 1 The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall defile themselves for the dead among their people. 2 But for their kin who are near, for mother, for father, for sons or daughters or brothers 3 or sisters, or for a virgin near to them who has had no husband, for them one may be defiled. 4 A leader must not defile himself among his people to pollute himself. 5 They shall not make baldness on their head nor shave the corner of their beard nor make any cutting in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the fire offerings of the Lord, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy. 7 They shall not take a wife who is a harlot+ or defiled. Nor shall they take a woman put away from her husband. For he is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you. For I am holy, the Lord who sanctifies you. 9 The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by going whoring, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire. 10 The high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes. 11 Neither shall he come near to any dead person, nor defile himself for his father nor for his mother. 12 Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God. For the crown of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord. 13 He shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 He shall not take a widow or a divorced woman or profane or a harlot, but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife. 15 He shall not defile his descendants among his people. For I the Lord do sanctify him. 16 The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 17 Speak to Aaron saying, None of your descendants in their generations shall draw near to offer the bread of his God if there is a blemish in him. 18 No one in whom there is a blemish shall draw near, blind or lame or disfigured or deformed 19 or one who has a broken foot or broken hand 20 or crooked back or dwarf or who has a blemish in the eye or scurvy or scabbed or one with broken stones. 21 None of the descendants of Aaron, the priest, in whom there is a blemish shall come near to offer the fire offerings of the Lord. If he has a blemish, he must not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He shall eat the bread of his God, of the most holy and of the holy. 23 Only he shall not go in to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a blemish. So that he does not profane my sanctuaries. For I the Lord do sanctify them. 24 Moses told Aaron and his sons and all the children of Israel.
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