Atlas Biblica

    Leviticus · 24 verses

    Leviticus 21

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    A priestly descendant with a physical defect may eat the most holy food, yet may not approach the veil or the altar: sanctuary access is barred with remarkable precision, while the holy meal remains his.

    The priest and the deadvv. 1–9

    The priests are not to defile themselves for the dead, except for their closest family: mother, father, son, daughter, brother, and an unmarried sister near to him. Marriage, hair, beards, bodily cuts, and the choice of wife all come under the same insistence that the priest be holy, because he presents the food offerings. The rule concerning a priest’s daughter is stark: prostitution profanes her father, and the text gives the sentence plainly.

    The highest priestvv. 10–15

    For the priest highest among his brothers, the boundary tightens sharply. He must not let his hair hang loose, tear his garments, go near any dead body, or defile himself even for his father or mother. He must not leave or desecrate the sanctuary, and the woman he marries must be a virgin from his own people. The ordinary priest may mourn the closest family; the highest priest may not, even when the dead are his parents.

    The descendant with a defectvv. 16–24

    The second instruction turns from conduct to approach. A descendant of Aaron with a physical defect may not come near to offer the food of God. The list is unflinchingly particular—blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, broken-footed, broken-handed, hunchbacked, a dwarf, an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs, or a crushed testicle. Yet the exclusion stops at offering: he may eat the most holy food and the holy food, though he must not go near the veil or altar. Moses then tells Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Lev 21:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,

    2. Lev 21:2except for his immediate family—his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother,

    3. Lev 21:3or his unmarried sister who is near to him, since she has no husband.

    4. Lev 21:4He is not to defile himself for those related to him by marriage, and so profane himself.

    5. Lev 21:5Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.

    6. Lev 21:6They must be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. Because they present to the LORD the food offerings, the food of their God, they must be holy.

    7. Lev 21:7A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

    8. Lev 21:8You are to regard him as holy, since he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, because I the LORD am holy—I who set you apart.

    9. Lev 21:9If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by prostituting herself, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.

    10. Lev 21:10The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair hang loose or tear his garments.

    11. Lev 21:11He must not go near any dead body; he must not defile himself, even for his father or mother.

    12. Lev 21:12He must not leave or desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the LORD.

    13. Lev 21:13The woman he marries must be a virgin.

    14. Lev 21:14He is not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people,

    15. Lev 21:15so that he does not defile his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.”

    16. Lev 21:16Then the LORD said to Moses,

    17. Lev 21:17“Say to Aaron, ‘For the generations to come, none of your descendants who has a physical defect may approach to offer the food of his God.

    18. Lev 21:18No man who has any defect may approach—no man who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed;

    19. Lev 21:19no man who has a broken foot or hand,

    20. Lev 21:20or who is a hunchback or dwarf, or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs, or a crushed testicle.

    21. Lev 21:21No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall approach to present the food offerings to the LORD. Since he has a defect, he is not to come near to offer the food of his God.

    22. Lev 21:22He may eat the most holy food of his God as well as the holy food,

    23. Lev 21:23but because he has a defect, he must not go near the veil or approach the altar, so as not to desecrate My sanctuaries. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”

    24. Lev 21:24Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 157 passages were voted onto 21 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 10Leviticus 10:6–7Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole congregation. But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn on account of the fire that the LORD has ignited.
    • 8Leviticus 20:7–8Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
    • 5Deuteronomy 14:1You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,
    • 10Leviticus 16:32The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest shall make atonement. He will put on the sacred linen garments
    • 5Ezekiel 44:20They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.
    • 7Leviticus 21:13–14The woman he marries must be a virgin.
    • 8Leviticus 11:44–45For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
    • 8Leviticus 19:2“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
    • 1Ezekiel 44:25A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. However, for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister, he may do so,
    • 7Ezekiel 44:22And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow of a priest.
    • 10Matthew 26:65At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “He has blasphemed! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.
    • 11Numbers 19:14This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days,
    • 20Deuteronomy 23:1No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD.
    • 21Leviticus 21:6They must be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. Because they present to the LORD the food offerings, the food of their God, they must be holy.
    • 6Leviticus 3:11Then the priest is to burn them on the altar as food, a food offering to the LORD.
    • 6Leviticus 18:21You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

    Onward

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