Leviticus 21:4

Priests must not cause themselves to become unfit to do my work [DOU] by touching corpses of people who were married to one of their close relatives.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.

In Context

3Priests are also permitted to touch the corpse of a sister if she is not married, because she has no husband to bury her body.

5You priests must not shave your heads or shave the edges of your beards or cut your bodies to show that you are mourning for someone who has died.

Read all of Leviticus 21

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 21:2-10

Laws Concerning the Priests. ( b. c. 1490.) 1 And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people: 2 But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, 3 And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled. 4 But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his… Read the whole commentary →

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