Leviticus 16
16
The Day of Atonement
1The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence#Gn 4:14 of#16:1 LXX, Tg, Syr, Vg read they brought strange fire before; Nm 3:4 the Lord and died.#Lv 10:1–2 2The Lord said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place#Heb 6:19 behind the curtain#Mk 15:38 in front of the mercy seat#Ex 31:7 on the ark or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud#Ex 16:10 above the mercy seat.#Nm 7:89; 16:42; 1Kg 8:10–12; Heb 9:5
3“Aaron is to enter the most holy place#Lv 4:1–12; Heb 9:7,24–25 in this way: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.#Gn 22:2; Lv 3:5; Nm 6:11; Jos 8:31; 1Ch 16:1; Ps 20:3; Mc 6:6 4He is to wear a holy linen tunic, and linen undergarments are to be on his body. He is to tie a linen sash around him and wrap his head with a linen turban.#Ex 28:42–43; Lv 6:10; 8:7–8; Ezk 44:17–19 These are holy garments; he must bathe his body with water before he wears them. 5He is to take from the Israelite community two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.#Lv 4:23–24; 8:18–21; 9:15
6“Aaron will present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household. 7Next he will take the two goats and place them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8After Aaron casts lots#Nm 26:55 for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other for an uninhabitable place,#16:8 Lit for Azazel, also in vv. 10 (2x),26#16:8 Traditionally “for the scapegoat”; perhaps a term that means “for the goat that departs,” or “for removal,” or “for a rough, difficult place,” or “for a goat-demon”; Hb obscure, also in vv. 10,26#Lv 16:26 9he is to present the goat chosen by lot for the Lord and sacrifice it as a sin offering.#Nm 29:11 10But the goat chosen by lot for an uninhabitable place is to be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement with it by sending it into the wilderness#Gn 14:6 for an uninhabitable place.
11“When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he will slaughter the bull for his sin offering. 12Then he is to take a firepan full of blazing coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense,#Nm 7:14 and bring them inside the curtain.#Mk 15:38 13He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud#Ex 16:10 of incense covers the mercy seat that is over the testimony,#Ex 31:18 or else he will die.#Lv 10:1; Nm 16:46–48; Ps 141:2; Rv 8:3–5 14He is to take some of the bull’s blood#Heb 9:22 and sprinkle it with his finger against the east side of the mercy seat; then he will sprinkle some of the blood with his finger before the mercy seat seven times.#Lv 4:6; Heb 9:4–5
15“When he slaughters the male goat for the people’s sin offering and brings its blood inside the curtain, he will do the same with its blood as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it. 16He will make atonement for the most holy place in this way for all their sins because of the Israelites’ impurities and rebellious acts.#Ex 22:9 He will do the same for the tent of meeting that remains among them, because it is surrounded by their impurities. 17No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the most holy place until he leaves after he has made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel.#1Tm 2:5; Heb 9:7 18Then he will go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on the horns on all sides of the altar. 19He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse and set it apart#Lv 8:10 from the Israelites’ impurities.#Heb 9:11–14
20“When he has finished making atonement for the most holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he is to present the live male goat. 21Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess#Lv 5:5; 26:40; Nm 5:7; 2Ch 30:22; Neh 1:6; 9:2; Dn 9:4,20 over it all the Israelites’ iniquities#Lv 5:1 and rebellious acts — all their sins.#Ezr 10:1; Neh 9:2–3; Dn 9:20; 2Co 5:21; Jms 5:16; 1Jn 1:9 He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness#Lv 14:7 by the man appointed for the task.#16:21 Lit wilderness in the hand of a ready man 22The goat will carry all their iniquities into a desolate land,#Ps 103:12; Is 53:4,6,11–12; Jn 1:29; Heb 9:28; 1Pt 2:24; 1Jn 3:5 and the man will release it there.
23“Then Aaron is to enter the tent of meeting, take off the linen garments#Lv 6:11 he wore when he entered the most holy place, and leave them there. 24He will bathe his body with water in a holy place#Ex 29:31; Lv 6:16,26–27; 7:6; 10:13; 24:9; Ec 8:10; Ezk 42:13 and put on his clothes.#Lv 8:6–9 Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering; he will make atonement for himself and for the people. 25He is to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar. 26The man who released the goat for an uninhabitable place is to wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; afterward he may reenter the camp. 27The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the most holy place to make atonement, must be brought outside the camp#Lv 8:17 and their hide,#Lv 7:8 flesh, and waste burned.#Lv 4:11–12; Heb 13:11–12 28The one who burns them is to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.
