| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, | 1The LORD said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. “A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean by touching the dead body of a relative. |
| 2except for his relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; | 2The only exceptions are his closest relatives—his mother or father, son or daughter, brother, |
| 3also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. | 3or his virgin sister who depends on him because she has no husband. |
| 4Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. | 4But a priest must not defile himself and make himself unclean for someone who is related to him only by marriage. |
| 5‘They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh. | 5“The priests must not shave their heads or trim their beards or cut their bodies. |
| 6They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. | 6They must be set apart as holy to their God and must never bring shame on the name of God. They must be holy, for they are the ones who present the special gifts to the LORD, gifts of food for their God. |
| 7They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God. | 7“Priests may not marry a woman defiled by prostitution, and they may not marry a woman who is divorced from her husband, for the priests are set apart as holy to their God. |
| 8Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy. | 8You must treat them as holy because they offer up food to your God. You must consider them holy because I, the LORD, am holy, and I make you holy. |
| 9The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire. | 9“If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she also defiles her father’s holiness, and she must be burned to death. |
| 10‘He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes; | 10“The high priest has the highest rank of all the priests. The anointing oil has been poured on his head, and he has been ordained to wear the priestly garments. He must never leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothing. |
| 11nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; | 11He must not defile himself by going near a dead body. He may not make himself ceremonially unclean even for his father or mother. |
| 12nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD. | 12He must not defile the sanctuary of his God by leaving it to attend to a dead person, for he has been made holy by the anointing oil of his God. I am the LORD. |
| 13And he shall take a wife in her virginity. | 13“The high priest may marry only a virgin. |
| 14A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. | 14He may not marry a widow, a woman who is divorced, or a woman who has defiled herself by prostitution. She must be a virgin from his own clan, |
| 15Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the LORD sanctify him.’ ” | 15so that he will not dishonor his descendants among his clan, for I am the LORD who makes him holy.” |
| 16And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, | 16Then the LORD said to Moses, |
| 17“Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God. | 17“Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God. |
| 18For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb too long, | 18No one who has a defect qualifies, whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, |
| 19a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, | 19or has a broken foot or arm, |
| 20or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch. | 20or is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores or scabs, or damaged testicles. |
| 21No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the LORD. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. | 21No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the LORD. Since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God. |
| 22He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; | 22However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and the most holy offerings. |
| 23only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the LORD sanctify them.’ ” | 23Yet because of his physical defect, he may not enter the room behind the inner curtain or approach the altar, for this would defile my holy places. I am the LORD who makes them holy.” |
| 24And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel. | 24So Moses gave these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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