Passage Research
Leviticus 21 — Sermon Preparation
Priests face stricter holiness rules than laypeople — limits on mourning and marriage — and men with physical defects may not serve at the altar, though they may eat the priestly food. Below is a research summary for Leviticus 21, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 24
- verses
- 305 / 100
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 3
- classic sermon excerpts
- 3
- preachers & commentators
Leviticus 21 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חָלַל | châlal | H2490 | 7 | bore, wound |
| קָרַב | qârab | H7126 | 7 | approach, bring near |
| מאוּם | mʼûwm | H3971 | 5 | blemish |
| אִשָּׁה | ʼishshâh | H801 | 6 | woman |
| לֶחֶם | lechem | H3899 | 5 | food, bread |
| קָדוֹשׁ | qâdôwsh | H6918 | 4 | sacred, God |
| קָדַשׁ | qâdash | H6942 | 4 | be, make |
How preachers through history handled this text
3 public-domain excerpts on Leviticus 21, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“This chapter might borrow its title from Mal. ii. 1, "And now, O you priests, this commandment is for you." It is a law obliging priests with the utmost care and jealousy to preserve the dignity of their priesthood. I. The inferior priests are here charged both concerning their mourning and concerning their marriages and their children, ver. 1-9. II. The high priest is restrained more than any of them, ver. 10-15. III. Neither the one nor the other must have any blemish, ver. 16, &c. Laws Concerning the Priests. (b. c. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 1 (Genesis to Deuteronomy), on Leviticus 21:1–30 (Public Domain)
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