Leviticus 21-22

Easy-to-Read Version

Rules for Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell these things to Aaron’s sons, the priests: A priest must not make himself unclean by touching a dead person. ² But if the dead person was one of his close relatives, he can touch the dead body. The priest can make himself unclean if the dead person is his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother or ³ his unmarried^[a] sister. (This sister is close to him because she has no husband. So the priest may make himself unclean for her if she dies.) ⁴ But a priest must not make himself unclean if the dead person was only one of his slaves.^[b]

⁵ “Priests must not shave their heads bald. They must not shave off the edges of their beards. They must not make any cuts in their bodies. ⁶ Priests must be holy for their God. They must show respect for God’s name. They offer the bread and special gifts to the Lord, so they must be holy.

⁷ “A priest serves God in a special way, so he must not marry a woman who has had sexual relations with any other man. He must not marry a prostitute or a divorced woman. ⁸ A priest serves God in a special way. So you must treat him in a special way, because he carries holy things. He brings the holy bread to me, and I am holy. I am the Lord, and I make you holy.

⁹ “If a priest’s daughter becomes a prostitute, she ruins her reputation and brings shame to her father. She must be burned to death in the fire!

¹⁰ “The high priest was chosen from among his brothers. The anointing oil was poured on his head. In this way he was chosen for the special job of being high priest. He was chosen to wear the special clothes, so he must not do things to show his sadness in public. He must not let his hair grow wild. He must not tear his clothes. ¹¹ He must not make himself unclean by touching a dead body. He must not go near a dead body, even if it is his own father or mother. ¹² The high priest must not leave God’s holy place, because he might become unclean and then make God’s holy place unclean. The anointing oil was poured on the high priest’s head. This separated him from the rest of the people. I am the Lord.

¹³ “The high priest must marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴ He must not marry a woman who has had sexual relations with any man. He must not marry a prostitute, a divorced woman, or a widow. The high priest must marry a virgin from his own people. ¹⁵ In this way people will show respect for his children.^[c] I, the Lord, have separated the high priest for his special work.”

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “Tell Aaron: If any of your descendants have anything wrong with them, they must not carry the special bread to God. ¹⁸ Any man who has something wrong with him must not serve as priest and bring sacrifices to me. These men cannot serve as priests: blind men, crippled men, men with bad scars on their faces, men with arms or legs that are too long, ¹⁹ men with broken feet or hands, ²⁰ men with bent backs, men who are dwarfs,^[d] men who are cross-eyed, men with rashes or bad skin diseases, and men with crushed testicles.

²¹ “If one of Aaron’s descendants has something wrong with him, he cannot approach the altar to bring gifts to the Lord. And he cannot carry the special bread to God. ²² He is from the family of priests, so he can eat the holy bread. He can also eat the very holy bread. ²³ But he cannot go through the curtain into the Most Holy Place and he cannot go near the altar. This is because he has something wrong with him. He must not make my holy places unholy. I am the Lord, and I make these places holy.”

²⁴ So Moses told these things to Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and all the Israelites.

22 The Lord God said to Moses, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons: The gifts that the Israelites bring to me become holy. They belong to me, so you priests must show respect for these things. If you don’t, you will show that you don’t respect my holy name. I am the Lord. ³ If any one of your descendants touches these things, that person will become unclean. That person must be separated from me. The Israelites gave these things to me. I am the Lord.

⁴ “If any of Aaron’s descendants has a serious skin disease^[e] or a discharge, he cannot eat the holy food until he becomes clean. This rule is for any priest who becomes unclean. That priest can become unclean from a dead body or from his own semen. ⁵ He can also become unclean if he touches any unclean crawling animal. And he can become unclean if he touches an unclean person. It doesn’t matter what made that person unclean. ⁶ If he touches any of these things, he will become unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy food. Even if he washes with water, he cannot eat the holy food. ⁷ He will be clean only after the sun goes down. Then he can eat the holy food because it is his share.

⁸ “A priest must not eat any animal that died by itself or that was killed by wild animals. If he eats that animal, he will be unclean. I am the Lord.

⁹ “The priests must be very careful when it comes time to serve me. They must be careful not to dishonor the holy things. If they are careful, they will not die. I, the Lord, have separated them from the rest of the people for this special job. ¹⁰ Only a priest’s family can eat the holy food. A visitor staying with the priest or a hired worker must not eat any of the holy food. ¹¹ But if the priest buys a person as a slave with his own money, that person may eat some of the holy things. Slaves who were born in the priest’s house may also eat some of the priest’s food. ¹² A priest’s daughter might marry a man who is not a priest. If she does that, she cannot eat any of the holy offerings. ¹³ A priest’s daughter might become a widow, or she might be divorced. If she does not have any children to support her, and she goes back to her father’s house where she lived as a child, she can eat some of her father’s food. But only people from a priest’s family can eat this food.

¹⁴ “Whoever eats some of the holy food by mistake must give the priest the price of that food and add another one-fifth of the price as a fine.

¹⁵ “The Israelites will bring offerings to the Lord. These offerings become holy, so the priests must not let them be used in a wrong way. ¹⁶ They must not let the people eat these offerings. If they do, they are guilty of doing wrong, and they must pay for it. I am the Lord, the one who makes these offerings holy.”

¹⁷ The Lord God said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Tell Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites: A citizen of Israel or a foreigner might want to bring an offering. It might be because of a promise that person made, or it might just be a special sacrifice that person wanted to give to the Lord as a burnt offering. ^19-20 These are gifts that the people bring because they really want to give a gift to God. If the gift is a bull, or a sheep, or a goat, the animal must be a male. And it must not have anything wrong with it. You must not accept any offering that has anything wrong with it. I will not accept that gift.

²¹ “You might bring a fellowship offering to the Lord. That fellowship offering might be payment for a special promise that you made. Or maybe it is a special gift that you wanted to give to the Lord. It can be a bull or a sheep, but it must be healthy. There must be nothing wrong with that animal. ²² You must not offer to the Lord any animal that is blind, that has broken bones or is crippled, or that has a discharge or a serious skin disease. You must not offer sick animals as a gift to the Lord. You must not put anything like that on his altar.

²³ “Sometimes a bull or lamb will have a leg that is too long, or a foot that did not grow right. If you want to give that animal as a special gift to the Lord, it will be accepted. But it will not be accepted as payment for a special promise that you made.

²⁴ “If an animal has bruised, crushed, or torn testicles, you must not offer that animal to the Lord. You must not do this anywhere in your land.

²⁵ “You must not take animals from foreigners as sacrifices to your God. The animals might have been hurt in some way. They might have something wrong with them, so they will not be accepted.”

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁷ “When a calf, or a sheep, or a goat is born, it must stay seven days with its mother. Then from the eighth day on, this animal will be accepted as a sacrifice offered as a gift to the Lord. ²⁸ But you must not kill the animal and its mother on the same day. This rule is the same for cattle and sheep.

²⁹ “If you want to offer some special offering of thanks to the Lord, you are free to offer that gift. But you must do it in a way that pleases God. ³⁰ You must eat the whole animal that day. You must not leave any of the meat for the next morning. I am the Lord.

³¹ “Remember my commands, and obey them. I am the Lord. ³² Show respect for my holy name. I must be very special to the Israelites. I, the Lord, have made you my special people. ³³ I brought you out of Egypt in order to be your God. I am the Lord.”