The Fellowship Offering

3 “If his offering is a fellowship sacrifice,^(A) and he is presenting an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he is to present one without blemish^(B) before the Lord.

⁶ “If his offering as a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord is from the flock, he is to present a male or female without blemish.

² He said to Aaron, “Take a young bull for a sin^[a] offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish,^(A) and present them before the Lord. ³ And tell the Israelites:^[b] Take a male goat for a sin offering; a calf and a lamb, male yearlings without blemish, for a burnt offering;

¹⁷ “Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect^(A) is to come near to present the food^(B) of his God. ¹⁸ No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed; ¹⁹ no man who has a broken foot or hand, ²⁰ or who is a hunchback or a dwarf,^[a](C) or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs,^(D) or a crushed testicle.^{(E) 21} No descendant of the priest Aaron who has a defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect and is not to come near to present the food of his God. ²² He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy. ²³ But because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain^(F) or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate my holy places, for I am the Lord who sets them apart.”^(G)

Acceptable Sacrifices

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁸ “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: Any man of the house of Israel or of the resident aliens^(A) in Israel who presents his offering^(B)—whether they present payment of vows or freewill gifts to the Lord as burnt offerings— ¹⁹ must offer an unblemished male^(C) from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for you to be accepted. ²⁰ You are not to present anything that has a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²¹ “When a man presents a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or flock, it has to be unblemished to be acceptable; there must be no defect in it. ²² You are not to present any animal to the Lord that is blind, injured, maimed, or has a running sore, festering rash,^(D) or scabs; you may not put any of them on the altar as a food offering to the Lord.^{(E) 23} You may sacrifice as a freewill offering any animal from the herd or flock that has an elongated or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable as a vow offering. ²⁴ You are not to present to the Lord anything that has bruised, crushed, torn, or severed testicles;^(F) you must not sacrifice them in your land. ²⁵ Neither you nor^[a] a foreigner are to present food to your God from any of these animals. They will not be accepted for you because they are deformed and have a defect.”^(G)

¹² On the day you present the sheaf, you are to offer a year-old male lamb^[a] without blemish^(A) as a burnt offering to the Lord.

² “This is the legal statute that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked.^(A)

²¹ But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you may not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

⁸ “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong?^(A) Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies.