They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy.
Parallel Translations
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They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy.
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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.
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They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God; for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, the bread of their God, they do offer; therefore they shall be holy.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Leviticus 21:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 3:11 The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 18:21 “ ‘You shall not give any of your children as a sacrifice to Molech. You shall not profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
- Exodus 28:36 “You shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, ‘HOLY TO YAHWEH.’
- Exodus 29:44 I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar. I will also sanctify Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest’s office.
- Leviticus 10:3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what Yahweh spoke of, saying, ‘I will show myself holy to those who come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” Aaron held his peace.
- Leviticus 19:12 “ ‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
- Leviticus 21:8 Therefore you shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
- Ezra 8:28 I said to them, “You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a free will offering to Yahweh, the God of your fathers.
- Isaiah 52:11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Go out from among her! Cleanse yourselves, you who carry Yahweh’s vessels.
- Ezekiel 44:7 in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.
- Malachi 1:6-7 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
- Malachi 1:11-12 For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 21:6 They shall be holy unto their God,…
Lev 21:6 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.
Ver. 6. They shall be holy.] Heb., Holiness, i.e. all holy, even as holiness itself, merely spiritual.
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Not profane the name of their God.] Not do anything unworthy the majesty of the ministry: but suffer the dead to bury their dead. {Mat 8:22}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Holy unto their God; devoted to God’s service, and…
Holy unto their God; devoted to God’s service, and always prepared and fit for it; and therefore shall keep themselves as far as they can from all defilement, which makes them unmeet for their Master’s use.
Not profane the name of their God, which they especially bear; they shall not disparage the service of God by making it give place to such slight occasions.
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The bread of their God, i.e. the shew-bread; or rather, all the other offerings besides burntofferings; which are called bread, either because bread is commonly put for all food, as below, Lev 21:17,21; or because God is satisfied and refreshed with these offerings, as a man is with his bread; or rather, because they, or part of them, are the bread or food of the priests, and are here called the bread of their God, either objectively, because they were offered to God, or efficiently, because they were given by God to the priests. And these are called bread in opposition to the burnt-offerings, which being wholly consumed gave no food to the priests. Or, the offerings made by fire are here put synecdochically for all the rest, the most eminent kind for all, which are here called bread, because devoured by fire to the honour of God; for the particle and is not in the Hebrew, and may be omitted.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain They shall be holy unto their God,.... Sacred to…
They shall be holy unto their God,.... Sacred to his service, and wholly given up to it, and not interest themselves in things which hindered from it, or made them unfit for it; and such care becomes the ministers of the word, who should give up themselves to it, and not entangle themselves with other affairs; they should be clean, pure, and holy, that bear the vessels of the Lord, and minister in holy things, and should set an example of purity and holiness to others:
and not profane the name of their God; or cause it to be profaned and evil spoken of on their account, or his service to be interrupted, and they who bore his name put upon a level with common persons through their pollutions:
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for the offerings of the Lord made by fire; the burnt offerings, which were offered up to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering every day, besides others on divers occasions:
and the bread of their God do they offer; the shewbread, which they set every week before the Lord on the shewbread table, and the meat or bread offering, the "minchah", which they continually offered along with the sacrifices: or the word "and", being a supplement, may be left out; and so this clause is put by way of apposition, and as interpreting the fire offering to be the bread of their God, which being wholly burnt on the altar, and devoted to God, was his meat and food, and accepted by him, see Lev 3:11,
therefore they shall be holy; separate from all others, and abstain from all impurity both of flesh and spirit, from all uncleanness, moral and ceremonial; it being highly fit and proper that the bread of God should be offered by holy persons.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Holy unto their God - Devoted to God's service,…
Holy unto their God - Devoted to God's service, and always prepared for it, and therefore shall keep themselves from all defilements. The name of their God - Which they especially bear. The bread of their God - That is, the shew-bread: or rather, all the other offerings, besides burnt-offerings: which are called bread, because bread is commonly put for all food.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Lev 21:6. Holy unto their God — Devoted to…
Lev 21:6. Holy unto their God — Devoted to God’s service, and always prepared for it, and therefore shall keep themselves from all defilements. The name of their God — Which they especially bear. The bread of their God — That is, the show-bread; or rather, all the other offerings besides burnt-offerings; which are called bread, because bread is commonly put for all food.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The word here and in Lev 21:8 rendered “bread”,…
The word here and in Lev 21:8 rendered “bread”, is the same as is rendered food in Lev 3:11, Lev 3:16, etc., and meat in Lev 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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Holy unto their God — See Lev_10:3; Lev_11:44;…
6. Holy unto their God — See Lev_10:3; Lev_11:44; Lev_19:2, notes. This denotes entire consecration to God and perfect assimilation to his moral character.
Not profane — See Lev_18:21, note.
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The bread of their God — See Lev_3:11, note.
Therefore they shall be holy — Holiness of service demands holiness of character. It is astonishing how much is said about holiness in this book. See Introduction, (8.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. The reason is given for the restriction in…
6. The reason is given for the restriction in Lev_21:1, viz. that the name of God, whose ministers they are, may not be polluted by ceremonial uncleanness.
the offerings of the Lord made by fire] This expression, or its equivalent, is very frequent in P.The words are probably an insertion from that source here, and so in Lev_21:21, Lev_22:22; Lev_22:27, Lev_23:13; Lev_23:18.
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the bread of their God] See Lev_3:11; Lev_3:16.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) They shall be holy unto their God.—This is…
(6) They shall be holy unto their God.—This is the reason why the priests are not to disfigure themselves by maiming their outward appearance. Being sacred to the Lord, they are not to indulge in those outward manifestations of grief which would interfere with the discharge of their sacred duties, and thus cause the name of God to be profaned.
The offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God.—Better, the offerings of the Lord made by fire, being the food of God. As the altar was the table, the sacrifice burnt on it was called His food. (See Lev_3:11.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 21:6 A priest should never bring shame by profaning…
21:6 A priest should never bring shame by profaning God’s name.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.