21Leviticus 21

The Holiness of the Priests

1The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Aaronite priests, “No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies,Select Leviticus 21:1

2unless it is his mother, father, son, daughter, brother,Select Leviticus 21:2

3or unmarried sister living in his house.Select Leviticus 21:3

4He shall not make himself unclean at the death of those related to him by marriage.Select Leviticus 21:4

5“No priest shall shave any part of his head or trim his beard or cut gashes on his body to show that he is in mourning.Select Leviticus 21:5

6He must be holy and must not disgrace my name. He offers food offerings to me, and he must be holy.Select Leviticus 21:6

7A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or a woman who is not a virgin or who is divorced; he is holy.Select Leviticus 21:7

8The people must consider the priest holy, because he presents the food offerings to me. I am the Lord; I am holy and I make my people holy.Select Leviticus 21:8

9If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she shall be burned to death.Select Leviticus 21:9

10“The High Priest has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been consecrated to wear the priestly garments, so he must not leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothes to show that he is in mourning.Select Leviticus 21:10

12He has been dedicated to me and is not to make himself ritually unclean nor is he to defile my sacred Tent by leaving it and entering a house where there is a dead person, even if it is his own father or mother.Select Leviticus 21:12

13He shall marry a virgin,Select Leviticus 21:13

14not a widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been a prostitute. He shall marry only a virgin from his own clan.Select Leviticus 21:14

15Otherwise, his children, who ought to be holy, will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord and I have set him apart as the High Priest.”Select Leviticus 21:15

16The Lord commanded MosesSelect Leviticus 21:16

17to tell Aaron, “None of your descendants who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me. This applies for all time to come.Select Leviticus 21:17

18No man with any physical defects may make the offering: no one who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed;Select Leviticus 21:18

19no one with a crippled hand or foot;Select Leviticus 21:19

20no one who is a hunchback or a dwarf; no one with any eye or skin disease; and no eunuch.Select Leviticus 21:20

21No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me.Select Leviticus 21:21

22Such a man may eat the food offered to me, both the holy food offering and the very holy food offering,Select Leviticus 21:22

23but because he has a physical defect, he shall not come near the sacred curtain or approach the altar. He must not profane these holy things, because I am the Lord and I make them holy.”Select Leviticus 21:23

24This, then, is what Moses said to Aaron, the sons of Aaron, and to all the people of Israel.Select Leviticus 21:24