Leviticus 21

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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 The Lord also said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them: Do not allow a priest to be contaminated by the death of his citizens,
2 except for his nearest relatives, his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother	2 except only by his blood-relatives and near-relatives, that is, by a father or mother, or by a son or daughter, or also a brother,
3 or his maiden sister, who is of his own family while she remains unmarried; for these he may make himself unclean.	3 or a virgin sister, who is not married to a husband.
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 not even by the leader of his people shall he be contaminated.
5 "The priests shall not make bare the crown of the head, nor shave the edges of the beard, nor lacerate the body.	5 Neither shall they shave their head or their beard, and they shall not make incisions 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 to their God, and they shall not pollute his name. For they offer the incense of the Lord and the bread of their God, and because of this 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 as a wife a promiscuous woman, or a prostitute, or her who has been repudiated by her husband. For they are consecrated to their 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 and they offer the bread of the presence. Therefore, let them be holy, for I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctifies them.
9 "A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death.	9 If the daughter of a priest will have been taken into prostitution, and will have violated the name of her father, she shall be consumed by 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 The high priest, that is, the priest who is the greatest among his brothers, upon whose head the oil of anointing has been poured, and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood, and who has been vested with the holy vestments: he shall not expose his head; he shall not rend his vestments.
11 nor shall he go near any dead person. Not even for his father or mother may he thus become unclean	11 And he shall not enter to any dead body whatsoever; likewise, not even by his father or mother shall he be contaminated.
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 exit from the holy places, lest he pollute the Sanctuary of the Lord. For the oil of the holy anointing of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.
13 "The priest shall marry a virgin.	13 He shall take a virgin as his wife.
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 But a widow, or one who has been repudiated or defiled, or also a mistress, he shall not accept, but only a maiden from among his own people.
15 otherwise he will have base offspring among his people. I, the LORD, have made him sacred."	15 He shall not mingle the stock of his family with the common people of his nation. For I am the Lord, who sanctifies him.
16 The LORD said to Moses,	16 And the Lord spoke to 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 Say to Aaron: A man from your offspring, throughout their families, who has a blemish, shall not offer the bread to 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 Neither shall he approach to minister to him: if he is blind, if he is lame, if he is small, or large, or has a crooked nose,
19 or a crippled foot or hand,	19 if his foot or hand is broken,
20 or who is hump-backed or weakly or walleyed, or who is afflicted with eczema, ringworm or hernia.	20 if he has a bulging back or bleary eyes, or if he has a white spot in his eye, or a chronic scab, or a skin disease on his body, or a hernia.
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 Anyone from the offspring of Aaron, the priest, who has a blemish, shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor the bread to 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 Nevertheless, he shall eat from the loaves which are offered in the Sanctuary.
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 But even so, he may not enter within the veil, nor approach to the altar. For he has a blemish, and he must not contaminate my Sanctuary. I am the Lord, who sanctifies them.
24 Moses, therefore, told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.	24 Therefore, Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all of Israel, everything that had been commanded to him.