Leviticus 21

1 And Yahweh said unto Moses, Say unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, —yea thou shalt say unto them, For a dead person, shall no one make himself unclean among his people:

The Lord also said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them: Do not allow a priest to be contaminated by the death of his citizens,

2 Saving for his kin, that are near unto him, for his mother or for his father, or for his son or for his daughter, or for his brother;

except only by his blood-relatives and near-relatives, that is, by a father or mother, or by a son or daughter, or also a brother,

3 or for his sister, a virgin who is near unto him, who belongeth not unto a husband, —for her, he may make himself unclean:

or a virgin sister, who is not married to a husband.

4 He shall not make himself unclean being a chief among his people, —by profaning himself:

But not even by the leader of his people shall he be contaminated.

5 They shall not make a baldness behind in their head, And the border of their beard, shall they not cut off, —And, in their flesh, shall they not make incisions.

Neither shall they shave their head or their beard, and they shall not make incisions in their flesh.

6 Holy persons, shall they be unto their God, and not profane the name of their God, —for, the altar-flames of Yahweh, the food of their God, do they bring near—Therefore shall they be holy.

They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not pollute his name. For they offer the incense of the Lord and the bread of their God, and because of this they shall be holy.

7 A woman that is unchaste or dishonoured, shall they not take, And a woman divorced from her husband, shall they not take, —For holy, he is unto his God.

They shall not take as a wife a promiscuous woman, or a prostitute, or her who has been repudiated by her husband. For they are consecrated to their God,

8 Therefore shalt thou hold him as holy, for the food of thy God, doth he bring near, —Holy, shall he be to thee, For, holy, am I—Yahweh, who am making you holy.

and they offer the bread of the presence. Therefore, let them be holy, for I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctifies them.

9 And, the daughter of any priest, when she profaneth herself by unchastity, Her father, she, doth profane, with fire, shall she be consumed.

If the daughter of a priest will have been taken into prostitution, and will have violated the name of her father, she shall be consumed by fire.

10 And, as for the high priest from among his brethren upon whose head is poured the anointing oil, and who is installed, by putting on the garments, His head, shall he not bare, And, his garments, shall he not rend;

The high priest, that is, the priest who is the greatest among his brothers, upon whose head the oil of anointing has been poured, and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood, and who has been vested with the holy vestments: he shall not expose his head; he shall not rend his vestments.

11 And, unto no persons of the dead, shall he go in, —For his father or for his mother, shall he not make himself unclean;

And he shall not enter to any dead body whatsoever; likewise, not even by his father or mother shall he be contaminated.

12 And, out of the sanctuary, shall he not go forth, so shall he not profane the sanctuary of his God, —for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him—I, am Yahweh.

Neither shall he exit from the holy places, lest he pollute the Sanctuary of the Lord. For the oil of the holy anointing of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.

13 But, he, shall take a woman in her virginity:

He shall take a virgin as his wife.

14 A widow or a divorced woman or one dishonoured—an unchaste woman, these, shall he not take, But, a virgin from among his own kinsfolk, shall he take to wife;

But a widow, or one who has been repudiated or defiled, or also a mistress, he shall not accept, but only a maiden from among his own people.

15 So shall he not profane his seed, among his kinsfolk, —For I—Yahweh, do hallow him.

He shall not mingle the stock of his family with the common people of his nation. For I am the Lord, who sanctifies him.

16 And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying:

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, —No man of thy seed, unto their generations in whom shall be any blemish, shall come near, to present the food of his God.

Say to Aaron: A man from your offspring, throughout their families, who has a blemish, shall not offer the bread to his God.

18 Surely, no man in whom is any blemish, shall come near, —No man who is blind or lame, or hath a flat nose, or is lanky;

Neither shall he approach to minister to him: if he is blind, if he is lame, if he is small, or large, or has a crooked nose,

19 nor any man who hath a broken foot, —or a broken hand;

if his foot or hand is broken,

20 or is hump-backed or a dwarf, or hath defective vision, —or hath scurvy or scab, or is crushed in the stones:

if he has a bulging back or bleary eyes, or if he has a white spot in his eye, or a chronic scab, or a skin disease on his body, or a hernia.

21 No, man in whom is a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest, shall approach, to bring near the altar-flames of Yahweh, —a blemish, is in him, the food of his God, shall he not approach to bring near:

Anyone from the offspring of Aaron, the priest, who has a blemish, shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor the bread to his God.

22 Of the food of his God, both of the most holy, —and the holy, may he eat:

Nevertheless, he shall eat from the loaves which are offered in the Sanctuary.

23 Only, unto the veil, shall he not come in and unto the altar, shall he not approach—because, a blemish, is in him, so shall he not profane my sanctuaries, For, I—Yahweh, am hallowing them.

But even so, he may not enter within the veil, nor approach to the altar. For he has a blemish, and he must not contaminate my Sanctuary. I am the Lord, who sanctifies them.

24 And Moses spake [these things] unto Aaron, and unto his sons, —and unto all the sons of Israel.

Therefore, Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all of Israel, everything that had been commanded to him.