No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired hand eat it.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘No stranger shall eat of the holy thing: a foreigner living with the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.
- KJV There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.
- NKJV ‘No outsider shall eat the holy offering; one who dwells with the priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat the holy thing.
- NASB ‘No layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a foreign resident with the priest or a hired worker shall not eat the holy gift.
- NLT “No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offerings. Even guests and hired workers in a priest’s home are not allowed to eat them.
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
No outsider, foreign guest, or hired worker of a priest may eat the holy offerings.
Overview
The holy food was reserved for the priestly household, not for those merely associated with it by visit or wages. This boundary protected the distinction between what God set apart and common use. It anticipates how, under the gospel, access to God's holy things comes not by proximity or employment but by belonging to His household through faith (Ephesians 2:19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Matt 12:4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests.
- 1 Sam 21:6So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.
- Exod 29:33They must eat those things by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no outsider may eat them, because these things are sacred.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 22:10 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.