Bible Strands
Leviticus 21:3
or his unmarried sister who is near to him, since she has no husband.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God instructs Moses to relay to Aaron and the priestly line the specific boundaries of ritual defilement during tabernacle service. The directive clarifies which immediate blood relatives a priest may legally mourn for without violating consecration.
The words — הַבְּתוּלָה (ha-betulah) translates literally as "the virgin," marking the sister’s unmarried status. The term הַקְּרוֹבָה (ha-kerovah) means "the near one," restricting the allowance to close kinship rather than distant relatives.
The thread — The same marital restriction reappears in Ezekiel 44:22, which bars priests from marrying widows or divorced women. The boundary between mourning permitted by blood and mourning forbidden by marriage is reinforced in Leviticus 21:4.
Why it lands — The text demands that priests distinguish between kinship ties that permit mourning and marital ties that prohibit it. A reader must apply this boundary to maintain ritual separation without inventing exceptions.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.