Holiness Required of Priests
1. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and tell them: A priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his relatives,
2. except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother.
3. He may also make himself unclean for his virgin sister, who is dependent on him
4. because she has no husband; for her he may defile himself.
5. Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts on their bodies.
6. They are to be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. For they present the offerings made by fire to the LORD, the food of their God, so they must be holy.
7. They must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, because the priest is holy to his God.
8. You are to regard him as holy, since he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, because I, the LORD who sanctify you, am holy.
9. If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by prostituting herself, she defiles her father; she must be burned in the fire.
10. The high priest, who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who is ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not dishevel his hair or tear his garments.
11. He must not approach any dead body or make himself unclean, even for his father or mother.
12. He must not leave the sanctuary or profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the LORD.
13. He is to marry a woman who is a virgin.
14. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people,
15. so that he does not profane his offspring among his people. For I, the LORD, who sanctify him, am holy.
Restrictions against Those with Blemishes
16. Then the LORD said to Moses,
17. “Speak to Aaron and tell him: None of your descendants throughout their generations who has a defect shall come near to present the food of his God.
18. No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed;
19. no man with a broken foot or hand,
20. or who is a hunchback or dwarf, or who has an eye defect, or who has festering or running sores, or damaged testicles.
21. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall approach to present the offerings made by fire to the LORD. He has a defect; he must not approach to present the food of his God.
22. He may eat the most holy food of his God as well as the holy food,
23. but because he has a defect, he must not approach the curtain or come near the altar. He is not to desecrate My sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”
24. So Moses relayed this command to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.