| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 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. | 1The LORD said to Moses: "Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron--say to them, 'For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people, |
| 2The only exceptions are his closest relatives—his mother or father, son or daughter, brother, | 2except for his close relative who is near to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, |
| 3or his virgin sister who depends on him because she has no husband. | 3and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband; he may defile himself for her. |
| 4But a priest must not defile himself and make himself unclean for someone who is related to him only by marriage. | 4He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. |
| 5“The priests must not shave their heads or trim their beards or cut their bodies. | 5Priests must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body. |
| 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. | 6"'They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the LORD's gifts, the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. |
| 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. | 7They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. |
| 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. | 8You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the LORD who sanctifies you all, am holy. |
| 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. | 9If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death. |
| 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. | 10"'The high priest--who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments--must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. |
| 11He must not defile himself by going near a dead body. He may not make himself ceremonially unclean even for his father or mother. | 11He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother. |
| 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. | 12He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the LORD. |
| 13“The high priest may marry only a virgin. | 13He must take a wife who is a virgin. |
| 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, | 14He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people as a wife. |
| 15so that he will not dishonor his descendants among his clan, for I am the LORD who makes him holy.” | 15He must not profane his children among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.'" |
| 16Then the LORD said to Moses, | 16The LORD spoke to Moses: |
| 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. | 17"Tell Aaron, 'No man from your descendants throughout their generations who has a physical flaw is to approach to present the food of his God. |
| 18No one who has a defect qualifies, whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, | 18Certainly no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, or a limb too long, |
| 19or has a broken foot or arm, | 19or a man who has had a broken leg or arm, |
| 20or is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores or scabs, or damaged testicles. | 20or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or one with a spot in his eye, or a festering eruption, or a feverish rash, or a crushed testicle. |
| 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. | 21No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward to present the LORD's gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God. |
| 22However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and the most holy offerings. | 22He may eat both the most holy and the holy food of his God, |
| 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.” | 23but he must not go into the veil-canopy or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus he must not profane my holy places, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.'" |
| 24So Moses gave these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites. | 24So Moses spoke these things to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites. |
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