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Leviticus 22

1

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2

Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me: I am the Lord.

3

Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord.

4

What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;

5

Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath;

6

The soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water.

7

And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things; because it is his food.

8

That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: I am the Lord.

9

They shall therefore keep mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and die therefore, if they profane it: I the Lord do sanctify them.

10

There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.

11

But if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they shall eat of his meat.

12

If the priest’s daughter also be married unto a stranger, she may not eat of an offering of the holy things.

13

But if the priest’s daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and is returned unto her father’s house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s meat: but there shall no stranger eat thereof.

14

And if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it, and shall give it unto the priest with the holy thing.

15

And they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer unto the Lord;

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Or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass, when they eat their holy things: for I the Lord do sanctify them.

17

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

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Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the Lord for a burnt offering;

19

Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.

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But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.

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And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord to accomplish his vow, or a freewill offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.

22

Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the Lord.

23

Either a bullock or a lamb that hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest thou offer for a freewill offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

24

Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.

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Neither from a stranger’s hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you.

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And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

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When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

28

And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day.

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And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord, offer it at your own will.

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On the same day it shall be eaten up; ye shall leave none of it until the morrow: I am the Lord.

31

Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and do them: I am the Lord.

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Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the Lord which hallow you,

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That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord.

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Leviticus 22

The priestly food regulations address the conditions under which priests may access the most holy provisions — the sacred portions of the offerings — and what qualities of animals are acceptable for the altar. A ritually impure priest (through skin disease, discharge, corpse contact, or other conditions) may not eat the sacred offerings until cleansed; the priest who eats the sacred food while impure is cut off from the divine presence. Access to the most holy food is restricted to ordained males in the priestly family; the regular priestly portions (wave breast and presented thigh) extend to the priestly family including daughters and slaves in the household, but not to sons-in-law or hired workers. The acceptability requirements for animal offerings are detailed: no blind, injured, maimed, warted, or festering animal may be placed on the altar; a minimum age of eight days is required; a mother and its young cannot be slaughtered on the same day. The chapter closes with the covenant formula — I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt to be your God — grounding both the priestly food regulations and the altar standards in the Exodus and the covenant identity.

Leviticus 22:17

The Lord said to Moses. A new divine speech introduces the acceptability requirements for the offerings that the Israelites bring. Where the previous regulations addressed the priestly side of the offering system (who may eat the sacred food), these regulations address the community's side (what animals are acceptable for offering). The without-defect requirement that was stated briefly in Leviticus 1–7 is now developed in detail.

Leviticus 22:1

The Lord said to Moses. The regulations for the priestly food — the holy portions of the offerings that the priests eat — address the conditions under which the priests may access the most sacred provisions of the covenant worship system. Where chapter 21 addressed the priest's personal holiness (mourning, marriage, physical condition), chapter 22 addresses the priest's ritual condition when approaching the holy food. The same holy God who requires clean animals on the altar requires clean priests at the holy table.

Leviticus 22:2

Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the Lord. The holy name is at stake in the handling of the sacred offerings: the priests who mishandle the holy food profane the holy name of the God whose holy food it is. The sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate are consecrated to God — when the priests who are God's servants mishandle what is God's, they misrepresent God to the community. I am the Lord grounds the respect-requirement in the covenant identity.

Leviticus 22:3

Say to them: for the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord. The cut off from my presence penalty — separation from the covenant relationship — for the ritually impure priest who accesses the sacred offerings is the most severe non-death penalty in the Levitical system. The priest who ignores his ritual impurity and approaches the holy food is cut off from the divine presence that the priestly service is designed to mediate. The mediator who violates the conditions of his mediation loses access to the presence he mediates.

Leviticus 22:16

By allowing the Israelites to eat their sacred offerings they will cause them to bear punishment and so make them guilty, if the priests eat the sacred offerings. The priests who allow unauthorized persons to eat the sacred food share the guilt with those who eat: the priestly failure of custodial responsibility creates guilt for both the unauthorized eater and the negligent priest. The priestly accountability for the sacred food's proper handling extends to the accountability for who accesses it. I am the Lord, who makes them holy closes the section.

