Holiness Required of Priests
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron and say to them, ‘A priest must not be defiled for the dead among his people, 2 except for his relatives that are near to him: for his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother. 3 For his virgin sister who is near to him and has no husband, he may defile himself. 4 He shall not defile himself for those related to him, being a leader among his people, to make himself unclean.
5 They shall not shave their heads or shave off the corners of their beards or make any cuttings in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they present the burnt offerings of the Lord and the bread of their God: therefore they shall be holy.
7 They shall not marry a woman who has been profaned by prostitution. A priest shall not marry a woman divorced from her husband, for he is holy to his God. 8 Therefore you shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I God, who sanctify you, am holy.
9 The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the prostitute, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire.
10 He who is the high priest among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose or tear his clothes. 11 He must not go in to any dead body or defile himself for his father or for his mother. 12 He shall not go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.
13 He shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 A widow, or one divorced, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. He shall take a virgin from his own people as a wife. 15 He shall not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’ ”
16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God.’ ”
Restrictions against those with Blemishes
18 ” ‘For any man that has a defect, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or anything superfluous, 19 or a man who has an injured foot, or an injured hand, 20 or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye, or a skin disease, or scabs, or who has damaged testicles.
21 No man from the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings of God made by fire. Since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. 23 He shall not come near to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a defect, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’ ”
24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israelites.