Leviticus 16:1–18:30

The Day of Atonement

¹Now Yahweh spoke to Moses after ^athe death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near the presence of Yahweh and died.

²And Yahweh said to Moses:

“Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter ^aat any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the ¹mercy seat which is on the ark, so that he will not die; for ^bI will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.

³“Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull from the herd for a ^asin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

⁴“He shall put on the ^aholy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his ¹body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall ^bbathe his ²body in water and put them on.

⁵“And he shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel ^atwo male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶“Then ^aAaron shall bring near the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household.

⁷“And he shall take the two goats and present them before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

⁸“And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh and the other lot for the ¹scapegoat.

⁹“Then Aaron shall bring near the goat on which the lot for Yahweh fell, and he shall offer it as a sin offering.

¹⁰“But the goat on which the lot for the ¹scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make ^aatonement upon it, to send it out into the wilderness as the ²scapegoat.

¹¹“Then Aaron shall bring near the bull of the sin offering, ^awhich is for himself, and make atonement for himself and ^bfor his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.

¹²“And he shall take a ^afirepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before Yahweh and ¹two handfuls of finely ground ^bfragrant incense, and bring it inside the veil.

¹³“And he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of incense may cover the ^amercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, ^bso that he will not die.

¹⁴“Moreover, ^ahe shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it ^bwith his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵“Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering ^awhich 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. And he shall sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.

¹⁶“^aSo he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their uncleanness.

¹⁷“Now when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel.

¹⁸“Then he shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and ^aput it on the horns of the altar on all sides.

¹⁹“^aWith his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it and set it apart as holy from the uncleanness of the sons of Israel.

²⁰“And when he finishes making atonement for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring near the live goat.

²¹“Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and ^aconfess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions ¹in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it out into the wilderness by the hand of a man ready to do this.

²²“And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an isolated land; and he shall send out the goat in the wilderness.

²³“Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off ^athe linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there.

²⁴“^aAnd he shall bathe his ¹body with water in a holy place and put on ^bhis clothes and come forth, and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people.

²⁵“Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

²⁶“And the one who sent the goat out as the ¹scapegoat ^ashall wash his clothes and bathe his ²body with water; then afterward he shall come into the camp.

²⁷“But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, ^awhose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire.

²⁸“Then the ^aone who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

²⁹“And this shall be a perpetual statute for you: ^ain the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not ^bdo any work, whether the native or the sojourner who sojourns among you;

³⁰for it is on this day that ¹atonement shall be made for you to ^acleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before Yahweh.

³¹“It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may ^ahumble your souls; it is a perpetual statute.

³²“So the priest who is anointed and ¹ordained to minister as a priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on ^athe linen garments, the holy garments,

³³and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for ^athe priests and for all the people of the assembly.

³⁴“Now you shall have this as a ^aperpetual statute, to ^bmake atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.” And just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, so he did.

CHAPTER 17

Statutes Against Eating Blood

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh has commanded, saying,

³“Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp,

⁴and ^ahas not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to bring it near as an offering to Yahweh before the ¹tabernacle of Yahweh, it will be counted as bloodguiltiness to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people.

⁵“¹The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them in to Yahweh, at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to Yahweh.

⁶“And the priest shall splash the blood on the altar of Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting and ^aoffer up the fat in smoke as a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

⁷“^aAnd they shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the ¹goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a perpetual statute to them throughout their generations.” ’

⁸“Then you shall say to them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel, or from the sojourners who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice,

⁹and ^adoes not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to ¹offer it to Yahweh, that man also shall be cut off from his people.

¹⁰‘^aAnd any man from the house of Israel, or from the sojourners who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, ^bI will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.

¹¹‘For ^athe ¹life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for ^bit is the blood that makes atonement by the ²life.’

¹²“Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, and no sojourner who sojourns among you may eat blood.’

¹³“So any man from the sons of Israel, or from the sojourners who sojourn among them, who in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, ^ashall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

¹⁴“^aFor as for the ¹life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its ²life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the ³life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’

¹⁵“^aAnd when any person eats an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or a sojourner, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and remain unclean until evening; then he will become clean.

¹⁶“But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then ^ahe shall bear his ¹guilt.”

CHAPTER 18

Statutes on the Nakedness of Relatives

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^aI am Yahweh your God.

³‘You shall not do according to what is ^adone in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do according to what is ^bdone in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.

⁴‘You are to do My judgments and keep My statutes, to walk in them; ^aI am Yahweh your God.

⁵‘So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, ^awhich if a man does them, he shall live by them; I am Yahweh.

⁶‘None of you shall approach any blood relative ¹of his to uncover nakedness; I am Yahweh.

⁷‘^aYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness.

⁸‘^aYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.

⁹‘^aThe nakedness of your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover.

¹⁰‘The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for ¹their nakedness is yours.

¹¹‘The…