A genuinely uncertain phrase (21:4). Ba'al ordinarily means either 'lord, master, chief' or, in a marital sense, 'husband' — and the two readings send this clause in different directions. KJV and ASV both take the 'chief man' sense: a priest may not defile himself for the dead even as a person of standing among his people. Others read ba'al literally as 'husband,' restricting the verse to in-laws gained through marriage rather than blood relatives — consistent with vv2-3's own list running strictly by blood. Both readings are defended in the literature; this translation does not choose. → first discussed at Lev 21:4