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21:1  The Lord said to Moses: “Tell the priests never to defile themselves by touching a dead person,
21:2  unless it is a near relative—a mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister for whom he has special responsibility since she has no husband.
21:3  unless it is a near relative—a mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister for whom he has special responsibility since she has no husband.
21:4  For the priest is a leader among his people, and he may not ceremonially defile himself as an ordinary person can.
21:5  “The priests shall not clip bald spots in their hair or beards, nor cut their flesh.
21:6  They shall be holy unto their God and shall not dishonor and profane his name; otherwise they will be unfit to make food offerings by fire to the Lord their God.
21:7  A priest shall not marry a prostitute, nor a woman of another tribe, and he shall not marry a divorced woman, for he is a holy man of God.
21:8  The priest is set apart to offer the sacrifices of your God; he is holy, for I, the Lord who sanctifies you, am holy.
21:9  The daughter of any priest who becomes a prostitute, thus violating her father’s holiness as well as her own, shall be burned alive.
21:10  “The High Priest—anointed with the special anointing oil and wearing the special garments—must not let his hair hang loose in mourning, nor tear his clothing,
21:11  nor be in the presence of any dead person—not even his father or mother.
21:12  He shall not leave the sanctuary when on duty, nor treat my Tabernacle like an ordinary house, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him; I am Jehovah.
21:13  He must marry a virgin.
21:14  He may not marry a widow, nor a woman who is divorced, nor a prostitute. She must be a virgin from his own tribe, for he must not be the father of children of mixed blood—half priestly and half ordinary.”
21:15  He may not marry a widow, nor a woman who is divorced, nor a prostitute. She must be a virgin from his own tribe, for he must not be the father of children of mixed blood—half priestly and half ordinary.”
21:16  And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron that any of his descendants from generation to generation who have any bodily defect may not offer the sacrifices to God.
21:17  And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron that any of his descendants from generation to generation who have any bodily defect may not offer the sacrifices to God.
21:18  For instance, if a man is blind or lame, or has a broken nose or any extra fingers or toes,
21:19  or has a broken foot or hand,
21:20  or has a humped back, or is a dwarf, or has a defect in his eye, or has pimples or scabby skin, or has imperfect testicles—
21:21  although he is a descendant of Aaron—he is not permitted to offer the fire sacrifices to the Lord because of his physical defect.
21:22  However, he shall be fed with the food of the priests from the offerings sacrificed to God, both from the holy and most holy offerings.
21:23  But he shall not go in behind the veil, nor come near the altar, because of the physical defect; this would defile my sanctuary, for it is Jehovah who sanctifies it.”
21:24  So Moses gave these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel.