| English Standard Version | Christian Standard 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: "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives, |
| 2except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, | 2except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. |
| 3or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). | 3He may make himself unclean for his unmarried virgin sister in his immediate family. |
| 4He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. | 4He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage and so defile 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. | 5"Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies. |
| 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. | 6They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they present the fire offerings to the LORD, the food of their God, and 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 are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution. They are not to marry one divorced by 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 are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, the LORD who sets you apart, 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 priest's daughter defiles herself by promiscuity, she defiles 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 priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the clothes, must not dishevel his hair or tear his clothes. |
| 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 near any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or 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 leave the sanctuary or he will desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the LORD. |
| 13And he shall take a wife in her virginity. | 13"He is to marry a woman 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 is not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people, |
| 15that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.” | 15so that he does not corrupt his bloodline among his people, for I am the LORD who sets him apart." |
| 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: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect is to come near 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, | 18No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed; |
| 19or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, | 19no man who has a broken foot or hand, |
| 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 who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs, 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 descendant of the priest Aaron who has a defect is to come near to present the fire offerings to the LORD. He has a defect and is not to come near 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 the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy. |
| 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 because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate my holy places, for I am the LORD who sets them apart." |
| 24So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel. | 24Moses said this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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