1The LORD spoke to Moses after two of Aaron’s sons had died. They were the sons who died when they came near the LORD.2The LORD said to Moses, ‘Speak to your brother Aaron. Tell him not to come into the Most Holy Room just anytime he wants to. Tell him not to come behind the curtain in front of the cover of the ark. The cover is the place where sin is paid for. If he comes behind the curtain, he will die. That is because I appear in the cloud over the cover.3‘Aaron must not enter the area of the Most Holy Room without bringing a sacrifice. He must bring a young bull for a sin offering. He must also bring a ram for a burnt offering.4He must put on the sacred inner robe made out of linen. He must wear linen underwear next to his body. He must tie the linen belt around him. And he must put the linen turban on his head. Those are sacred clothes. So he must take a bath before he puts them on.5The community of Israel must give him two male goats and a ram. The goats are for a sin offering. The ram is for a burnt offering.6‘Aaron must offer the bull for his own sin offering. It will pay for his own sin and the sin of his whole family.7Then he must take the two goats and bring them to me at the entrance to the tent of meeting.8He must cast lots for the two goats. One lot is for me. The other is for the goat that carries the people’s sins away.9Aaron must bring the goat chosen for me by lot. He must sacrifice it for a sin offering.10But the goat chosen by the other lot must remain alive. First, it must be brought in to me to pay for the people’s sins. Then, it must be sent into the desert as a goat that carries the people’s sins away.11‘Aaron must bring the bull for his own sin offering. It will pay for his own sin and the sin of his whole family. He must kill the bull for his own sin offering.12He must take a shallow cup full of burning coals from the altar in my sight. He must get two handfuls of incense completely ground up. The incense must smell sweet. He must take the cup and the incense behind the curtain.13He must put the incense on the fire in my sight. The smoke from the incense will hide the cover of the ark where the tablets of the covenant law are kept. The cover is the place where sin is paid for. Aaron must burn the incense so that he will not die.14He must dip his finger in the bull’s blood. He must sprinkle it on the front of the cover of the ark. He must sprinkle some in front of the cover. He must do it seven times.15‘Then Aaron must kill the goat for the sin offering for the people. He must take its blood behind the curtain. There he must do the same thing with it as he did with the bull’s blood. He must sprinkle it on the cover of the ark. He must also sprinkle some in front of it.16That is how he will make the Most Holy Room pure. He must do it because the Israelites are not “clean”. They have not obeyed me. They have also committed other sins. Aaron must do the same for the tent of meeting because it stands in the middle of the camp. And the camp is “unclean”.17Aaron will go into the Most Holy Room to pay for the people’s sin. While Aaron is there, no one may be in the tent of meeting. No one may enter the tent until Aaron comes out. He will not come out until he has paid for his own sin and the sin of his whole family. He will not come out until he has also paid for the sin of the whole community of Israel.18‘Then he will come out to the altar for burnt offerings. It is in front of the tent where the ark of the LORD is. He will make the altar pure and clean. He will take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood. Then he will put the blood on all the horns that stick out from the upper four corners of the altar.19He will sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times. He will do it to make the altar pure. He will do it to set it apart from the Israelites. They are “unclean”.20‘Aaron will finish making the Most Holy Room pure and “clean”. He will finish making the tent of meeting and the altar pure. Then he will bring out the live goat.21He must place both of his hands on its head. While he does that, he must tell me about all the sins the Israelites have committed. He must tell me about all their evil acts and the times they did not obey me. In that way he puts their sins on the goat’s head. Then he will send the goat away into the desert. The goat will be led away by a man appointed to do it.22The goat will carry all their sins on itself to a place where there are no people. And the man will set the goat free in the desert.23‘Then Aaron must go into the tent of meeting. He must take off the linen clothes he put on before he entered the Most Holy Room. He must leave them there.24He must take a bath in the holy area. And he must put on his ordinary clothes. Then he will come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself. He will also sacrifice the burnt offering for the people. That will pay for his own sin and the people’s sin.25He will also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.26‘The man who sets free the goat that carries the people’s sins away must wash his clothes. He must take a bath. After that, he can come back into the camp.27The bull and the goat for the sin offerings must be taken outside the camp. Their blood was brought into the Most Holy Room. It paid for sin. The hides, meat and guts of the animals must be burned up.28The man who burns them must wash his clothes. He must take a bath. After that, he can come back into the camp.29‘Here is a law for you that will last for all time to come. On the tenth day of the seventh month you must not eat anything. You must not do any work. It does not matter whether you are Israelites or outsiders.30On that day your sin will be paid for. You will be made pure and clean. You will be clean from all your sins in my sight.31That day is a sabbath for you. You must rest on it. You must not eat anything on that day. This is a law that will last for all time to come.32The high priest must pay for sin. He must make everything pure and clean. He has been anointed and prepared to become the next high priest after his father. He must put on the sacred clothes that are made out of linen.33He must make the Most Holy Room, the tent of meeting and the altar pure. And he must pay for the sin of the priests and all the members of the community.34‘Here is a law for you that will last for all time to come. Once a year you must pay for all the sin of the Israelites.’ So it was done, just as the LORD commanded Moses.
