Home Master Index
←Prev   Leviticus 21 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


21:1  The Lord gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests: Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative,
21:2  except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother,
21:3  or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her.
21:4  Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage.
21:5  Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning.
21:6  I am the Lord your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That's why you must keep yourselves holy.
21:7  Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy,
21:8  because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness.
21:9  If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death.
21:10  If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead.
21:11  Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother.
21:12  If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest.
21:13  If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin
21:14  from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute.
21:15  In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember—I am the Lord, and I have chosen you.
21:16  The Lord told Moses
21:17  to say to Aaron: No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other,
21:18  to say to Aaron: No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other,
21:19  if either a foot or a hand is paralyzed,
21:20  if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged.
21:21  These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me.
21:22  They may eat the food offerings presented to me,
21:23  but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember—I am the Lord, the one who makes a priest holy.
21:24  Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.