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The Holiness of the Priests

¹ Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: '^(C1)No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people,^2 (C1)except for his ^(F1)blood relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother,³ also for his virgin sister, who is near to him ^(F1)because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.⁴ 'He shall not defile himself as a ^(F1)relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself.⁵ '^(C1)They shall not make any baldness on their heads ^(C2)nor shave off the edges of their beards ^(C3)nor make any cuts in their flesh.⁶ 'They shall be holy to their God and ^(C1)not profane the name of their God, for they bring near the offerings ^(F1)to Yahweh by fire, ^(C2)the food of their God; so they shall be holy.⁷ '^(C1)They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God.⁸ 'Therefore, you shall set him apart as holy, for he brings near ^(C1)the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who makes you holy, am holy.⁹ '^(C1)Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

¹⁰ 'And the priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and ^(F1)who has been ordained to wear the garments, ^(C1)shall not ^(F2)uncover his head nor tear his clothes;^11 (C1)nor shall he approach any dead person nor defile himself even for his father or his mother;^12 (C1)nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for ^(C2)the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am Yahweh.¹³ 'And he shall take a wife in her virginity.¹⁴ '^(C1)A widow or a divorced woman or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife,¹⁵ so that he will not profane his seed among his people; for I am Yahweh who makes him holy.'"

¹⁶ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹⁷ "Speak to Aaron, saying, 'No man of your seed throughout their generations who has a defect shall come near to offer the ^(C1)food of his God.¹⁸ '^(C1)For no one who has a defect shall come near: a blind man or a lame man or he who has a ^(F1)(C1)disfigured face or any deformed limb,¹⁹ or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand,²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a ^(F1)defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or ^(C1)crushed testicles.²¹ 'No man among the seed of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall approach to bring near the offerings to Yahweh by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not approach to bring near ^(C1)the food of his God.²² 'He may eat ^(C1)the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy,²³ only he shall not go in to the veil or approach the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am Yahweh who makes them holy.'"²⁴ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.