Leviticus 16
English Standard Version
The Day of Atonement
1The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, (Le 10:1)2and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to 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 I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. (Ex 25:22; Ex 30:10; Ex 40:34; 1Ki 8:10; Heb 9:7; Heb 9:12; Heb 9:24; Heb 10:19)3But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. (Le 1:10; Le 4:3; Le 8:18)4He shall put on 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. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. (Ex 28:39; Ex 30:20; Le 6:10; Le 8:6; Le 8:7; Eze 44:17)5And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. (Le 4:14; Nu 29:11; 2Ch 29:21; Ezr 6:17)6“Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. (Le 9:7; Le 16:17; Le 16:24; Eze 45:22; Heb 7:27; Heb 9:7)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 Azazel.[1] (Le 16:26)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 Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. (Le 16:8)11“Aaron shall present 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. (Le 16:6)12And he shall take a 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 (Le 10:1; Nu 16:46; Re 8:3)13and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. (Ex 25:21; Ex 30:1; Ex 30:7)14And he 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. (Le 4:5; Heb 9:13; Heb 9:25; Heb 10:4)15“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside 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. (Le 16:2; Heb 2:17; Heb 5:1; Heb 6:19; Heb 9:3; Heb 9:7)16Thus he shall 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. (Ex 29:36; Le 16:18; Eze 45:18; Heb 9:22)17No 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. (Lu 1:10; Lu 1:21)18Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make 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. (Ex 30:6; Ex 30:10; Le 1:5; Le 4:7; Le 4:18; Le 4:24; Le 16:16)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 atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. (Le 16:16; Le 16:18; Eze 43:20; Eze 45:20)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 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. (Isa 53:6; 2Co 5:21)22The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. (Le 14:7; Isa 53:11; Joh 1:29; Heb 9:28; 1Pe 2:24)23“Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. (Le 6:11)24And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and 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. (Le 16:3; Le 16:5)25And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. (Ex 29:13; Le 4:8)26And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. (Le 15:5; Le 16:8; Le 16:10; Le 17:15)27And 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. (Le 4:11; Le 4:21; Le 6:30; Heb 13:11)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 in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves[2] and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. (Ex 12:49; Le 17:15; Le 18:26; Le 19:34; Le 23:27; Le 23:32; Nu 29:7; Ps 35:13; Isa 58:3; Isa 58:5; Da 10:12)30For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. (Ps 51:2; Jer 33:8; Heb 10:1; 1Jo 1:7; 1Jo 1:9)31It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. (Le 16:29; Le 23:32)32And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. (Ex 29:29; Le 16:4; Le 21:10; Nu 20:28)33He 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. (Le 16:6; Le 16:16; Le 16:18; Le 16:24)34And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron[3] did as the Lord commanded Moses. (Ex 30:10; Heb 9:7; Heb 9:25)