Leviticus 16:1–16

The Day of Atonement

16Now the Lord spoke to Moses after ^athe death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died; ²and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother ^bnot to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for ^cI will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

³¹“Thus Aaron shall ^dcome into the Holy Place: ^ewith the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴He shall put the ^fholy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore ^ghe shall wash his body in water, and put them on. ⁵And he shall take from ^hthe congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering.

⁶“Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and ⁱmake atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁸Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. ⁹And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. ¹⁰But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make ^jatonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

¹¹“And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for ^khimself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. ¹²Then he shall take ^la censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of ^msweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. ¹³ⁿAnd he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the ^omercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he ^pdie. ^14qHe shall take some of the blood of the bull and ^rsprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

^15s“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood ^tinside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. ¹⁶So he shall ^umake atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness.