Leviticus 22

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

² Speak to Aaron and his sons: let them be consecrated through the holy offerings of the sons of Israel, and not profane my holy name; for my sake they are to sanctify it; I am Yahweh.

³ Tell them this: “Any one of your descendants, in any generation, who in a state of uncleanness approaches the holy offerings consecrated to Yahweh by the sons of Israel, shall be outlawed from my presence. I am Yahweh.

⁴ Anyone of Aaron’s line who is afflicted with leprosy or with a discharge must not eat holy things until he is clean. Anyone who touches something made unclean by a dead body, or has a seminal discharge,

⁵ or is made unclean by touching either some creeping thing or some man who has communicated to him his own uncleanness of whatever kind,

⁶ in short, anyone who has had any such contact shall be unclean until evening, and must not eat holy things until he has washed his body.

⁷ At sunset he will be clean and may then eat holy things, for these are his food.

⁸ He must not eat an animal that has died a natural death or been savaged by beasts; he would contract uncleanness from it. I am Yahweh.

⁹ Let them keep my rules and not burden themselves with sin. If they profane them, they shall die: it is I, Yahweh, who have sanctified them.

¹⁰ No lay person may eat holy things: neither the guest of a priest, nor his hired servant.

¹¹ But if the priest has acquired a slave by purchase, the slave may eat them like anyone born in the house; for they eat his own food.

¹² If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she must not eat the holy portion set aside;

¹³ but if she is widowed or divorced and, being childless, has had to return to her father’s house as when she was young, she may eat her father’s food. No lay person may eat of it;

¹⁴ if someone does eat a holy thing by inadvertence, he shall restore it to the priest with one-fifth added.

¹⁵ They must not profane the holy offerings which the sons of Israel have set aside for Yahweh.

¹⁶ To eat these would lay on them a fault demanding a sacrifice of reparation; for it is I, Yahweh; who have sanctified these offerings.”‘

¹⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

¹⁸ Tell this to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel: “Any man of the House of Israel or any stranger living in Israel who brings an offering either in payment of a vow or as a voluntary gift, and makes a holocaust with it for Yahweh,

¹⁹ must, if he is to be acceptable, offer a male without blemish, ox, sheep or goat.

²⁰ You must not offer one that is blemished; for it would not make you acceptable.

²¹ If anyone offers to Yahweh a communion sacrifice, either to fulfil a vow or as a voluntary offering, the animal – from the herd or from the flock – must be without blemish if it is to be acceptable; no defect must be found in it.

²² You must not offer to Yahweh an animal that is blind, lame, mutilated, ulcerous, or suffering from skin disease or sore. No part of such an animal shall be laid on the altar as a burnt offering for Yahweh.

²³ As a voluntary offering, you may offer a bull or a lamb that is underdeveloped or deformed; but such will not be

²⁴ An animal must not be offered to Yahweh if its testicles have been bruised, crushed, removed or cut. You are not to do that in your country,

²⁵ and you are not to accept any such from the hands of a stranger, to be offered as food for your God. Their deformity is a blemish, and they would not make you acceptable.”‘

²⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

²⁷ A calf, lamb, or kid shall stay with its dam seven days after birth. From the eighth day it will be acceptable as a burnt offering to Yahweh.

²⁸ But no animal, whether cow or ewe, shall be immolated on the same day as its young.

²⁹ If you offer Yahweh a sacrifice with praise, do it in the acceptable manner;

³⁰ it must be eaten the same day, with nothing left till the morning. I am Yahweh.

³¹ You must keep my commands and put them into practice. I am Yahweh.

³² You must not profane my holy name, so that I may be proclaimed holy among the sons of Israel, I, Yahweh who sanctify you.

³³ I who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God, I am Yahweh.’