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 Day of Reconciliation
1After the death of Aaron’s two sons, which happened when they approached the LORD and died, the LORD spoke to Moses: 2Tell your brother Aaron that he cannot come whenever he wants into the holy area inside the inner curtain, to the front of the cover#16.2 Or mercy seat or perhaps reconciliation cover (Heb kapporet) that is on the chest, or else he will die, because I am present#16.2 Or I am seen or I appear in the cloud above the cover. 3No, but Aaron must enter the holy area as follows: with a bull from the herd as a purification offering and a ram as an entirely burned offering. 4Aaron must dress in a holy linen tunic and wear linen undergarments on his body. He must tie a linen sash around himself and wrap a linen turban around his head. These are holy clothes—Aaron will first bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5He will take from the Israelite community two male goats for a purification offering and one ram for an entirely burned offering.
6Aaron will offer the bull as a purification offering to make reconciliation for himself and his household. 7He will take the two male goats and place them before the LORD at the meeting tent’s entrance. 8Aaron will cast lots over the two goats: one lot labeled “the LORD’s” and the other lot labeled “Azazel’s.”#16.8 Or scapegoat 9Aaron will present the goat selected by the LORD’s lot and perform a purification offering with it. 10But the goat selected by Azazel’s lot will be left standing alive before the LORD in order to make reconciliation upon it#16.10 Or over it or for it or with it by sending it away into the wilderness to Azazel.
11Aaron will offer the bull for his purification offering to make reconciliation for himself and his household. He will slaughter the bull for his purification offering. 12Then he will take an incense pan full of burning coals from the altar, from before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground perfumed incense and bring them inside the inner curtain. 13He will put the incense on the fire before the LORD so that the cloud of incense conceals the cover that is on top of the covenant document, or else he will die. 14He will take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the cover from the east side. He will then sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the cover. 15Then he will slaughter the goat for the people’s purification offering, bring the blood inside the inner curtain, and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: he will sprinkle it on the cover and in front of the cover. 16In this way, he will make reconciliation for the inner holy area because of the pollution of the Israelites and because of their rebellious sins, as well as for all their other sins.
Aaron must do the same for the meeting tent, which is with them among their pollution. 17No one can be in the meeting tent from the time Aaron enters to make reconciliation in the inner holy area until the time he comes out. He will make reconciliation for himself, for his household, and for the whole assembly of Israel.
18Aaron will then go to the altar that is before the LORD and make reconciliation for it: He will take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on each of the altar’s horns. 19He will sprinkle some of the blood on the altar with his finger seven times. In this way, he will purify it and make it holy again from the Israelites’ pollution.
20When Aaron has finished reconciling the inner holy area, the rest of the meeting tent, and the altar, he will bring forward the live goat. 21Aaron will press both his hands on its head and confess over it all the Israelites’ offenses and all their rebellious sins, as well as all their other sins, putting all these on the goat’s head. Then he will send it away into the wilderness with someone designated for the job.#16.21 Heb uncertain 22The goat will carry on itself all their offenses to a desolate region, then the goat will be released into the wild.
23After this, Aaron will enter the meeting tent, take off the linen clothes he was wearing when he entered the inner holy area, and will leave them there. 24He will bathe his body in water in a holy place and dress in his priestly clothing. Then he will go out and perform the entirely burned offerings for himself and for the people. In this way, he will make reconciliation for himself and for the people. 25He will completely burn the fat of the purification offering on the altar. 26The one who set the goat free for Azazel must wash their clothes and bathe their body in water; after that they can return to the camp. 27The bull and the goat for the purification offerings, whose blood was brought in to make reconciliation in the inner holy area, will be taken outside the camp. Their hides, flesh, and dung will be burned with fire. 28The person who burns them must wash their clothes and bathe their body in water; after that, they can return to the camp.
29This will be a permanent rule for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month,#16.29 September–October, Tishrei you must deny yourselves. You must not do any work—neither the citizen nor the immigrant who lives among you. 30On that day reconciliation will be made for you in order to cleanse you. You will be clean before the LORD from all your sins. 31It will be a Sabbath of special rest for you, and you will deny yourselves. This is a permanent rule.
Conclusion concerning the Day of Reconciliation
32The priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest after his father will perform the reconciliation, wearing the holy linen clothes. 33He will reconcile the holiest part of the sanctuary and will do the same for the meeting tent and the altar. He will make reconciliation for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34This will be a permanent rule for you, in order to make reconciliation for the Israelites from all their sins once a year.
It was done just as the LORD commanded Moses.
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