Leviticus 21

¹The Lord said also to Moses: Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt say for them: Let not a priest incur an uncleanness at the death of his citizens.

²But only for his kin, such as are near in blood: that is to say, for his father and for his mother, and for his son, and for his daughter, for his brother also:

³And for a maiden sister, who hath had no husband.

⁴But not even for the prince of his people shall he do any thing that may make him unclean.

⁵Neither shall they shave their head, nor their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh.

⁶They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane his name. For they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God: and therefore they shall be holy.

⁷They shall not take to wife a harlot or a vile prostitute, nor one that has been put away from her husband: because they are consecrated to their God,

⁸And offer the loaves of proposition. Let them therefore be holy because I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctify them.

⁹If the daughter of a priest be taken in whoredom and dishonour the name of her father, she shall be burnt with fire.

¹⁰The high priest, that is to say, the priest who is the greatest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of unction hath been poured; and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood; and who hath been vested with the holy vestments. He shall not uncover his head: he shall not rend his garments.

¹¹Nor shall he go in at all to any dead person: not even for his father, or his mother, shall he be defiled.

¹²Neither shall he go out of the holy places, lest he defile the sanctuary of the Lord: because the oil of the holy unction of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.

¹³He shall take a virgin unto his wife.

¹⁴But a widow or one that is divorced, or defied, or a harlot, he shall not take: but a maid of his own people.

¹⁵He shall not mingle the stock of his kindred with the common people of this nation: for I am the Lord who sanctify him.

¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

¹⁷Say to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families, hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to his God.

¹⁸Neither shall he approach to minister to him: If he be blind; if he be lame; if he have a little, or a great, or a crooked nose;

¹⁹If his foot, or if his hand be broken;

²⁰If he be crookbacked; or blear eyed; or have a pearl in his eye, or a continual scab, or a dry scurf in his body, or a rupture.

²¹Whosoever of the seed of Aaron the priest hath a blemish: he shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor bread to his God.

²²He shall eat nevertheless of the loaves that are offered in the sanctuary.

²³Yet so that he enter not within the veil, nor approach to the altar: because he hath a blemish, and he must not defile my sanctuary. I am the Lord who sanctify them.

²⁴Moses, therefore spoke to Aaron, and to his sons and to all Israel, all the things that had been commanded him.

Leviticus 21

¹And 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:

²But 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,

³And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.

⁴But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.

⁵They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

⁶They 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.

⁷They 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.

⁸Thou 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.

⁹And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.

¹⁰And 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;

¹¹Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;

¹²Neither 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.

¹³And he shall take a wife in her virginity.

¹⁴A 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.

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

¹⁶And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

¹⁷Speak 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.

¹⁸For 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,

¹⁹Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,

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

²¹No 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.

²²He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.

²³Only 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.

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