Leviticus 16–18

Chapter 16

And the Lord spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they were slain upon their offering strange fire:

²And he commanded him, saying: Speak to Aaron thy brother, that he enter not at all into the sanctuary, which is within the veil before the propitiatory, with which the ark is covered, lest he die, (for I will appear in a cloud over the oracle),

³Unless he first do these things. He shall offer a calf for sin, and a ram for a holocaust.

⁴He shall be vested with a linen tunic: he shall cover his nakedness with linen breeches: he shall be girded with a linen girdle, and he shall put a linen mitre upon his head. For these are holy vestments: all which he shall put on, after he is washed.

⁵And he shall receive from the whole multitude of the children of Israel two buck goats for sin, and one ram for a holocaust.

⁶And when he hath offered the cattle and prayed for himself and for his own house:

⁷He shall make the two buck goats to stand before the Lord in the door of the tabernacle of the testimony.

⁸And casting lots upon them both, one to be offered to the Lord, and the other to be the emissary goat:

⁹That whose lot fell to be offered to the Lord, he shall offer for sin.

¹⁰But that whose lot was to be the emissary goat, he shall present before the Lord, that he may pour prayers upon him, and let him go into the wilderness.

¹¹After these things are duly celebrated, he shall offer the calf: and praying for himself and for his own house, he shall immolate it.

¹²And taking the censer, which he hath filled with the burning coals of the altar, and taking up with his hands the compounded perfume for incense, he shall go in within the veil into the holy place:

¹³That when the perfumes are put upon the fire, the cloud and vapour thereof may cover the oracle, which is over the testimony, and he may not die.

¹⁴He shall take also of the blood of the calf, and sprinkle with his finger seven times towards the propitiatory to the east.

¹⁵And when he hath killed the buck goat for the sin of the people, he shall carry in the blood thereof within the veil, as he was commanded to do with the blood of the calf, that he may sprinkle it over against the oracle:

¹⁶And may expiate the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and from their transgressions, and all their sins. According to this rite shall he do to the tabernacle of the testimony, which is fixed among them in the midst of the filth of their habitation.

¹⁷Let no man be in the tabernacle when the high priest goeth into the sanctuary, to pray for himself and his house, and for the whole congregation of Israel, until he come out.

¹⁸And when he is come out to the altar that is before the Lord, let him pray for himself: and taking the blood of the calf, and of the buck goat, let him pour it upon the horns thereof round about.

¹⁹And sprinkling with his finger seven times, let him expiate, and sanctify it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

²⁰After he hath cleaned the sanctuary, and the tabernacle, and the altar, then let him offer the living goat.

²¹And putting both hands upon his head, let him confess all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their offences and sins. And praying that they may light on its head, he shall turn him out by a man ready for it, into the desert.

²²And when the goat hath carried all their iniquities into an uninhabited land, and shall be let go into the desert:

²³Aaron shall return into the tabernacle of the testimony, and putting off the vestments, which he had on him before when he entered into the sanctuary, and leaving them there,

²⁴He shall wash his flesh in the holy place, and shall put on his own garments. And after that he is come out and hath offered his own holocaust, and that of the people, he shall pray both for himself, and for the people.

²⁵And the fat that is offered for sins, he shall burn on the altar.

²⁶But he that hath let go the emissary goat, shall wash his clothes, and his body with water, and so shall enter into the camp.

²⁷But the calf and the buck goat, that were sacrificed for sin, and whose blood was carried into the sanctuary, to accomplish the atonement, they shall carry forth without the camp, and shall burn with fire: their skins and their flesh, and their dung.

²⁸And whosoever burneth them shall wash his clothes, and flesh with water: and so shall enter into the camp.

²⁹And this shall be to you an everlasting ordinance. The seventh month, the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no work, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you.

³⁰Upon this day shall be the expiation for you, and the cleansing from all your sins. You shall be cleansed before the Lord.

³¹For it is a sabbath of rest: and you shall afflict your souls by a perpetual religion.

³²And the priest that is anointed, and whose hands are consecrated to do the office of the priesthood in his father’s stead, shall make atonement. And he shall be vested with the linen robe and the holy vestments.

³³And he shall expiate the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar: the priest also and all the people.

³⁴And this shall be an ordinance for ever, that you pray for the children of Israel, and for all their sins once a year. He did therefore as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Chapter 17

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

²Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, saying to them: This is the word, which the Lord hath commanded, saying:

³Any man whosoever of the house of Israel, if he kill an ox, or a sheep, or a goat in the camp, or without the camp,

⁴And offer it not at the door of the tabernacle an oblation to the Lord, shall be guilty of blood. As if he had shed blood, so shall he perish from the midst of his people.

⁵Therefore the children of Israel shall bring to the priest their victims, which they kill in the field, that they may be sanctified to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: and they may sacrifice them for peace offerings to the Lord.

⁶And the priest shall pour the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: and shall burn the fat for a sweet odour to the Lord.

⁷And they shall no more sacrifice their victims to devils, with whom they have committed fornication. It shall be an ordinance for ever to them and to their posterity.

⁸And thou shalt say to them: The man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who sojourn among you, that offereth a holocaust or a victim,

⁹And bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be offered to the Lord, shall perish from among his people.

¹⁰If any man whosoever of the house of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among them, eat blood, I will set my face against his soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

¹¹Because the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you, that you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your souls, and the blood may be for an expiation of the soul.

¹²Therefore I have said to the children of Israel: No soul of you, nor of the strangers that sojourn among you, shall eat blood.

¹³Any man whosoever of the children of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among you, if by hunting or fowling, he take a wild beast or a bird, which is lawful to eat, let him pour out its blood, and cover it with earth.

¹⁴For the life of all flesh is in the blood. Therefore I said to the children of Israel: you shall not eat the blood of any flesh at all, because the life of the flesh is in the blood, and whosoever eateth it, shall be cut off.

¹⁵The soul that eateth that which died of itself, or has been caught by a beast, whether he be one of your own country or a stranger, shall wash his clothes and himself with water, and shall be defiled until the evening: and in this manner he shall be made clean.

¹⁶But if he do not wash his clothes, and his body, he shall bear his iniquity.

Chapter 18

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

²Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: I am the Lord your God.

³You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you. Nor shall you walk in their ordinances.

⁴You shall do my judgments, and shall observe my precepts, and shall walk in them. I am the Lord your God.

⁵Keep my laws and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them, I am the Lord.

⁶No man shall approach to her that is near of kin to him, to uncover her nakedness. I am the Lord.

⁷Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother: she is thy mother, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

⁸Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s wife: for it is the nakedness of thy father.

⁹Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy sister by father or by mother: whether born at home or abroad.

¹⁰Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or thy daughter’s daughter: because it is thy own nakedness.

¹¹Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, whom she bore to thy father: and who is thy sister.

¹²Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: because she is the flesh of thy father.

¹³Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: because she is thy mother’s flesh.

¹⁴Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother: neither shalt thou approach to his wife, who is joined to thee by affinity.

¹⁵Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: because she is thy son’s wife, neither shalt thou discover her shame.

¹⁶Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: because it is the nakedness of thy brother.

¹⁷Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy wife and her daughter. Thou shalt…