(KJV) Leviticus 211

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⥃Holiness Required of Priests

[1] And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak2 unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There3 shall none be defiled for the dead among his people: [2] But for his kin, that is near unto him, [that is], for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,4 [3] And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled. [4] [But] he shall not defile himself, [being] a chief man among his people, to profane himself.5 [5] They shall not make baldness6 upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner7 of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. [6] They shall be holy8 unto their God, and not profane9 the name of their God: for the offerings of the Lord made by fire, [and] the bread10 of their God, they do offer: therefore11 they shall be holy. [7] They shall not take a wife [that is] a whore12, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away13 from her husband: for he [is] holy unto his God. [8] Thou shalt sanctify14 him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I15 the Lord, which sanctify you, [am] holy.

[9] [¶]And the daughter16 of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt17 with fire. [10] And [he that is] the high priest among his brethren, upon18 whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated19 to put on the garments, shall not uncover20 his head, nor rend his clothes; [11] Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father21, or for his mother; [12] Neither shall he go out22 of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown23 of the anointing oil of his God [is] upon him: I [am] the Lord. [13] And he shall take a wife in her virginity.24 [14] A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, [or] an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife. [15] Neither shall he profane25 his seed among his people: for I the26 Lord do sanctify him.

⥃Restrictions against Those with Blemishes

[16] And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, [17] Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever [he be] of thy seed in their generations that hath [any] blemish27, let him28 not approach to offer the bread29 of his God. [18] For whatsoever man [he be] that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man30, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous31, [19] Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, [20] Or crookbackt, or a dwarf32, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath33 his stones broken; [21] No man that hath a blemish34 of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer35 the offerings of the Lord made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. [22] He shall eat the bread of his God, [both36] of the most holy, and of the holy37. [23] Only he shall not go in38 unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane39 not my sanctuaries: for I the Lord40 do sanctify them. [24] And Moses told [it] unto Aaron41, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.

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  1. Lev 21:1, Of the priests’ mourning; Lev 21:6, Of their holiness; Lev 21:7, Of their marriages; Lev 21:8, Of their estimation; Lev 21:9, Of the priest’s daughter convicted of whoredom; Lev 21:10, Of the high priest’s holiness; Lev 21:13, Of his marriage; Lev 21:16, The priests that have blemishes must not minister in the sanctuary. ↩

  2. Hos 5:1; Mal 2:1, Mal 2:4 ↩

  3. Lev 21:11, Lev 10:6-7; Num 19:14, Num 19:16; Ezek 44:25 ↩

  4. Lev 18:6; 1Thess 4:13 ↩

  5. Or, the verse may be read, being an husband among his people, he shall not defile himself for his wife, etc. Ezek 24:16-17 ↩

  6. This custom is also called rounding the corners of the head (Lev 19:27), and seems to have been performed in honour of some idol. Lev 10:6, Lev 19:27-28; Deut 14:1; Isa 15:2, Isa 22:12; Jer 16:6, Jer 48:37; Ezek 44:20; Amos 8:10; Mic 1:16 ↩

  7. The Hebrew peath zakon, may denote the whiskers; as the Syriac phatho signifies. These are by the Arabs, according to Niebuhr, still cut entirely off, or worn quite short; and hence they are called by Jeremiah, χφεφι τΰδ, those with cropped whiskers. Perhaps some superstition, of which we are ignorant, was connected with this; but whether or not, it was the object of Moses to keep the Israelites distinct from other nations. ↩

  8. Lev 21:8, Lev 10:3; Exod 28:36, Exod 29:44; Ezra 8:28; 1Pet 2:9 ↩

  9. Lev 18:21, Lev 19:12; Mal 1:6, Mal 1:11-12 ↩

  10. Lev 3:11; Ezek 44:7; Mal 1:7 ↩

  11. Isa 52:11 ↩

  12. Lev 21:8; Ezek 44:22; 1Tim 3:11 ↩

  13. Deut 24:1-4; Isa 50:1 ↩

  14. Lev 21:6; Exod 19:10, Exod 19:14, Exod 28:41, Exod 29:1, Exod 29:43-44 ↩

  15. Lev 11:44-45, Lev 19:2, Lev 20:7-8; John 10:36, John 17:19; Heb 7:26, Heb 10:29 ↩

  16. 1Sam 2:17, 1Sam 2:34, 1Sam 3:13-14; Ezek 9:6; Mal 2:3; Matt 11:20-24; 1Tim 3:4-5; Titus 1:6 ↩

  17. Lev 20:14; Gen 38:24; Josh 7:15, Josh 7:25; Isa 33:14 ↩

  18. Lev 8:12, Lev 10:7, Lev 16:32; Exod 29:29-30; Num 35:25; Ps 133:2 ↩

  19. Lev 8:7-9; Exod 28:2-4 ↩

  20. Lev 10:6-7, Lev 13:45; 2Sam 15:30; Esth 6:12, not rend, Gen 37:34; Job 1:20; Matt 26:65; All human corpses were considered as unclean. Whoever touched one was unclean for seven days, and was obliged on the third and seventh day to purify himself according to the Mosaic instructions. In the case of the priest it went still farther; insomuch, that even mourning for the dead by any external sign, such as tearing their clothes, defiled them. Hence such mournings were absolutely forbidden to be used in any case, and by the other priests also, except in the case of their very nearest relations, for whom they were allowed to mourn. This statue is founded on the importance of sustaining the decency and purity of Divine worship. The servants of the Deity were to keep themselves at a distance from every thing that in the least degree savoured of uncleanness. ↩

  21. Lev 21:1-2; Num 6:7, Num 19:14; Deut 33:9; Matt 8:21-22, Matt 12:46-50; Luke 9:59-60; Luke 14:26; 2Cor 5:16 ↩

  22. Lev 10:7 ↩

  23. Lev 8:9-12, Lev 8:30; Exod 28:36, Exod 29:6-7; Isa 61:1; Acts 10:38 ↩

  24. Lev 21:7; Ezek 44:22; 2Cor 11:2; Rev 14:4 ↩

  25. Gen 18:19; Ezra 2:62, Ezra 9:2; Neh 13:23-29; Mal 2:11, Mal 2:15; Rom 11:16; 1Cor 7:14 ↩

  26. Lev 21:8 ↩

  27. Lev 22:20-25; 1Thess 2:10; 1Tim 3:2; Heb 7:26 ↩

  28. Lev 21:21, Lev 10:3; Num 16:5; Ps 65:4 ↩

  29. or, food, Lev 3:11, Lev 3:16 ↩

  30. Isa 56:10; Matt 23:16-17, Matt 23:19; 1Tim 3:2-3, 1Tim 3:7; Titus 1:7, Titus 1:10 ↩

  31. Lev 22:23 ↩

  32. or, too slender ↩

  33. Deut 23:1 ↩

  34. In the above list of blemishes, we meet with some that might render the priest contemptible in the eyes of men; and others that would be very great impediments in the discharge of his ministerial duties. ↩

  35. Lev 21:6, Lev 21:8, Lev 21:17 ↩

  36. Lev 2:3, Lev 2:10, Lev 6:16-17, Lev 6:29, Lev 7:1, Lev 24:8-9; Num 18:9-10 ↩

  37. Lev 22:10-13; Num 18:10, Num 18:19 ↩

  38. Exod 30:6-8, Exod 40:26-27; Ezek 44:9-14 ↩

  39. Lev 21:12, Lev 15:31 ↩

  40. Lev 21:8 ↩

  41. Mal 2:1-7; Col 4:17; 1Tim 1:18; 2Tim 2:2 ↩