Holiness of the Priests — Leviticus

1The LORD spoke to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people. 2except for his nearest flesh relative: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, or his brother; 3or for his virgin sister who is near to him, who has not belonged to a husband; for her he may defile himself. 4He shall not defile himself as a husband among his people, to profane himself. 5They shall not make their heads bald, nor shave the edges of their beards, nor make cuts in their flesh. 6They shall be holy to their God and shall not profane the name of their God, because they present the offerings made by fire to the LORD, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7They shall not take a woman who is a prostitute or profaned; nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband, for he is holy to his God. 8You shall consecrate him, because he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you, for I the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy. 9If the daughter of a priest profanes herself by becoming a prostitute, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire. 10The priest who is greater than his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured and whose hand has been filled to put on the garments, shall not let his hair hang loose nor tear his garments. 11He shall not go in to any dead person; he shall not defile himself even for his father or his mother. 12He shall not go out from the sanctuary or profane the sanctuary of his God, because the consecrating oil of his God is upon him; I am the LORD. 13He shall take a wife who is a virgin. 14A widow, a divorced woman, a profaned woman, or a prostitute—these he shall not take; but he shall take a virgin from his own people as a wife. 15He shall not profane his seed among his people, for I the LORD sanctify him. 16The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17Speak to Aaron, saying: No man of your seed throughout their generations who has a blemish shall approach to present the food of his God. 18For no man who has a blemish shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or one who has a mutilated face, or one who has a limb too long, 19or a man who has a broken foot or a broken hand, 20or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye, or scab, or scurf, or crushed testicles. 21No man of the seed of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall approach to present the offerings made by fire to the LORD; he has a blemish; he shall not approach to present the food of his God. 22He may eat the food of his God from the most holy things. 23Only he shall not go in to the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, lest he profane my sanctuary; for I the LORD sanctify them. 24Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.

Chapter 22

1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they may separate themselves from the holy things of the sons of Israel which they consecrate to me, and that they may not profane my holy name; I am the LORD. 3Say to them: Throughout your generations, any man of your seed who approaches the holy things that the sons of Israel consecrate to the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that person shall be cut off from my presence; I am the LORD. 4Any man of the seed of Aaron who is leprous or has a discharge shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean; and whoever touches anyone unclean by a dead person, or a man from whom semen goes out, 5or whoever touches any swarming thing by which he is made unclean, or a man by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness may be— 6the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has washed his flesh in water. 7When the sun sets he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because it is his food. 8He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, thereby becoming unclean by it; I am the LORD. 9They shall keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die because they profane it; I am the LORD who sanctifies them. 10No outsider shall eat of a holy thing; a sojourner of a priest or a hired servant shall not eat of a holy thing. 11If a priest buys a person with his money, that person may eat of it; and those born in his house may eat of his food. 12If a priest's daughter marries a stranger, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. 13But if a priest's daughter is a widow or divorced and has no child and returns to her father's house as in her youth, she may eat of her father's food; but no outsider shall eat of it. 14If anyone eats a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add a fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. 15The sons of Israel shall not profane the holy things that they present to the LORD, 16or they will bear iniquity and guilt when they eat their holy things; for I the LORD sanctify them.