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21 Dixit quoque Dominus ad Moysen: Loquere ad sacerdotes filios Aaron, et dices ad eos: Ne contaminetur sacerdos in mortibus civium suorum,

nisi tantum in consanguineis, ac propinquis, id est, super patre et matre, et filio, et filia, fratre quoque,

et sorore virgine quae non est nupta viro:

sed nec in principe populi sui contaminabitur.

Non radent caput, nec barbam, neque in carnibus suis facient incisuras.

Sancti erunt Deo suo, et non polluent nomen ejus: incensum enim Domini, et panes Dei sui offerunt, et ideo sancti erunt.

Scortum et vile prostibulum non ducent uxorem, nec eam quae repudiata est a marito: quia consecrati sunt Deo suo,

et panes propositionis offerunt. Sint ergo sancti, quia et ego sanctus sum, Dominus qui sanctifico eos.

Sacerdotis filia si deprehensa fuerit in stupro, et violaverit nomen patris sui, flammis exuretur.

10 Pontifex, id est, sacerdos maximus inter fratres suos, super cujus caput fusum est unctionis oleum, et cujus manus in sacerdotio consecratae sunt, vestitusque est sanctis vestibus, caput suum non discooperiet, vestimenta non scindet:

11 et ad omnem mortuum non ingredietur omnino: super patre quoque suo et matre non contaminabitur.

12 Nec egredietur de sanctis, ne polluat sanctuarium Domini, quia oleum sanctae unctionis Dei sui super eum est. Ego Dominus.

13 Virginem ducet uxorem:

14 viduam autem et repudiatam, et sordidam, atque meretricem non accipiet, sed puellam de populo suo:

15 ne commisceat stirpem generis sui vulgo gentis suae: quia ego Dominus, qui sanctifico eum.

16 Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens:

17 Loquere ad Aaron: Homo de semine tuo per familias qui habuerit maculam, non offeret panes Deo suo,

18 nec accedet ad ministerium ejus: si caecus fuerit, si claudus, si parvo vel grandi, vel torto naso,

19 si fracto pede, si manu,

20 si gibbus, si lippus, si albuginem habens in oculo, si jugem scabiem, si impetiginem in corpore, vel herniosus.

21 Omnis qui habuerit maculam de semine Aaron sacerdotis, non accedet offerre hostias Domino, nec panes Deo suo:

22 vescetur tamen panibus qui offeruntur in sanctuario,

23 ita dumtaxat, ut intra velum non ingrediatur, nec accedat ad altare, quia maculam habet, et contaminare non debet sanctuarium meum. Ego Dominus qui sanctifico eos.

24 Locutus est ergo Moyses ad Aaron, et ad filios ejus, et ad omnem Israel cuncta quae fuerant sibi imperata.

Rules for Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron,(A) and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean(B) for any of his people who die,(C) except for a close relative, such as his mother or father,(D) his son or daughter, his brother, or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean.(E) He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage,[a] and so defile himself.

“‘Priests must not shave(F) their heads or shave off the edges of their beards(G) or cut their bodies.(H) They must be holy to their God(I) and must not profane the name of their God.(J) Because they present the food offerings to the Lord,(K) the food of their God,(L) they are to be holy.(M)

“‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands,(N) because priests are holy to their God.(O) Regard them as holy,(P) because they offer up the food of your God.(Q) Consider them holy, because I the Lord am holy—I who make you holy.(R)

“‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.(S)

10 “‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head(T) and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments,(U) must not let his hair become unkempt[b] or tear his clothes.(V) 11 He must not enter a place where there is a dead body.(W) He must not make himself unclean,(X) even for his father or mother,(Y) 12 nor leave the sanctuary(Z) of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil(AA) of his God. I am the Lord.

13 “‘The woman he marries must be a virgin.(AB) 14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, 15 so that he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.’”

16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect(AC) may come near to offer the food of his God.(AD) 18 No man who has any defect(AE) may come near: no man who is blind(AF) or lame,(AG) disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.(AH) 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect(AI) is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord.(AJ) He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.(AK) 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God,(AL) as well as the holy food; 23 yet because of his defect,(AM) he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary.(AN) I am the Lord, who makes them holy.(AO)’”

24 So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 21:4 Or unclean as a leader among his people
  2. Leviticus 21:10 Or not uncover his head

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

But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother.

And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.

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

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.

They shall be holy unto 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.

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

Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the Lord, which sanctify you, am holy.

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

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

12 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 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.

14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.

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

16 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.

18 For whatsoever man he 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 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,

20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;

21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest 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 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.

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

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