Rules for the priests
1 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests. Tell them, “A priest must not touch a dead body. That would make him unclean among his people. 2 But if it is someone from his family who has died, he may touch their body. It may be his mother, his father, his son, his daughter or his brother. 3 He may touch the dead body of his sister if she has no husband to take care of her. The priest may make himself unclean for her. 4 But a priest must not touch the dead body of someone who belongs to his family because of marriage. He must not make himself unclean for that person.
5 A priest must not cut the hair off his head. He must not cut the edges of his beard. He must not cut marks in his body. 6 Priests must be holy to serve me. They must not bring shame to the name of their God. They are the people who offer gifts to the Lord. They bring food to their God. So they must be holy people.
21:5Sometimes people would cut themselves to show that they were sad when someone had died.
7 A priest must not marry a woman who has been a prostitute. He must not marry a woman who has become separate from her husband. A priest must be holy to serve his God. 8 You must respect priests as holy people, because they offer food to your God. I am the Lord and I am holy. I am the one who causes you to be holy.
9 If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she is unclean. She has brought shame on her father. You must burn her in a fire until she dies.
Rules for the leader of the priests
10 They have poured special oil on the head of the leader of the priests. He is able to wear the special clothes for priests. This shows that he is greater than his brothers. So he must always make his hair look nice. He must not tear his clothes. 11 He must not go anywhere that is near a dead body. Even if it is his father or his mother who has died, he must not make himself unclean for them. 12 He must not leave the holy place to go to a funeral. That would cause the holy place to be unclean. The oil that they poured on his head shows that I have chosen him as my servant. I am the Lord.
13 The leader of the priests must marry a woman who has not had sex before. 14 He must not marry a widow or a woman who has become separate from her husband. He must not marry a woman who has been a prostitute. Instead, he must choose a Levite woman who has not had sex before. 15 I, the Lord, have caused priests to be holy. So he must not marry a woman who would cause his children to be unclean.” ’
21:14Levites belonged to the tribe of Levi, one of the 12 tribes of Israel. God chose the Levites to do special work for him in his temple. They helped the priests in the temple.
Rules for all priests
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 ‘Tell Aaron, “Your descendants may only serve me as priests if they have a perfect body. If not, they must not bring offerings of food to their God. This rule will continue for all time. 18 No man may serve me if he has anything wrong with his body. He must not be blind. He must not have a weak leg or one leg that is shorter than the other leg. He must not have any part of his face that is the wrong shape. 19 He must not have an arm or a leg that is broken. 20 He must not have a back that is not straight. He must not be very small and thin. He must not have an eye disease or a skin disease. He must not have testicles that are spoiled.
21:20Testicles are the sex parts of a man that give him the power to create children.
21 No descendant of Aaron who has something wrong with his body may serve me as a priest. He may not offer gifts to me, the Lord. His body is not perfect, so he may not bring offerings of food to his God. 22 He may eat the holy food offerings and the most holy food offerings. 23 But he must not go near the curtain in the Holy Place. He must not go up to the altar. This is because he has something wrong with his body. He must not make the holy places unclean. I am the Lord. I cause the priests to be holy.” ’
24 Moses told all these rules to Aaron, to his sons and to all Israel's people.
Leviticus 22
Rules for the priests about holy offerings
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy offerings from Israel's people. Those are gifts that the people offer to me. The priests must not spoil the honour of my holy name. I am the Lord. Tell them this, as a rule that will continue for ever:
3 No priest may come near to the holy offerings when he is unclean. Those are gifts that Israel's people have offered to me, the Lord. If any unclean priest goes near them, he can never serve me again. I am the Lord.
4 If any descendant of Aaron is unclean, he must not eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean again. He may be unclean because of a skin disease, or some kind of pus is coming out from his body. He may have touched something that has touched a dead body and is unclean. He may have touched a man whose semen has come out from his sex part. 5 He may have touched an unclean animal that moves near to the ground. He may have touched a person who is unclean for any reason. All these things will cause the priest himself to become unclean.
6 Any priest who touches any of these unclean things will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy offerings until he has washed his whole body. 7 When the sun goes down, he will be clean. Then he can eat the holy offerings which are his food.
8 A priest may find the body of an animal that has died by itself, or wild animals have killed it. He must not eat the meat of that animal. It will make him unclean. I am the Lord. 9 Priests must obey my commands. If they do not obey them, they will be guilty of sin. They will die because they have not respected my commands. I am the Lord. I cause the priests to be holy.
10 Only people who belong to a priest's family may eat any of the holy offerings. No visitor who is living in the priest's house may do that. No servant that the priest pays to work for him may do that. 11 But a slave that the priest has bought for himself may eat the holy offerings. And a slave that was born in the priest's house may eat them. 12 If a priest's daughter marries a man who is not a priest, she may not eat the holy offerings. 13 But if her husband dies or she becomes separate from him, it is different. She may have no children to take care of her. Then she may return to live in her father's home where she lived when she was young. If so, she is allowed to eat some of the food that her father receives as a priest. Only someone who belongs to a priest's family may eat that food.
14 Someone might eat a holy offering by mistake. If that happens, he must pay the priest for that food. He must also add one fifth of its value. 15 The priests must always respect the holy offerings as special food. They are gifts which Israel's people offer to the Lord. 16 If the priests allow other people to eat the holy offerings, those people are guilty of sin. They will receive punishment. I am the Lord and I cause the offerings to be holy.’
