Leviticus 21

1 The Lord also said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them: Do not allow a priest to be contaminated by the death of his citizens,

And the LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:

2 except only by his blood-relatives and near-relatives, that is, by a father or mother, or by a son or daughter, or also a brother,

But for his kin, that is near to him, [that is], for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,

3 or a virgin sister, who is not married to a husband.

And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh to him, who hath had no husband: for her he may be defiled.

4 But not even by the leader of his people shall he be contaminated.

[But] he shall not defile himself, [being] a chief man among his people, to profane himself.

5 Neither shall they shave their head or their beard, and they shall not make incisions in their flesh.

They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

6 They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not pollute his name. For they offer the incense of the Lord and the bread of their God, and because of this they shall be holy.

They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, [and] the bread of their God they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.

7 They shall not take as a wife a promiscuous woman, or a prostitute, or her who has been repudiated by her husband. For they are consecrated to their God,

They shall not take a wife [that is] a lewd woman, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he [is] holy to his God.

8 and they offer the bread of the presence. Therefore, let them be holy, for I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctifies them.

Thou shalt sanctify him therefore, for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy to thee: for I the LORD, who sanctify you, [am] holy.

9 If the daughter of a priest will have been taken into prostitution, and will have violated the name of her father, she shall be consumed by fire.

And the daughter of any priest, if she shall profane herself by lewdness, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.

10 The high priest, that is, the priest who is the greatest among his brothers, upon whose head the oil of anointing has been poured, and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood, and who has been vested with the holy vestments: he shall not expose his head; he shall not rend his vestments.

And [he that is] the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;

11 And he shall not enter to any dead body whatsoever; likewise, not even by his father or mother shall he be contaminated.

Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;

12 Neither shall he exit from the holy places, lest he pollute the Sanctuary of the Lord. For the oil of the holy anointing of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.

Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God [is] upon him: I [am] the LORD.

13 He shall take a virgin as his wife.

And he shall take a wife in her virginity.

14 But a widow, or one who has been repudiated or defiled, or also a mistress, he shall not accept, but only a maiden from among his own people.

A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, [or] a harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people for a wife.

15 He shall not mingle the stock of his family with the common people of his nation. For I am the Lord, who sanctifies him.

Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.

16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

17 Say to Aaron: A man from your offspring, throughout their families, who has a blemish, shall not offer the bread to his God.

Speak to Aaron, saying, whoever [he may be] of thy seed in their generations that hath [any] blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God:

18 Neither shall he approach to minister to him: if he is blind, if he is lame, if he is small, or large, or has a crooked nose,

For whatever man [he may be] that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,

19 if his foot or hand is broken,

Or a man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed,

20 if he has a bulging back or bleary eyes, or if he has a white spot in his eye, or a chronic scab, or a skin disease on his body, or a hernia.

Or crooked-backed, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his peculiar members broken:

21 Anyone from the offspring of Aaron, the priest, who has a blemish, shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor the bread to his God.

No man of the seed of Aaron the priest, that hath a blemish, shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire; he hath a blemish, he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.

22 Nevertheless, he shall eat from the loaves which are offered in the Sanctuary.

He shall eat the bread of his God, [both] of the most holy, and of the holy.

23 But even so, he may not enter within the veil, nor approach to the altar. For he has a blemish, and he must not contaminate my Sanctuary. I am the Lord, who sanctifies them.

Only he shall not go in to the vail, nor come nigh to the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he may not profane my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.

24 Therefore, Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all of Israel, everything that had been commanded to him.

And Moses told [it] to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel.