Leviticus 21
21
The Holiness of the Priests
1The Lord said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives, # Nm 5:2-3; 6:6; 19:11-13; 31:19; Ezk 44:25 2except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. 3He may make himself unclean for his young unmarried sister in his immediate family. 4He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage # Lit unclean a husband among his people and so defile himself.
5“Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies. # Lv 19:27-28 6They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. # Ex 20:7; Lv 20:3; Jn 10:25 For they present the fire offerings to Yahweh, the food of their God, and they must be holy. 7They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution. # Or a prostitute or a defiled woman # Gn 34:31 They are not to marry one divorced # Dt 22:19,29; 24:1,3; Mal 2:16; Mt 1:19; 5:31-32; 19:3-9 by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8You are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, Yahweh who sets you apart, am holy. 9If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by promiscuity, # Or prostitution # Dt 22:21 she defiles her father; she must be burned up. # Gn 38:24; Lv 20:14; Jdg 15:6; Rv 17:16
10“The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained # Lit and one has filled his hand to wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair # Or not uncover his head or tear his garments. # Lv 10:6; Ezk 44:20; Mk 14:63 11He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or mother. # Ezk 44:25 12He must not leave the sanctuary or he will desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; # Lv 10:7 I am Yahweh.
13“He is to marry a woman who is a virgin. 14He is not to marry a widow, # Ex 22:22 a divorced woman, # Lv 21:7; 22:13; Nm 30:10; Ezk 44:22 or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people, 15so that he does not corrupt his bloodline # Lit not profane his seed among his people, for I am Yahweh who sets him apart.”
Physical Defects and Priests
16The Lord spoke to Moses: 17“Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect # Nm 19:2 is to come near to present the food # Lv 3:11 of his God. 18No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed; 19no man who has a broken foot or hand, 20or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, # Or or emaciated # Gn 41:3-4,6-7,23-24; Ex 16:14; Lv 13:30; 16:12; 1Kg 19:12; Is 29:5; 40:15,22 or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs, # Lv 22:22 or a crushed testicle. # Lv 22:24; Dt 23:1 21No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to present the fire offerings to the Lord. He has a defect and is not to come near to present the food of his God. 22He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy. 23But because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain # Mk 15:38; Heb 6:19 or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate My sanctuaries, for I am Yahweh who sets them apart.” # Ex 31:13; Lv 20:8; 21:8,15; 22:9,16,32; Ezk 20:12 24Moses said this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.
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Leviticus 21: HCSB
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Leviticus 21
21
Regulations Concerning Priests
1Then#Or “And” Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and say to them, ‘One must not make himself unclean for a dead person among his own people, 2except for his direct relative closest to him: his mother and his father, and his son and his daughter, and his brother, 3and for his sister, a virgin, who is closest to him, who has not had a husband#Literally “who is not for a man/husband”—for her he may defile himself. 4He must not make himself unclean as a kinsman by marriage,#Literally “a husband among his people” defiling himself.
5“ ‘And they shall not shave bald patches on their head, and they shall not shave off the corner of their beard, and they shall not make a cut in their body. 6They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, because they are bringing near the offerings made by fire to#Hebrew “of” Yahweh—their God’s food—and they shall be holy.
7“ ‘They shall not marry#Literally “take” a woman who is a prostitute and defiled, nor shall they marry#Literally “take” a woman divorced from her husband, because each priest#Hebrew “he”; singular antecedent specified from the context is holy for his God. 8And you shall consecrate him, because he is bringing near your God’s food; he shall be holy to you, since I, Yahweh, who consecrates you, am holy.
9“ ‘As for#Or “And” the daughter of any priest, if she is defiled by prostituting, she is disgracing her father—she shall be burned in the fire.
10“ ‘As for#Or “And” the priest who is higher than his brothers, on whose head the oil of anointment is poured and he was ordained#Literally “he has filled up his hand” to wear the garments, he shall not dishevel his head, and he shall not tear his garments. 11And he shall not go near any dead person, nor shall he make himself unclean for his father or#Or “and” for his mother. 12And he shall not go out from the sanctuary, and he shall not profane his God’s sanctuary, because the dedication of his God’s oil of anointment is on him; I am Yahweh.
13“ ‘And he himself must take a wife in her virginity. 14A widow or#Or “and” a divorced woman or#Or “and” a defiled woman, a prostitute—these he must not take; he shall take only#Or “instead” a virgin from his people as wife. 15And he shall not profane his offspring among his people, because I am Yahweh, who consecrates him.’ ”
16Then#Or “And” Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17“Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘A man from your offspring throughout their generations, in whom is a physical defect, shall not come near to present your God’s food. 18Indeed,#Or “For” any man in whom is a physical defect shall not come near: a blind man or lame or disfigured or deformed, 19or a man in whom is a broken foot or a broken hand, 20or a hunchback or a dwarf, or a spot in his eye or a skin disorder or a skin eruption or a crushed testicle. 21Any man from Aaron the priest’s offspring in whom is a physical defect shall not come near to present offerings made by fire to#Hebrew “of” Yahweh; a physical defect is in him; he shall not come near to present his God’s food. 22He may eat his God’s food, from the most holy things#Literally “the holy things of the holy things” and from the holy things. 23But he must not enter the curtain, and he must not come near to the altar, because a physical defect is in him, and he must not profane my sanctuary, because I am Yahweh, who consecrates them.’ ”
24Thus#Or “And” Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israelites.#Literally “sons/children of Israel”
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