Leviticus 22

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

² 'Speak to Aaron and his sons. They must be consecrated by the holy offerings of the Israelites andmust not profane my holy name; for my sake they must sanctify it; I am Yahweh.

³ Say to them: "Any one of your descendants, for al time, who in a state of uncleanness approaches theholy offerings consecrated to Yahweh by the Israelites, wil be outlawed from my presence. I am Yahweh.

⁴ "Anyone of Aaron's line who is afflicted with a contagious skin-disease or a discharge will not eat holythings until he is clean. Anyone who touches anything made unclean by a dead body, or who has a seminaldischarge,

⁵ or who is made unclean by touching any kind of reptile or any one who has contaminated him with hisown uncleanness, be it what it may,

⁶ in short, anyone who has had any such contact wil be unclean until evening, and must not eat holythings until he has washed his body.

⁷ At sunset he wil be clean and may then eat holy things, for these are his food.

⁸ "He must not eat an animal that has died a natural death or been savaged; he would contractuncleanness from it. I am Yahweh.

⁹ "They must keep my rules and not burden themselves with sin. If they profane them, they will incurdeath; I, Yahweh, have sanctified them.

¹⁰ "No lay person may eat anything holy; no guest or employee of a priest may eat anything holy.

¹¹ But if the priest has acquired a slave by purchase, the slave may eat it like anyone born in hishousehold; they will share his food.

¹² "If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she will have no share in the holy things set aside,

¹³ but if she is widowed or divorced and, being childless, has had to return to her father's house aswhen she was young, she may share her father's food. No lay person may share it;

¹⁴ anyone who does eat a holy thing by inadvertence, wil restore it to the priest with one-fifth added.

¹⁵ "They may not profane the holy offerings which the Israelites have set aside for Yahweh.

¹⁶ By eating these, they would burden them with guilt requiring a sacrifice of reparation; for I, Yahweh, have sanctified these offerings." '

¹⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

¹⁸ 'Speak to Aaron, to his sons, and to al the Israelites and say: "Any member of the House of Israel orany alien resident in Israel who brings an offering either in payment of a vow or as a voluntary gift, and offers itas a burnt offering to Yahweh,

¹⁹ must, if he is to be acceptable, offer an unblemished male, be it bul or sheep or goat.

²⁰ You wil not offer anything with a blemish, for it would not make you acceptable.

²¹ "If anyone offers Yahweh a communion sacrifice, either to fulfil a vow or as a voluntary offering, theanimal, be it from the herd or flock, must be perfect, if he is to be acceptable; it must be unblemished.

²² You wil not offer Yahweh any animal which is blind, lame, mutilated, ulcerous, scabby or covered insores. No part of such an animal wil be offered on the altar as food burnt for Yahweh.

²³ As a voluntary offering, you may offer a bul or a lamb that is underdeveloped or deformed; but suchwil not be acceptable in payment of a vow.

²⁴ You wil not offer Yahweh an animal if its testicles have been bruised, crushed, torn or cut off. Youmay not do that in your country,

²⁵ and you may not accept any such from the hands of a stranger, to be offered as food for your God.Their deformity is a blemish, and they would not make you acceptable." '

²⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

²⁷ 'A calf, lamb, or kid will stay with its dam for seven days after being born. From the eighth dayonwards, it wil be acceptable as food burnt for Yahweh.

²⁸ But no animal, whether cow or ewe, wil be slaughtered on the same day as its young.

²⁹ 'If you offer Yahweh a sacrifice with praise, do it in the acceptable manner;

³⁰ it must be eaten the same day; you wil leave nothing over til next morning. I am Yahweh.

³¹ 'You wil keep my commands and put them into practice. I am Yahweh.

³² You wil not profane my holy name -- so that I may be honoured as holy among the Israelites, I,Yahweh, who make you holy,

³³ I who brought you out of Egypt, to be your God, I, Yahweh.'