Leviticus 21:6

Leviticus 21:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
• New International Version (NIV)They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the food offerings to the Lord, the food of their God, they are to be holy.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord's food offerings, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
• New King James Version (NKJV)They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.

Context of Leviticus 21:6

4The priest must not touch a dead person who is married to a person of his family. That would make him unclean. 5A priest must not cut all the hair from his head. He must not cut the sides of his beard. He must not cut his body. A priest must be holy. He must not speak bad words about the Lord. He is the person who sacrifices the people's burnt offerings. 7A priest must not marry a woman who has left her husband. He must not marry a woman if men have paid her to have sex with her. He must not marry a woman whose husband has sent her away. A priest must be holy. 8A priest is holy because he sacrifices the people's offerings to God. A priest is holy because I, the Lord, am holy.

Leviticus 21:6 word by word

קְדֹשִׁ֤ים יִהְיוּ֙ לֵאלֹ֣הֵיהֶ֔ם וְלֹ֣א יְחַלְּל֔וּ שֵׁ֖ם אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם כִּי֩ אֶת־אִשֵּׁ֨י יְהוָ֜ה לֶ֧חֶם אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֛ם הֵ֥ם מַקְרִיבִ֖ם וְהָ֥יוּ קֹֽדֶשׁ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• They shall be holyקֹ֫דֶשׁqôdesh · holinessH6944
• unto their Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• and not profaneחָלַלchâlal · to profane/begin: profaneH2490
• the nameשֵׁםshêm · nameH8034
• for the offeringsאִשֶּׁה'ishshâh · food offeringH801
• of the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• the breadלֶ֫חֶםlechem · food: breadH3899
• they do offerקָרַבqârab · to present: bringH7126
• therefore they shall be holyקָדוֹשׁqâdôsh qâdôsh · holyH6918

Cross-references for Leviticus 21:6

• Leviticus 21:8A priest is holy because he sacrifices the people's offerings to God. A priest is holy because I, the Lord, am holy.
• Leviticus 10:3Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord said, “People may come near to me. But those people must see that I am holy. All the people must give honour to me.” ’ Aaron did not reply.
• Exodus 28:36Use pure gold to make a thin plate and write on it carefully with a sharp tool. Write this sign on it: “Holy to the Lord”.
• Exodus 29:44In that way I will make the Tent of Meeting and its altar a special, holy place. Aaron and his sons will become my special servants. They will serve me as my priests.
• Ezra 8:28I said to the men, ‘Like these special things, you people are also special. You all belong to the Lord. People have chosen to give the silver and gold to the Lord, the God that your ancestors served.
• 1 Peter 2:9But you are not like that. You are a special group of people that God has chosen. You serve God like priests who serve a King. You are his own holy people who belong to him. He has taken you out of the dark place of sin, and he has brought you into his great light. He has done all this so that you can tell people how great he is.
• Leviticus 18:21Do not offer your child as a sacrifice to the false god, Molech. This would spoil God's honour. He is the Lord.
• Leviticus 19:12You must not use the name of your God to say a promise. This will make my name unclean. I am the Lord.
• Malachi 1:6The Lord Almighty says this to the priests: ‘A son respects his father. A servant respects his master. If I am really your father and your master, why do you not respect me? You are my priests, but you insult my name. But then you ask, “What have we done to insult your name?”
• Leviticus 3:11The priest will burn them as food on the altar. They are a burnt offering to the Lord.
• Ezekiel 44:7You brought foreigners into my temple. They were not circumcised and they did not want to belong to me. In that way, you made my own temple unclean. You did that when you offered food, fat and blood to me there. You did not obey my covenant with you, when you did all these disgusting things.
• Malachi 1:7You insult my name when you offer unclean sacrifices to me on my altar. But you ask, “How have we offered unclean sacrifices to you?” You have shown that you do not respect the Lord's altar as important.
• Isaiah 52:11Leave! Leave! Go out from there. Do not touch anything that is unclean. Leave that foreign place! The people who carry the Lord's special things must keep themselves pure.

Commentaries on Leviticus 21:6

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6The word here and in Leviticus 21:8 rendered “bread”, is the same as is rendered food in Leviticus 3:11, Leviticus 3:16, etc., and meat in Leviticus 22:11. The reader of the English Bible should keep in view that bread, meat, and food, were nearly equivalent terms when our translation was made, and represent no distinctions that exist in the Hebrew.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6A priest must never dishonor God by treating his name as unholy.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-241. There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people--The obvious design of the regulations contained in this chapter was to keep inviolate the purity and dignity of the sacred office. Contact with a corpse, or even contiguity to the place where it lay, entailing ceremonial defilement (Nu 19:14), all mourners were debarred from the tabernacle for a week; and as the exclusion of a priest during that period would have been attended with great…Read the comment

Topics related to Leviticus 21:6

• Bread
• God
• Minister, Christian
• Mourning
• Priest
• Sanctification
• Uncleanness

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Corner
• Hair
• Profane
• Shave
• Criticism
• Ezekiel
• Holiness
• Law in the Old Testament

Commentaries on Leviticus 21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings