Leviticus 21

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: none of them is to make himself unclean for a dead person among his people,

1And 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:

NoteTouching or being under the same roof as a corpse made a person ritually unclean, not dirty, but temporarily barred from the sanctuary and from handling holy things until a set purification had passed. Because a priest's work was at the sanctuary, this mattered for him in a way it did not for others. Burying and mourning the dead was normally a family duty, so the rule cuts across an ordinary obligation.

2except for a close relative: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, or his brother,

2But 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,

NoteThe list is the household a man was born into: parents, children, brother. A wife is not named. Readers ancient and modern have noticed the gap; most take her as covered by the opening phrase, which in Hebrew is literally "his flesh, the one nearest to him."

3or his unmarried sister, who is near to him and has had no husband. For her he may make himself unclean.

3And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.

NoteA married sister passed into her husband's household, and the duty of burying her fell to them. An unmarried sister still belonged to her father's house, so her priestly brother remained responsible for her.

4But he must not make himself unclean as a leading man among his people, treating himself as common instead of holy.

4But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is obscure and translators genuinely differ. The key word can mean "husband" (giving: he must not defile himself for relatives acquired by marriage) or "master, leading man" (giving: his rank forbids him what others may do). Also note the vocabulary running through the chapter: "holy" means set apart for God's use, and its opposite is not "wicked" but "common", ordinary, available for everyday use. To profane something is to move it from the first category to the second.

5The priests must not shave bald patches on their heads, or shave off the edges of their beards, or cut their bodies.

5They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

NoteThese were the standard ways of showing grief in the ancient Near East: shaving the head bald, cutting away the trimmed edge of the beard, and gashing the skin. The rule forbids priests these public gestures of mourning, not grief itself.

6They are to be holy to their God, and they must not treat the name of their God as common. They present the offerings made by fire to the LORD, the food of their God, so they must be holy.

6They 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.

Note"The food of their God" is the regular idiom in these laws for what was burned on the altar or set out before it; sacrifice is spoken of throughout as a meal presented to God. "Offerings made by fire" are those wholly or partly burned rather than eaten.

7They must not marry a woman who works as a prostitute, or a woman who has been defiled, and they must not marry a woman who has been divorced by her husband, because a priest is holy to his God.

7They 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.

Note"Defiled" translates a Hebrew word meaning a woman who has been made common, most often understood as a woman who has lost her virginity outside marriage, though later Jewish readers took it to mean a woman born from a marriage forbidden to a priest. Divorce was legal in Israel and carried no penalty; what is restricted here is whom a priest may marry.

8So you are to treat him as holy, because he offers the food of your God. He is to be holy to you, because I the LORD, who make you holy, am holy.

8Thou 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.

NoteThe "you" here is singular and turns from the priests to Israel as a whole: the people have an obligation to treat the priest as set apart.

9If a priest's daughter makes herself unclean by acting as a prostitute, she makes her father unholy. She is to be burned with fire.

9And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.

NoteBurning is an exceptionally rare penalty in Israelite law, named only here and in one or two other cases. Whether the burning was the means of death or something done to the body afterward is disputed. "Makes her father unholy" reflects the assumption that a household's standing was collective: her conduct stripped his.

10The priest who is highest among his brothers, the one who had the anointing oil poured on his head and who was set apart to wear the priestly clothes, must not let the hair of his head hang loose or tear his clothes.

10And 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;

NoteTwo mourning gestures are named. The first, literally "he shall not unbind his head," may mean letting the hair hang loose or going bareheaded, translators differ. The second, tearing one's own clothing, was the ordinary visible sign of grief. The anointing was the installation ceremony: perfumed olive oil poured over the head, marking the man as set apart for the office.

11He must not go near any dead body. He must not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother.

11Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;

12He must not leave the sanctuary or treat the sanctuary of his God as common, because the anointing oil of his God, which set him apart, is on him. I am the LORD.

12Neither 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.

NoteThis is generally understood to mean he must not leave his post to follow a funeral or join in mourning, not that he can never go outdoors. The Hebrew word behind the KJV's "crown of the anointing oil" means both a consecration and a diadem.

13The woman he marries must be a virgin.

13And he shall take a wife in her virginity.

14He must not marry a widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute. He is to marry a virgin from his own people,

14A 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.

NoteThe limits are tighter than for ordinary priests, who are barred only from marrying a prostitute, a defiled woman, or a divorced woman (verse 7). A widow is permitted to them and forbidden to the high priest.

15so that he does not make his descendants unholy among his people, because I am the LORD who makes him holy."

15Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.

NotePriestly standing passed by birth. A marriage outside these limits was held to leave the children without the standing to serve at the sanctuary.

16The LORD said to Moses,

16And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

17"Say to Aaron: For all the generations to come, none of your descendants who has any defect in his body may come near to offer the food of his God.

17Speak 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.

Note"Defect" translates the same Hebrew word used of animals brought for sacrifice, which likewise had to be without defect. Everything in the list that follows is a physical condition, not a moral one, and verse 22 makes explicit that such a man kept his priestly food and household rights.

18No man with a defect may come near: no man who is blind, or lame, or has a disfigured face, or a limb that is too long,

18For 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,

NoteSeveral terms in this list are technical and their exact sense is uncertain. The word behind "disfigured face" (KJV "flat nose") occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. "A limb that is too long" (KJV "any thing superfluous") seems to mean a limb out of proportion or an extra one. Translations vary widely here.

19no man with a broken foot or a broken hand,

19Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,

20no hunchback or dwarf, no man with a defect in his eye, or a festering skin rash, or scabs, or crushed testicles.

20Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;

NoteThe two skin conditions named cannot now be identified with certainty; they are distinct from the condition dealt with at length in chapters 13–14, which the KJV calls leprosy. Crushed testicles likewise disqualified an animal from being offered.

21No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect may come near to present the offerings made by fire to the LORD. He has a defect, so he must not come near to offer the food of his God.

21No 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.

Note"Come near" is a technical expression in these laws: stepping up to the altar to perform the offering, not merely approaching the area.

22He may eat the food of his God, both the most holy food and the holy food.

22He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.

NoteSacrificial food came in two grades. "Most holy" portions (from the purification, reparation and grain offerings, and the bread set out before God) could be eaten only by male priests and only inside the sanctuary court. "Holy" food, such as the priests' share of the well-being offerings and contributions from the people, could be eaten by a priest's whole household anywhere ritually clean.

23But he must not go in past the curtain or come near the altar, because he has a defect. He must not treat my holy places as common, for I am the LORD who makes them holy."

23Only 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.

NoteThe curtain screened the innermost room of the sanctuary; the altar stood in the courtyard outside it. Together they name the two locations where the offering service was actually carried out.

24So Moses told this to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the people of Israel.

24And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.