Rules for Levitical Priests
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a "But the priests, the Levites, b the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary c when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they d shall stand before Me to offer to Me the e fat and the blood," says the Lord GOD.
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"They shall f enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near g My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.
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"And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that h they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house.
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i "They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.
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"When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, j they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shall k not sanctify the people.
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l "They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow m long, but they shall keep their hair well trimmed.
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n "No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
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"They shall not take as wife a o widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.
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"And p they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to q discern between the unclean and the clean.
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r "In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, s and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.
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"They shall not defile themselves by coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves.
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t "After he is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him.
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"And on the day that he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, u he must offer his sin offering v in the inner court," says the Lord GOD.
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"It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I w am their inheritance. You shall give them no x possession in Israel, for I am their possession.
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y "They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; z every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.
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"The a best of all firstfruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest's; also you b shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal, c to cause a blessing to rest on your house.
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"The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, that d died naturally or was torn by wild beasts.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 40:46
"The chamber which faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the sons of Zadok, from the sons of Levi, who come near the LORD to minister to Him."
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Cross References
1 Samuel 2:35
Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.
2 Samuel 15:27
The king also said to Zadok the priest, " Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.
Ezekiel 43:19
You shall give a young bull for a sin offering to the priests, the Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who approach Me to minister to Me,' says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 48:11
It shall be for the priests of the sons of Zadok, who are sanctified, who have kept My charge, who did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 44:10
And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 10:8
At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day.
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Cross References
Leviticus 3:16
And the priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma; all the fat is the LORD's.
Leviticus 3:17
' This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.'"
Leviticus 17:5
To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they offer in the open field, that they may bring them to the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, to the priest, and offer them as peace offerings to the LORD.
Leviticus 17:6
And the priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet aroma to the LORD.
Ezekiel 44:7
When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it - My house - and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations.
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Cross References
Numbers 18:5
And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, that there may be no more wrath on the children of Israel.
Numbers 18:7
"Therefore you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar and behind the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood to you as a gift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death."
Numbers 18:8
And the LORD spoke to Aaron: "Here, I Myself have also given you charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them as a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 41:22
The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its length, and its sides were of wood; and he said to me, "This is the table that is before the LORD.
Malachi 1:7
"You offer defiled food on My altar, But say, 'In what way have we defiled You?' By saying, 'The table of the LORD is contemptible.'
Malachi 1:12
"But you profane it, In that you say, 'The table of the LORD is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.'
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Cross References
Exodus 28:39 - 43
You shall skillfully weave the tunic of fine linen thread, you shall make the turban of fine linen, and you shall make the sash of woven work.
Exodus 39:27 - 29
They made tunics, artistically woven of fine linen, for Aaron and his sons.
Revelation 19:8
And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
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Cross References
Exodus 28:40
For Aaron's sons you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them. And you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty.
Exodus 39:28
A turban of fine linen, exquisite hats of fine linen, short trousers of fine woven linen.
Isaiah 3:20
The headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands; The perfume boxes, the charms.
Ezekiel 24:17
"Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban on your head, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips, and do not eat man's bread of sorrow."
Ezekiel 24:23
Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you shall neither mourn nor weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one another.
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Cross References
Leviticus 6:10
And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen trousers he shall put on his body, and take up the ashes of the burnt offering which the fire has consumed on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
Leviticus 16:4
He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on.
Leviticus 16:23
Then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there.
Leviticus 16:24
And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, put on his garments, come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people.
Ezekiel 42:14
"When the priests enter them, they shall not go out of the holy chamber into the outer court; but there they shall leave their garments in which they minister, for they are holy. They shall put on other garments; then they may approach that which is for the people."
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Cross References
Exodus 30:29
You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them must be holy.
Leviticus 6:27
Everyone who touches its flesh must be holy. And when its blood is sprinkled on any garment, you shall wash that on which it was sprinkled, in a holy place.
Ezekiel 46:20
And he said to me, "This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer court to sanctify the people.
Matthew 23:17
Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
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Cross References
Leviticus 21:5
They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
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Cross References
Numbers 6:5
All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
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Cross References
Leviticus 10:9
Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
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Cross References
Leviticus 21:7
They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God.
Leviticus 21:13
And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
Leviticus 21:14
A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot - these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife.
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Cross References
Leviticus 10:10
That you may distinguish between holy and unhol...
Leviticus 10:11
"and that you may teach the children of Israel ...
Ezekiel 22:26
Her priests have violated My law and profaned M...
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. ...
Micah 3:9 - 11
Now hear this, You heads of the house of Jacob ...
Zephaniah 3:4
Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people; ...
Haggai 2:11 - 13
Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Now, ask the prie...
Malachi 2:6 - 8
The law of truth was in his mouth, And injustic...
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Cross References
Leviticus 20:25
You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 17:8
If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses.
Deuteronomy 17:9
And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.
1 Chronicles 23:4
Of these, twenty-four thousand were to look after the work of the house of the LORD, six thousand were officers and judges.
2 Chronicles 19:8 - 10
Moreover in Jerusalem, for the judgment of the LORD and for controversies, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites and priests, and some of the chief fathers of Israel, when they returned to Jerusalem.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 22:26
Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
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Cross References
Numbers 6:10
Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
Numbers 19:11
He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
Numbers 19:13 - 19
Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.
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Cross References
Leviticus 5:3
Or if he touches human uncleanness - whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled, and he is unaware of it - when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty.
Leviticus 5:6
And he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.
Numbers 6:9 - 11
And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 44:17
And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house.
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Cross References
Numbers 18:20
Then the LORD said to Aaron: "You shall have no...
Deuteronomy 10:9
Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance w...
Deuteronomy 18:1
The priests, the Levites - all the tribe of Lev...
Deuteronomy 18:2
Therefore they shall have no inheritance among ...
Joshua 13:14
Only to the tribe of Levi he had given no inher...
Joshua 13:33
But to the tribe of Levi Moses had given no inh...
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Cross References
Ezekiel 45:4
It shall be a holy section of the land, belonging to the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the LORD; it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.
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Cross References
Leviticus 7:6
Every male among the priests may eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy.
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Cross References
Leviticus 27:21
But the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the LORD, as a devoted field; it shall be the possession of the priest.
Leviticus 27:28
Nevertheless no devoted offering that a man may devote to the LORD of all that he has, both man and beast, or the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted offering is most holy to the LORD.
Numbers 18:14
Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.
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Cross References
Exodus 13:2
"Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine."
Exodus 22:29
You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe produce and your juices. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.
Exodus 23:19
The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
Numbers 3:13
"because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the LORD."
Numbers 18:12
All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the LORD, I have given them to you.
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Cross References
Numbers 15:20
You shall offer up a cake of the first of your ground meal as a heave offering; as a heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall you offer it up.
Nehemiah 10:37
To bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities.
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Cross References
Proverbs 3:9
Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase.
Malachi 3:10
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
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Cross References
Exodus 22:31
And you shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
Leviticus 22:8
Whatever dies naturally or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself with it: I am the LORD.
Deuteronomy 14:21
You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
Ezekiel 4:14
So I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth till now; I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has abominable flesh ever come into my mouth.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.