New English Translation

Leviticus 21:1-12 New English Translation (NET)

1. The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people,

2. except for his close relative who is near to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,

3. and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband; he may defile himself for her.

4. He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself.

5. Priests must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body.

6. “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy.

7. They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

8. You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy.

9. If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death.

10. “‘The high priest – who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments – must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments.

11. He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother.

12. He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord.