Old Testament · Law

Leviticus chapter 21

Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell the —Aaron’s sons—this: A priest must not make himself by contact with a dead person among his people,except for his closest blood relatives—his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother,or an unmarried sister who is still close to him because she has no husband—for her he may allow himself to become contaminated.He must not make himself ritually unfit as a among his people and so dishonor himself.Priests must not on their heads, trim the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their skin.They must be for their God, and they must not drag down the name of their God. Because they are the ones who present Yahweh’s , the food of their God, they must be set apart.They must not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or who has been , and they must not marry a woman divorced from her husband, because the priest is set apart for his God.You must treat him as , because he presents the food of your God. He must be set apart to you, because I, Yahweh, the one who sets you apart, am set apart.If a priest’s daughter by becoming a prostitute, she dishonors her father. She must be burned with fire.“The —the one among his brothers who has had the poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments—must not let his hair hang loose or tear his clothes.He must not go near any dead body. He must not make himself ritually contaminated even for his father or mother.He must not leave , and he must not treat the place kept for his God as ordinary, because the of his God’s anointing oil is on him. I am Yahweh.He must marry a woman who has .He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, a woman who has been dishonored, or a prostitute. He may only marry a woman from his own people who has never been with a man,so that he does not dishonor his children among his people. I am Yahweh, who sets him apart.”Yahweh said to Moses,“Tell Aaron: For all future generations, no descendant of yours who has a may come forward to offer the food of his God.No one who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed,no one with a broken foot or broken hand,no one who is hunchbacked or unusually small, no one with an eye defect, or with a , or with damaged genitals—no descendant of Aaron the priest who has a physical defect may come forward to present Yahweh’s fire offerings. He has a defect and must not come forward to offer the food of his God.He may eat the food of his God, both from and from ,but he must not go near the or approach the altar, because he has a defect. He must not treat as ordinary, because I am Yahweh, the one who keeps them for myself.So Moses told this to Aaron, to Aaron’s sons, and to all the Israelites.