Holiness Required of Priests 1 UDB Yahweh also said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,
2 UDB 'You priests must not cause yourselves to become unfit to do my work by touching any dead body. You are permitted to touch only the corpses of close relatives, such as your mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. BSB BSB: except for his immediate family—his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother,
3 UDB You may also touch the corpse of a sister if she is not married and has been living in your house because she has no husband to bury her. BSB BSB: or his unmarried sister who is near to him, since she has no husband.
4 UDB You priests must not cause yourselves to become unfit to do my work by touching the dead bodies of other relatives of yours. BSB BSB: He is not to defile himself for those related to him by marriage, and so profane himself.
5 UDB You priests must not shave your heads or the edges of your beards; you must not cut your bodies to show that you are mourning for someone who has died. BSB BSB: Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.
6 UDB You must act in ways that I, your God, consider to be suitable for you, my priests; you must not disgrace me. You are the ones who will present to me the offerings that you will burn. These offerings will be made to me from your food supplies. So you must act in ways that are suitable, because you honor me. BSB BSB: They must be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. Because they present to the LORD the food offerings, the food of their God, they must be holy.
7 UDB You priests must not marry women who have been prostitutes or who have been divorced from their husbands, because you priests are set apart for God. BSB BSB: A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
8 UDB You must remember that I have set you apart to worship me. It is as though you were offering food to me, your God. Regard yourselves as belonging to me because I, Yahweh, am the one who made you to be priests, and I have nothing to do with any evil—I am holy. BSB BSB: You are to regard him as holy, since he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, because I the LORD am holy—I who set you apart.
9 UDB If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she disgraces her father, and you must burn her in a fire. BSB BSB: If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by prostituting herself, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.
10 UDB The high priest is the one among his relatives who has been appointed for that work by having his head anointed with olive oil. He is also the one who has been appointed to wear the garments that are made and set apart for the honor of Yahweh. He must not allow the hair on his head to remain uncombed, and he must not tear his clothes when he is mourning for someone. BSB BSB: The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair hang loose or tear his garments.
11 UDB He must not enter any place where there is a corpse. He must not do that and cause himself to become unfit for his work, even if it is his father or his mother who has died. BSB BSB: He must not go near any dead body; he must not defile himself, even for his father or mother.
12 UDB He must not leave the sacred tent to join those who are mourning, because he would cause himself to become unfit for his work and would also defile the sacred tent. He must not leave the sacred tent at that time, because by being anointed with olive oil he has been appointed to serve his God in the sacred tent. I, Yahweh, am the one who am commanding this. BSB BSB: He must not leave or desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the LORD.
13 UDB Women whom you priests marry must be virgins. BSB BSB: The woman he marries must be a virgin.
14 UDB You priests must not marry widows or prostitutes or divorced women, because if you do that, and if you later have sons, they will not be acceptable to be priests among your people. You must marry only virgins from among your own people. I am Yahweh, who sets priests apart for my honor and for those who worship me.'" BSB BSB: He is not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people,
Restrictions against Those with Blemishes 16 UDB Yahweh also said to Moses, BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Moses,
17 UDB "Say this to Aaron: 'For all future time, none of your descendants who has any defects on his body will be allowed to come near the altar to offer sacrifices to me which will be like my food. BSB BSB: “Say to Aaron, ‘For the generations to come, none of your descendants who has a physical defect may approach to offer the food of his God.
18 UDB No one who is blind or lame or deformed should come near to the altar to give an offering. The same is true of anyone whose face is disfigured, BSB BSB: No man who has any defect may approach—no man who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed;
19 UDB or who has a crippled foot or a crippled hand, BSB BSB: no man who has a broken foot or hand,
20 UDB or who has a hunchback or an abnormally short person, and who has eyes that are defective, or who has a skin disease or whose private parts have been damaged. BSB BSB: or who is a hunchback or dwarf, or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs, or a crushed testicle.
21 UDB No descendant of Aaron, the first high priest, who has any defect is allowed to come to the altar to offer to me, his God, sacrifices that will be burned. BSB BSB: No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall approach to present the food offerings to the LORD. Since he has a defect, he is not to come near to offer the food of his God.
22 UDB Priests who have defects are permitted to eat the various kinds of holy food offered to me. BSB BSB: He may eat the most holy food of his God as well as the holy food,
23 UDB But because of their defects, they must not go near the curtain in the sacred tent or near the altar, because if they did that, they would desecrate my sacred tent. I am Yahweh, the one who sets those places apart for myself and for my honor.'" BSB BSB: but because he has a defect, he must not go near the veil or approach the altar, so as not to desecrate My sanctuaries. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”
24 UDB So Moses told this to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israelite people. BSB BSB: Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.