Leviticus 16

1 And the Lord said to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they took in strange fire before the Lord and death overtook them;

Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the LORD.

2 The Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, your brother, that he may not come at all times into the holy place inside the veil, before the cover which is on the ark, for fear that death may overtake him; for I will be seen in the cloud on the cover of the ark.

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 Let Aaron come into the holy place in this way: with an ox for a sin-offering and a male sheep for a burned offering.

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 Let him put on the holy linen coat, and the linen trousers on his body, and the linen band round him, and the linen head-dress on his head; for this is holy clothing, and before he puts them on his body is to be washed with water.

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 And let him take from the children of Israel two he-goats for a sin-offering and one male sheep for a burned offering.

And he shall take from the congregation of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

6 And Aaron is to give the ox of the sin-offering for himself, to make himself and his house free from sin.

Aaron is to present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.

7 And he is to take the two goats and put them before the Lord at the door of the Tent of meeting.

Then he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

8 And Aaron will make selection from the two goats by the decision of the Lord, one goat for the Lord and one for Azazel.

After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat,

9 And the goat which is marked out for the Lord, let Aaron give for a sin-offering.

he shall present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering.

10 But the goat for Azazel is to be placed living before the Lord, for the taking away of sin, that it may be sent away for Azazel into the waste land.

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 And Aaron is to give the ox of the sin-offering for himself and take away sin from himself and his house, and put to death the ox of the sin-offering which is for himself.

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 And he is to take a vessel full of burning coal from the altar before the Lord and in his hand some sweet perfume crushed small, and take it inside the veil;

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 And let him put the perfume on the fire before the Lord so that the ark may be covered with a cloud of the smoke of the perfume, in order that death may not overtake him.

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 And let him take some of the blood of the ox, shaking drops of it from his finger on the cover of the ark on the east side, and before it, seven times.

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 Then let him put to death the goat of the sin-offering for the people, and take its blood inside the veil and do with it as he did with the blood of the ox, shaking drops of it on and before the cover of the ark.

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 And let him make the holy place free from whatever is unclean among the children of Israel and from their wrongdoing in all their sins; and let him do the same for the Tent of meeting, which has its place among an unclean people.

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, because it is surrounded by their impurities.

17 And no man may be in the Tent of meeting from the time when Aaron goes in to take away sin in the holy place till he comes out, having made himself and his house and all the people of Israel free from sin.

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 And he is to go out to the altar which is before the Lord and make it free from sin; and he is to take some of the blood of the ox and the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar and round it;

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 Shaking drops of the blood from his finger on it seven times to make it holy and clean from whatever is unclean among the children of Israel.

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 And when he has done whatever is necessary to make the holy place and the Tent of meeting and the altar free from sin, let him put the living goat before the Lord;

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 And Aaron, placing his two hands on the head of the living goat, will make a public statement over him of all the evil doings of the children of Israel and all their wrongdoing, in all their sins; and he will put them on the head of the goat and send him away, in the care of a man who will be waiting there, into the waste land.

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 And the goat will take all their sins into a land cut off from men, and he will send the goat away into the waste land.

The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.

23 Then let Aaron come into the Tent of meeting and take off the linen clothing which he put on when he went into the holy place, and put them down 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.

24 And after bathing his body in water in a holy place, he is to put on his clothing and come out and give his burned offering and the burned offering of the people, to take away his sin and the sin of the people.

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 And the fat of the sin-offering is to be burned by him on the altar.

He is also to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

26 And the man who takes away the goat for Azazel is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and then he may come back to the tent-circle.

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 And the ox of the sin-offering and the goat of the sin-offering, whose blood was taken in to make the holy place free from sin, are to be taken away outside the tent-circle and their skins and their flesh and their waste are to be burned with fire.

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 And the man by whom they are burned is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water, and then he may come back to the tent-circle.

The one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.

29 And let this be an order to you for ever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day, you are to keep yourselves from pleasure and do no sort of work, those who are Israelites by birth and those from other lands who are 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—

30 For on this day your sin will be taken away and you will be clean: you will be made free from all your sins before the Lord.

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 It is a special Sabbath for you, and you are to keep yourselves from pleasure; it is an order for ever.

It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.

32 And the man on whose head the holy oil has been put, and who has been marked out to be a priest in his father's place, will do what is necessary to take away sin, and will put on the linen clothing, even the holy robes:

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 And he will make the holy place and the Tent of meeting and the altar free from sin; he will take away sin from the priests and from all the people.

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 And let this be an order for ever for you, so that the sin of the children of Israel may be taken away once every year. And he did as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

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.