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The NET Bible®

Leviticus 21:1

The Lord said to Moses: "Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron—say to them, ‘For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people,

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Marriage;   Mourning;   Sanctification;   Uncleanness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Defilement-Cleansing;   Leaders;   Pollutions;   Priests;   Religious;   The Topic Concordance - Priests;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Dead, the;   Defilement;   High Priest, the;   Priests;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Mourning;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Priest;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Clean, Unclean;   Priest, Christ as;   Priest, Priesthood;   Worship;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Purification;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Mourning;   Priest;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birds of Abomination;   Clean, Cleanness;   Leviticus;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Congregation, Assembly;   Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;   Hexateuch;   Holiness;   Law;   Leviticus;   Priests and Levites;   Sanctification, Sanctify;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Law of Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Priesthood, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Corpse;   Defile;   Holiness;   Leviticus;   Nazirite;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Commandments, the 613;   Priest;   Sidra;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD said to Moshe, Speak to the Kohanim, the sons of Aharon, and say to them, There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people;
King James Version
And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
Lexham English Bible
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, Aaron's sons, and say to them, ‘One must not make himself unclean for a dead person among his own people,
New Century Version
The Lord said to Moses, "Tell these things to Aaron's sons, the priests: ‘A priest must not make himself unclean by touching a dead person.
Amplified Bible
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'No one shall defile himself [that is, become ceremonially unclean] for the dead among his people [by touching a corpse or assisting in preparing it for burial],
New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people,
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Lorde said vnto Moses, Speake vnto the Priestes the sonnes of Aaron, and say vnto them, Let none be defiled by the dead among his people,
Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people,
Contemporary English Version
The Lord gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests: Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative,
Complete Jewish Bible
Adonai said to Moshe, "Speak to the cohanim, the sons of Aharon; tell them: ‘No cohen is to make himself unclean for any of his people who dies,
Darby Translation
And Jehovah said to Moses, Speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none make himself unclean for a dead person among his peoples,
Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord said to Moses, "Tell these things to Aaron's sons, the priests: A priest must not make himself unclean by touching a dead person.
English Standard Version
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,
George Lamsa Translation
THE LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron and say to them, There shall none of you defile himself by mourning for the dead among his people,
Good News Translation
The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Aaronite priests, "No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies,
Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives,
Literal Translation
And Jehovah said to Moses, Speak to the priests, Aaron's sons, and you shall say to them, None shall be defiled for the dead among his people.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the LORDE sayde vnto Moses: Speake to ye prestes ye sonnes of Aaron, & saye vnto the: A prest shal defyle him self vpo no soule of his people,
American Standard Version
And Jehovah said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people;
Bible in Basic English
And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron, Let no man make himself unclean for the dead among his people;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Lorde sayde vnto Moyses, Speake vnto the priestes the sonnes of Aaron, & say vnto them: Let none be defiled by a corse among his people:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the LORD said unto Moses: Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them: There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people;
King James Version (1611)
And the Lord said vnto Moses; Speake vnto the Priests the sonnes of Aaron, and say vnto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt tell them that they shall not defile themselves in their nation for the dead,
English Revised Version
And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people;
Berean Standard Bible
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: 'A priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the Lord seide to Moyses, Speke thou to preestis, the sones of Aaron, and thou schalt seie to hem, A preest be not defoulid in the deed men of hise citeseyns,
Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Speak unto the priests, sons of Aaron, and thou hast said unto them, For [any] person [a priest] is not defiled among his people,
Update Bible Version
And Yahweh said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, None shall defile himself for the dead among his relatives;
Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
World English Bible
Yahweh said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people;
New King James Version
Ezekiel 44:15-31">[xr] And the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: "None shall defile himself for the dead among his people,
New Living Translation
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.
New Life Bible
The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the religious leaders, the sons of Aaron, ‘No one should make himself unclean for a dead person among his people,
New Revised Standard
The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his relatives,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Yahweh said unto Moses, Say unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, - yea thou shalt say unto them, For a dead person, shall no one make himself unclean among his people:
Douay-Rheims Bible
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.
Revised Standard Version
And the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them that none of them shall defile himself for the dead among his people,
THE MESSAGE
God spoke to Moses: "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron. Tell them, A priest must not ritually contaminate himself by touching the dead, except for close relatives: mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband; for these he may make himself ritually unclean, but he must not contaminate himself with the dead who are only related to him by marriage and thus profane himself.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people,

