Leviticus 16 (ARST)

1After the two sons of Aaron died because they burned incense to Yahweh in a manner that was contrary to what he had commanded, Yahweh spoke to Moses.Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the LORD.

2He said to him,“Tell your brother Aaron not to go into the very holy place, which is inside the inmost curtain, where the sacred chest and its lid are, and where I am present in the cloud that is over it. If Aaron goes in that room when it is not the proper time, he will die!And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

3When Aaron enters the very holy place in the sacred tent, he must bring a bull that will be killed to become an offering for sins, and a ram to be killed to be an offering that the priests will burn whole on the altar.This is how Aaron is to enter the Holy Place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

4Then Aaron must bathe his whole body and put on the linen underwear and the linen tunic. He must tie the linen sash around his waist and wrap the turban around his head. These are his sacred garments.He is to wear the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments. He must tie a linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are holy garments, and he must bathe himself with water before he wears them.

5The Israelite people must then bring to him two male goats to be killed as an offering for sin, and a ram to be killed and burned whole on the altar.And he shall take from the congregation of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

6Aaron must offer the bull to me to be a sacrifice in order that I will forgive his sins and his family’ s sins.Aaron is to present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.

7Then he must bring the two male goats to me at the entrance to the sacred tent.Then he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

8He must cast lots to determine which goat will be sacrificed to me and which will be the goat that he will set free.After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat,

9Aaron must bring to me the goat that was chosen to be sacrificed. It will be an offering for the people’ s sins.he shall present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering.

10Aaron must also bring to me the other goat. But it is not to be killed. It will be freed while it is still alive. When Aaron sends it into the wilderness, I will forgive the people’ s sins.But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement by sending it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

11Then Aaron must bring the young bull to me, for it to be an offering for himself and for his family. He must slaughter that bull to be an offering for their sins, and he must drain the blood into a basin.When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.

12Then he must take some burning coals from the bronze altar and put them into the incense burner. Then he must fill his hands with fragrant, finely ground incense. Then he must take the incense and the incense burner inside the curtain into the very holy place, in the sacred tent.Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil.

13In the presence of Yahweh, he must put the incense on the burning coals. And a cloud of burning incense will rise up over the lid of the sacred chest. If he obeys these instructions, he will not die when he presents these offerings to Yahweh.He is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the cloud of incense will cover the mercy seat above the Testimony, so that he will not die.

14Then Aaron must dip his finger into the basin and sprinkle some blood on the lid of the sacred chest, and also sprinkle some blood seven times against the front of the chest.And he is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the mercy seat.

15Aaron must then go outside the sacred tent and slaughter the goat, for it to be an offering for the sins of the people. Then he must bring its blood into the very holy place behind the curtain. There he must sprinkle some of that blood on the lid of the sacred chest and against the front of the chest, as he did with the bull’ s blood.Aaron shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the veil, and with its blood he must do as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.

16By doing that, he will purify the very holy place. And he must sprinkle more of the blood on the sacred tent, because I am present where the tent is, in the midst of the camp of the Israelite people, who have become unacceptable to me because of their sins.So he shall make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the impurities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting which abides among them in the midst of their impurities.

17When Aaron goes into the very holy place in the sacred tent to purify it, no one else is permitted to enter the other part of the sacred tent. Only after Aaron has performed rituals to enable me to forgive him and his family, and all the Israelite people, is any priest permitted to enter the sacred tent.No one may be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron goes in 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.

18Then Aaron must go outside the tent to purify my altar. He must do this by smearing some of the blood from the bull and some of the blood from the goat on each of the projections at the corners of the altar.Then he shall 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 all the horns of the altar.

19Then Aaron must dip his finger into the basin of blood and sprinkle some of the blood over the altar seven times. By doing that, he will separate the altar from the Israelites’ deeds that are unacceptable to me. The altar will be set apart for me.He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

20When Aaron has finished purifying the very holy place inside the sacred tent and all of the sacred tent and the altar, he must bring the goat that was chosen to be set free.When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he is to bring forward the live goat.

21He must put both of his hands on the goat’ s head and confess all the sins of the Israelite people. By doing that, he will put the guilt of their sins on the goat’ s head. Then he must give the goat to a man who is chosen, and that man will send the goat out into the wilderness.Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.

22I will view the goat as carrying away into the wilderness the guilt for all the sins that the people have committed.The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.

23When Aaron leaves the very holy place and goes into the other part of the sacred tent, he must take off the linen clothes that he had put on; he must leave those special clothes there.Then Aaron is to enter the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen garments he put on before entering the Most Holy Place, and leave them there.

24Then he must bathe in a sacred place, put on his regular clothes, and sacrifice the animals that he will burn whole on the altar, for his own sins and for the sins of the Israelite people. Then Yahweh will forgive their sins.He is to bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his own clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering to make atonement for himself and for the people.

25He must also burn on the altar all the fat of the two animals that were sacrificed.He is also to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

26After the man who was to lead the goat into the wilderness has done that and set it free, then he must return, wash his clothes, and bathe himself. Then he may enter the camp again.The man who released the goat as the scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

27The carcasses of the bull and the goat that were slaughtered as an offering for the people’ s sins, to make atonement for them, must be carried outside the camp and burned. The hides of these animals, their inner organs, and their dung must be burned.The 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 taken outside the camp; and their hides, flesh, and dung must be burned up.

28The man who burns those things must then wash his clothes and bathe before he comes back into the camp.The one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.

29On the tenth day of the seventh month, on the day that I have appointed, you all must fast and not do any work. This is a rule that you must always obey— all you native born Israelites and all the foreigners living among you.This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—

30On that day, Aaron will perform rituals to enable me to forgive you all, and then I will free you all from the guilt of all your sins.because on this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

31That will be a day for you to rest and not do any work, like the Sabbath days, and you must fast all that day. That is a permanent command for you all to obey.It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.

32The priest who is anointed with olive oil and set apart from others to serve Yahweh, he will offer a sacrifice, put on linen clothes that are set apart for the honor of God,The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest shall make atonement. He will put on the sacred linen garments

33and offer sacrifices. He will do this to purify the very holy place, all of the sacred tent, the altar, the priests, and all the Israelites, as Aaron did.and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the assembly.

34This will be a permanent command for you to obey once every year, to enable me to forgive you Israelite people for the sins that you have committed.” Moses obeyed all the instructions that Yahweh had given to him.This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement once a year for the Israelites because of all their sins.” And all this was done as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Leviticus 16

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Leviticus 16

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