Leviticus 21
21
Holiness and the Priests
1And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, #Ezek. 44:25No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5#Ezek. 44:20; [ch. 19:27, 28; Deut. 14:1]They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6They shall be holy to their God and #See ch. 18:21 not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, #See ch. 3:11the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7#ver. 13, 14; Ezek. 44:22 They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman #See Deut. 24:1-4divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for #ch. 22:9, 16 I, the Lord, who sanctify you, #See ch. 11:44am holy. 9And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; #[Gen. 38:24]she shall be burned with fire.
10 # ch. 8:12; 16:32; Ex. 29:29, 30; Num. 35:25 “The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, #ch. 10:6shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11He shall not #Num. 19:14; [ver. 1, 2]go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12#ch. 10:7 He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he #ver. 23 profane the sanctuary of his God, for the #[ch. 8:9, 12, 30]consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. 13And he shall take a wife in her virginity.#21:13 Or a young wife 14A widow, #ver. 7; Ezek. 44:22or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin#21:14 Hebrew young woman of his own people, 15that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for #[See ver. 8 above]I am the Lord who sanctifies him.”
16And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17“Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may #ch. 10:3; [Num. 16:5; Ps. 65:4]approach to offer the bread of his God. 18For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man #ch. 22:22 blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face #[ch. 22:23]or a limb too long, 19or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a #[See ver. 18 above] defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or #[Deut. 23:1]crushed testicles. 21No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to #ver. 6offer the Lord’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22He may eat the bread of his God, both of #ch. 2:3, 10; 6:17, 25; 7:1; 10:12, 17; 14:13; 24:9; Num. 18:9 the most holy and of the #ch. 22:10, 12holy things, 23but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not #ver. 12 profane my sanctuaries,#21:23 Or my holy precincts #ch. 22:9, 16for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” 24So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.
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Leviticus 21
21
Instructions for Priests
1The Lord gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests:
Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative, 2except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother, 3or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her. 4Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage.#21.4 marriage: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 4. 5#Lv 19.27,28; Dt 14.1. Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning. 6I am the Lord your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That's why you must keep yourselves holy. 7Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy, 8because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness.
9If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death.
10If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead. 11Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother. 12If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest.
13If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin 14from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute. 15In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember—I am the Lord, and I have chosen you.
16The Lord told Moses 17-18to say to Aaron:
No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other, 19if either a foot or a hand is paralyzed, 20if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged. 21These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me. 22They may eat the food offerings presented to me, 23but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember—I am the Lord, the one who makes a priest holy.
24Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.
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