Leviticus 22:4

If a descendant of Aaron has a defiling skin disease or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse or if a man has an emission of semen. The specific conditions of ritual impurity that prevent the priest from eating the sacred offerings: defiling skin disease (chapters 13–14), bodily discharge (chapter 15), corpse-contact impurity (Leviticus 21:1–4), and semen emission (Leviticus 15:16). The comprehensive listing connects the priestly food regulations to the purification regulations of the preceding chapters: the Levitical system is internally consistent, and the ritual impurity that disqualifies from the holy community's life also disqualifies from the holy community's most sacred provision.

Leviticus 22:5

Or if he touches any crawling thing that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be. The contact-impurity categories from Leviticus 11 and 15 are included in the priestly food regulations. Any contact-impurity that the preceding regulations established also creates a barrier between the impure priest and the sacred food. The comprehensive coverage — whatever the uncleanness may be — ensures that no category of ritual impurity is overlooked as a disqualifying condition for the priestly food.

Leviticus 22:6

The one who touches any such thing will be unclean till evening. He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water. The until-evening impurity that is self-resolving for ordinary contact-impurity also applies to the priest: the priest who has become ritually impure must wait until evening and must bathe before eating the sacred offerings. The until-evening duration and the bathing requirement are the standard conditions for resolving the minor contact-impurity categories. The priest's access to the sacred food is delayed by the impurity but not permanently denied.

Leviticus 22:7

When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food. The sunset resolution of the contact-impurity and the restored access to the sacred food — because they are his food — communicates the priestly provision and the priestly right: the sacred food belongs to the priests, and after the proper purification period the priests can claim what is theirs. The his food designation communicates that the sacred food is not a privilege that must be re-earned after impurity but a right that is temporarily suspended during the impurity period.

Leviticus 22:8

He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, and so become unclean through it. I am the Lord. The prohibition on eating naturally dead or predator-killed animals applies to the priests eating the sacred food just as it applied to the community's ordinary eating (Leviticus 17:15). The priest who eats an improperly dead animal becomes impure — and therefore loses access to the sacred food. I am the Lord grounds the prohibition in the covenant identity: the Lord whose food the sacred offerings are is the Lord who requires the clean handling of both the offerings and the ordinary food.

Leviticus 22:9

The priests are to keep my requirements so they do not become guilty and die for treating them with contempt. I am the Lord, who makes them holy. The keeping of the priestly food requirements is a matter of life and death: the contemptuous treatment of the sacred food regulations creates guilt that can result in death. The I am the Lord, who makes them holy formula closes the warning: the holiness that the priest must maintain in relation to the sacred food is the holiness that God gives. The priest who violates the conditions of the holy food despises the holiness God bestowed.

Leviticus 22:10

No one outside a priest's family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it. The access restrictions for the sacred food beyond the ritual impurity conditions: only the priestly family may eat the sacred offerings. The guest of a priest and the hired worker — people who are in the priestly household but not of the priestly family — are excluded. The sacred food is for the priestly family, not for every person who happens to be associated with the priestly household. The family-only restriction protects the priestly food's sacred character as the provision for the covenant mediators.

Leviticus 22:11

But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if slaves are born in his household, they may eat his food. The slave who belongs to the priestly household — whether purchased or born in the house — may eat the sacred food because the slave is part of the priestly household. The household inclusion of slaves communicates the extended family character of the ancient household: the slaves who belong to the priestly household share in the priestly household's provision, including the sacred food. The boundary is household membership, not blood relation.

Leviticus 22:12

If a priest's daughter marries anyone other than a priest, she may not eat any of the sacred contributions. The priest's daughter who marries outside the priestly line loses her access to the sacred food: she has transferred from the priestly household to her husband's household, and her husband's household is not a priestly household. The access to the sacred food follows household membership: when the daughter's household membership transfers through marriage, her access to the sacred food transfers accordingly.

