Regulations concerning Priests

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

‘^(A)No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, ^2 (B)except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother, ³ also for his virgin sister who is near to him ^[a]because she has not had a husband; for her, he may defile himself.

¹¹ ‘^(A)The one who touches the dead body of any ^[a]person will also be unclean for seven days. ¹² That one shall ^(B)purify himself with ^[b]the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ^13 (C)Anyone who touches a dead body, the ^[c]body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, ^(D)defiles the ^[d]tabernacle of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Since the water for impurity was not ^(E)sprinkled on him, he will be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ ‘This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ And every open container, which has no cover tied down on it, will be unclean. ^16 (F)Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been killed with a sword or one who has died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁷ Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the ^[e]ashes of the ^[f]burnt ^[g](G)purification from sin and ^[h]running water shall be ^[i]added to them in a container. ¹⁸ And a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on the one who touched the bone or the one who was killed or the one who died naturally, or the grave. ¹⁹ Then the clean person ^(H)shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and will be clean by evening.

²⁰ ‘But the person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has ^(I)defiled the sanctuary of the Lord; the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, so he is unclean. ²¹ So it shall be a permanent statute for them. And the one ^(J)who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. ^22 (K)Furthermore, anything that the unclean person touches will be unclean; and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.’”