Help QuickNav Adv. Options
NLT

NLT

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Copy
Copy Options
Format by: Verse Paragraph
Strong's
Red Letter
Audio Bibles
The Blue Letter Bible

Leviticus 21 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

toggle collapse
Choose a new font size and typeface
Audio Bibles
Instructions for the Priests
(cf. Eze 44:15–31 )

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:1

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:1 - The LORD said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
“A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean by touching the dead body of a relative.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:2

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:2 - The only exceptions are his closest relatives—his mother or father, son or daughter, brother,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:3

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:3 - or his virgin sister who depends on him because she has no husband.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:4

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:4 - But a priest must not defile himself and make himself unclean for someone who is related to him only by marriage.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:5

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:5 - “The priests must not shave their heads or trim their beards or cut their bodies.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:6

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:6 - They must be set apart as holy to their God and must never bring shame on the name of God. They must be holy, for they are the ones who present the special gifts to the LORD, gifts of food for their God.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:7

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:7 - “Priests may not marry a woman defiled by prostitution, and they may not marry a woman who is divorced from her husband, for the priests are set apart as holy to their God.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:8

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:8 - You must treat them as holy because they offer up food to your God. You must consider them holy because I, the LORD, am holy, and I make you holy.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:9

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:9 - “If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she also defiles her father’s holiness, and she must be burned to death.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:10

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:10 - “The high priest has the highest rank of all the priests. The anointing oil has been poured on his head, and he has been ordained to wear the priestly garments. He must never leave his hair uncombed[fn] or tear his clothing.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:11

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:11 - He must not defile himself by going near a dead body. He may not make himself ceremonially unclean even for his father or mother.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:12

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:12 - He must not defile the sanctuary of his God by leaving it to attend to a dead person, for he has been made holy by the anointing oil of his God. I am the LORD.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:13

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:13 - “The high priest may marry only a virgin.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:14

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:14 - He may not marry a widow, a woman who is divorced, or a woman who has defiled herself by prostitution. She must be a virgin from his own clan,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:15

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:15 - so that he will not dishonor his descendants among his clan, for I am the LORD who makes him holy.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:16

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:16 - Then the LORD said to Moses,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:17

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:17 - “Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:18

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:18 - No one who has a defect qualifies, whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:19

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:19 - or has a broken foot or arm,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:20

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:20 - or is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores or scabs, or damaged testicles.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:21

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:21 - No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the LORD. Since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:22

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:22 - However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and the most holy offerings.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:23

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:23 - Yet because of his physical defect, he may not enter the room behind the inner curtain or approach the altar, for this would defile my holy places. I am the LORD who makes them holy.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:24

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:24 - So Moses gave these instructions to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Or never uncover his head.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

BLB Searches
Search the Bible
NLT
  [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
NLT
Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan

Translations available: King James Version, New King James Version, New Living Translation, New International Version, English Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible, New American Standard Bible 2020, New American Standard Bible 1995, Legacy Standard Bible 2021, New English Translation, Revised Standard Version, American Standard Version, Young's Literal Translation, Darby Translation, Webster's Bible, Hebrew Names Version, Reina-Valera 1960, Latin Vulgate, Westminster Leningrad Codex, Septuagint, Morphological Greek New Testament, and Textus Receptus.