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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Leviticus 16
16
The Great Day of Forgiveness
1-2 #
3 Macc 1.11; He 6.19. Two of Aaron's sons had already lost their lives for disobeying the Lord,#16.1,2 lost … disobeying the Lord: See 10.1,2. so the Lord told Moses to say to Aaron:
I, the Lord, appear in a cloud over the place of mercy on the sacred chest, which is behind the inside curtain#16.1,2 inside curtain: That separated the holy place from the most holy place. of the sacred tent. And I warn you not to go there except at the proper time. Otherwise, you will die!
3 #
He 9.7. Before entering this most holy place, you must offer a bull as a sacrifice for your sins#16.3 for your sins: See 4.3-12. and a ram as a sacrifice to please me.#16.3 sacrifice to please me: See the note at 1.1-3. 4You will take a bath and put on the sacred linen clothes, including the underwear, the robe, the sash, and the turban. 5Then the community of Israel will bring you a ram and two goats, both of them males. The goats are to be used as sacrifices for sin, and the ram is to be used as a sacrifice to please me.
6Aaron, you must offer the bull as a sacrifice of forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family. 7Then you will lead the two goats into my presence at the front of the sacred tent, 8where I will show you#16.8 I will show you: The Hebrew text has “you must cast lots to find out.” Pieces of wood or stone (called “lots”) were used to find out what God wanted his people to do. which goat will be sacrificed to me and which one will be sent into the desert to the demon Azazel.#16.8 Azazel: It was believed that a demon named Azazel lived in the desert. 9After you offer the first goat as a sacrifice for sin, 10the other one must be presented to me alive, before you send it into the desert to take away the sins of the people.
11You must offer the bull as a sacrifice to ask forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family. 12Then you will take a fire pan of live coals from the bronze altar, together with two handfuls of finely ground incense, into the most holy place. 13There you will present them to me by placing the incense on the coals, so that the place of mercy will be covered with a cloud of smoke. Do this, or you will die right there! 14Next, use a finger to sprinkle some of the blood on the place of mercy, which is on the lid of the sacred chest; then sprinkle blood seven times in front of the chest.
15 #
He 9.12. Aaron, you must next sacrifice the goat for the sins of the people, and you must sprinkle its blood inside the most holy place, just as you did with the blood of the bull. 16By doing this, you will take away the sins that make both the most holy place and the people of Israel unclean. Do the same for the sacred tent, which is here among the people. 17Only you are allowed in the sacred tent from the time you enter until the time you come out. 18After leaving the tent, you will purify the bronze altar by smearing each of its four corners with some of the blood from the bull and from the goat. 19Use a finger to sprinkle the altar seven times with the blood, and it will be completely clean from the sins of the people.
20After you have purified the most holy place, the sacred tent, and the bronze altar, you must bring the live goat to the front of the tent. 21#Tb 8.3. There you will lay your hands on its head, while confessing every sin the people have committed, and you will appoint someone to lead the goat into the desert, so that it can take away their sins. 22Finally, this goat that carries the heavy burden of Israel's sins must be released deep in the desert.
23-24 #
Ez 44.19. Aaron, after this you must go inside the sacred tent, take a bath, put on your regular priestly clothes, and leave there the clothes you put on before entering the most holy place. Then you will come out and offer sacrifices to please me and sacrifices for your sins and for the sins of the people. 25The fat from these sacrifices for sin must be sent up in smoke on the bronze altar.
26The one who led the goat into the desert and sent it off to the demon Azazel must take a bath and wash his clothes before coming back into camp. 27#He 13.11. The remains of the bull and the goat whose blood was taken into the most holy place must be taken outside the camp and burned. 28And whoever does this must take a bath and change clothes before coming back into camp.
The Lord told Moses to say to the people:
29 #
Lv 23.26-32; Nu 29.7-11. On the tenth day of the seventh month#16.29 seventh month: Tishri (also called Ethanim), the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-September to mid-October. of each year, you must go without eating to show sorrow for your sins, and no one, including foreigners who live among you, is allowed to work. 30This is the day on which the sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins will be made in my presence, 31and from now on, it must be celebrated each year. Go without eating and make this a day of complete rest just like the Sabbath. 32The high priest must offer the sacrifices for cleansing from sin, while wearing the sacred linen clothes. 33He will offer these sacrifices for the most holy place, the sacred tent, the bronze altar, all the priests, and for the whole community. 34You must celebrate this day each year—it is the Great Day of Forgiveness#16.34 Great Day of Forgiveness: Traditionally known as the Day of Atonement. for all the sins of the people of Israel.
Moses did exactly as the Lord had commanded.
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