21:1   The LORD gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests: Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative,

21:2   except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother,

21:3   or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her.

21:4   Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage.

21:5   Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning.

21:6   I am the LORD your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That's why you must keep yourselves holy.

21:7   Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy,

21:8   because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness.

21:9   If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death.

21:10   If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead.

21:11   Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother.

21:12   If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest.

21:13   If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin

21:14   from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute.

21:15   In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember--I am the LORD, and I have chosen you.

21:16   The LORD told Moses

21:17   to say to Aaron: No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other,

21:18   (SEE 21:17)

21:19   if either a foot or a hand is crippled,

21:20   if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged.

21:21   These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me.

21:22   They may eat the food offerings presented to me,

21:23   but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember--I am the LORD, the one who makes a priest holy.

21:24   Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.