Leviticus 21:5-15

5 Priests must not shave bald patches on their heads or cut off the ends of their beards or make gashes in their bodies.
6 They must be holy to their God so that they do not make their God's name impure. They must be holy because they offer the LORD's food gifts, their God's food.
7 Priests must not marry a woman who is promiscuous and defiled, nor can they marry a woman divorced from her husband, because priests must be holy to their God.
8 You will treat the priests as holy, because they offer your God's food. The priests will be holy to you, because I am the holy LORD, who makes you holy.
9 If the daughter of a priest defiles herself by being promiscuous, she defiles her father. She must be burned with fire.
10 The high priest—the one whose head has been anointed with the anointing oil and who is ordained to dress in the priestly clothing—must not dishevel his hair or tear his clothing.
11 He must not go near any dead bodies and cannot make himself unclean even for his father or mother.
12 He must not exit the sanctuary, making his God's sanctuary impure by doing so, because his God's anointing oil, which separates, is upon him; I am the LORD.
13 The high priest must marry a woman who is a virgin.
14 He cannot marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by promiscuity. He can only marry a virgin from his own people
15 so that he doesn't make his children impure among his people, because I am the LORD, who makes him holy.

Leviticus 21:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 21

This chapter respects the priests, the sons of Aaron, and forbids their mourning for the dead, unless in some cases, Le 21:1-6; or their marriage with an whore or a divorced woman, Le 21:7,8; and the daughters of any of them to commit fornication, which is made punishable with death, Le 21:9; and it contains particular laws for the high priest to observe, who was not to mourn for any, even for his parents, Le 21:10,11; nor to go out of the sanctuary, Le 21:12; nor to marry any woman but a virgin, Le 21:13-15; and it also directs, that none of the priests having any blemish in them should be employed in divine service, though they might eat of the holy things, Le 21:16-24.

Footnotes 3

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