LEVITICUS 21

Then Yehowah said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall defile himself for the dead among his people, 2 except for one who is his near-relative: for his mother or father, or for his son or daughter, or for his brother; 3 or for his virgin sister near to him who has no husband, he may defile himself for her. 4 As a husband* he shall not defile himself among his people, profaning himself. 5 The priests shall not make tonsures on their heads or shave off the edges of their beards; nor shall they make any cuts in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane the name of their God; for they present the fire-offerings to Yehowah, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute or one who has been defiled; nor shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband; for a priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall therefore sanctify him; for he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, Yehowah who sanctify you, am holy. 9 And any priest's daughter who defiles herself by practising prostitution defiles her father; she shall be burnt in a fire. * Heb ba'al

10 But the priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing-oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the robes, shall neither shave his head nor tear his clothing. 11 He shall not go near any dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother. 12 He shall not leave the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the separation of the anointing-oil of his God is upon him; I am Yehowah. 13 And he shall take a wife who is a virgin. 14 He shall not take a widow, a divorced woman, a deified woman, or a prostitute; but he shall take a virgin of his own people for a wife, 15 so that he does not defile his descendants among his people; for I, Yehowah, sanctify him.

16 Then Yehowah spoke to Moses, and said, 17 Speak to Aaron, and say, No man of your descendants throughout their generations who has a blemish in himself may approach to present the food of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish in himself shall approach: one who is blind or lame, who is mutilated or has a limb too long, 19 who is malformed in his feet or hands 20 or is a hunch-back or a dwarf, or who has a defect in his eyes, or scabs, running sores, or damaged testicles. 21 No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a blemish in himself shall approach to present the fire-offerings to Yehowah. He has a blemish; he shall not approach to present the food of his God. 22 He may eat the food of his God, both the most holy and the holy food. 23 But he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar because he has a blemish, so that he does not defile my sanctuaries; for I, Yehowah, sanctify them. 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons, and to all the sons of Israel.