The Bible

Leviticus Chapter 16

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near to Yahweh's presence, and died; ²and Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; otherwise he might die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.

³"Aaron shall enter the sanctuary with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴He shall put on the holy linen tunic. He shall have the linen undershorts on his body, and shall put on the linen sash, and he shall be clothed with the linen turban. They are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water, and put them on. ⁵He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶"Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷He shall take the two goats, and have them stand in Yahweh's presence at the door of the Tent of Meeting. ⁸Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat. ⁹Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering. ¹⁰But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be presented alive in Yahweh's presence, to make atonement for him, to send him away as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

¹¹"Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. ¹²He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar in Yahweh's presence, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil. ¹³He shall put the incense on the fire in Yahweh's presence, [so that] the cloud of the incense [may] cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, [so that he] won't die. ¹⁴He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵"Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. ¹⁶He shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so he shall do for the Tent of Meeting that lives with them in the middle of their uncleanness. ¹⁷Let no one be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.

¹⁸"He shall go out to the altar that is in Yahweh's presence and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the bull's blood, and some of the goat's blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar. ¹⁹He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and make it holy from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

²⁰"When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat. ²¹Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is ready. ²²The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

²³"Aaron shall enter the Tent of Meeting, and shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. ²⁴Then he shall bathe himself in water in a holy place, put on his garments, and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.

²⁶"He who lets the goat go as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall enter the camp. ²⁷The 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; and they shall burn their skins, their flesh, and their dung with fire. ²⁸He who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall enter the camp.

²⁹"It will be a statute for you forever. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you are to deny yourselves, and shall do no kind of work, whether native-born or a stranger who lives as a foreigner among you; ³⁰for on that day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. You will be clean in Yahweh's presence from all your sins. ³¹It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you are to deny yourselves. It is a statute forever. ³²The priest, who is anointed and who is consecrated to be priest in his father's place, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments. ³³Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary; and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

³⁴"This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel once in the year because of all their sins." It was done as Yahweh commanded Moses.