Instructions for Priests
1 The Lord gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests:
Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative, 2 except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother, 3 or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her. 4 Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage. 5 Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning. 6 I am the Lord your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That's why you must keep yourselves holy. 7 Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy, 8 because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness.
9 If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death.
10 If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead. 11 Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother. 12 If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest.
13 If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin 14 from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute. 15 In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember—I am the Lord, and I have chosen you.
16 The Lord told Moses 17-18 to say to Aaron:
No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other, 19 if either a foot or a hand is paralyzed, 20 if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged. 21 These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me. 22 They may eat the food offerings presented to me, 23 but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember—I am the Lord, the one who makes a priest holy.
24 Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.
The Holiness of the Priests
1 The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Aaronite priests, “No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies, 2 unless it is his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, 3 or unmarried sister living in his house. 4 He shall not make himself unclean at the death of those related to him by marriage.
5 “No priest shall shave any part of his head or trim his beard or cut gashes on his body to show that he is in mourning. 6 He must be holy and must not disgrace my name. He offers food offerings to me, and he must be holy. 7 A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or a woman who is not a virgin or who is divorced; he is holy. 8 The people must consider the priest holy, because he presents the food offerings to me. I am the Lord; I am holy and I make my people holy. 9 If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she shall be burned to death.
10 “The High Priest has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been consecrated to wear the priestly garments, so he must not leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothes to show that he is in mourning. 11-12 He has been dedicated to me and is not to make himself ritually unclean nor is he to defile my sacred Tent by leaving it and entering a house where there is a dead person, even if it is his own father or mother. 13 He shall marry a virgin, 14 not a widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been a prostitute. He shall marry only a virgin from his own clan. 15 Otherwise, his children, who ought to be holy, will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord and I have set him apart as the High Priest.”
16 The Lord commanded Moses 17 to tell Aaron, “None of your descendants who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me. This applies for all time to come. 18 No man with any physical defects may make the offering: no one who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed; 19 no one with a crippled hand or foot; 20 no one who is a hunchback or a dwarf; no one with any eye or skin disease; and no eunuch. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me. 22 Such a man may eat the food offered to me, both the holy food offering and the very holy food offering, 23 but because he has a physical defect, he shall not come near the sacred curtain or approach the altar. He must not profane these holy things, because I am the Lord and I make them holy.”
24 This, then, is what Moses said to Aaron, the sons of Aaron, and to all the people of Israel.