Contextual Overview

1 The Lord said to Moses: "Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron—say to them, ‘For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people, 2 except for his close relative who is near to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband; he may defile himself for her. 4 He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. 5 Priests must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body. 6 "‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord 's gifts, the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. 7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy. 9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Speak: Hosea 5:1, Malachi 2:1, Malachi 2:4

There: Leviticus 21:11, Leviticus 10:6, Leviticus 10:7, Numbers 19:14, Numbers 19:16, Ezekiel 44:25

Reciprocal: Leviticus 22:4 - unclean Numbers 5:2 - and whosoever Numbers 6:7 - unclean Numbers 19:11 - toucheth the dead Deuteronomy 26:14 - eaten 1 Chronicles 6:49 - Aaron Nehemiah 13:29 - because they have defiled

Cross-References

Genesis 17:16
I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. Kings of countries will come from her!"
Genesis 17:19
God said, "No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 17:21
But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year."
Genesis 18:10
One of them said, "I will surely return to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son!" (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him.
Genesis 18:14
Is anything impossible for the Lord ? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son."
Genesis 21:17
But God heard the boy's voice. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the boy's voice right where he is crying.
Genesis 21:20
God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
Genesis 50:24
Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to you and lead you up from this land to the land he swore on oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Exodus 3:16
"Go and bring together the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘The Lord , the God of your fathers, appeared to me—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—saying, "I have attended carefully to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt,
Exodus 4:31
and the people believed. When they heard that the Lord had attended to the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord said unto Moses,.... According to some Jewish writers this was said on the day the tabernacle was set up; no doubt it was delivered at the same time the above laws were given; and as care was taken for the purity and holiness of the Israelites in general, it was necessary that the priests that were concerned in a more especial manner in the service and worship of God should be holy also, and have some instructions given them to take care and keep themselves from all defilements; and particularly the Jewish writers observe, that this paragraph or section concerning the priests follows upon, and is in connection with the law concerning such as have familiar spirits, and wizards, to teach men, that in matters of doubt and difficulty they should not have recourse to such persons, but to the priests of the Lord:

speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron; the priests, whether elder or younger, whether fit for service, and whether having blemishes, or not; for there are some things which concern them, and these are sons, male children of Aaron, as the Targum of Jonathan, and not daughters, as Jarchi and others observe; for they were not obliged to regard the laws and rules here given:

and say unto them, there shall none be defiled for the dead among his people; by entering into a tent or house where a dead body lay, by touching it, or by hearing it, or attending it to the grave, or by any expressions of mourning for it, see Numbers 19:11; that is, for any person in common that were of his people, that were not nearly related to him, as in the cases after excepted; so it was a custom with the Romans, as we are told n, that such as were polluted by funerals might not sacrifice, which shows that priests were not allowed to attend funerals, which perhaps might be taken from hence; and so Porphyry says o, that sacred persons and inspectors of holy things should abstain from funerals or graves, and from every filthy and mournful sight.

n Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. xi. ver. 3. o De Abstinentia, l. 2. c. 50.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXI

The priests shall not mourn for the dead, except for near

relatives, such as mother, father, son, daughter, and sister

if a virgin, 1-4.

They shall not shave their heads nor beards, nor make any

cuttings in the flesh, because they are holy unto God, 5, 6.

A priest shall not marry a woman who is a whore, profane, or

divorced from her husband, 7, 8.

Of the priest's daughter who profanes herself, 9.

The high priest shall not uncover his head, or rend his clothes,

10;

nor go in unto a dead body, 11;

nor go out of the sanctuary, 12.

Of his marriage and off-spring, 13-15.

No person shall be made a priest that has any blemish nor

shall any person with any of the blemishes mentioned here be

permitted to officiate in the worship of God, 16-24.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXI

Verse Leviticus 21:1. There shall none be defiled for the dead — No priest shall assist in laying out a dead body, or preparing it for interment. Any contact with the dead was supposed to be of a defiling nature, probably because putrefaction had then taken place; and animal putrefaction was ever held in detestation by all men.


 
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