Holy Offerings and Who May Eat Them
1Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 2“Tell Aaron and his sons to keep away from the holy offerings that the Israelites consecrate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name. I am Yahweh. 3Tell them: For all generations to come, if any of your descendants is unclean and yet approaches the holy offerings that the Israelites consecrate to Yahweh, that person is to be cut off from my presence. I am Yahweh. 4No descendant of Aaron who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge may eat the holy offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or a man who has an emission of semen, 5or whoever touches any crawling creature that makes him unclean, or a person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness — 6whoever touches such a thing will be unclean until evening. He must not eat the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body in water. 7When the sun sets, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the holy offerings, for they are his food. 8He must not eat an animal found dead or torn by wild beasts, becoming unclean by it. I am Yahweh. 9The priests are to keep my requirement, so that they do not bear the guilt for it and die because they treated it as unholy. I am Yahweh, who makes them holy. 10No one outside a priest’s family may eat a holy offering; not even a guest of a priest or his hired worker may eat it. 11But if a priest buys a slave with his own money, the slave may eat it, and anyone born in his household may eat his food. 12If a priest’s daughter marries a man outside a priest’s family, she may not eat any of the holy offerings. 13But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or is divorced, has no children, and returns to her father’s household as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food. But no one outside the family may eat it. 14If anyone eats a holy offering by mistake, he must add a fifth of its value to it and give the holy offering to the priest. 15The priests must not profane the holy offerings the Israelites present to Yahweh 16by allowing them to bear the guilt that comes from eating the holy offerings; for I am Yahweh, who makes them holy.”
Offerings Must Be Without Defect
17Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 18“Tell Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites: Any Israelite, or any foreigner living in Israel, who presents his offering — whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, presented to Yahweh as a burnt offering — 19to be accepted on your behalf, it must be a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats. 20Do not present anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. 21When anyone presents a peace offering to Yahweh, from the herd or the flock, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect to be accepted; it must have no defect at all. 22You must not present to Yahweh anything blind, injured, maimed, having a running sore, a festering rash, or a skin disease; you must not put any of these on the altar as a food offering to Yahweh. 23You may present as a freewill offering an ox or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted for a vow. 24You must not present to Yahweh an animal with bruised, crushed, torn, or cut-off testicles; you must not do this in your own land, 25and you must not accept such animals from a foreigner to present as the food of your God. Because they are deformed and have defects, they will not be accepted on your behalf.” 26Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 27“When a bull, a sheep, or a goat is born, it is to remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering to Yahweh. 28Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day. 29When you sacrifice a thank offering to Yahweh, sacrifice it so that it will be accepted on your behalf. 30It must be eaten that same day; leave none of it until morning. I am Yahweh. 31Keep my commands and carry them out. I am Yahweh. 32Do not profane my holy name; I must be treated as holy among the Israelites. I am Yahweh, who makes you holy 33and who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Yahweh.”
