The Offerings are Holy
1 The Lord told Moses 2 to say to Aaron and his sons:
I am the Lord God, and I demand that you
honor my holy name by showing proper respect for the offerings
brought to me by the people of Israel. 3 If any of you are unclean
when you accept an offering for me, I will no longer let you serve
as a priest. 4 None of you may take part in the sacred meals while
you have a skin disease or an infected penis, or after you have
been near a dead body or have had a flow of semen, 5 or if you
have touched an unclean creature of any sort, including an unclean
person. 6 Once you are unclean, you must take a bath, but you
still cannot eat any of the sacred food until evening. 8 I command
you not to eat anything that is killed by a wild animal or dies
a natural death. This would make you unclean. 9 Obey me, or you
will die on duty for disgracing the place of worship. Remember—I
am the Lord, the one who makes a priest holy.
10 Only you priests and your families
may eat the food offerings; these are too sacred for any of your
servants. 11 However, any slave that you own,
including those born into your household, may eat this food. 12
If your daughter marries someone who isn’t a priest, she
can no longer have any of this food. 13 But if she returns to
your home, either widowed or divorced, and has no children, she
may join in the meal. Only members of a priestly family can eat
this food, 14 and anyone else who accidentally does so, must pay
for the food plus a fine of twenty percent.
15 I warn you not to treat lightly the
offerings that are brought by the people of Israel. 16 Don’t
let them become guilty of eating this sacred food. Remember—I
am the Lord, the one who makes these offerings holy.
17 The Lord told Moses 18 to tell Aaron
and his sons and everyone else the rules for offering sacrifices.
He said:
The animals that are to be completely
burned on the altar 19 must have nothing wrong with them, or else
I won’t accept them. Bulls or rams or goats are the animals
to be used for these sacrifices.
21 When you offer a sacrifice to ask my
blessing, there must be nothing wrong with the animal. This is
true, whether the sacrifice is part of a promise or something
you do voluntarily. 22 Don’t offer an animal that is blind
or injured or that has an infection or a skin disease. 23 If one
of your cattle or lambs has a leg that is longer or shorter than
the others, you may offer it voluntarily, but not as part of a
promise. 24 As long as you live in this land, don’t offer
an animal with injured testicles. 25 And don’t bring me animals
you bought from a foreigner. I won’t accept them, because
they are no better than one that has something wrong with it.
26 The Lord told Moses to say:
27 Newborn cattle, sheep, or goats must
remain with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day,
you may send them up in smoke to me, and I will accept the offering.
28 Don’t sacrifice a newborn animal and its mother on the
same day.
29 When you offer a sacrifice to give
thanks to me, you must do it in a way that is acceptable. 30
Eat all of the meat that same day and don’t save any for
the next day. I am the Lord your God!
31 Obey my laws and teachings—I am
the Lord. 32 I demand respect from the people of Israel, so don’t
disgrace my holy name. Remember—I am the one who chose you
to be priests and rescued all of you from Egypt, so that I would
be your Lord.