Leviticus 21

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	KING JAMES BIBLE
1 The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: None of you shall make himself unclean for any dead person among his people,	1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
2 except for his nearest relatives, his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother	2 But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
3 or his maiden sister, who is of his own family while she remains unmarried; for these he may make himself unclean.	3 And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.
4 But for a sister who has married out of his family he shall not make himself unclean; this would be a profanation.	4 But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
5 "The priests shall not make bare the crown of the head, nor shave the edges of the beard, nor lacerate the body.	5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
6 To their God they shall be sacred, and not profane his name; since they offer up the oblations of the LORD, the food of their God, they must be holy.	6 They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
7 "A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or has lost her honor, nor a woman who has been divorced by her husband; for the priest is sacred to his God.	7 They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
8 Honor him as sacred who offers up the food of your God; treat him as sacred, because I, the LORD, who have consecrated him, am sacred.	8 Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.
9 "A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death.	9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
10 "The most exalted of the priests, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the special vestments, shall not bare his head or rend his garments,	10 And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;
11 nor shall he go near any dead person. Not even for his father or mother may he thus become unclean	11 Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
12 or leave the sanctuary; otherwise he will profane the sanctuary of his God, for with the anointing oil upon him, he is dedicated to his God, to me, the LORD.	12 Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD.
13 "The priest shall marry a virgin.	13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
14 Not a widow or a woman who has been divorced or a woman who has lost her honor as a prostitute, but a virgin, taken from his own people, shall he marry;	14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.
15 otherwise he will have base offspring among his people. I, the LORD, have made him sacred."	15 Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.
16 The LORD said to Moses,	16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
17 "Speak to Aaron and tell him: None of your descendants, of whatever generation, who has any defect shall come forward to offer up the food of his God.	17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
18 Therefore, he who has any of the following defects may not come forward: he who is blind, or lame, or who has any disfigurement or malformation,	18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
19 or a crippled foot or hand,	19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
20 or who is hump-backed or weakly or walleyed, or who is afflicted with eczema, ringworm or hernia.	20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any such defect may draw near to offer up the oblations of the LORD; on account of his defect he may not draw near to offer up the food of his God.	21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
22 He may, however, partake of the food of his God: of what is most sacred as well as of what is sacred.	22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.
23 Only, he may not approach the veil nor go up to the altar on account of his defect; he shall not profane these things that are sacred to me, for it is I, the LORD, who make them sacred."	23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.
24 Moses, therefore, told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.	24 And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.