Leviticus 22:1-13 ▼

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 |Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy [gifts] of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.

3 |Say to them, 'If any man among all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy [gifts] which the sons of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before Me; I am the LORD.

4 No man of the descendants of Aaron, who is a leper or who has a discharge, may eat of the holy [gifts] until he is clean. And if one touches anything made unclean by a corpse or if a man has a seminal emission,

5 or if a man touches any teeming things by which he is made unclean, or any man by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness;

6 a person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy [gifts] unless he has bathed his body in water.

7 But when the sun sets, he will be clean, and afterward he shall eat of the holy [gifts], for it is his food.

8 He shall not eat [an animal] which dies or is torn [by beasts], becoming unclean by it; I am the LORD.

9 They shall therefore keep My charge, so that they will not bear sin because of it and die thereby because they profane it; I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

10 No layman, however, is to eat the holy [gift]; a sojourner with the priest or a hired man shall not eat of the holy [gift].

11 But if a priest buys a slave as [his] property with his money, that one may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his food.

12 If a priest's daughter is married to a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the [gifts].

13 But if a priest's daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father's house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's food; but no layman shall eat of it.