1Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, sons of Aaron and tell them that not one of them shall make himself unclean for a dead person among his people 2except for those relatives nearest to him, that is for his mother, father, son, daughter or brother, 3or for an unmarried sister who is dependent on him because she has had no husband. For her, he may make himself unclean. 4As a husband he must not make himself unclean for his family-in-law and so profane himself. 5They shall not make tonsures on their heads nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh. 6They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for it is they who present offerings by fire, the bread of their God, so they shall be holy. 7They must not marry women unclean by prostitution or a woman divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8You shall regard the priest as holy for he offers up the food of your God. Holy he shall be for you because I, Yahweh, am holy who makes you holy.
9If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she profanes her father and shall be burned in the fire.
10The high priest, the one among his brothers on whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head or tear his clothes. 11He shall not go near any dead person or defile himself either for his father or his mother. 12He shall not leave the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God for he has on him the consecration of the anointing oil of his God. I am Yahweh.
13The woman he marries must be a virgin. 14He shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin of his own people, 15that he may not defile his children among his people. I am Yahweh who makes him holy.”
16Yahweh said to Moses, 17“Say to Aaron: No man among your descendants in future generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the bread of his God. 18No man who has a defect may come near, no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed 19or who has a broken foot or hand, 20or is a hunchback or dwarf, or who has an eye defect or eczema or scabs or damaged testicles. 21The descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall not approach to offer the burnt offering to Yahweh. He must not approach to offer the bread of his God because of the defect he has. 22He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy, 23but he may not go as far as the veil or advance towards the altar because he has a defect. Let him not defile my sanctuary, for it is I, Yahweh, who make them holy.”
24Thus spoke Moses to Aaron and to his sons and to all Israel.
