Leviticus 21

¹The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ‘A priest shall not defile himself for the dead amongst his people, ²except for his relatives that are near to him: for his mother, for his father, for his son, for his daughter, for his brother, ³and for his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. ⁴He shall not defile himself, being a chief man amongst his people, to profane himself.

⁵“ ‘They shall not shave their heads or shave off the corners of their beards or make any cuttings in their flesh. ⁶They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy.

⁷“ ‘They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute, or profane. A priest shall not marry a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. ⁸Therefore you shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread 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 profanes herself by playing the prostitute, she profanes her father. She shall be burnt with fire.

¹⁰“ ‘He who is the high priest amongst his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose, or tear his clothes. ¹¹He must not go in to any dead body, or defile himself for his father or for his mother. ¹²He shall not go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am the LORD.

¹³“ ‘He shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴He shall not marry a widow, or one divorced, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute. He shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife. ¹⁵He shall not profane his offspring amongst his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.’ ”

¹⁶The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸For whatever man he is that has a defect, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or any deformity, ¹⁹or a man who has an injured foot, or an injured hand, ²⁰or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye, or an itching disease, or scabs, or who has damaged testicles. ²¹No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire. Since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²²He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. ²³He shall not come near to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a defect; that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’ ”

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