Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 The LORD said to Moses, Say to the priests, Aaron's sons: None of you are allowed to make yourselves unclean by any dead person among your community
1
And 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,
2 except for your closest relatives: for your mother, father, son, daughter, brother;
2
except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,
3 also for your unmarried sister, who is close to you because she isn't married—you may be polluted for her sake.
3
or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean).
4 You must not make yourself unclean for in-laws, defiling yourself by doing so.
4
He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself.
5 Priests must not shave bald patches on their heads or cut off the ends of their beards or make gashes in their bodies.
5
They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body.
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.
6
They 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.
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.
7
They 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.
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.
8
You 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.
9 If the daughter of a priest defiles herself by being promiscuous, she defiles her father. She must be burned with fire.
9
And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall 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.
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.
11 He must not go near any dead bodies and cannot make himself unclean even for his father or mother.
11
He shall not go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his 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.
12
He 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.
13 The high priest must marry a woman who is a virgin.
13
And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
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
14
A 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,
15 so that he doesn't make his children impure among his people, because I am the LORD, who makes him holy.
15
that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him. ”
16 The LORD said to Moses,
16
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
17 Say to Aaron: None of your future descendants who have some kind of imperfection are allowed to offer their God's food.
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.
18 No one who has an imperfection will be allowed to make an offering: this includes anyone who is blind, crippled, disfigured, or deformed;
18
For 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,
19 anyone who has a broken foot or hand;
19
or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand,
20 anyone who is a hunchback or too small; anyone who has an eye disease, a rash, scabs, or a crushed testicle.
20
or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles.
21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has an imperfection will be allowed to offer the LORD's food gifts; since he has an imperfection, he will not be allowed to offer his God's food.
21
No 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.
22 He may, of course, eat of his God's most holy or holy food,
22
He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things,
23 but since he has an imperfection, he cannot enter toward the inner curtain or officiate at the altar, making these parts of my sanctuary impure by doing so. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.
23
but 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. ”
24 This is what Moses said to Aaron, his sons, and to all the Israelites.
24
So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025