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Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 21

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron—say to them: ‘For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people, 2 except for his close relative who is near to him—his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband—he may defile himself for her. 4 He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. 5 Priests must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body.⁠ 6 “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. 7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy. 9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father.⁠ She must be burned to death.⁠ 10 “‘The high priest—who is greater than his brothers, and on whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments—must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. 11 He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father or for his mother. 12 He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord. 13 He must take a wife who is a virgin.⁠ 14 He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people as a wife, 15 so that he does not profane his children among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’” 16 The Lord spoke to Moses: 17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations who has a physical flaw is to approach to present the food of his God.⁠ 18 Certainly no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, or who has a limb too long, 19 or a man who has had a broken leg or arm, 20 or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or one with a spot in his eye, or a festering eruption, or a feverish rash, or a crushed testicle. 21 No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward to present the Lord’s gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God. 22 He may eat both the most holy and the holy food of his God, 23 but he must not go near the special curtain or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” 24 So Moses spoke these things to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 21:9 and 4Q213a 3–4 3–8

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings

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Summary

In Leviticus, a priest’s daughter who engages in prostitution profanes her father. In 4Q213a from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the shame spreads to her brothers and ancestors, and her disgrace is said to last forever.

Passages

Leviticus 21:9

Hebrew Bible
7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy. 9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

4Q213a 3–4 3–8

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings · Aramaic Levi b
12 [to take] from the females [who are foreign, and a profaner.] And now, the plagues of the men will come up 13 [upon those who] incur guilt [by taking her for themselves as] a wife. And she profanes her name and the name of her father. 14 [They judged] her to be burned [for the wrong of her] deed, in [profaning] the fathers. And every 15 [virgin] who ruins her name and the name of her fathers, and brings shame on all her brothers, 16 [the sons of] her father, the name of her disgrace will not be wiped out from all her people forever. 17 [She is cursed] for all the generations of eternity. And whoever [makes guilty] the holy ones of the people, who 18 [put the sons of Israel to shame,] and [let him not be] a holy tithe, an offering to God from
160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q213a

References

“... These fragments might be different from the rest of the manuscript or from a different manuscript altogether, since they appear to vary somewhat, both in layout and perhaps in script. Yet, the deteriora- tion of the parchment due to the ravages of time make a definite paleographic or codicological determination impossible. So, we have preferred to leave them here, but regard them with a measure of doubt. As for content, lines 1–5 of these two fragments, which join together, seem at first glance to deal with the Dinah story, but on further examination this is doubtful. Just how Dinah’s rape could be related to the statements made here and how they can be related to the Dinah material in chapter 1, is quite obscure. Although the Dinah incident is prominent in TPL, there is no textual or concep- tual correspondence between these two fragments of ALD and Testament of Levi. [...] The verb is used in Hebrew for the dese- cration of one’s parent, so Leviticus 21:9 where it is translated “It is her father she defiles”. ...”
Jonas C. Greenfield, Michael E. Stone, and Esther Eshel, eds., The Aramaic Levi Document: Edition, Translation, Commentary, SVTP 19 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 220–221.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 21:9 and 4Q213a 3–4 3–8

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