(1) GOD said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:
None shall defile himself for any [dead] person among his kin, (2) except for the relatives that are closest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; (3) also for a virgin sister, close to him because she has not become someone’s [wife], for her he may defile himself. (4) But he shall not defile himself as a kinsman by marriage, and so profane himself. (5) They shall not shave smooth any part of their heads, or cut the side-growth of their beards, or make gashes in their flesh. (6) They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the ETERNAL’s offerings by fire, the food of their God, and so must be holy.

(7) They shall not marry a woman defiled by prostitution, nor shall they marry one divorced from her husband. For they are holy to their God (8) and you must treat them as holy, since they offer the food of your God; they shall be holy to you, for I GOD who sanctify you am holy. (9) When the daughter of a priest defiles herself through prostitution, it is her father whom she defiles; she shall be put to the fire. (10) The priest who is exalted above his fellows, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the vestments, shall not bare his head or rend his vestments. (11) He shall not go in where there is any dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother. (12) He shall not go outside the sanctuary and profane the sanctuary of his God, for upon him is the distinction of the anointing oil of Mine, the ETERNAL’s.

(13) He may marry only a woman who is a virgin. (14) A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is degraded by prostitution—such he may not marry. Only a virgin of his own kin may he take to wife— (15) that he may not profane his offspring among his kin, for I GOD have sanctified him.

(16) GOD spoke further to Moses: (17) Speak to Aaron and say: No man among your offspring throughout the ages who has a defect shall be qualified to offer the food of his God. (18) No one at all who has a defect shall be qualified: no man who is blind, or lame, or has a limb too short or too long; (19) no man who has a broken leg or a broken arm; (20) or who is a hunchback, or a dwarf, or who has a growth in his eye, or who has a boil-scar, or scurvy, or crushed testes. (21) No man among the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall be qualified to offer GOD’s offering by fire; having a defect, he shall not be qualified to offer the food of his God. (22) He may eat of the food of his God, of the most holy as well as of the holy; (23) but he shall not enter behind the curtain or come near the altar, for he has a defect. He shall not profane these places sacred to Me, for I GOD have sanctified them. (24) Thus Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

(1) GOD spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Instruct Aaron and his sons to be scrupulous about the sacred donations that the Israelite people consecrate to Me, lest they profane My holy name, Mine GOD’s. (3) Say to them:
Throughout the ages, if any man among your offspring, while in a state of impurity, partakes of any sacred donation that the Israelite people may consecrate to GOD, that person shall be cut off from before Me: I am GOD. (4) No man whatsoever among Aaron’s offspring who has an eruption or a discharge shall eat of the sacred donations until he is pure. If one touches anything made impure by a corpse, or if a man has an emission of semen, (5) or if a man touches any swarming thing by which he is made impure or any human being by whom he is made impure—whatever his impurity— (6) the person who touches such shall be impure until evening and shall not eat of the sacred donations unless he has washed his body in water. (7) As soon as the sun sets, he shall be pure; and afterward he may eat of the sacred donations, for they are his food. (8) He shall not eat anything that died or was torn by beasts, thereby becoming impure: I am GOD. (9) They shall keep My charge, lest they incur guilt thereby and die for it, having committed profanation: I GOD consecrate them.

(10) No lay person shall eat of the sacred donations. No bound or hired laborer of a priest shall eat of the sacred donations; (11) but a person who is a priest’s property by purchase may eat of them; and those that are born into his household may eat of his food. (12) If a priest’s daughter becomes a layman’s wife, she may not eat of the sacred gifts;

(13) but if the priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and without offspring, and is back in her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No lay person may eat of it— (14) but if someone eats of a sacred donation unwittingly, the priest shall be paid for the sacred donation, adding one-fifth of its value. (15) But [the priests] must not allow the Israelites to profane the sacred donations that they set aside for GOD, (16) or to incur guilt requiring a penalty payment, by eating such sacred donations: for it is I GOD who make them sacred.

(13) but if the priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and without offspring, and is back in her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No lay person may eat of it— (14) but if someone eats of a sacred donation unwittingly, the priest shall be paid for the sacred donation, adding one-fifth of its value. (15) But [the priests] must not allow the Israelites to profane the sacred donations that they set aside for GOD, (16) or to incur guilt requiring a penalty payment, by eating such sacred donations: for it is I GOD who make them sacred.

(15) But the levitical priests descended from Zadok, who maintained the service of My Sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from Me—they shall approach Me to minister to Me; they shall stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood—declares the Sovereign GOD. (16) They alone may enter My Sanctuary and they alone shall approach My table to minister to Me; and they shall keep My charge. (17) And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen vestments: they shall have nothing woolen upon them when they minister inside the gates of the inner court. (18) They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen breeches on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat. (19) When they go out to the outer court—the outer court where the people are—they shall remove the vestments in which they minister and shall deposit them in the sacred chambers; they shall put on other garments, lest they make the people consecrated by [contact with] their vestments. (20) They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair go untrimmed; they shall keep their hair trimmed. (21) No priest shall drink wine when he enters into the inner court. (22) They shall not marry widows or divorced women of the stock of the House of Israel, but only virgins; or they may marry widows who are widows of priests. (23) They shall declare to My people what is sacred and what is profane, and inform them what is pure and what is impure. (24) In lawsuits, too, it is they who shall act as judges; they shall decide them in accordance with My rules. They shall preserve My teachings and My laws regarding all My fixed occasions; and they shall maintain the sanctity of My sabbaths. (25) [A priest] shall not defile himself by entering [a house] where there is a dead person. He shall defile himself only for father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister. (26) After he has become pure, seven days shall be counted off for him; (27) and on the day that he reenters the inner court of the Sanctuary to minister in the Sanctuary, he shall present his purgation offering—declares the Sovereign GOD. (28) This shall be their portion, for I am their portion; and no holding shall be given them in Israel, for I am their holding. (29) The grain offerings, purgation offerings, and reparation offerings shall be consumed by them. Everything proscribed in Israel shall be theirs. (30) All the choice first fruits of every kind, and all the gifts of every kind—of all your contributions—shall go to the priests. You shall further give the first of the yield of your baking to the priest, that a blessing may rest upon your home. (31) Priests shall not eat anything, whether bird or animal, that died or was torn by beasts.

(15) But the levitical priests descended from Zadok, who maintained the service of My Sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from Me—they shall approach Me to minister to Me; they shall stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood—declares the Sovereign GOD. (16) They alone may enter My Sanctuary and they alone shall approach My table to minister to Me; and they shall keep My charge. (17) And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen vestments: they shall have nothing woolen upon them when they minister inside the gates of the inner court. (18) They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen breeches on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat. (19) When they go out to the outer court—the outer court where the people are—they shall remove the vestments in which they minister and shall deposit them in the sacred chambers; they shall put on other garments, lest they make the people consecrated by [contact with] their vestments. (20) They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair go untrimmed; they shall keep their hair trimmed. (21) No priest shall drink wine when he enters into the inner court. (22) They shall not marry widows or divorced women of the stock of the House of Israel, but only virgins; or they may marry widows who are widows of priests. (23) They shall declare to My people what is sacred and what is profane, and inform them what is pure and what is impure. (24) In lawsuits, too, it is they who shall act as judges; they shall decide them in accordance with My rules. They shall preserve My teachings and My laws regarding all My fixed occasions; and they shall maintain the sanctity of My sabbaths.