Leviticus 16

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses after the two sons of Aaron died in bringing strange fire before the Lord, so they died.

Yahweh spoke to Moses—this was after the death of Aaron's two sons, when they had gone near to Yahweh and then died.

2 And the Lord said to Moses, Speak to Aaron your brother, and let him not come in at all times into the holy place within the veil before the propitiatory, which is upon the ark of the testimony, and he shall not die; for I will appear in a cloud on the propitiatory.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron your brother and tell him not to come at just any time into the most holy place inside the curtain, before the atonement lid that is on the ark. If he does, he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement lid.

3 Thus shall Aaron enter into the holy place; with a calf of the herd for a sin-offering, and [having] a ram for a whole burnt offering.

So here is how Aaron must come into the most holy place. He must enter with a young bull as a sin offering, and a ram as a burnt offering.

4 And he shall put on the consecrated linen tunic, and he shall have on his flesh the linen drawers, and shall gird himself with a linen girdle, and shall put on the linen cap, they are holy garments; and he shall bathe all his body in water, and shall put them on.

He must put on the holy linen tunic, and he must put the linen undergarments on himself, and he must wear the linen sash and linen turban. These are the holy garments. He must bathe his body in water and then dress himself with these clothes.

5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin-offering, and one lamb for a whole burnt offering.

He must take from the assembly of the people of Israel two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering.

6 And Aaron shall bring the calf for his own sin-offering, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.

Then Aaron must present the bull as the sin offering, which will be for himself, to make atonement for himself and his family.

7 And he shall take the two goats, and place them before the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of witness.

Then he must take the two goats and set them before Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

8 and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord, and the other for the scape-goat.

Then Aaron must cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

9 And Aaron shall bring forward the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and shall offer him for a sin-offering.

Aaron must then present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer that goat as a sin offering.

10 and the goat upon which the lot of the scape-goat came, he shall present alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon him, so as to send him away as a scape-goat, and he shall send him into the wilderness.

But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat must be brought alive before Yahweh, to make atonement by sending him away as a scapegoat into the wilderness.

11 And Aaron shall bring the calf for his sin, and he shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and he shall kill the calf for his sin-offering.

Then Aaron must present the bull for the sin offering, which will be for himself. He must make atonement for himself and for his family, so he must kill the bull as a sin offering for himself.

12 And he shall take his censer full of coals of fire off the altar, which is before the Lord; and he shall fill his hands with fine compound incense, and shall bring it within the veil.

Aaron must take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, with his hands full of finely ground sweet incense, and bring these things inside the curtain.

13 And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense shall cover the mercy-seat over the tables of testimony, and he shall not die.

There he must put the incense on the fire before Yahweh so that the cloud from the incense may cover the atonement lid over the covenant decrees. He must do this so he will not die.

14 And he shall take of the blood of the calf, and sprinkle with his finger on the mercy-seat eastward: before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle seven times of the blood with his finger.

Then he must take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the atonement lid. He must sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times before the atonement lid.

15 And he shall kill the goat for the sin-offering that is for the people, before the Lord; and he shall bring in of its blood within the veil, and shall do with its blood as he did with the blood of the calf, and shall sprinkle its blood on the mercy-seat, in front of the mercy-seat.

Then he must kill the goat for the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the curtain. There he must do with the blood as he did with the blood of the bull: He must sprinkle it on the atonement lid and then before the atonement lid.

16 and he shall make atonement for the sanctuary on account of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and for their trespasses in the matter of all their sins; and thus shall he do to the tabernacle of witness established amongst them in the midst of their uncleanness.

He must make atonement for the holy place because of the unclean actions of the people of Israel, and because of their rebellion and all their sins. He must also do this for the tent of meeting, where Yahweh lives among them, in the presence of their unclean actions.

17 and there shall be no man in the tabernacle of witness, when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, until he shall have come out; and he shall make atonement for himself, and for his house, and for all the congregation of the children of Israel.

