Leviticus 21

Holiness and the Priests

1And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, aNo 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 bThey 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 cnot profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, dthe bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 eThey shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman fdivorced 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 gI, the Lord, who sanctify you, ham holy. 9And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ishe shall be burned with fire.

10 j“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, kshall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11He shall not lgo in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 mHe shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he nprofane the sanctuary of his God, for the oconsecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. 13And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
Or a young wife
14A widow, qor 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
Hebrew young woman
of his own people,
15that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for sI am the Lord who sanctifies him.”

16And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may tapproach to offer the bread of his God. 18For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man ublind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face vor 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 wdefect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or xcrushed testicles. 21No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to yoffer 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 zthe most holy and of the aaholy things, 23but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not abprofane my sanctuaries, acfor 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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