You are to regard him as holy, since he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, because I the LORD am holy—I who set you apart.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
- KJV Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.
- NKJV Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy.
- NASB You shall consecrate him, therefore, because he offers the food of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy.
- NLT You must treat them as holy because they offer up food to your God. You must consider them holy because I, the Lord, am holy, and I make you holy.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The people are to regard the priest as holy because he offers the bread of God, for the Lord who sanctifies is holy. Reverence for the priest reflects reverence for God.
Overview
Israel was to honor the priest's set-apart status, recognizing that his holiness derived from the holy God who consecrated him. The ground is again 'I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.' Holiness originates in God and is conferred on those He calls, a truth fully realized in Christ, through whom believers are sanctified and brought near.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lev 20:7–8Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
- Lev 19:2“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
- Lev 11:44–45For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
- Lev 21:6They must be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. Because they present to the LORD the offerings made by fire, the food of their God, they must be holy.
- Heb 7:26Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
- John 17:19For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.
- John 10:36then what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How then can you accuse Me of blasphemy for stating that I am the Son of God?
- Exod 28:41After you put these garments on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them so that they may serve Me as priests.
- Exod 29:43–44I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory.
- Exod 29:1“Now this is what you are to do to consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without blemish,
- Exod 19:10Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes
- Heb 10:29How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
- Exod 19:14When Moses came down from the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 21:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.