Leviticus 16:1–16

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.