8. “A priest must not eat any animal that died by itself or that was killed by wild animals. If he eats that animal, he will be unclean. I am the Lord.
9. “The priests must be very careful when it comes time to serve me. They must be careful not to dishonor the holy things. If they are careful, they will not die. I, the Lord, have separated them from the rest of the people for this special job.
10. Only a priest’s family can eat the holy food. A visitor staying with the priest or a hired worker must not eat any of the holy food.
11. But if the priest buys a person as a slave with his own money, that person may eat some of the holy things. Slaves who were born in the priest’s house may also eat some of the priest’s food.
12. A priest’s daughter might marry a man who is not a priest. If she does that, she cannot eat any of the holy offerings.
13. A priest’s daughter might become a widow, or she might be divorced. If she does not have any children to support her, and she goes back to her father’s house where she lived as a child, she can eat some of her father’s food. But only people from a priest’s family can eat this food.
14. “Whoever eats some of the holy food by mistake must give the priest the price of that food and add another one-fifth of the price as a fine.
15. “The Israelites will bring offerings to the Lord. These offerings become holy, so the priests must not let them be used in a wrong way.
16. They must not let the people eat these offerings. If they do, they are guilty of doing wrong, and they must pay for it. I am the Lord, the one who makes these offerings holy.”
17. The Lord God said to Moses,
18. “Tell Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites: A citizen of Israel or a foreigner might want to bring an offering. It might be because of a promise that person made, or it might just be a special sacrifice that person wanted to give to the Lord as a burnt offering.
19-20. These are gifts that the people bring because they really want to give a gift to God. If the gift is a bull, or a sheep, or a goat, the animal must be a male. And it must not have anything wrong with it. You must not accept any offering that has anything wrong with it. I will not accept that gift.
21. “You might bring a fellowship offering to the Lord. That fellowship offering might be payment for a special promise that you made. Or maybe it is a special gift that you wanted to give to the Lord. It can be a bull or a sheep, but it must be healthy. There must be nothing wrong with that animal.
22. You must not offer to the Lord any animal that is blind, that has broken bones or is crippled, or that has a discharge or a serious skin disease. You must not offer sick animals as a gift to the Lord. You must not put anything like that on his altar.
23. “Sometimes a bull or lamb will have a leg that is too long, or a foot that did not grow right. If you want to give that animal as a special gift to the Lord, it will be accepted. But it will not be accepted as payment for a special promise that you made.