The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26–32; Numbers 29:7–11)
1 UST After Aaron’ s two sons died when they approached Yahweh, Yahweh spoke to Moses. BSB BSB: Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the LORD.
2 UST Yahweh said to Moses,“Tell your brother Aaron not to enter into the Most Holy Place inside the curtain where the Sacred Chest and its Lid are located, because I am present in that place in a cloud that hovers over the Lid of the Sacred Chest. If Aaron goes into that room at any time I have not commanded him to go in, he will die. BSB BSB: 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.
3 UST But when it is time for Aaron to enter the Most Holy Place in the sacred tent, this is how he should do it. He should acquire a bull from the people’ s livestock and a ram. He should select the bull to offer as a purifying sacrifice and the ram as a wholly burned sacrifice. BSB BSB: 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.
4 UST Aaron should first wash himself thoroughly and then put on the sacred articles of clothing. He should make sure that the linen undergarments are on his bare skin. Aaron should then put on the sacred linen embroidered tunic, and he should tie the linen waistband around himself. Likewise, he should wrap the linen turban around his head. These are Aaron’ s sacred articles of clothing that he is to wear. BSB BSB: 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.
5 UST Then Aaron should acquire two male goats and a ram from the flocks of the Israelite community. He should select the goats to offer as purifying sacrifices and the ram as a wholly burned sacrifice. BSB BSB: And he shall take from the congregation of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 UST Then Aaron should present the bull as a purifying sacrifice for his own sake. When he does this, I will remove Aaron’ s sins and the sins of his family from them. BSB BSB: Aaron is to present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.
7 UST Then Aaron should bring the two goats, and he should make them stand in my presence in the entrance of the sacred tent. BSB BSB: Then he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
8 UST Aaron should then roll a pair of small stones on the ground to determine which goat the priests should sacrifice to Yahweh and which goat the priests should send off into the wilderness. BSB BSB: After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat,
9 UST Then he should offer the goat that the stones designated belonged to me, to Yahweh. He should prepare it as a purifying sacrifice. BSB BSB: he shall present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering.
10 UST As for the goat that the stones determined that the priests should send off into the wilderness, Aaron should make it stand in my presence alive so that I can use the goat to remove the people’ s sins from them by sending the goat off into the desert wilderness. BSB BSB: 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.
11 UST Aaron should then present the bull that he selected for himself to be a purifying sacrifice. By presenting it, Aaron will ensure that I will remove his sins and the sins of his family from them. Once he has presented it to me, Aaron should kill the bull{ and drain off some of its blood in a bowl.} BSB BSB: 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.
12 UST Then he should take a tray and fill it with burning coals from the altar outside the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. He should also grab two handfuls of sweet- smelling, finely ground incense and bring both the incense and the burning coals inside the sacred curtain. BSB BSB: 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.
13 UST Then Aaron should place the incense over the burning coals in Yahweh’ s presence. As it burns, the incense will produce a smoke cloud that will obscure the Lid that sits on the Sacred Chest. The cloud of incense will ensure that Aaron will not see my presence in that place so that he will not die. BSB BSB: 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.
14 UST Aaron should also take the bull’ s blood and, with his finger, he should flick the blood onto the front of the Lid of the Sacred Chest(on the eastern side) seven times. BSB BSB: 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.
15 UST { Aaron should then leave the sacred tent.} He should kill the goat that he selected to offer as a purifying sacrifice{ and drain off some of its blood into a bowl}. He should offer the goat as a sacrifice on the people’ s behalf. Aaron should then bring the goat’ s blood inside the sacred curtain and do with the goat’ s blood exactly what he did with the blood of the bull. He should flick the goat’ s blood onto the front side of the Lid of the Sacred Chest{ seven times}. BSB BSB: 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.
16 UST By doing this, I will purify the Most Holy Place from anything that the people of Israel have done to cause it to become impure and defiled. I will also purify it from any wrongdoing that the people of Israel may have done, even if they have openly defied what I have told my people to do. Regardless, Aaron should do these things so that Yahweh can purify his sacred tent that is located in the midst of the people of Israel who are often impure and do wrong. BSB BSB: 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.