No one must be in the tent of meeting when Aaron enters it to make atonement in the most holy place, and until he comes out and has finished making atonement for himself and for his family, and for all the assembly of Israel.

18 And he shall come forth to the altar that is before the Lord, and he shall make atonement upon it; and he shall take of the blood of the calf, and of the blood of the goat, and shall put it on the horns of the altar round about.

He must go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and he must take some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on the horns of the altar all around.

19 And he shall sprinkle some of the blood upon it seven times with his finger, and shall purge it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

He must sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and set it apart to Yahweh, away from the unclean actions of the people of Israel.

20 And he shall finish making atonement for the sanctuary and for the tabernacle of witness, and for the altar; and he shall make a cleansing for the priests, and he shall bring the living goat;

When he has finished atoning for the most holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he must present the live goat.

21 and Aaron shall lay his hands on the head of the live goat, and he shall declare over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their unrighteousness, and all their sins; and he shall lay them upon the head of the live goat, and shall send him by the hand of a ready man into the wilderness.

Aaron must lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over him all the wickedness of the people of Israel, all their rebellion, and all their sins. Then he must put that sinfulness on the head of the goat and send the goat away in the care of a man who is ready to lead the goat into the wilderness.

22 And the goat shall bear their unrighteousnesses upon him into a desert land; and Aaron shall send away the goat into the wilderness.

The goat must carry on himself all the people's wickedness to a solitary place. There in the wilderness, the man must let the goat go free.

23 And Aaron shall enter into the tabernacle of witness, and shall put off the linen garment, which he had put on, as he entered into the holy place, and shall lay it by there.

Then Aaron must go back into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments that he had put on before going into the most holy place, and he must leave those garments there.

24 And he shall bathe his body in water in the holy place, and shall put on his raiment, and shall go out and offer the whole burnt offering for himself and the whole burnt offering for the people: and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and for the people, as for the priests.

He must bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his normal garments; then he must go out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering for the people, and in this way make atonement for himself and for the people.

25 And he shall offer the fat for the sin-offering on the altar.

He must burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

26 And he that sends forth the goat that has been set apart to be let go, shall wash his garments, and bathe his body in water, and afterwards shall enter into the camp.

The man who let the scapegoat go free must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that, he may come back into the camp.

27 And the calf for the sin-offering, and the goat for the sin-offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, they shall carry forth out of the camp, and burn them with fire, even their skins and their flesh and their dung.

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, must be carried outside the camp. There they must burn their hides, flesh, and dung.

28 And he that burns them shall wash his garments, and bathe his body in water, and afterwards he shall enter into the camp.

The man who burns those parts must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that, he may come back into the camp.

29 And this shall be a perpetual statute for you; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls, and shall do no work, the native and the stranger who abides amongst you.

It will always be a statute for you that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves and do no work, whether the native born or a foreigner who is living among you.

30 For in this day he shall make an atonement for you, to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord, and you shall be purged.

This is because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you from all your sins so you will be clean before Yahweh.

31 This shall be to you a most holy sabbath, a rest, and you shall humble your souls; it is a perpetual ordinance.

It is a solemn Sabbath of rest for you, and you must humble yourselves and do no work. This will always be a statute among you.

32 The priest whoever they shall anoint shall make atonement, and whoever they shall consecrate to exercise the priestly office after his father; and he shall put on the linen robe, the holy garment.

The high priest, the one who will be anointed and ordained to be high priest in his father's place, he must make this atonement and put on the linen garments, that is, the holy garments.

33 And he shall make atonement for the most holy place, and the tabernacle of witness; and he shall make atonement for the altar, and for the priests; and he shall make atonement for all the congregation.

He must make atonement for the most holy place; he must make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he must make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

34 And this shall be to you a perpetual statute to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins: it shall be done once in the year, as the Lord commanded Moses.

This will always be a statute for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel because of all their sins, once in every year.” This was done as Yahweh commanded Moses.