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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Leviticus 21 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/leviticus/21.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/leviticus/21-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Leviticus 21</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../leviticus/20.htm" title="Leviticus 20">◄</a> Leviticus 21 <a href="../leviticus/22.htm" title="Leviticus 22">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Instructions for Priests</h3><p class="par"><span class="v2_21_1"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.1" class="v2_21_1">1</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests:</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v2_21_1">Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative, </span><span class="v2_21_2"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.2" class="v2_21_2">2</span>except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother, </span><span class="v2_21_3"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.3" class="v2_21_3">3</span>or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her. </span><span class="v2_21_4"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.4" class="v2_21_4">4</span>Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage.<a href="#fn" id="link_Lev.21.4!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v2_21_5"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.5" class="v2_21_5">5</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Lev.21.5!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning. </span><span class="v2_21_6"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.6" class="v2_21_6">6</span>I am the <span class="nd">Lord</span> 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. </span><span class="v2_21_7"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.7" class="v2_21_7">7</span>Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy, </span><span class="v2_21_8"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.8" class="v2_21_8">8</span>because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v2_21_9"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.9" class="v2_21_9">9</span>If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v2_21_10"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.10" class="v2_21_10">10</span>If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead. </span><span class="v2_21_11"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.11" class="v2_21_11">11</span>Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother. </span><span class="v2_21_12"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.12" class="v2_21_12">12</span>If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v2_21_13"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.13" class="v2_21_13">13</span>If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin </span><span class="v2_21_14"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.14" class="v2_21_14">14</span>from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute. </span><span class="v2_21_15"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.15" class="v2_21_15">15</span>In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember—I am the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, and I have chosen you.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v2_21_16"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.16" class="v2_21_16">16</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> told Moses </span><span class="v2_21_17"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.17-Lev.21.18" class="v2_21_17">17-18</span>to say to Aaron:</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v2_21_17">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, </span><span class="v2_21_19"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.19" class="v2_21_19">19</span>if either a foot or a hand is paralyzed, </span><span class="v2_21_20"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.20" class="v2_21_20">20</span>if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged. </span><span class="v2_21_21"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.21" class="v2_21_21">21</span>These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me. </span><span class="v2_21_22"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.22" class="v2_21_22">22</span>They may eat the food offerings presented to me, </span><span class="v2_21_23"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.23" class="v2_21_23">23</span>but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember—I am the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, the one who makes a priest holy.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v2_21_24"><span class="reftext" id="Lev.21.24" class="v2_21_24">24</span>Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">21.4 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">marriage: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 4.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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