[1] The LORD gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests: Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative, [2] except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother, [3] or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her. [4] Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage. [5] Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning. [6] I am the LORD your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That's why you must keep yourselves holy. [7] Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy, [8] because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness. [9] If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death. [10] If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead. [11] Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother. [12] If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest. [13] If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin [14] from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute. [15] In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember-I am the LORD, and I have chosen you. [16] The LORD told Moses [17] to say to Aaron: No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other, [19] if either a foot or a hand is crippled, [20] if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged. [21] These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me. [22] They may eat the food offerings presented to me, [23] but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember-I am the LORD, the one who makes a priest holy. [24] Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.
