| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, | 1The LORD said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. “A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean by touching the dead body of a relative. |
| 2except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, | 2The only exceptions are his closest relatives—his mother or father, son or daughter, brother, |
| 3or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). | 3or his virgin sister who depends on him because she has no husband. |
| 4He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. | 4But a priest must not defile himself and make himself unclean for someone who is related to him only by marriage. |
| 5They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. | 5“The priests must not shave their heads or trim their beards or cut their bodies. |
| 6They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the LORD’s food offerings, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. | 6They must be set apart as holy to their God and must never bring shame on the name of God. They must be holy, for they are the ones who present the special gifts to the LORD, gifts of food for their God. |
| 7They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. | 7“Priests may not marry a woman defiled by prostitution, and they may not marry a woman who is divorced from her husband, for the priests are set apart as holy to their God. |
| 8You 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. | 8You must treat them as holy because they offer up food to your God. You must consider them holy because I, the LORD, am holy, and I make you holy. |
| 9And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire. | 9“If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she also defiles her father’s holiness, and she must be burned to death. |
| 10“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. | 10“The high priest has the highest rank of all the priests. The anointing oil has been poured on his head, and he has been ordained to wear the priestly garments. He must never leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothing. |
| 11He shall not go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. | 11He must not defile himself by going near a dead body. He may not make himself ceremonially unclean even for his father or mother. |
| 12He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the LORD. | 12He must not defile the sanctuary of his God by leaving it to attend to a dead person, for he has been made holy by the anointing oil of his God. I am the LORD. |
| 13And he shall take a wife in her virginity. | 13“The high priest may marry only a virgin. |
| 14A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people, | 14He may not marry a widow, a woman who is divorced, or a woman who has defiled herself by prostitution. She must be a virgin from his own clan, |
| 15that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.” | 15so that he will not dishonor his descendants among his clan, for I am the LORD who makes him holy.” |
| 16And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, | 16Then the LORD said to Moses, |
| 17“Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. | 17“Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God. |
| 18For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, | 18No one who has a defect qualifies, whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, |
| 19or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, | 19or has a broken foot or arm, |
| 20or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. | 20or is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores or scabs, or damaged testicles. |
| 21No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. | 21No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the LORD. Since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God. |
| 22He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, | 22However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and the most holy offerings. |
| 23but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” | 23Yet because of his physical defect, he may not enter the room behind the inner curtain or approach the altar, for this would defile my holy places. I am the LORD who makes them holy.” |
| 24So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel. | 24So Moses gave these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
|
