Leviticus 21

1 The Lord said to Moses, 1 “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and tell them: They are not to defile themselves over a dead person among their people — [a] 2 except for a close relative of their own: for a father and mother, for sons and daughters, for a brother, 3 and for a virgin sister who is close to him and has not been given to a man. For these he may defile himself. 4 He is not to defile himself suddenly among his people, making himself common. 5 And you are not to shave a bald patch on your head for the dead, and they are not to shave the edge of their beard, and they are not to cut gashes in their flesh. 6 They are to be holy to their God, and they are not to treat the name of their God as common; for they are the ones who bring the sacrifices of the Lord, the gifts of their God, and they are to be holy. 7 They are not to take a woman who is a prostitute, or one who has been made common, or a woman put away from her husband; for a priest is holy to the Lord his God. 8 And he is to treat him as holy. He is the one who brings the gifts of the Lord your God. He is to be holy, because I, the Lord who makes them holy, am holy. 9 And if a priest’s daughter is made common by becoming a prostitute, she makes her father’s name common. She is to be burned with fire.

10 And the priest who is greatest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and whose hands have been filled to put on the garments, is not to bare his head and is not to tear his garments. [b] 11 He is not to go in where any dead person is; not for his father and not for his mother is he to defile himself. 12 And he is not to go out from the holy things, and he is not to treat what has been made holy to his God as common, because the holy anointing oil of God is on him. I am the Lord. 13 He is to take as his wife a virgin of his own family. 14 A widow, or a woman put away, or one made common, or a prostitute — these he is not to take; he is to take as his wife a virgin of his own people. 15 And he is not to make his own seed common among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.”

16 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 17 “Say to Aaron: A man of your family, through your generations, who has a blemish on him is not to come near to bring the gifts of his God. 18 No man with a blemish on him is to come near: a man who is lame or blind, or whose nose is cut short, or whose ear is cut, 19 or a man who has a broken hand or a broken foot, 20 or who is hunchbacked, or whose skin is blotched, or whose eyes are diseased, or a man who has a wild scab or a skin eruption, or who has only one testicle. [c] 21 No one from the seed of Aaron the priest who has a blemish on him is to come near to bring the sacrifices to your God. Because he has a blemish on him, he is not to come near to bring the gifts of God. 22 He may eat the gifts of God — the most holy things and the holy things. 23 Only he is not to go up to the veil and he is not to come near the altar, because he has a blemish; and he is not to treat the holy place of his God as common, for I am the Lord, who makes them holy.” 24 And Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the children of Israel.