Leviticus 22:13

But if a priest's daughter becomes a widow or is divorced, and she has no children and returns to live in her father's household as in her youth, she may eat her father's food. No outsider, however, may eat it. The widow or divorced daughter with no children who returns to the priestly father's household regains her access to the sacred food. The return to the priestly household restores the access that marriage to a non-priest removed. The no-children condition communicates that the children of a non-priestly marriage would not belong to the priestly household even if the mother returned.

Leviticus 22:14

Anyone who eats a sacred offering by mistake must make restitution to the priest for the offering and add a fifth of the value to it. The inadvertent eating of the sacred food by someone not entitled to it — the guilt offering principle of Leviticus 5:14–16 applied to the priestly food. The restitution plus twenty percent communicates that the inadvertent violation of the sacred food boundary requires the same reparation as the inadvertent violation of the sacred things in general. The sacred food that belongs to the priestly household is as much a sacred thing as any offering on the altar.

Leviticus 22:15

The priests must not desecrate the sacred offerings the Israelites present to the Lord. The priests' responsibility for the integrity of the sacred offerings extends to preventing their desecration — not only avoiding personal desecration but actively protecting the sacred food from inappropriate access. The priests who are the custodians of the sacred food are responsible for maintaining its sanctity, not only for enjoying its provision.

Leviticus 22:18

Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: if any of you — whether an Israelite or a foreigner residing in Israel — presents a gift for a burnt offering to the Lord, either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering. The acceptability requirements are addressed to the entire covenant community — Israelite and foreigner alike. The same standards apply to everyone who offers within the covenant community's space. The two voluntary offering categories — vow offering and freewill offering — are the contexts in which the acceptability standards are most relevant: the mandated offerings have specific animal requirements; the voluntary offerings must meet the same general standards.

Leviticus 22:19

You must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf. The male without defect requirement for the burnt offering from the major domesticated animals — the standard that Leviticus 1 established — is here confirmed with the purpose: in order that it may be accepted on your behalf. The acceptance is the goal; the without-defect requirement is the condition of acceptance. The offering that fails to meet the condition fails to achieve the goal.

Leviticus 22:20

Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. The negative statement of the acceptability principle: the defective animal will not be accepted. The purpose of the without-defect requirement is not ritual formalism but the reality of divine acceptance. God does not accept defective offerings. Malachi 1:8 records God's rebuke of priests who offer blind, crippled, and diseased animals: when you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? The prophet's rebuke is the prophetic application of the Levitical requirement.

Leviticus 22:21

When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. The fellowship offering's without-defect requirement is stated for voluntary offerings: both the vow offering (fulfilling a specific promise to God) and the freewill offering (a spontaneous expression of gratitude or devotion) must be without defect to be acceptable. The voluntary character of these offerings does not lower the acceptability standard; if anything, the voluntary nature of the offering communicates that the offerer is choosing to bring the best rather than being required to bring a minimum.

Leviticus 22:22

Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as a food offering presented to the Lord. The specific defects that disqualify an animal from the altar: blind, injured, maimed, warts, festering sores, running sores. The list parallels the physical defects that disqualify priests from altar service (Leviticus 21:18–20). The parallel communicates the consistent standard: the without-defect requirement applies equally to the animals offered and to the priests who offer them. What cannot be on the altar cannot stand before the altar.

Leviticus 22:23

You may, however, present as a freewill offering an ox or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted in fulfillment of a vow. The partial exception for freewill offerings: a deformed or stunted animal may be presented as a freewill offering but not as a vow offering. The distinction communicates the different character of the two voluntary offerings: the vow offering fulfills a specific commitment made to God (and God's acceptance of the vow offering validates the vow), while the freewill offering is a spontaneous act of generosity that is accepted at a slightly lower standard. Even so, the deformed or stunted animal cannot fulfill a vow.

