1Yahweh told Moses, “Speak to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and tell them: ‘A priest must not make himself ritually unclean for a dead person among his people,
2except for his closest relatives: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,
3or his virgin sister who lives near him and has never been married. For her, he may make himself unclean.
4He must not make himself unclean and defile himself if he is a leader among his people.
5They must not shave their heads, trim the edges of their beards, or cut their bodies.
6They must be dedicated to their God and not dishonor his name. They offer the sacrifices made by fire to Yahweh, which are the food of their God; therefore, they must be holy.
7They must not marry a woman who is a prostitute or dishonored. They must not marry a divorced woman, because they are holy to their God.
8You must consider them holy, because they offer the food of your God. They must be holy to you, because I, Yahweh, who makes you holy, am holy.
9If a priest's daughter dishonors herself by becoming a prostitute, she dishonors her father. She must be burned to death.
10The high priest, who is the most important among his relatives, the one on whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and who has been consecrated to wear the special clothing, must not let his hair hang loose or tear his clothes.
11He must not go near any dead body or make himself unclean for his father or his mother.
12He must not leave the sanctuary or dishonor the sanctuary of his God, because the special oil of anointing from his God is upon him. I am Yahweh.
13He must marry a virgin.
14He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, a dishonored woman, or a prostitute; he must marry a virgin from his own people.
15He must not dishonor his children among his people, for I am Yahweh, who makes him holy.
16Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
17“Tell Aaron, ‘Throughout all generations, none of your descendants who has a physical defect may come near to offer the food of his God.
18No man who has a defect may approach: a blind man, a lame man, a man with a disfigured nose, or any other deformity,
19or a man with an injured foot or hand,
20or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one with a defective eye, or skin diseases like itching or scabs, or damaged testicles.
21No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect may come near to offer Yahweh’s sacrifices made by fire. Since he has a defect, he must not come near to offer the food of his God.
22He may eat the food of his God, both the most holy and the holy food.
23But he must not go near the curtain or the altar, because he has a defect; I do not want him to dishonor my holy places, for I am Yahweh, who makes them holy.’”
24So Moses told Aaron, his sons, and all the people of Israel.