Holiness Required of Priests

(1 Timothy 4:6-16)

1And the LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people: 2But for his kin, that is near to him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother. 3And for his sister a virgin, that is near to him, which has had no husband; for her may he be defiled. 4But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. 5They shall not make baldness on their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. 6They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy. 7They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy to his God. 8You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God: he shall be holy to you: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy. 9And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profanes her father: she shall be burnt with fire.

10And he that is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes; 11Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother; 12Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the LORD. 13And he shall take a wife in her virginity. 14A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife. 15Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.

16And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.

Restrictions against Those with Blemishes

18For whatever man he be that has a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that has a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, 19Or a man that is broken footed, or broken handed, 20Or hunch back, or a dwarf, or that has a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or has his stones broken; 21No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; 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. 23Only he shall not go in to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them. 24And Moses told it to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel.