Leviticus 22:10-16, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Leviticus 22:10-16
Priestly-household membership governs access to holy food
Who may eat depends on household membership
A stranger is not to eat of the holy thing, nor a sojourner of the priest, nor a hired servant. But if the priest buy a soul with his money, that person may eat, and one born in his house may eat. Access follows the priestly household's boundary, including purchased labor.
A daughter's access moves with marriage
If a priest's daughter marries a stranger, she may not eat of the holy offerings. If she is a widow or divorced, has no child, and returns to her father's house as in her youth, she may eat of her father's meat. No stranger may eat it.
If someone eats a holy thing unwittingly, he adds a fifth and gives it to the priest with the holy thing. Priests are not to bear iniquity by letting the holy things be profaned.
The household map exposes dependence; it does not bless ownership
A purchased person may eat while a hired worker may not. A daughter's food right rises and falls with marriage and children. These rules show slavery and patriarchal dependence inside the priestly economy. They are not a Christian communion policy, and they are not approval of owning people.
How this should shape us
Do not copy household-food rules onto a church meal or treat purchased membership as a model. Watch who eats because of dependence, who loses access by marriage, and who remains outside, and refuse to call that ownership holy.
Teach it back
Explain Leviticus 22:10-16 in your own words. Include its ritual, legal, narrative, or calendar movement; one source-supported detail; one uncertainty; and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree over Priestly and Holiness composition, legal scope, ancient enforcement, kinship structures, sexual acts and rationales, moral versus ritual categories, resident-outside status, and how Jews and Christians should reason from these texts today. Material alternatives are stated without pretending the ethical stakes disappear.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Leviticus 22:10-16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 22:10-16
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 22:10-16
Supports: Open critical orientation to Day of Atonement, holiness, social law, calendar, land, release, covenant, and final valuations.
Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 2,' complete guide sections on Leviticus 16, the Holiness Code, love of neighbor, festivals, land, covenant, and vows, applied to Leviticus 22:10-16
Supports: Lexical and ritual analysis of priestly blemish categories used without transferring altar eligibility into human worth.
Bernat, 'Circumcision: Is the Foreskin a Defect?', complete discussion of mum, Leviticus 21:16-24, priestly bodily criteria, and comparison with sacrificial-animal criteria
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Leviticus 22:10-16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Leviticus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 22:10-16
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Leviticus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2025-12-31
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 22:10-16
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Leviticus Part 2: Day of Atonement, Holiness Code, and Love of Neighbor
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Open critical orientation to Day of Atonement, holiness, social law, calendar, land, release, covenant, and final valuations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 2,' complete guide sections on Leviticus 16, the Holiness Code, love of neighbor, festivals, land, covenant, and vows, applied to Leviticus 22:10-16
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open body and disability study
Circumcision: Is the Foreskin a Defect?
David Bernat
TheTorah.com, 2017
Supports: Lexical and ritual analysis of priestly blemish categories used without transferring altar eligibility into human worth.
Exact location: Bernat, 'Circumcision: Is the Foreskin a Defect?', complete discussion of mum, Leviticus 21:16-24, priestly bodily criteria, and comparison with sacrificial-animal criteria
Open source ↗modern christian scholarly handbook chapter abstract
Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism
Philip Church
The Oxford Handbook of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Exact location: Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Open source ↗