The Day_of_atonement
(Also in Leviticus 23:26-32; Numbers 29:7-11)
1The Lord talked to Moses after the 2 sons of Aaron died because they came too near the Lord. 2The Lord said to Moses: ‘You must tell your brother Aaron that he may not come at any time behind the curtain into the holy room of the tent of the Lord, where the covenant box of the Lord is with the lid. He will die if he goes there at any time because that is where I appear in a cloud, above the lid.
3Aaron may come into the holy room only if he sacrifices a young bull as a sin-offering and a sheep ram as a burnt-offering. 4He must put on the holy linen clothes, the linen trousers, the robe, the sash, and the turban on his head. These are the holy clothes that he must wear. Aaron must bathe himself and then he must put on these clothes. 5He must take 2 goat-rams from the congregation_of_Israel for the sin-offerings and he must take a sheep ram for the burnt-offering.
6Then Aaron must sacrifice the bull as a sin-offering for his sins. He must make atonement for himself and for his family. 7Then he must take the 2 goats and he must make them stand before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of the Lord. 8Then Aaron must draw_lots for the goats. One goat is for the Lord and the other goat is the scapegoat_for_Azazel. 9Aaron must bring the Lord's goat and sacrifice it as a sin-offering. 10He must then let the scapegoat_for_Azazel stand before the Lord alive, so that he can make atonement for the people through the goat. Then he must send the goat for Azazel into the desert.
11Aaron must then bring the bull that is for the sin-offering for himself and he must make atonement for himself and for his family. He must kill the bull that is for the sin-offering for himself. 12He must take a pan full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and he must take a handful of fine incense that smells good and he must take it behind the curtain. 13There he must put the incense onto the coals so that the incense makes a cloud of smoke. The smoke will cover the lid of the covenant box where the 10 commandments are. If the cloud of smoke does not cover the lid, then Aaron will die. 14He must then take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle the blood with his finger against the front of the lid. He must do it 7 times.
15Then Aaron must kill the goat for the sin-offering for the people. He must take the blood of the goat behind the curtain and he must do the same with the blood of the goat as he did with the blood of the bull. He must sprinkle the blood against the front of the lid. 16This is how Aaron must make atonement in the most_holy room, because the Israelites are impure, and they have done wrong. He must make atonement for all their sins and he must also do it for the tent where the Lord appears to the Israelites, because it is the tent that stays with the people who are impure. 17From the time when Aaron goes into the most_holy room to make atonement, until he goes out, there may be no one else in the tent of the Lord. Aaron must make atonement for himself, for his family and for all the Israelites. 18Then he must go out to the altar which is before the Lord and he must make atonement on it. He must take some of the blood of the bull and the goat and he must put it onto the horns_of_the_altar. 19He must sprinkle some of the blood against the altar 7 times. This is how he must purify the altar and consecrate it to the Lord. 20After he has made atonement for the most_holy room and for the tent and the altar, he must bring the goat which is still_alive. 21He must put both of his hands on the head of the goat and he must confess everything that the Israelites have done wrong. He must confess all their sins over the head of the goat. This is how he must put all the people's sins onto the head of the goat and then he must tell someone to take the goat into the desert. 22The goat must carry away all the sins of the people into the desert. The person must leave the goat in the desert.
23Then Aaron must come to the tent of the Lord. He must take off the linen clothes that he put on before he went into the holy room and he must put the clothes down there. 24He must bathe himself in a holy place and he must put on other clothes. Then he must come out and sacrifice his burnt-offering and also the burnt-offerings of the people. This is how he must make atonement for himself and for the people. 25He must also burn the fat of the sin-offering on the altar.
26The person who took the scapegoat_for_Azazel into the desert must wash his clothes and bathe himself. Then he may come back into the camp. 27After Aaron has used the blood of the bull and the goat that were sin-offerings, to make atonement in the most_holy room, someone must take the bull and the goat out of the camp and burn them, with the skins, the meat and the dung. 28The person who does this must wash his clothes and he must bathe himself, then he may come back into the camp.
29You must always do this. You may not eat or work on the 10th day of the 7th month. The Israelites must not work and the strangers who live among you may also not work, 30because on this day the high-priest must make atonement for you and this is how he must purify you from your sins so that you can be pure before the Lord. 31This day must be a special Sabbath day for you and you may not eat on this day. It must always be like this. 32The priest who was anointed to be the high-priest after his father must put on his linen clothes, the holy clothes. 33He must make atonement for the holy room, for the tent of the Lord, for the altar, for the priests and for all the people of the congregation. 34You must do this every year. The high-priest must make atonement for the Israelites so that the Lord will forgive all their sins.’
Aaron did as the Lord told Moses.
