Leviticus 21-22

New American Standard Bible

Regulations concerning Priests

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

‘^(A)No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, ^2 (B)except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother, ³ also for his virgin sister who is near to him ^[a]because she has not had a husband; for her, he may defile himself. ⁴ He shall not defile himself as a ^[b]relative by marriage among his people, so as to profane himself. ^5 (C)They shall not shave any area on their heads bald, ^(D)nor shave off the edges of their beards, ^(E)nor make any cuts in their flesh. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and ^(F)not profane the name of their God, because they present the offerings by fire ^[c]to the Lord, ^(G)the food of their God; so they shall be holy. ^7 (H)They shall not take a woman who is a prostitute and ^[d]profaned, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. ⁸ You shall consecrate him, therefore, because he offers ^(I)the food of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. ^9 (J)Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

¹⁰ ‘The priest who is ^[e]highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and ^[f]who has been consecrated to wear the garments, ^(K)shall not ^[g]uncover his head nor tear his clothes; ^11 (L)nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother; ^12 (M)nor shall he leave the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for ^(N)the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord. ¹³ He shall take a wife in her virginity. ^14 (O)A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by prostitution, these he shall not take; but rather he is to ^[h]marry a virgin of his own people, ¹⁵ so that he will not profane his ^[i]children among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘None of your ^[j]descendants throughout their generations who has an impairment shall approach to offer the ^(P)food of his God. ^18 (Q)For no one who has an impairment shall approach: a man who is blind, or one who limps, or one who has a ^(R)slit nose, or one with any conspicuous feature, ¹⁹ or someone who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰ or a contorted back, or one who is a dwarf, or has a spot in his eye, or a festering rash or scabs, or ^(S)crushed testicles. ²¹ No man among the ^[k]descendants of Aaron the priest who has an impairment is to come forward to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has an impairment, he shall not come forward to offer ^(T)the food of his God. ²² He may eat ^(U)the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, ²³ only he shall not come up to the veil or approach the altar, since he has an impairment, so that he does not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” ²⁴ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.

Various Rules for Priests

22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the Lord. ³ Say to them, ‘^(V)Any man among all your ^[l]descendants throughout your generations who approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel consecrate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from My presence; I am the Lord. ^4 (W)No man of the ^[m]descendants of Aaron, who has ^[n]leprosy or has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. ^(X)And one who touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or ^(Y)a man who has a seminal emission, ⁵ or ^(Z)a man who touches any swarming things by which he is made unclean, or touches any person by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness; ⁶ a ^[o]person who touches any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy gifts unless he has bathed his ^[p]body in water. ⁷ But when the sun sets, he will be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy gifts, for ^(AA)it is his ^[q]food. ⁸ He shall not eat ^(AB)an animal which dies or is torn by animals, becoming unclean by it; I am the Lord. ⁹ They shall therefore perform their ^(AC)duty to Me, so that ^(AD)they do not bear sin because of it and die by it because they profane it; I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁰ ‘^(AE)No ^[r]layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a foreign resident with the priest or a hired worker shall not eat the holy gift. ^11 (AF)But if a priest buys a ^[s]slave as his property with his money, ^[t]that person may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his ^[u]food. ¹² If a priest’s daughter is married to a ^[v]layman, she shall not eat of the ^[w]offering of the holy gifts. ¹³ But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s ^[x]food; ^(AG)but no ^[y]layman shall eat of it. ^14 (AH)If, however, someone eats a holy food unintentionally, then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy food to the priest. ¹⁵ And ^(AI)they shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶ and thereby ^(AJ)bring upon them ^[z]punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts; for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

Flawless Animals for Sacrifice

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘^(AK)Anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers in Israel who presents his offering, whether it is any of their ^[aa]vows or any of their ^[ab]voluntary offerings, which they present to the Lord as a burnt offering— ^19 (AL)for you to be accepted—it must be a male without defect ^[ac]from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats. ^20 (AM)Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you. ²¹ When someone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord ^(AN)to fulfill a special vow or for a ^[ad]voluntary offering, ^[ae]of the herd or ^[af]of the flock, it must be without defect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it. ²² Those that are blind, fractured, maimed, or have a wart, a festering rash, or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the Lord. ²³ Now as for an ox or a lamb which has an ^[ag]overgrown or stunted member, you may present it as a ^[ah]voluntary offering, but for a vow it will not be accepted. ²⁴ Also ^(AO)anything with its testicles squashed, crushed, torn off, or cut off, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor ^[ai]sacrifice in your land, ²⁵ nor shall you offer any of these animals taken from the hand of a ^[aj]foreigner ^(AP)as the ^[ak]food of your God; for their deformity is in them, they have an impairment. They will not be accepted for you.’”

²⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ “When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall ^[al]remain ^(AQ)seven days ^[am]with its mother, and from the eighth day on it will be considered acceptable as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to the Lord. ^28 (AR)But, whether it is an ox or a sheep, you shall not slaughter both it and its young in one day. ²⁹ When you sacrifice ^(AS)a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰ It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until morning. I am the Lord. ^31 (AT)So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the Lord.

³² “And you shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctifies you, ^33 (AU)who brought you out from the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the Lord.”