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Home > Bible > Leviticus > Chapter 21
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Leviticus Chapter 21

Ordinances relating to the priests.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 The Lord said also to Moses: Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt say for them: Let not a priest incur an uncleanness at the death of his citizens. An uncleanness... Viz., such as was contracted in laying out the dead body, or touching it; or in going into the house, or assisting at the funeral, etc. 2 But only for his kin, such as are near in blood: that is to say, for his father and for his mother, and for his son, and for his daughter, for his brother also: 3 And for a maiden sister, who hath had no husband. 4 But not even for the prince of his people shall he do any thing that may make him unclean. 5 Neither shall they shave their head, nor their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane his name. For they offer the burnt offering of the Lord, and the bread of their God: and therefore they shall be holy. 7 They shall not take to wife a harlot or a vile prostitute, nor one that has been put away from her husband: because they are consecrated to their God, 8 And offer the loaves of proposition. Let them therefore be holy because I also am holy: the Lord, who sanctify them. 9 If the daughter of a priest be taken in whoredom and dishonour the name of her father, she shall be burnt with fire.

10 The high priest, that is to say, the priest who is the greatest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of unction hath been poured; and whose hands have been consecrated for the priesthood; and who hath been vested with the holy vestments. He shall not uncover his head: he shall not rend his garments. 11 Nor shall he go in at all to any dead person: not even for his father, or his mother, shall he be defiled. 12 Neither shall he go out of the holy places, lest he defile the sanctuary of the Lord: because the oil of the holy unction of his God is upon him. I am the Lord. 13 He shall take a virgin unto his wife. 14 But a widow or one that is divorced, or defiled, or a harlot, he shall not take: but a maid of his own people. 15 He shall not mingle the stock of his kindred with the common people of this nation: for I am the Lord who sanctify him. 16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 17 Say to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families, hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to his God. 18 Neither shall he approach to minister to him: If he be blind; if he be lame; if he have a little, or a great, or a crooked nose; 19 If his foot, or if his hand be broken; 20 If he be crookbacked; or blear eyed; or have a pearl in his eye, or a continual scab, or a dry scurf in his body, or a rupture. 21 Whosoever of the seed of Aaron the priest hath a blemish: he shall not approach to offer sacrifices to the Lord, nor bread to his God. 22 He shall eat nevertheless of the loaves that are offered in the sanctuary. 23 Yet so that he enter not within the veil, nor approach to the altar: because he hath a blemish, and he must not defile my sanctuary. I am the Lord who sanctify them. 24 Moses, therefore spoke to Aaron, and to his sons and to all Israel, all the things that had been commanded him.

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Dixit quoque Dominus ad Moysen: Loquere ad sacerdotes filios Aaron, et dices ad eos: Ne contaminetur sacerdos in mortibus civium suorum, 2 nisi tantum in consanguineis, ac propinquis, id est, super patre et matre, et filio, et filia, fratre quoque, 3 et sorore virgine quæ non est nupta viro: 4 sed nec in principe populi sui contaminabitur. 5 Non radent caput, nec barbam, neque in carnibus suis facient incisuras. 6 Sancti erunt Deo suo, et non polluent nomen ejus: incensum enim Domini, et panes Dei sui offerunt, et ideo sancti erunt. 7 Scortum et vile prostibulum non ducent uxorem, nec eam quæ repudiata est a marito: quia consecrati sunt Deo suo, 8 et panes propositionis offerunt. Sint ergo sancti, quia et ego sanctus sum, Dominus qui sanctifico eos. 9 Sacerdotis filia si deprehensa fuerit in stupro, et violaverit nomen patris sui, flammis exuretur.

10 Pontifex, id est, sacerdos maximus inter fratres suos, super cujus caput fusum est unctionis oleum, et cujus manus in sacerdotio consecratæ sunt, vestitusque est sanctis vestibus, caput suum non discooperiet, vestimenta non scindet: 11 et ad omnem mortuum non ingredietur omnino: super patre quoque suo et matre non contaminabitur. 12 Nec egredietur de sanctis, ne polluat sanctuarium Domini, quia oleum sanctæ unctionis Dei sui super eum est. Ego Dominus. 13 Virginem ducet uxorem: 14 viduam autem et repudiatam, et sordidam, atque meretricem non accipiet, sed puellam de populo suo: 15 ne commisceat stirpem generis sui vulgo gentis suæ: quia ego Dominus, qui sanctifico eum. 16 Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens: 17 Loquere ad Aaron: Homo de semine tuo per familias qui habuerit maculam, non offeret panes Deo suo, 18 nec accedet ad ministerium ejus: si cæcus fuerit, si claudus, si parvo vel grandi, vel torto naso, 19 si fracto pede, si manu, 20 si gibbus, si lippus, si albuginem habens in oculo, si jugem scabiem, si impetiginem in corpore, vel herniosus. 21 Omnis qui habuerit maculam de semine Aaron sacerdotis, non accedet offerre hostias Domino, nec panes Deo suo: 22 vescetur tamen panibus qui offeruntur in sanctuario, 23 ita dumtaxat, ut intra velum non ingrediatur, nec accedat ad altare, quia maculam habet, et contaminare non debet sanctuarium meum. Ego Dominus qui sanctifico eos. 24 Locutus est ergo Moyses ad Aaron, et ad filios ejus, et ad omnem Israël cuncta quæ fuerant sibi imperata.

Copyright © 2008 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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