Vayikra 21

Then God said to Moses: 'Command the imāms, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: Let no one among you become impure through a dead person of his people —

except for his next of kin, who is close to him: his mother and his father, and his son and his daughter and his brother,

and his virgin sister who is closest to him — she who has not yet become belonging to a man; for her he shall become impure, as is obligatory.

But he shall not become impure through a person of consequence from his people, as that would debase him.

They shall not pluck a plucking from the hair of their heads, nor shall they shave the corners of their beards, nor shall they scratch a scratch upon their bodies.

And they shall be consecrated to their Lord, and shall not debase the name of their Lord — for, inasmuch as they are those who offer the offerings of God their Lord continually, they shall be consecrated.

With a wanton and debased woman they shall not marry, and with a woman divorced from her husband they shall not marry — for every one of them is consecrated to his Lord.

And you shall consecrate him, as is obligatory — for he offers the offering of your Lord the Eternal; he shall therefore be consecrated to you, even as I, God, consecrate you.

And whichever daughter of a man who is an imām has debased herself and acted wantonly — she has brought public disgrace upon her father; she shall be burned with fire.

And the great imām among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured and whose obligation is fulfilled by the wearing of the vestments — he shall not dishevel his head, nor shall he tear his garments.

Over any dead person he shall not enter; even for his father and his mother he shall not become impure.

And from the sanctuary he shall not go out after them, nor shall he debase the consecration of his Lord — for, inasmuch as the crown of his Lord's anointing oil is upon him, I, God, have honored him.

And he — he shall marry none but a virgin woman.

As for a widow, or a divorced woman, or a debased woman, or a wanton woman — he shall not marry any of these; only a virgin woman from his people shall he marry.

And he shall not debase his offspring through any other than her from his people — for I, God, consecrate him.'

Then God spoke to Moses in speech.

'Command Aaron and say to him: Any man from your offspring, throughout their generations, in whom there is a blemish — he shall not come forward to offer the offering of his Lord.

For every man in whom there is a blemish shall not come forward. Among such: the blind and the lame, and one with a cleft nose and one who limps,

or a man in whom there is a broken leg or a broken arm,

or a hunchback, or one of dim sight, or one with a cataract in his eye, or in whom there is mange or thick scaling of the head, or one with a crushed testicle —

so too every man in whom there is a blemish, from the offspring of Aaron the imām: he shall not come forward to offer the offering of God; and whatever that blemish be in him, the offering of his Lord he shall not come forward to offer.

However, the provision of his Lord — from the choicest of the holy things and from the general portions thereof — he may eat.

But into the curtain he shall not enter, and to the altar he shall not come forward, since there is a blemish in him; and he shall not debase My sacred things — for I, God, consecrate them.'

And Moses commanded thereby Aaron and his sons, and the rest of the sons of Israel.