Leviticus 9–11

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 his other sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Don’t show sadness by tearing your clothes or leaving your hair uncombed. If you do, you will die, and the Lord will be angry with all the people. All the people of Israel, your relatives, may cry loudly about the Lord burning Nadab and Abihu, ⁷but you must not even leave the Meeting Tent. If you go out of the entrance, you will die, because the Lord has appointed you to his service.” So Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar obeyed Moses.

⁸Then the Lord said to Aaron, ⁹“You and your sons must not drink wine or beer when you go into the Meeting Tent. If you do, you will die. This law will continue from now on. ¹⁰You must keep what is holy separate from what is not holy; you must keep what is clean separate from what is unclean. ¹¹You must teach the people all the laws that the Lord gave to them through Moses.”

¹²Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Eat the part of the grain offering that is left from the sacrifices offered by fire to the Lord, but do not add yeast to it. Eat it near the altar because it is most holy. ¹³You must eat it in a holy place, because this part of the offerings made by fire to the Lord belongs to you and your sons. I have been commanded to tell you this.

¹⁴“Also, you and your sons and daughters may eat the breast and thigh of the fellowship offering that was presented to the Lord. You must eat them in a clean place; they are your share of the fellowship offerings given by the Israelites. ¹⁵The people must bring the fat from their animals that was part of the offering made by fire, and they must present it to the Lord along with the thigh and the breast of the fellowship offering. They will be the regular share of the offerings for you and your children, as the Lord has commanded.”

¹⁶Moses looked for the goat of the sin offering, but it had already been burned up. So he became very angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons. He said, ¹⁷“Why didn’t you eat that goat in a holy place? It is most holy, and the Lord gave it to you to take away the guilt of the people, to remove their sins so they will belong to the Lord. ¹⁸You didn’t bring the goat’s blood inside the Holy Place. You were supposed to eat the goat in a holy place, as I commanded!”

¹⁹But Aaron said to Moses, “Today they brought their sin offering and burnt offering before the Lord, but these terrible things have still happened to me! Do you think the Lord would be any happier if I ate the sin offering today?” ²⁰When Moses heard this, he was satisfied.

Rules About What May Be Eaten

11The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²“Tell the Israelites this: ‘These are the land animals you may eat: ³You may eat any animal that has split hoofs completely divided and that chews the cud.

⁴“ ‘Some animals only chew the cud or only have split hoofs, and you must not eat them. The camel chews the cud but does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. ⁵The rock badger chews the cud but does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. ⁶The rabbit chews the cud but does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. ⁷Now the pig has a split hoof that is completely divided, but it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. ⁸You must not eat the meat from these animals or even touch their dead bodies; they are unclean for you.

⁹“ ‘Of the animals that live in the sea or in a river, if the animal has fins and scales, you may eat it. ¹⁰But whatever lives in the sea or in a river and does not have fins and scales—including the things that fill the water and all other things that live in it—you should hate. ¹¹You must not eat any meat from them or even touch their dead bodies, because you should hate them. ¹²You must hate any animal in the water that does not have fins and scales.

¹³“ ‘Also, these are the birds you are to hate. They are hateful and should not be eaten. You must not eat eagles, vultures, black vultures, ¹⁴kites, any kind of falcon, ¹⁵any kind of raven, ¹⁶horned owls, screech owls, sea gulls, any kind of hawk, ¹⁷little owls, cormorants, great owls, ¹⁸white owls, desert owls, ospreys, ¹⁹storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, or bats.

²⁰“ ‘Don’t eat insects that have wings and walk on all four feet; they also are to be hated.

²¹“ ‘But you may eat certain insects that have wings and walk on four feet. You may eat those that have legs with joints above their feet so they can jump. ²²These are the insects you may eat: all kinds of locusts, winged locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers. ²³But all other insects that have wings and walk on four feet you are to hate. ²⁴Those insects will make you unclean, and anyone who touches the dead body of one of these insects will become unclean until evening. ²⁵Anyone who picks up one of these dead insects must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

²⁶“ ‘Some animals have split hoofs, but the hoofs are not completely divided; others do not chew the cud. They are unclean for you, and anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will become unclean. ²⁷Of all the animals that walk on four feet, the animals that walk on their paws are unclean for you. Anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will become unclean until evening. ²⁸Anyone who picks up their dead bodies must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; these animals are unclean for you.

²⁹“ ‘These…