Leviticus 21

1Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to the priests, sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'He shall not defile himself for any soul among his people.'"

2except for his close kin—his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother.

3and for his virgin sister who is close to him, who has not belonged to a man—for her he may defile himself.

4He shall not defile himself as a chief among his people, lest he profane himself.

5They shall not make their heads bald, nor shave the edges of their beards, nor cut gashes in their flesh.

6They shall be holy to their God and not defile the name of their God, for they present Yahweh's fire offerings, the bread of their God; thus they shall be holy.

7They shall not marry a prostitute or a defiled woman, nor take a woman divorced from her husband, for he is holy to his God.

8You shall sanctify him, for he presents the bread of your God; he shall be holy to you, for I, Yahweh who sanctifies you, am holy.

9The daughter of any priest, if she begins to prostitute, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

10The chief priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and whose hand has been filled to wear the garments, shall not dishevel his head or tear his garments.

11Nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself for his father or his mother.

12He shall not leave the holy place nor defile the holy place of his God, for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him; I am Yahweh.

13He is to take a wife in her virginity.

14A widow, a divorced woman, a defiled woman, or a prostitute—these he shall not take, but a virgin from his people as his wife.

15He shall not defile his offspring among his people, for I am Yahweh who sanctifies him.

16Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

17Speak to Aaron, saying, "No man from your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God.

18For any man who has a blemish shall not come near—a blind man, or a lame man, or a flat-nosed man, or one with a superfluous limb.

19or a man who has a fracture in his foot or a fracture in his hand

20or hunchback, or dwarf, or a flaw in his eye, or scab, or scabbed, or crushed testicle;

21Any man among Aaron the priest's offspring who has a blemish shall not approach to present the fire offerings to Yahweh; he has a blemish, so he shall not approach to present the food of his God.

22He may eat the bread of his God from the most holy things and from the holy things.

23But he shall not come to the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish and must not defile my holy places, for I, Yahweh, sanctify them.

24So Moses spoke to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel.