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Today's Bible Reading :: Leviticus 19 - 21 (ESV)

Leviticus 19Listen to the passage

Leviticus 20Listen to the passage

Leviticus 21Listen to the passage

Leviticus 19

The Lord Is Holy

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:1

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:1 - And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:2

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:2 - “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:3

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:3 - Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:4

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:4 - Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:5

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:5 - “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:6

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:6 - It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:7

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:7 - If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:8

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:8 - and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:9

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:9 - “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:10

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:10 - And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:11

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:11 - “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:12

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:12 - You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:13

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:13 - “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:14

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:14 - You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:15

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:15 - “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:16

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:16 - You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life[fn] of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:17

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:17 - “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:18

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:18 - You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

You Shall Keep My Statutes

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:19

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:19 - “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:20

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:20 - “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free;

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:21

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:21 - but he shall bring his compensation to the LORD, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:22

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:22 - And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:23

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:23 - “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.[fn] Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:24

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:24 - And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:25

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:25 - But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the LORD your God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:26

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:26 - “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:27

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:27 - You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:28

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:28 - You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:29

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:29 - “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:30

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:30 - You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:31

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:31 - “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:32

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:32 - “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:33

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:33 - “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:34

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:34 - You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:35

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:35 - “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:36

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:36 - You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin:[fn] I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 19:37

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 19:37 - And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the LORD.”
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew blood
Hebrew as its uncircumcision
An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters; a hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters

Leviticus 20

Punishment for Child Sacrifice

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:1

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:1 - The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:2

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:2 - “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:3

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:3 - I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:4

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:4 - And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:5

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:5 - then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:6

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:6 - “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:7

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:7 - Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:8

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:8 - Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:9

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:9 - For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

Punishments for Sexual Immorality

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:10

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:10 - “If a man commits adultery with the wife of[fn] his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:11

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:11 - If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:12

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:12 - If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:13

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:13 - If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:14

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:14 - If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:15

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:15 - If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:16

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:16 - If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:17

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:17 - “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:18

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:18 - If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:19

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:19 - You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked one’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:20

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:20 - If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:21

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:21 - If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity.[fn] He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

You Shall Be Holy

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:22

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:22 - “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:23

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:23 - And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:24

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:24 - But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:25

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:25 - You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:26

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:26 - You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 20:27

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 20:27 - “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.”
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew repeats if a man commits adultery with the wife of
Hebrew menstrual impurity

Leviticus 21

Holiness and the Priests

(cf. Eze 44:15–31 )

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:1

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:1 - And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:2

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:2 - except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:3

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:3 - or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean).

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:4

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:4 - He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:5

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:5 - They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:6

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:6 - They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the LORD’s food offerings, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:7

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:7 - They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:8

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:8 - You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:9

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:9 - And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:10

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:10 - “The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:11

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:11 - He shall not go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:12

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:12 - He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:13

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:13 - And he shall take a wife in her virginity.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:14

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:14 - A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin[fn] of his own people,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:15

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:15 - that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:16

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:16 - And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:17

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:17 - “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:18

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:18 - For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:19

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:19 - or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:20

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:20 - or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:21

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:21 - No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:22

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:22 - He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things,

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:23

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:23 - but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries,[fn] for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Lev 21:24

Unchecked Copy BoxLev 21:24 - So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.
See the ESV Preface
ESV Footnotes
Or a young wife
Hebrew young woman
Or my holy precincts
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2025 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

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

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