives that are near to him: for his mother, for his father, for his son, for his daughter, 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 virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.

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 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 shave their heads, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beards, 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 to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of YHWH made by fire, the bread of their God; 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 marry a woman who is a prostitute, or profane; neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband: for he is holy to 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 to you: for I YHWH, who 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 "'The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the prostitute, she profanes her father: she shall be burned 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 "'He who is the high priest among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose, nor tear 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 YHWH.

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 wife in her virginity.

Women whom you priests marry must be virgins.

14 A widow, or one divorced, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry: but a virgin of his own people shall he take as a 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 He shall not profane his offspring among his people: for I am YHWH who sanctifies him.'"

16 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

17 "Say to Aaron, 'None of your descendants throughout their generations who has a blemish, may 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 whatever man he is that has a blemish, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or any deformity,

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

19 or a man who has an injured foot, or an injured hand,

no man with a crippled foot or a crippled hand,

20 or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye, or an itching disease, or scabs, or who has damaged testicles;

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 of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a blemish, shall come near to present offerings to your God made by fire. Since he has a blemish, he shall not come near 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 He shall not come near to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a blemish; that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am YHWH 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 So Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

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