Ordinances relating to the priests.
21:1. The Lord said also to Moses: Speak to the priests the sons of
Aaron, and thou shalt say to them: Let not a priest incur an
uncleanness at the death of his citizens.
An uncleanness.... Viz., such as was contracted in laying out the dead
body, or touching it; or in going into the house, or assisting at the
funeral, etc.
21:2. But only for his kin, such as are near in blood: that is to say,
for his father and for his mother, and for his son, and for his
daughter, for his brother also:
21:3. And for a maiden sister, who hath had no husband.
21:4. But not even for the prince of his people shall he do any thing
that may make him unclean.
21:5. Neither shall they shave their head, nor their beard, nor make
incisions in their flesh.
21:6. They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane his name.
For they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their
God: and therefore they shall be holy.
21:7. They shall not take to wife a harlot or a vile prostitute, nor
one that has been put away from her husband: because they are
consecrated to their God,
21:8. And offer the loaves of proposition. Let them therefore be holy
because I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctify them.
21:9. If the daughter of a priest be taken in whoredom and dishonour
the name of her father, she shall be burnt with fire.
21:10. The high priest, that is to say, the priest who is the greatest
among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of unction hath been
poured; and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood; and
who hath been vested with the holy vestments. He shall not uncover his
head: he shall not rend his garments.
21:11. Nor shall he go in at all to any dead person: not even for his
father, or his mother, shall he be defiled.
21:12. Neither shall he go out of the holy places, lest he defile the
sanctuary of the Lord: because the oil of the holy unction of his God
is upon him. I am the Lord.
21:13. He shall take a virgin unto his wife.
21:14. But a widow or one that is divorced, or defiled, or a harlot, he
shall not take: but a maid of his own people.
21:15. He shall not mingle the stock of his kindred with the common
people of this nation: for I am the Lord who sanctify him.
21:16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
21:17. Say to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families,
hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to his God.
21:18. Neither shall he approach to minister to him: If he be blind; if
he be lame; if he have a little, or a great, or a crooked nose;
21:19. If his foot, or if his hand be broken;
21:20. If he be crookbacked; or blear eyed; or have a pearl in his eye,
or a continual scab, or a dry scurf in his body, or a rupture.
21:21. Whosoever of the seed of Aaron the priest hath a blemish: he
shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor bread to his
God.
21:22. He shall eat nevertheless of the loaves that are offered in the
sanctuary.
21:23. Yet so that he enter not within the veil, nor approach to the
altar: because he hath a blemish, and he must not defile my sanctuary.
I am the Lord who sanctify them.
21:24. Moses, therefore spoke to Aaron, and to his sons and to all
Israel, all the things that had been commanded him.