29“This is to be a permanent statute#Ex 28:43; Lv 11:46 for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month you are to practice self-denial#Lv 23:27–32; Nm 29:7; Ps 35:13; Is 58:3,5; Dn 10:12 and do no work,#Ex 12:16; Lv 23:3,28,31; Nm 29:7; Jr 17:22 both the native and the alien#Ex 12:49; Lv 17:15; 18:26 who resides among you. 30Atonement will be made for you on this day to cleanse you,#Lv 13:6 and you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. 31It is a Sabbath#Gn 2:2 of complete rest for you,#Ex 16:23; 31:15; 35:2; Lv 23:3,24,32,39; 25:4–5 and you must practice self-denial; it is a permanent statute. 32The priest who is anointed and ordained#16:32 Lit and will fill his hand#Ex 29:33 to serve as high priest#Lv 8:12,33 in place of his father will make atonement. He will put on the linen garments, the holy garments, 33and make atonement for the most holy place. He will make atonement for the tent of meeting and the altar and will make atonement for the priests and all the people of the assembly. 34This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement for the Israelites once a year#Heb 9:7 because of all their sins.” And all this was done as the Lord commanded Moses.
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Leviticus 16: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Leviticus 16
16
The Day of Atonement
1The Lord spoke to Moses after #ch. 10:1, 2the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to #[Ex. 30:10; Heb. 9:7, 12, 24, 25; 10:19-22] come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For #Ex. 25:22; 40:34, 35; [1 Kgs. 8:10-12]I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: #ch. 4:3 with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and #ch. 1:10; 8:18a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on #ch. 6:10; 8:7; Ezek. 44:17, 18; See Ex. 28:39-43 the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. #ch. 8:6, 7; Ex. 30:20He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5And he shall take from #ch. 4:14; Num. 29:11; 2 Chr. 29:21; Ezra 6:17the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6“Aaron shall #Ezek. 45:22 offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall #ver. 17, 24; ch. 9:7; Heb. 7:27, 28; 9:7make atonement for himself and for his house. 7Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for #ver. 26Azazel.#16:8 The meaning of Azazel is uncertain; possibly the name of a place or a demon, traditionally a scapegoat; also verses 10, 26 9And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10but the goat on which the lot fell for #[See ver. 8 above]Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to #[See ver. 8 above]Azazel.
11“Aaron shall present #[See ver. 6 above]the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12And he shall take #ch. 10:1; Num. 16:46; Rev. 8:3-5a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13#Ex. 30:1, 7, 8 and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover #Ex. 25:21the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 14And #Heb. 9:13, 25; 10:4; See ch. 4:5, 6he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
15 #
Heb. 2:17; 5:1; 9:7 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood #ver. 2; Heb. 6:19; 9:3, 7inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16Thus he shall #ver. 18; [Ex. 29:36; Ezek. 45:18; Heb. 9:22, 23]make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17#[Luke 1:10, 21]No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. 18Then he shall go out to the altar that is #ch. 1:5; 4:24 before the Lord and #ver. 16; ch. 4:7, 18; Ex. 30:6, 10make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
20“And when he has made an end of #ver. 16, 18; Ezek. 43:20; 45:20atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall #[Isa. 53:6; 2 Cor. 5:21]put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22The goat shall #[Isa. 53:11, 12; John 1:29; Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 2:24] bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and #[ch. 14:7]he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
23“Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and #See ch. 6:11shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. 24And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and #ver. 3, 5offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25And #ch. 4:8-10; Ex. 29:13the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26And he who lets the goat go to #ver. 8, 10 Azazel shall wash his clothes and #[ch. 15:5; 17:15]bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27#ch. 4:11, 12, 21; 6:30; Heb. 13:11, 12And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. 28And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
29“And it shall be a statute to you forever that #ch. 23:27; Num. 29:7 in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall #ch. 23:32; Ps. 35:13; Isa. 58:3, 5; Dan. 10:12 afflict yourselves#16:29 Or shall fast; also verse 31 and shall do no work, either #ch. 17:15; 18:26; 19:34; [Ex. 12:49]the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30For on this day shall atonement be made for you #Ps. 51:2; Jer. 33:8; Heb. 10:1, 2; 1 John 1:7, 9to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 31#ch. 23:32 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall #[See ver. 29 above]afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32#[ch. 21:10] And the priest who is anointed and #Ex. 29:29, 30; [Num. 20:28] consecrated as priest in his father’s place #ver. 4shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. 33He shall make atonement for #ver. 16 the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for #ver. 18 the altar, and he shall make atonement for #ver. 6 the priests and for #ver. 24all the people of the assembly. 34And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel #Ex. 30:10; Heb. 9:7, 25once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron#16:34 Hebrew he did as the Lord commanded Moses.
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