Leviticus 21
1 The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None of them may make himself unclean for a dead person among his people.
2 He may do so only for his closest relative: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, or his brother.
3 He may also make himself unclean for his virgin sister, who is close to him and has never been married.
4 As a husband among his people, he must not make himself unclean and so profane himself.
5 They must not shave a bald patch on their heads, trim the edges of their beards, or make cuts on their bodies.
6 They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God, because they present the LORD’s burnt offerings, the food of their God. So they must be holy.
7 They must not marry a woman who is a prostitute or dishonored, nor marry a woman divorced from her husband, because the priest is holy to his God.
8 You must regard him as holy, because he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the LORD, who make you holy, am holy.
9 If a priest’s daughter profanes herself by becoming a prostitute, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.
10 The high priest among his brothers, whose head has been anointed with the anointing oil and who has been ordained to wear the garments, must not let his hair hang loose or tear his clothes.
11 He must not go near any dead person, or make himself unclean even for his father or mother.
12 He must not leave the sanctuary and profane the sanctuary of his God, because the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am the LORD.’”
13 “‘He must marry a virgin.
14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, a dishonored woman, or a prostitute. He must marry a virgin from among his own people.
15 He must not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who makes him holy.’”
16 The LORD spoke to Moses:
17 “Speak to Aaron: ‘None of your descendants throughout their generations who has a defect may come forward to present the food of his God.
18 For no man with a defect may come forward: no blind man, no lame man, no disfigured man, or one with a deformed limb,
19 or a man with a broken foot or a broken hand,
20 or a hunchback, a dwarf, one with a defect in his eye, one with a skin disease, one with sores, or one with damaged testicles.
21 No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect may come forward to present the LORD’s burnt offerings. He has a defect; he may not come forward to present the food of his God.
22 He may eat the food of his God, from the most holy offerings and from the holy offerings.
23 But he must not go in behind the curtain or approach the altar, because he has a defect. He must not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who makes them holy.’”
24 Moses spoke to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the Israelites.
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