[1] And the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron,
and say to them that none of them shall defile himself for the dead among
his people, [2] except for his nearest of kin, his mother, his father, his
son, his daughter, his brother, [3] or his virgin sister (who is near to
him because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself). [4] He
shall not defile himself as a husband among his people and so profane
himself. [5] They shall not make tonsures upon their heads, nor shave off
the edges of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. [6] They
shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they
offer the offerings by fire to the LORD, the bread of their God; therefore
they shall be holy. [7] They shall not marry a harlot 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. [8] You shall consecrate him, for he
offers the bread of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the LORD, who
sanctify you, am holy. [9] And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes
herself by playing the harlot, profanes her father; she shall be burned
with fire. [10] "The priest who is chief among his brethren, upon 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 rend his
clothes; [11] he shall not go in to any dead body, nor defile himself, even
for his father or for his mother; [12] neither shall he go out of the
sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of
the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD. [13] And he shall
take a wife in her virginity. [14] A widow, or one divorced, or a woman who
has been defiled, or a harlot, these he shall not marry; but he shall take
to wife a virgin of his own people, [15] that he may not profane his
children among his people; for I am the LORD who sanctify him." [16] And
the LORD said to Moses, [17] "Say to Aaron, None of your descendants
throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the
bread of his God. [18] For 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, [19] or
a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, [20] or a hunchback, or a
dwarf, or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs
or crushed testicles; [21] no man of the descendants of Aaron the priest
who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD's offerings by fire;
since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his
God. [22] He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the
holy things, [23] but he shall not come near the veil or approach the
altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries;
for I am the LORD who sanctify them." [24] So Moses spoke to Aaron and to
his sons and to all the people of Israel.
