The Father Sets Apart His Priests
21 1 Our Father said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None of them shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives — his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband — for her he may make himself unclean. 4 He shall not defile himself as a leader among his people, for that would profane him.
5 They shall not shave bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make cuts in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their Father and shall not profane his name; for they present the food offerings of our Father, his bread; so they shall be holy.
7 They shall not marry a woman defiled by prostitution, nor shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his Father. 8 You shall treat him as holy, for he presents the bread of your Father; he shall be holy to you, for I am your Father who sanctifies you — your Father who sets you apart — and I am holy. 9 And if a priest's daughter profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.
10 The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the garments, shall not let his hair hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11 He shall not go near any dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or his mother. 12 He shall not go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his Father, for his anointing oil has consecrated him. I am your Father.
13 He shall marry only a virgin. 14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution — these he shall not marry; but he shall take as his wife a virgin from his own people, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people; for I am your Father who sanctifies him — his Father who sets him apart.
The Father Guards the Sanctuary
16 And our Father said to Moses: 17 Speak to Aaron and say: None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may come near to present the bread of his Father. 18 For no man who has a blemish shall come near: no man who is blind or lame, or who has a disfigured face or a deformed limb, 19 or a man who has a broken foot or a broken hand, 20 or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his eye, or a festering or scabbing disease, or crushed testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to present the food offerings of our Father; he has a blemish, he shall not come near to present the bread of his Father. 22 He may eat the bread of his Father, both of the most holy things and of the holy things, 23 but he shall not come near the veil nor approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries; for I am your Father who sanctifies them — their Father who sets them apart. 1 1 v23 The veil is the inner curtain dividing the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle.
24 So Moses spoke this to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel.