Leviticus 8–12

Aaron and His Sons Appointed

8The Lord said to Moses, ²“Bring Aaron and his sons and their clothes, the special olive oil used in appointing people and things to the service of the Lord, the bull of the sin offering and the two male sheep, and the basket of bread made without yeast. ³Then gather the people together at the entrance to the Meeting Tent.” ⁴Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the people met together at the entrance to the Meeting Tent.

⁵Then Moses spoke to the people and said, “This is what the Lord has commanded to be done.” ⁶Bringing Aaron and his sons forward, Moses washed them with water. ⁷He put the inner robe on Aaron and tied the cloth belt around him. Then Moses put the outer robe on him and placed the holy vest on him. He tied the skillfully woven belt around him so that the holy vest was tied to Aaron. ⁸Then Moses put the chest covering on him and put the Urim and the Thummim in the chest covering. ⁹He also put the turban on Aaron’s head. He put the strip of gold, the holy crown, on the front of the turban, as the Lord commanded him to do.

¹⁰Then Moses put the special oil on the Holy Tent and everything in it, making them holy for the Lord. ¹¹He sprinkled some oil on the altar seven times, sprinkling the altar and all its tools and the large bowl and its base. In this way he made them holy for the Lord. ¹²He poured some of the special oil on Aaron’s head to make Aaron holy for the Lord. ¹³Then Moses brought Aaron’s sons forward. He put the inner robes on them, tied cloth belts around them, and put headbands on them, as the Lord had commanded him.

¹⁴Then Moses brought the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head. ¹⁵Moses killed the bull, took the blood, and with his finger put some of it on all the corners of the altar, to make it pure. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. In this way he made it holy and ready for service to God. ¹⁶Moses took all the fat from the inner organs of the bull, the best part of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat that is on them, and he burned them on the altar. ¹⁷But he took the bull’s skin, its meat, and its intestines and burned them in a fire outside the camp, as the Lord had commanded him.

¹⁸Next Moses brought the male sheep of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head. ¹⁹Then Moses killed it and sprinkled the blood on all sides of the altar. ²⁰He cut the male sheep into pieces and burned the head, the pieces, and the fat. ²¹He washed the inner organs and legs with water and burned the whole sheep on the altar as a burnt offering made by fire to the Lord; its smell was pleasing to the Lord. Moses did these things as the Lord had commanded him.

²²Then Moses brought the other male sheep, the one used in appointing Aaron and his sons as priests, and Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head. ²³Then Moses killed the sheep and put some of its blood on the bottom of Aaron’s right ear, some on the thumb of Aaron’s right hand, and some on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴Then Moses brought Aaron’s sons close to the altar. He put some of the blood on the bottom of their right ears, some on the thumbs of their right hands, and some on the big toes of their right feet. Then he sprinkled blood on all sides of the altar. ²⁵He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat on the inner organs, the best part of the liver, both kidneys with their fat, and the right thigh. ²⁶From the basket of bread made without yeast that is put before the Lord each day, Moses took a loaf of bread, a loaf made with oil, and a wafer. He put these pieces of bread on the fat and right thigh of the male sheep. ²⁷All these things he put in the hands of Aaron and his sons and presented them as an offering before the Lord. ²⁸Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering. So this was the offering for appointing Aaron and his sons as priests. It was an offering made by fire to the Lord, and its smell was pleasing to him. ²⁹Moses also took the breast and presented it as an offering before the Lord. It was Moses’ share of the male sheep used in appointing the priests, as the Lord had commanded him.

³⁰Moses took some of the special oil and some of the blood which was on the altar, and he sprinkled them on Aaron and Aaron’s clothes and on Aaron’s sons and their clothes. In this way Moses made Aaron, his clothes, his sons, and their clothes holy for the Lord.

³¹Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “I gave you a command, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons will eat these things.’ So take the meat and basket of bread from the offering for appointing priests. Boil the meat at the door of the Meeting Tent, and eat it there with the bread. ³²If any of the meat or bread is left, burn it. ³³The time of appointing will last seven days; you must not go outside the entrance of the Meeting Tent until that time is up. Stay there until the time of your appointing is finished. ³⁴The Lord commanded the things that were done today to remove your sins so you will belong to him. ³⁵You must stay at the entrance of the Meeting Tent day and night for seven days. If you don’t obey the Lord’s commands, you will die. The Lord has given me these commands.”

