Priests and Their Food

22 Then[fn] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell[fn] Aaron and his sons[fn] that[fn] they must deal respectfully with theIsraelites’[fn] votive offerings, and they must not profane my holy name, which they are consecrating to me; Iam Yahweh.

3 “Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, any man from any of your offspring who comes near the votive offerings that the Israelites[fn] consecrate to Yahweh with[fn] his uncleanness on him, that person shall be cut off[fn] frombefore me;[fn] Iam Yahweh.

4 “ ‘Anyone[fn] from Aaron’s offspring, if[fn] heis afflicted with a skin disease or a fluid discharge, shall not eat in the sanctuary until[fn] he is clean; and the one who touches any unclean person or a man from whom an emission of semen goes out, 5 or a man who touches any swarmer that is unclean for him or who touches a person who is unclean for him due to[fn] whatever his uncleanness, 6 a person who touches such a thing[fn] shall be unclean until the evening, and he shall not eat from the votive offerings, except[fn]when he washes[fn] his body with water 7 and the sun sets,[fn] and he shall be clean; then[fn] afterward he may eat from the votive offerings, because itis his food. 8 He shall not eat a naturally dead body or[fn] a mangled carcass,so that he becomes unclean[fn] by it; Iam Yahweh.

9 “ ‘And they shall keep my obligation, and they shall not incur guilt because of it, so that[fn] they die through it, because they have profaned it; Iam Yahweh who consecrates them.

10 “ ‘No stranger shall eat[fn]the votive offering; nor shall a temporary resident with[fn] a priest or[fn] a hired worker eatthe votive offering. 11 But[fn] a priest, ifwith his money he buys a person as his possession,[fn] that one may eat it, and the descendants of his house themselves may eat his food. 12 And a priest’s daughter, when she marries a layman,[fn] she herself may not eatthe votive offering.[fn] 13 But[fn] a priest’s daughter, when she becomes a widow or[fn] divorced or there is no offspring for her, and she returns to her father’s house asin her childhood, she may eat from her father’s food, but[fn]no layman may eat it.[fn] 14 And if a man eats the votive offering unintentionally, then[fn] he shall add to it a fifth of it, and he shall give the votive offering to the priest. 15 And they shall not profane the Israelites’[fn] votive offerings that they present to Yahweh, 16 and so cause them, by their eating their votive offerings, to bear guilt requiring a guilt offering, because I am Yahweh, who consecrates them.’ ”