| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, | 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, |
| 2except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his 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 is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). | 3and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband; he may defile himself for her. |
| 4He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. | 4He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. |
| 5They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. | 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 shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the LORD’s food offerings, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. | 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. |
| 7They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his 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 shall sanctify 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 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. |
| 9And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire. | 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 priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. | 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 shall not go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. | 11He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother. |
| 12He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: 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. |
| 13And he shall take a wife in her virginity. | 13He must take a wife who is a virgin. |
| 14A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people, | 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. |
| 15that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.” | 15He must not profane his children among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.'" |
| 16And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, | 16The LORD spoke to Moses: |
| 17“Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of 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. |
| 18For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, | 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 a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, | 19or a man who has had a broken leg or arm, |
| 20or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed 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 man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of 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. |
| 22He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, | 22He may eat both the most holy and the holy food of his God, |
| 23but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” | 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 spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel. | 24So Moses spoke these things to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites. |
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