CHAPTER 21

1 And Jehovah said 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,

2 Except for his flesh who is near to him, for his mother and for his father and for his son and for his daughter and for his brother

3 And for his virgin sister, who is near to him, who has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.

4 He shall not defile himself, as a leader among his people, so as to profane himself.

5 They shall not make any baldness on their head or shave off the edges of their beard or make any cuttings in their flesh.

6 They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, for they present Jehovah’s offerings by fire, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy.

7 They shall not take a woman who is a harlot or profaned, nor shall they take a woman put away from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God.

8 You shall sanctify him therefore, for he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I Jehovah, who sanctifies you, am holy.

9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burnt with fire.

10 And he who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has filled his hands to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head go loose nor tear his clothes.

11 Neither shall he approach any dead person nor defile himself even 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 consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him; I am Jehovah.

13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.

14 A widow or a divorced woman or a profaned woman, a harlot, these he shall not take; but rather a virgin of his own people he shall take as wife.

15 And he shall not profane his seed among his people, for I am Jehovah who sanctifies him.

16 Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

17 Speak to Aaron, saying, No one of your seed throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to present the food of his God.

18 For no one who has a defect shall approach: one who is blind or lame or with a disfigured nose or with an extended limb,

19 Or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand,

20 Or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scale or crushed testicles.

21 No one of the seed of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to present Jehovah’s offerings by fire. He has a defect; he shall not come near to present the food of his God.

22 He may eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy,

23 But he shall not go in unto the veil or come near to the altar, because he has a defect, so that he does not profane My holy places; for I am Jehovah who sanctifies them.

24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the children of Israel.