21:1   Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ' No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people,

21:2   except for his relatives nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother,

21:3   also for his virgin sister, who has become near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.

21:4  'He shall not defile himself as a relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself.

21:5   ' They shall not make any baldness on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh.

21:6   'They shall become holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the offerings by fire to the LORD, the food of their God; so they shall you consider them holy.

21:7   ' They shall not take a woman who has profaned herself by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he has become holy to his God.

21:8  'You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall become holy to you; for I the LORD, who sanctifies you, consist of holiness.

21:9  ' Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall burn in the fire.

21:10  'The priest who has pre-eminence among his brothers, on whose head they have poured the anointing oil who they have consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes;

21:11   nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother;

21:12   nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God has come upon him; I proclaim Myself as the LORD.

21:13   'He shall take a wife in her virginity.

21:14  ' A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who has profaned herself by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he will marry a virgin of his own people,

21:15   so that he will not profane his offspring among his people; for I proclaim Myself the LORD who sanctifies him.'"

21:16   Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

21:17   "Speak to Aaron, saying, 'No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God.

21:18   ' For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb,

21:19  or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand,

21:20   or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles.

21:21  'No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect should come near to offer the LORD'S offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God.

21:22  'He may eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy,

21:23  only he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I proclaim Myself as the LORD who sanctifies them.'"

21:24  So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.