16Now two of Aaron’s sons had died while offering incense to the Lord, and after that time the Lord spoke to Moses. ²The Lord said to him, “Tell your brother Aaron that there are times when he cannot go behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place where the Ark is. If he goes in when I appear in a cloud over the lid on the Ark, he will die.

³“This is how Aaron may enter the Most Holy Place: Before he enters, he must offer a bull for a sin offering and a male sheep for a whole burnt offering. ⁴He must put on the holy linen inner robe, with the linen underclothes next to his body. His belt will be the cloth belt, and he will wear the linen turban. These are holy clothes, so he must bathe his body in water before he puts them on.

⁵“Aaron must take from the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one male sheep for a burnt offering. ⁶Then he will offer the bull for the sin offering for himself to remove sins from him and his family so they will belong to the Lord.

⁷“Next Aaron will take the two goats and bring them before the Lord at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ⁸He will throw lots for the two goats—one will be for the Lord and the other for the goat that removes sin. ⁹Then Aaron will take the goat that was chosen for the Lord by throwing the lot, and he will offer it as a sin offering. ¹⁰The other goat, which was chosen by lot to remove the sin, must be brought alive before the Lord. The priest will use it to perform the acts that remove Israel’s sin so they will belong to the Lord. Then this goat will be sent out into the desert as a goat that removes sin.

¹¹“Then Aaron will offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, to remove the sins from him and his family so they will belong to the Lord; he will kill the bull for the sin offering for himself. ¹²Then he must take a pan full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of sweet incense that has been ground into powder. He must bring it into the room behind the curtain. ¹³He must put the incense on the fire before the Lord so that the cloud of incense will cover the lid on the Ark. Then when Aaron comes in, he will not die. ¹⁴Also, he must take some of the blood from the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the lid; with his finger he will sprinkle the blood seven times in front of the lid.

¹⁵“Then Aaron must kill the goat of the sin offering for the people and bring its blood into the room behind the curtain. He must do with the goat’s blood as he did with the bull’s blood, sprinkling it on the lid and in front of the lid. ¹⁶Because the people of Israel have been unclean, Aaron will perform the acts to make the Most Holy Place ready for service to the Lord. Then it will be clean from the sins and crimes of the Israelites. He must also do this for the Meeting Tent, because it stays in the middle of unclean people.

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