Regulations concerning Priests

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

‘^(A)No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, ^2 (B)except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother, ³ also for his virgin sister who is near to him ^[a]because she has not had a husband; for her, he may defile himself. ⁴ He shall not defile himself as a ^[b]relative by marriage among his people, so as to profane himself. ^5 (C)They shall not shave any area on their heads bald, ^(D)nor shave off the edges of their beards, ^(E)nor make any cuts in their flesh. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and ^(F)not profane the name of their God, because they present the offerings by fire ^[c]to the Lord, ^(G)the food of their God; so they shall be holy. ^7 (H)They shall not take a woman who is a prostitute and ^[d]profaned, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. ⁸ You shall consecrate him, therefore, because he offers ^(I)the food of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. ^9 (J)Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

¹⁰ ‘The priest who is ^[e]highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and ^[f]who has been consecrated to wear the garments, ^(K)shall not ^[g]uncover his head nor tear his clothes; ^11 (L)nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother; ^12 (M)nor shall he leave the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for ^(N)the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord. ¹³ He shall take a wife in her virginity. ^14 (O)A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by prostitution, these he shall not take; but rather he is to ^[h]marry a virgin of his own people, ¹⁵ so that he will not profane his ^[i]children among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘None of your ^[j]descendants throughout their generations who has an impairment shall approach to offer the ^(P)food of his God. ^18 (Q)For no one who has an impairment shall approach: a man who is blind, or one who limps, or one who has a ^(R)slit nose, or one with any conspicuous feature, ¹⁹ or someone who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰ or a contorted back, or one who is a dwarf, or has a spot in his eye, or a festering rash or scabs, or ^(S)crushed testicles. ²¹ No man among the ^[k]descendants of Aaron the priest who has an impairment is to come forward to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has an impairment, he shall not come forward to offer ^(T)the food of his God. ²² He may eat ^(U)the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, ²³ only he shall not come up to the veil or approach the altar, since he has an impairment, so that he does not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” ²⁴ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.