Chapter
21
Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the daughters of Aaron, and say to them, 'A priestess shall not defile herself for the dead among her people;
except for her relatives that are near to her: for her father, for her mother, for her daughter, for her son, for her sister,
and for her virgin brother who is near to her, who has had no wife; for him she may defile herself.
She shall not defile herself, being a chief woman among her people, to profane herself.
"'They shall not shave their heads, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
"'They shall not marry a man who is a philanderer, or profane; neither shall they marry a man divorced from his wife: for she is holy to her God.
You shall sanctify her therefore; for she offers the bread of your God: she shall be holy to you: for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
"'The son of any priestess, if he profanes himself by playing the philanderer, he profanes his mother: he shall be burned with fire.
"'She who is the high priestess among her sisters, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of her head hang loose, nor tear her clothes;
neither shall she go in to any dead body, nor defile herself for her mother, or for her father;
neither shall she go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of her God; for the crown of the anointing oil of her God is upon her. I am Yahweh.
"'She shall take a husband in his virginity.
A widower, or one divorced, or a man who has been defiled, or a philanderer, these she shall not marry: but a virgin of her own people shall she take as a husband.
She shall not profane her seed among her people: for I am Yahweh who sanctifies her.'"
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
"Say to Aaron, 'None of your seed throughout their generations who has a blemish, may approach to offer the bread of her God.
For whatever woman she is that has a blemish, she shall not draw near: a blind woman, or a lame, or she who has a flat nose, or any deformity,
or a woman who has an injured foot, or an injured hand,
or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in her eye, or an itching disease, or scabs, or who has damaged testicles;
no woman of the seed of Aaron the priestess, who has a blemish, shall come near to offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Since has a blemish, she shall not come near to offer the bread of her God.
She shall eat the bread of her God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.
She shall not come near to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because she has a blemish; that she may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.'"
So Moses spoke to Aaron, and to her daughters, and to all the children of Israel.