17 UST No one else may enter the sacred tent the whole time Aaron is inside the sacred tent doing these things in the Most Holy Place so that I will remove the people’ s sins from them. I will remove Aaron’ s sins, the sins of his family, and the sins of the entire Israelite community from them. BSB BSB: 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.
18 UST Aaron should then go out of the Most Holy Place to the altar that is in the sacred precincts of the sacred tent where I, Yahweh, live among the Israelites. To purify the altar, he should take some of the blood of both the bull and the goat and daub it onto the four projected corners on every side of the altar. BSB BSB: 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.
19 UST Aaron should also flick some of the animal’ s blood onto the altar seven times with his finger. By doing this, he will cleanse the altar from anything that the people of Israel have done to make it impure, and he will set it apart for my purposes alone. BSB BSB: 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.
20 UST When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place, the sacred tent, and the altar, he should present the goat that is still alive. BSB BSB: When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he is to bring forward the live goat.
21 UST Aaron should place both of his hands on the head of the living goat. He should then say loudly all the ways the people of Israel have done wrong intentionally, all the ways they have openly defied what I have told my people to do, and any other ways that they have done wrong. By this, Aaron will place the guilt for these actions onto the goat’ s head. Then Aaron should send the goat off into the desert wilderness by handing it off to a person who is standing by ready to lead the goat away. BSB BSB: 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.
22 UST The goat will carry all of the guilt for the ways the people of Israel have done wrong into a place in the wilderness that no one will be able to access. He must send it away to the wilderness! BSB BSB: The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.
23 UST Then Aaron should go back into the sacred tent and remove the sacred linen clothing that he was wearing when he first entered the Most Holy Place. He should leave all those articles of special clothing in the sacred tent. BSB BSB: 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.
24 UST Aaron should then bathe himself thoroughly in a place that the priests have set apart for such sacred purposes. He should then put on his everyday clothes and go out of the sacred tent. Then Aaron should prepare the animals that he has selected to offer as wholly burned offerings for himself and for the people. When Aaron offers these animals, I will remove Aaron’ s sins and the sins of all the people from them. BSB BSB: 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.
25 UST To do this, Aaron should burn the fat portions of the purifying sacrifice on the altar in such a way that it causes smoke to go up. BSB BSB: He is also to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.
26 UST The person who leads the goat away into the wilderness where the goat demon Azazel lives should return, wash his clothes, and bathe himself thoroughly. After he has done this, he may enter the camp again. BSB BSB: The man who released the goat as the scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.
27 UST But, because Aaron brought their blood into the Most Holy Place so that I might remove the peoples’ sins from them, someone else must remove the remains of the bull that Aaron selected to offer as a purifying sacrifice and of the male goat that he selected to offer as a wholly burned sacrifice and take them outside of the camp. There, he should burn them completely— their skin and all their other meat, including the meat on the animals’ heads, their legs below the knee, their other internal organs, and any excrement. BSB BSB: 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.
28 UST The person who burns the remains of the animals should wash his clothes and bathe his body thoroughly. After he has done this, he may enter the camp again. BSB BSB: The one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.
29 UST This should be a permanent and enduring practice for the people of Israel: on the tenth day of the seventh month of the year, the people of Israel must participate in activities that practice submitting themselves to me. Neither the native- born Israelite nor the immigrant living among them should do any work. BSB BSB: 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—
30 UST This is because, on this day, I will remove the sins of the people from them in order to cleanse them from all the ways that they do wrong and the people will be pure in my presence. BSB BSB: 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.
31 UST The people of Israel should consider this day to be the most important Sabbath day. They must participate in activities that practice submitting themselves to me. The people should always remember to observe this practice. BSB BSB: It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.
32 UST Only the priest whom I appoint and give the responsibilities of the priesthood to succeed his father as the high priest should offer the sacrifices that I will accept so that I will remove the people’ s sins from them. That priest should make sure to wear the sacred linen clothing when he performs this practice. BSB BSB: 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
33 UST By doing all these practices, the priest will ensure that I will purify the Most Holy Place, the sacred tent, and the altar. He will also ensure that I will remove from them the sins of the entire priesthood and the entire community of Israel. BSB BSB: 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.
34 UST This should be a permanent and enduring practice for the people of Israel. Doing these things will ensure that I will remove from them all of their wrongdoings every year at this time.” Moses did exactly as Yahweh told him to do. BSB BSB: 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.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.