³⁶So Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord had commanded through Moses.

Aaron and His Sons Offer Sacrifices

9On the eighth day after the time of appointing, Moses called for Aaron and his sons and for the elders of Israel. ²He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf and a male sheep that have nothing wrong with them, and offer them to the Lord. The calf will be a sin offering, and the male sheep will be a whole burnt offering. ³Tell the people of Israel, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb for a whole burnt offering; each must be one year old, and it must have nothing wrong with it. ⁴Also take a bull and a male sheep for fellowship offerings, along with a grain offering mixed with oil. Offer all these things to the Lord, because the Lord will appear to you today.’ ”

⁵So all the people came to the front of the Meeting Tent, bringing the things Moses had commanded them to bring, and they stood before the Lord. ⁶Moses said, “You have done what the Lord commanded, so you will see the Lord’s glory.”

⁷Then Moses told Aaron, “Go to the altar and offer sin offerings and whole burnt offerings. Do this to remove your sins and the people’s sins so you will belong to God. Offer the sacrifices for the people and perform the acts to remove their sins for them so they will belong to the Lord, as the Lord has commanded.”

⁸So Aaron went to the altar and killed the bull calf as a sin offering for himself. ⁹Then his sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the corners of the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. ¹⁰Aaron took the fat, the kidneys, and the best part of the liver from the sin offering and burned them on the altar, in the way the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹¹The meat and skin he burned outside the camp.

¹²Then Aaron killed the animal for the whole burnt offering. His sons brought the blood to him, and he sprinkled it on all sides of the altar. ¹³As they gave him the pieces and head of the burnt offering, Aaron burned them on the altar. ¹⁴He also washed the inner organs and the legs of the burnt offering and burned them on top of the burnt offering on the altar.

¹⁵Then Aaron brought the offering that was for the people. He took the goat of the people’s sin offering and killed it and offered it for the sin offering, just as he had done the first sin offering.

¹⁶Then Aaron brought the whole burnt offering and offered it in the way that the Lord had commanded. ¹⁷He also brought the grain offering to the altar. He took a handful of the grain and burned it on the altar, in addition to the morning’s burnt offering.

¹⁸Aaron also killed the bull and the male sheep as the fellowship offerings for the people. His sons brought him the blood, and he sprinkled it on all sides of the altar. ¹⁹Aaron’s sons also brought to Aaron the fat of the bull and the male sheep—the fat tail, the fat covering the inner organs, the kidneys, and the best part of the liver. ²⁰Aaron’s sons put them on the breasts of the bull and the sheep. Then Aaron burned these fat parts on the altar. ²¹He presented the breasts and the right thigh before the Lord as the priests’ share of the offering, as Moses had commanded.

²²Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. When he had finished offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering, he stepped down from the altar.

²³Moses and Aaron went into the Meeting Tent. Then they came out and blessed the people, and the Lord’s glory came to all the people. ²⁴Fire came out from the Lord and burned up the burnt offering and fat on the altar. When the people saw this, they shouted with joy and bowed facedown on the ground.

God Destroys Nadab and Abihu

10Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their pans for burning incense, put fire in them, and added incense; but they did not use the special fire Moses had commanded them to use in the presence of the Lord. ²So fire came down from the Lord and destroyed Nadab and Abihu, and they died in front of the Lord. ³Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord was speaking about when he said,

‘I must be respected as holy

by those who come near me;

before all the people

I must be given honor.’ ”

So Aaron did not say anything about the death of his sons.

⁴Aaron’s uncle Uzziel had two sons named Mishael and Elzaphan. Moses said to them, “Come here and pick up your cousins’ bodies. Carry them outside the camp away from the front of the Holy Place.” ⁵So Mishael and Elzaphan obeyed Moses and carried the bodies of Nadab and Abihu, still clothed in the special priest’s inner robes, outside the camp.

⁶Then Moses said to Aaron and…