5Priests must not shave bald patches on their heads or cut off the ends of their beards or make gashes in their bodies. 6They must be holy to their God so that they do not make their God's name impure. They must be holy because they offer the LORD's food gifts, their God's food. 7Priests must not marry a woman who is promiscuous and defiled, nor can they marry a woman divorced from her husband, because priests must bei holy to their God. 8You will treat the priests as holy, because they offer your God's food. The priests will be holy to you, because I am the holy LORD, who makes you holy. 9If the daughter of a priest defiles herself by being promiscuous, she defiles her father. She must be burned with fire.
10The high priestj --the one whose head has been anointed with the anointing oil and who is ordained to dress in the priestly clothing--must not dishevel his hair or tear his clothing. 11He must not go near any dead bodies and cannot make himself unclean even for his father or mother. 12He must not exit the sanctuary, making his God's sanctuary impure by doing so, because his God's anointing oil, which separates,k is upon him; I am the LORD. 13The high priest must marry a woman who is a virgin. 14He cannot marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by promiscuity. He can only marry a virgin from his own people 15so that he doesn't make his children impure among his people, because I am the LORD, who makes him holy.
16The LORD said to Moses, 17Say to Aaron: None of your future descendants who have some kind of imperfection are allowed to offer their God's food. 18No one who has an imperfection will be allowed to make an offering: this includes anyone who is blind, crippled, disfigured, or deformed; 19anyone who has a broken foot or hand; 20anyone who is a hunchback or too small; anyone who has an eye disease, a rash, scabs, or a crushed testicle.l 21No descendant of Aaron the priest who has an imperfection will be allowed to offer the LORD's food gifts; since he has an imperfection, he will not be allowed to offer his God's food. 22He may, of course, eat of his God's most holy or holy food, 23but since he has an imperfection, he cannot enter toward the inner curtain or officiate at the altar, making these parts of my sanctuary impure by doing so. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.
24This is what Moses said to Aaron, his sons, and to all the Israelites.
Priestly uncleanness
Leviticus 22The LORD said to Moses: 2Tell Aaron and his sons to be very careful how they treat the holy things that the Israelites devote to me so that they do not make my holy name impure: I am the LORD. 3Say to them: If any descendant of yours should ever come near the holy things that the Israelites have dedicated to the LORD while he is in an unclean state, he will be cut off from before me; I am the LORD. 4Any descendant of Aaron who is afflicted with skin diseasem or has a discharge cannot eat of the holy things until he is clean. Anyone who touches anything made unclean by a dead body, or who has an emission of semen, 5or who touches any swarming creature or another person who makes him unclean--whatever the uncleanness might be--6the person who touches these things will be unclean until evening. He must not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water. 7Once the sun has set and he has become clean again, he may eat of the holy things, for that is his food. 8He must not eat an animal that has died naturally or that was killed by another animal, becoming unclean by doing so; I am the LORD. 9The priests must keep my requirement so that they don't become liable to punishment and die for having made it impure.n I am the LORD, who makes them holy.
Unauthorized eating
10No layperson is allowed to eat the holy offerings. No foreign guest or hired laborer of a priest can eat it. 11But if a priest purchases a servant, that person can eat it, and servants born into the priest's household can also eat his food. 12If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she is not allowed to eat the holy offerings. 13But if a priest's daughter is a widow or divorced and has no children and so returns to her father's household as when she was young, she can eat her father's food. But, again, no layperson is allowed to eat it. 14If someone eats a holy offering unintentionally, they must provide the priest with an equal item, plus one-fifth. 15The Israelites must not make the holy offerings impure that they offer up to the LORD 16or make themselves liable to punishment requiring compensation by eating their own holy offerings. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.
Unacceptable animal offerings
17The LORD said to Moses: 18Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites: Whenever someone from Israel's house or from the immigrants in Israel presents their offering to the LORD as an entirely burned offering--whether it is payment for a solemn promise or a spontaneous gift--19for it to be acceptable on your behalf, it must be a flawless male from the herd, the sheep, or the goats. 20You must not present anything that has an imperfection, because it will not be acceptable on your behalf. 21Whenever someone presents a communal sacrifice of well-being to the LORD from the herd or flock--whether it is payment for a solemn promise or a spontaneous gift--it must be flawless to be acceptable; it must not have any imperfection. 22You must not present to the LORD anything that is blind or that has an injury, mutilation, warts, a rash, or scabs. You must not put any such animal on the altar as a food gift for the LORD. 23You can, however, offer an ox or sheep that is deformed or stunted as a spontaneous gift, but it will not be acceptable as payment for a solemn promise. 24You must not offer to the LORD anything with bruised, crushed, torn, or cut-off testicles. You must not do that in your land. 25You are not allowed to offer such animals as your God's food even if they come from a foreigner. Because these animals have blemishes and imperfections in them, they will not be acceptable on your behalf.
Additional rules for sacrifice
26The LORD said to Moses: 27When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on it will be acceptable as an offering, a food gift for the LORD. 28But you will not slaughter an ox or sheep and its offspring on the same day. 29When you sacrifice a communal sacrifice of thanksgiving for the LORD, you must sacrifice it so that it will be acceptable on your behalf. 30It must be eaten on the same day; you must not leave any of it until morning; I am the LORD. 31You must keep my commands and do them; I am the LORD. 32You must not make my holy name impure so that I will be treated as holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD--the one who makes you holy 33and who is bringing you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the LORD.
Sacred times
Leviticus 23The LORD said to Moses: 2Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed times, the LORD's appointed times, which you will declare to be holy occasions: 3Work can be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of special rest, a holy occasion. You must not do any work on it; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD. 4These are the LORD's appointed times, holy occasions, which you will celebrate at their appointed times:
5The LORD's Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first montho at twilight. 6The LORD's Festival of Unleavened Bread is on the fifteenth day of the same month. You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. 7On the first day you will hold a holy occasion and must not do any job-related work. 8You will offer food gifts to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day will be a holy occasion; you must not do any job-related work.
9The LORD said to Moses: 10Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and harvest its produce, you must bring the first bundle of your harvest to the priest.