Leviticus 16–17

¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, in their drawing near before Jehovah, and they die; ²yea, Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Speak unto Aaron thy brother, and he cometh not in at all times unto the sanctuary within the vail, unto the front of the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark, and he dieth not, for in a cloud I am seen upon the mercy-seat.

³‘With this doth Aaron come in unto the sanctuary; with a bullock, a son of the herd, for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering; ⁴a holy linen coat he putteth on, and linen trousers are on his flesh, and with a linen girdle he girdeth himself, and with a linen mitre he wrappeth himself up; they are holy garments; and he hath bathed with water his flesh, and hath put them on.

⁵‘And from the company of the sons of Israel he taketh two kids of the goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burnt-offering; ⁶and Aaron hath brought near the bullock of the sin-offering which is his own, and hath made atonement for himself, and for his house; ⁷and he hath taken the two goats, and hath caused them to stand before Jehovah, at the opening of the tent of meeting.

⁸‘And Aaron hath given lots over the two goats, one lot for Jehovah, and one lot for a goat of departure; ⁹and Aaron hath brought near the goat on which the lot for Jehovah hath gone up, and hath made it a sin-offering.

¹⁰‘And the goat on which the lot for a goat of departure hath gone up is caused to stand living before Jehovah to make atonement by it, to send it away for a goat of departure into the wilderness.

¹¹‘And Aaron hath brought near the bullock of the sin-offering which is his own, and hath made atonement for himself, and for his house, and hath slaughtered the bullock of the sin-offering which is his own, ¹²and hath taken the fulness of the censer of burning coals of fire from off the altar, from before Jehovah, and the fulness of his hands of thin spice-perfume, and hath brought it within the vail; ¹³and he hath put the perfume on the fire before Jehovah, and the cloud of the perfume hath covered the mercy-seat which is on the testimony, and he dieth not.

¹⁴‘And he hath taken of the blood of the bullock, and hath sprinkled with his finger on the front of the mercy-seat eastward; even at the front of the mercy-seat he doth sprinkle seven times of the blood with his finger.

¹⁵‘And he hath slaughtered the goat of the sin-offering which is the people’s, and hath brought in its blood unto the inside of the vail, and hath done with its blood as he hath done with the blood of the bullock, and hath sprinkled it on the mercy-seat, and at the front of the mercy-seat, ¹⁶and he hath made atonement for the sanctuary because of the uncleanness of the sons of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins; and so he doth for the tent of meeting which is tabernacling with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.

¹⁷‘And no man is in the tent of meeting in his going in to make atonement in the sanctuary, till his coming out; and he hath made atonement for himself, and for his house, and for all the assembly of Israel.

¹⁸‘And he hath gone out unto the altar which is before Jehovah, and hath made atonement for it; and he hath taken of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and hath put on the horns of the altar round about; ¹⁹and he hath sprinkled on it of the blood with his finger seven times, and hath cleansed it, and hath hallowed it from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel.

²⁰‘And he hath ceased from making atonement for the sanctuary, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, and hath brought near the living goat; ²¹and Aaron hath laid his two hands on the head of the living goat, and hath confessed over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, and hath put them on the head of the goat, and hath sent it away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness; ²²and the goat hath borne on him all their iniquities unto a land of separation. ‘And he hath sent the goat away into the wilderness, ²³and Aaron hath come in unto the tent of meeting, and hath stripped off the linen garments which he had put on in his going in unto the sanctuary, and hath placed them there; ²⁴and he hath bathed his flesh with water in the holy place, and hath put on his garments, and hath come out, and hath made his burnt-offering, and the burnt-offering of the people, and hath made atonement for himself and for the people; ²⁵and with the fat of the sin-offering he doth make perfume on the altar.

²⁶‘And he who is sending away the goat for a goat of departure doth wash his garments, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and afterwards he cometh in unto the camp.

²⁷‘And the bullock of the sin-offering, and the goat of the sin-offering, whose blood hath been brought in to make atonement in the sanctuary, doth one bring out unto the outside of the camp, and they have burnt with fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung; ²⁸and he who is burning them doth wash his garments, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and afterwards he cometh in unto the camp.

²⁹‘And it hath been to you for a statute age-during, in the seventh month, in the tenth of the month, ye humble yourselves, and do no work—the native, and the sojourner who is sojourning in your midst; ³⁰for on this day he maketh atonement for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins before Jehovah ye are clean; ³¹it is to you a sabbath of rest, and ye have humbled yourselves—a statute age-during.

³²‘And the priest whom he doth anoint, and whose hand he doth consecrate to act as priest instead of his father, hath made atonement, and hath put on the linen garments, the holy garments; ³³and he hath made atonement for the holy sanctuary; and for the tent of meeting, even for the altar he doth make atonement; yea, for the priests, and for all the people of the assembly he maketh atonement.

³⁴‘And this hath been to you for a statute age-during, to make atonement for the sons of Israel, because of all their sins, once in a year;’ and he doth as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

Chapter 17

¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ²‘Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the sons of Israel; and thou hast said unto them, This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, saying, ³Any man of the house of Israel who slaughtereth ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or who slaughtereth at the outside of the camp, ⁴and unto the opening of the tent of meeting hath not brought it in to bring near an offering to Jehovah before the tabernacle of Jehovah, blood is reckoned to that man—blood he hath shed—and that man hath been cut off from the midst of his people; ⁵so that the sons of Israel do bring in their sacrifices which they are sacrificing on the face of the field, yea, they have brought them in to Jehovah, unto the opening of the tent of meeting, unto the priest, and they have sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offerings to Jehovah with them.

⁶‘And the priest hath sprinkled the blood upon the altar of Jehovah, at the opening of the tent of meeting, and hath made perfume with the fat for sweet fragrance to Jehovah; ⁷and they sacrifice not any more their sacrifices to goats after which they are going a-whoring; a statute age-during is this to them, to their generations.

⁸‘And unto them thou sayest: Any man of the house of Israel, or of the sojourners, who sojourneth in your midst, who causeth burnt-offering or sacrifice to ascend, ⁹and unto the opening of the tent of meeting doth not bring it in to make it to Jehovah—that man hath been cut off from his people.

¹⁰‘And any man of the house of Israel, or of the sojourners, who is sojourning in your midst, who eateth any blood, I have even set My face against the person who is eating the blood, and have cut him off from the midst of his people; ¹¹for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar, to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood which maketh atonement for the soul.

¹²‘Therefore I have said to the sons of Israel, No person among you doth eat blood, and the sojourner who is sojourning in your midst doth not eat blood; ¹³and any man of the sons of Israel, or of the sojourners, who is sojourning in your midst, who hunteth venison, beast or fowl, which is eaten—hath even poured out its blood, and hath covered it with dust; ¹⁴for it is the life of all flesh, its blood is for its life; and I say to the sons of Israel, Blood of any flesh ye do not eat, for the life of all flesh is its blood; any one eating it is cut off.

¹⁵‘And any person who eateth a carcase or torn thing, among natives or among sojourners—hath both washed his garments, and hath bathed with water, and hath been unclean until the evening—then he hath been clean; ¹⁶and if he wash not, and his flesh bathe not—then he hath borne his iniquity.’

Chapter 18