Leviticus 21
The Priest Must Be Without Blemish
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Mourning and Marriage
21:1The Lord said to Moses, saying: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: They shall not defile themselves for dead persons among their nation,
21:2except for their nearest household kin: father, mother, sons, daughters, and brother;
21:3and for a virgin sister near to him who has not been given to a man—for these he may defile himself.
21:4He shall not suddenly defile himself among his people, so as to profane himself.
21:5You shall not shave a bald patch on your head for a dead person. They shall not shave the face of their beard or cut incisions in their flesh.
21:6They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the Lord’s sacrifices, the gifts of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
21:7They shall not take a woman who is a prostitute or profaned, nor a woman expelled by her husband, for the priest is holy to the Lord his God.
21:8He shall sanctify him, for this man presents the gifts of the Lord your God. He shall be holy, for I, the Lord who sanctifies them, am holy.
21:9If a priest’s daughter is profaned by prostituting herself, she profanes her father’s name. She shall be burned with fire.
The High Priest
21:10The priest who is greatest among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not remove his headgear or tear his garments.
21:11He shall not enter where there is any dead person; he shall not make himself unclean even for his father or mother.
21:12He shall not leave the holy precincts or profane what is consecrated to his God, for the holy anointing oil of God is upon him. I am the Lord.
21:13He shall take a virgin wife from his own kin.
21:14A widow, an expelled woman, a profaned woman, or a prostitute—these he shall not take. He shall take as his wife only a virgin from his own kin.
21:15He shall not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.
Bodily Conditions and Service at the Altar
21:16The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
21:17Say to Aaron: Any man from your kin throughout your generations who has a blemish shall not approach to present the gifts of his God.
21:18No man who has a blemish shall approach: a lame man, a blind man, one with a mutilated nose, or one with a cut-off ear;
21:19or a man with a broken hand or a broken foot;
21:20or a hunchback, one with a skin spot, one with diseased eyelashes, a man with a severe scab or skin eruption, or one with a single testicle.
21:21No one among the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall approach to present the sacrifices to your God. Because he has a blemish, he shall not approach to present the gifts of God.
21:22He may eat the gifts of God, both the most holy things and portions of the holy things.
21:23But he shall not approach the curtain or come near the altar, because he has a blemish. He shall not profane the holy place of his God, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
21:24Moses spoke to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.