Leviticus 21

Revised Geneva Translation

21 And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ‘Let no one be defiled by the dead among his people,

² ‘except for his kinsman who are near to him: his mother or his father or his son or his daughter or his brother

³ ‘or his virgin sister who is near to him and who had not had a husband. For her he may lament.

⁴ ‘He shall not lament for the Prince among his people, to pollute himself.

⁵ ‘They shall not make bald places upon their head, nor shave off the locks of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

⁶ ‘They shall be holy to their God and not pollute the Name of their God. For the sacrifices of the LORD, made by fire, and the bread of their God they offer. Therefore, they shall be holy.

⁷ ‘They shall not take a whore to wife, or one polluted. Nor shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband. For such a one is holy to his God.

⁸ ‘Therefore, you shall sanctify him. For he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you. For I, the LORD, Who sanctifies you, am Holy.

⁹ ‘If a priest’s daughter falls to play the whore, she pollutes her father. She shall be burnt with fire.

¹⁰ ‘Also, the High Priest among his brothers (upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and who is consecrated to put on the garments) shall neither uncover his head nor tear his clothes.

¹¹ ‘Nor shall he go near any dead body, nor make himself unclean by his father or by his mother.

¹² ‘Nor shall he go out of the Sanctuary, nor pollute the Holy Place of his God. For the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am the LORD.

¹³ ‘Also, he shall take a virgin for his wife.

¹⁴ ‘A widow, or a divorced woman, or a polluted woman, or a harlot, these he shall not marry. But he shall take a virgin of his own people for a wife.

¹⁵ ‘Nor shall he defile his seed among his people. For I am the LORD, Who sanctifies him.’”

¹⁶ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, and say, ‘Whoever of your seed, in their generations, has any blemishes, shall not approach to offer the bread of his God.

¹⁸ ‘For whoever has any blemish shall not come near: a man blind or lame, or that has a flat nose, or that has anything misshapen,

¹⁹ ‘or a man who has a broken foot or a broken hand,

²⁰ ‘or is crookbacked, or bleary-eyed, or has a blemish in his eye, or is scurvy, or scabbed, or is a eunuch.

²¹ ‘None of the seed of Aaron the Priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the sacrifices of the LORD made by fire. He has a blemish. He shall not approach to offer the bread of his God.

²² ‘The bread of his God, of the Most Holy and of the Holy, he shall eat.

²³ ‘But he shall not go in to the Veil, nor come near the Altar, because he has a blemish. He pollutes My Sanctuaries. For I am the LORD, Who sanctifies them.’”

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