Leviticus 21
1 Yahweh also said to Moses/me, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them,
And YHWH says to Moses, “Speak to the priests, sons of Aaron, and you have said to them: No one defiles himself for a [dead] person among his people,
2 ‘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.
except for his relation who [is] near to him: for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
3 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].
and for his sister, the virgin, who is near to him, who has not been to a man; he is defiled for her.
4 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.
A master [priest] does not defile himself among his people—to defile himself;
5 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].
they do not make baldness on their head, and they do not shave the corner of their beard, and they do not make a cutting in their flesh;
6 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.
they are holy to their God, and they do not defile the Name of their God, for the fire-offerings of YHWH, bread of their God, they are bringing near, and have been holy.
7 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).
They do not take a woman of harlotry, or defiled, and they do not take a woman cast out from her husband, for he [is] holy to his God;
8 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.
and you have sanctified him, for he is bringing the bread of your God near. He is holy to you, for I, YHWH, sanctifying you, [am] holy.
9 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.
And when a daughter of any priest defiles herself by going whoring—she is defiling her father; she is burned with fire.
10 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].
And the high priest of his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who has consecrated his hand to put on the garments, does not uncover his head, nor tear his garments,
11 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.
nor does he come beside any dead person; he does not defile himself for his father and for his mother;
12 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].
nor does he go out from the sanctuary, nor does he defile the sanctuary of his God, for the separation of the anointing oil of his God [is] on him; I [am] YHWH.
13 Women whom you priests marry must be virgins.
And he takes a wife in her virginity;
14 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.’”
a widow, or cast out, or defiled, [or] a harlot—these he does not take, but he takes a virgin of his own people [for] a wife,
and he does not defile his seed among his people; for I [am] YHWH, sanctifying him.”
16 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,
And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
17 “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:
“Speak to Aaron, saying, No man of your seed throughout their generations in whom there is blemish draws near to bring the bread of his God near,
18 No one who is blind or lame or deformed, or whose [face is] disfigured,
for no man in whom [is] a blemish draws near: a man blind, or lame, or disfigured, or deformed,
19 no man with a crippled foot or a crippled hand,
or a man in whom there is a breach in the foot, or a breach in the hand,
20 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.
or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or [with] a defect in his eye, or [with] an itch, or [with] a scab, or [with] a broken testicle.
21 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.
No man in whom is blemish (of the seed of Aaron the priest) comes near to bring the fire-offerings of YHWH near; blemish [is] in him; he does not come near to bring the bread of his God near.
22 Priests who have defects are permitted to eat the various kinds of holy food offered to me.
Bread of his God—from the most holy things and from the holy things—he eats;
23 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.'”
only, he does not come toward the veil, and he does not draw near to the altar; for blemish [is] in him; and he does not defile My sanctuaries; for I [am] YHWH, sanctifying them.”
24 So Moses/I told this to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israeli people.
And Moses speaks to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel.
