The Holiness of the Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives,^{(A) 2} except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. ³ He may make himself unclean for his unmarried virgin sister in his immediate family.

² “Command the Israelites to send away anyone from the camp who is afflicted with a skin disease,^(A) anyone who has a discharge,^(B) or anyone who is defiled because of a corpse.^(C)

⁶ He must not go near a dead body during the time he consecrates himself to the Lord.^{(A) 7} He is not to defile himself for his father or mother, or his brother or sister, when they die, while the mark of consecration to his God is on his head. ⁸ He is holy to the Lord^(B) during the time of consecration.

⁹ “If someone suddenly dies near him, defiling his consecrated head, he must shave his head on the day of his purification; he is to shave it on the seventh day.^{(C) 10} On the eighth day he is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.^{(D) 11} The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering^(E) to make atonement on behalf of the Nazirite, since he incurred guilt because of the corpse. On that day he is to consecrate his head again.^{(F) 12} He is to rededicate his time of consecration to the Lord and to bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering.^(G) But do not count the initial period of consecration because it became defiled.