Regulations Concerning Priests

¹ Then¹ Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and say to them, ‘One must not make himself unclean for a dead person among his own people,

1. Or “And”

² except for his direct relative closest to him: his mother and his father, and his son and his daughter, and his brother,

³ and for his sister, a virgin, who is closest to him, ⌞who has not had a husband⌟¹—for her he may defile himself.

1. Literally “who is not for a man/husband”

⁴ He must not make himself unclean as ⌞a kinsman by marriage⌟,¹ defiling himself.

1. Literally “a husband among his people”

⁵ “ ‘And they shall not shave bald patches on their head, and they shall not shave off the corner of their beard, and they shall not make a cut in their body.

⁶ They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, because they are bringing near the offerings made by fire to¹ Yahweh—their God’s food—and they shall be holy.

1. Hebrew “of”

⁷ “ ‘They shall not ⌞marry⌟¹ a woman who is a prostitute and defiled, nor shall they ⌞marry⌟² a woman divorced from her husband, because each priest³ is holy for his God.

1. Literally “take”
2. Literally “take”
3. Hebrew “he”; singular antecedent specified from the context

⁸ And you shall consecrate him, because he is bringing near your God’s food; he shall be holy to you, since I, Yahweh, who consecrates you, am holy.

⁹ “ ‘As for¹ the daughter of any priest, if she is defiled by prostituting, she is disgracing her father—she shall be burned in the fire.

1. Or “And”

¹⁰ “ ‘As for¹ the priest who is higher than his brothers, on whose head the oil of anointment is poured and ⌞he was ordained⌟² to wear the garments, he shall not dishevel his head, and he shall not tear his garments.

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “he has filled up his hand”

¹¹ And he shall not go near any dead person, nor shall he make himself unclean for his father or¹ for his mother.

1. Or “and”

¹² And he shall not go out from the sanctuary, and he shall not profane his God’s sanctuary, because the dedication of his God’s oil of anointment is on him; I am Yahweh.

¹³ “ ‘And he himself must take a wife in her virginity.

¹⁴ A widow or¹ a divorced woman or² a defiled woman, a prostitute—these he must not take; he shall take only³ a virgin from his people as wife.

1. Or “and”
2. Or “and”
3. Or “instead”

¹⁵ And he shall not profane his offspring among his people, because I am Yahweh, who consecrates him.’ ”

¹⁶ Then¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

1. Or “And”

¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘A man from your offspring throughout their generations, in whom is a physical defect, shall not come near to present your God’s food.

¹⁸ Indeed,¹ any man in whom is a physical defect shall not come near: a blind man or lame or disfigured or deformed,

1. Or “For”

¹⁹ or a man in whom is a broken foot or a broken hand,

²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf, or a spot in his eye or a skin disorder or a skin eruption or a crushed testicle.

²¹ Any man from Aaron the priest’s offspring in whom is a physical defect shall not come near to present offerings made by fire to¹ Yahweh; a physical defect is in him; he shall not come near to present his God’s food.

1. Hebrew “of”

²² He may eat his God’s food, from ⌞the most holy things⌟¹ and from the holy things.

1. Literally “the holy things of the holy things”

²³ But he must not enter the curtain, and he must not come near to the altar, because a physical defect is in him, and he must not profane my sanctuary, because I am Yahweh, who consecrates them.’ ”

²⁴ Thus¹ Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the ⌞Israelites⌟.²

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “sons/children of Israel”