Leviticus 22

Voluntary Sacrifices and Offerings

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22 <1> The Lord God said to Moses, <2> "Tell Aaron and his sons: The Israelites will give me gifts and these gifts will become holy. They are mine. So you priests must not take these things. If you use these holy things for yourselves, you will show that you don't respect my holy name. I am the Lord. <3> If any one of your descendants touches these things, that person will become unclean. That person must be separated from me. The Israelites gave these things to me. I am the Lord.

<4> "If any of Aaron's descendants has one of the bad skin diseases[258] or a discharge,[259] he cannot eat the holy food until he becomes clean.[260] This rule is for any priest who becomes unclean. That priest can become unclean from a dead body or from his own semen. <5> He can also become unclean if he touches any unclean crawling animals. And he can become unclean if he touches an unclean person. It doesn't matter what made that person unclean. <6> If he touches any of these things, he will become unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy food. Even if he washes with water, he cannot eat the holy food. <7> He will be clean only after the sun goes down. Then he can eat the holy food because it is his share.

<8> "A priest must not eat any animal that died by itself or that was killed by wild animals. If he eats that animal, he will be unclean. I am the Lord.

<9> "The priests must be very careful when it comes time to serve me. They must be careful not to dishonor the holy things. If they are careful, they will not die. I, the Lord, have separated them from the rest of the people for this special job. <10> Only a priest's family can eat the holy food. A visitor staying with the priest or a hired worker must not eat any of the holy food. <11> But if the priest buys a person as a slave with his own money, that person may eat some of the holy things. Slaves who were born in the priest's house may also eat some of the priest's food. <12> A priest's daughter might marry a man who is not a priest. If she does that, she cannot eat any of the holy offerings. <13> A priest's daughter might become a widow, or she might be divorced. If she does not have any children to support her, and she goes back to her father's house where she lived as a child, she can eat some of her father's food. But only people from a priest's family can eat this food.

<14> "Whoever eats some of the holy food by mistake must give the priest the price of that food and add another fifth of the price as a fine.

<15> "The Israelites will give gifts to the Lord. These gifts become holy, so the priests must not treat them like they are not important. <16> If they do, they are guilty of doing wrong, and they must bear the responsibility for their guilt. I am the Lord, and I make them holy."

<17> The Lord God said to Moses, <18> "Tell Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites: A citizen of Israel or a foreigner might want to bring an offering. It might be because of a promise that person made, or it might just be a special sacrifice that person wanted to bring. <19-20> These are gifts that the people bring because they really want to give a gift to God. If the gift is a bull, or a sheep, or a goat, the animal must be a male. And it must not have anything wrong with it. You must not accept any offering that has anything wrong with it. I will not accept that gift.

<21> "You might bring a fellowship offering[261] to the Lord. That fellowship offering might be payment for a special promise that you made. Or maybe it is a special gift that you wanted to give to the Lord. It can be a bull or a sheep, but it must be healthy. There must be nothing wrong with that animal. <22> You must not offer to the Lord any animal that is blind, that has broken bones or is crippled, that has a discharge or a bad skin disease. You must not offer sick animals as a gift to the Lord. You must not put anything like that on his altar.

<23> "Sometimes a bull or lamb will have a leg that is too long, or a foot that did not grow right. If you want to give that animal as a special gift to the Lord, it will be accepted. But it will not be accepted as payment for a special promise that you made.

<24> "If an animal has bruised, crushed, or torn testicles, you must not offer that animal to the Lord.

<25> "You must not take animals from foreigners as sacrifices to the Lord. The animals might have been hurt in some way. They might have something wrong with them, so they will not be accepted."

<26> The Lord said to Moses, <27> "When a calf, or a sheep, or a goat is born, it must stay seven days with its mother. Then from the eighth day on, this animal will be accepted as a sacrifice offered as a gift to the Lord. <28> But you must not kill the animal and its mother on the same day. This rule is the same for cattle and sheep.

<29> "If you want to offer some special offering of thanks to the Lord, you are free to offer that gift. But you must do it in a way that pleases God. <30> You must eat the whole animal that day. You must not leave any of the meat for the next morning. I am the Lord.

<31> "Remember my commands, and obey them. I am the Lord. <32> Show respect for my holy name. I must be very special to the Israelites. I, the Lord, have made you my special people. <33> I brought you out of Egypt in order to be your God. I am the Lord."