Leviticus 21Book 3 of 66 · 24 verses · MBT primary, NKJV fallback where MBT pending

  1. And the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'None shall make himself ceremonially unclean for the dead among his people,
  2. except for his immediate relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother;
  3. Also his virgin sister who is near to him in his immediate family, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself.
  4. He shall not defile himself as a husband among his people and so profane himself.
  5. They shall not make any bald patches on their heads, nor shall they shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh.
  6. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the offerings of the LORD made by fire, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
  7. They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute or defiled by prostitution, nor shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is set apart as holy to his God.
  8. Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy.
  9. The daughter of any priest, if she defiles herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father and she shall be burned with fire.
  10. He who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let his hair hang loose nor tear his clothes.
  11. Nor shall he approach any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or his mother.
  12. He must not leave the sanctuary or profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD.
  13. And he shall take a woman as his wife in her virginity.
  14. A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a prostitute—these he shall not marry; but rather he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife.
  15. Nor shall he profane his offspring among his people, for I the LORD sanctify him.
  16. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
  17. Speak to Aaron, saying: No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has any defect may approach to offer the food of his God.
  18. For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a disfigured face or any deformed limb.
  19. a man who has a broken or injured foot or hand,
  20. or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or an itching disease or scabs, or has crushed testicles.
  21. No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to present the offerings made by fire to the LORD, since he has a defect he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
  22. He may eat the food of his God, both the most holy and the holy.
  23. Only he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries, for I the LORD sanctify them.
  24. So Moses spoke these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the children of Israel.