Leviticus 22:24

You must not offer to the Lord an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut. You must not do this in your own land. The prohibition on offering animals with damaged reproductive organs — parallel to the prohibition on priests with damaged testicles (Leviticus 21:20) — communicates the completeness standard applied to the reproductive capacity. The and you must not do this in your own land prohibition against castrating animals (implied by the listing of the methods of testicular damage) extends the prohibition beyond the altar to the community's animal management.

Leviticus 22:25

And you must not accept such animals from the hands of a foreigner and offer them as the food of your God. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and have defects. The prohibition on accepting defective animals from foreigners for offering — the priests who receive and present offerings must reject defective animals even when they come from outside the community. The deformed and have defects assessment grounds the rejection in the condition of the animal, not the identity of the donor. The standard applies equally to animals brought by Israelites and foreigners.

Leviticus 22:26

The Lord said to Moses. A new divine speech introduces the age requirement for offerings and the mother-and-young prohibition.

Leviticus 22:27

When a calf, a lamb 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 presented to the Lord. The seven-day minimum age for sacrificial animals — the animal must remain with its mother for seven days before it is acceptable for offering. The eighth day is the first day of acceptability, paralleling the eighth day of circumcision (the covenant sign that initiates a male into the covenant community) and the eighth day of the priests' ordination (the first day of official ministry). The seven-day waiting period and the eighth-day beginning communicate the same covenant structure: the fullness of the seven-day period prepares for the new beginning of the eighth day.

Leviticus 22:28

Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day. The prohibition on slaughtering a mother animal and its young on the same day is the sacrificial expression of the mother-and-young protection principle. The same day prohibition prevents a practice that would sever the natural bond between parent and offspring in a single act. Deuteronomy 22:6–7 extends the same principle to birds: if you find a bird's nest, do not take the mother with the young. The protection of the parent-offspring bond communicates the covenant community's care for natural relationships.

Leviticus 22:29

When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. The thank offering — the todah — is the fellowship offering brought in response to God's specific act of deliverance. The sacrifice in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf formula grounds the proper offering procedure in the acceptability goal: every requirement for the offering — the without-defect animal, the proper location, the same-day consumption — exists in service of the goal of acceptance before the Lord.

Leviticus 22:30

It must be eaten that same day; leave none of it till morning. I am the Lord. The same-day consumption requirement for the thank offering — the most urgent eating window in the fellowship offering system (Leviticus 7:15) — is repeated with the I am the Lord formula. The thank offering that celebrates God's specific deliverance must be consumed entirely on the day of the deliverance's celebration: the joy is not rationed over multiple days but expressed completely in the offering day's meal.

Leviticus 22:31

Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. The comprehensive command — keep my commands and follow them — closes the acceptability requirements with the same formula that closes every major section of the Holiness Code. The imperative is as simple as it is comprehensive: keep and follow. I am the Lord grounds the command in the covenant identity.

Leviticus 22:32

Do not profane my holy name, for I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who makes you holy. The profaning of the holy name — through improper offerings, improper priestly conduct, or any violation of the covenant's holiness requirements — is the ultimate concern of the entire Levitical system. The covenant community acknowledges the holy God as holy through the worship that the chapters have prescribed. I am the Lord, who makes you holy grounds the holiness-acknowledgment in the divine act: the God who makes the community holy is the God the community acknowledges as holy through proper worship.

Leviticus 22:33

And who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord. The closing I am the Lord formula is expanded: the Lord who makes them holy is the Lord who brought them out of Egypt to be their God. The Exodus and the making-holy are inseparable: the liberation from Egypt was for the purpose of being the covenant God of a holy people. The worship requirements of Leviticus 22 are the expressions of the purpose for which the Exodus happened. The covenant community that keeps the chapter's requirements fulfills the purpose of their liberation.