The great day of atonement
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the presence of Yahweh.
2 Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell your brother, Aaron, not to enter at any time he pleases the Most Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy Seat which is on the ark, lest he die, for I appear in the cloud over the mercy Seat.
3 This is how Aaron will enter the Holy Place with a bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
4 He is to put on the sacred linen tunic and linen undergarments next to his body; he is to have the linen sash around him and wear the linen turban. These are sacred garments, so he must bathe in water before he puts them on.
5 The assembly of the Israelites has to give him two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 Then Aaron shall offer the bullock for a sin offering for himself to make atonement for himself and for his house hold.
7 He shall take the two male goats and present them to Yahweh at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
8 He is to cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh and one lot for Azazel.
9 Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh as a sin offering.
10 But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel will be placed alive before Yahweh to make atonement by being sent into the wilderness as a scapegoat.
11 Aaron will then bring the bullock as a sin offering for himself to make atonement for himself and his household and he shall slaughter the bullock for the sin offering which is for himself.
12 Then he shall take a censer full of coals from the fire above the altar before Yahweh and two handfuls of powdered, fragrant in cense and take them inside the veil.
13 He shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh and the cloud of incense will cover the mercy Seat that is on the ark of the Statement, so that he will not die.
14 He will take the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy Seat to the east and also in front of the mercy Seat he shall sprinkle blood seven times.
15 Then he shall slay the goat for the sin offering of the people and take its blood inside the veil and do with its blood what he did with the blood of the bullock. He shall sprinkle it on the mercy Seat and in front of it.
16 In this way he shall make atonement for the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the Isra elites and because of all their sins. And he shall do the same for the Tent of Meeting which stands among them in the midst of all their uncleanness.
17 No one shall be in the Tent of Meet ing from the time Aaron goes to make atonement until he comes out. After he has made atonement for himself, for his household and for the whole as sembly of Israel,
18 he shall go out to the altar be fore Yahweh and make atonement for it. Then he shall take some of the bullock’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides.
19 He shall sprinkle it with blood seven times, and cleanse it and conse crate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
20 When he has finished making atonement for the Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat.
21 He shall lay his hands on the head of the goat and confess over it all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and all the sins they have committed against me. So he will charge them on the head of the goat and send it away to the wilderness by the hand of an assistant.
22 So the goat will carry away all their wickedness to an arid land, when the man releases it in the wilderness.
23 Then Aaron is to go into the Tent of Meet ing and take off the linen garments he had put on before he entered the sacred place. He shall leave them there,
24 bathe himself with water in a sacred place and put on his clothes. After that he will come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people to make atonement for himself and the people.
25 The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.
26 The man who releases the scapegoat to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, after which he may re-enter the camp.
27 The bullock of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be brought outside the camp and they shall burn their hides, their flesh and their dung in the fire.
28 The one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, after which he may re-enter the camp.
29 This shall be a lasting ordinance for you: on the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and do no work—neither the native nor the stranger living among you—
30 for on this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be cleansed of your sins before Yahweh.
31 It is a sabbath of solemn rest when you must deny yourselves. It is a lasting ordinance.
32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father will make atonement. He shall put on the linen garments, the holy garments,
33 and will make atonement for the Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and all the people of the assembly. 34 This shall be for you a lasting ordinance to make atonement for the people of Israel once a year, because of all their sins.”
34 And Moses did as Yahweh commanded him.
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Comments Leviticus, Chapter 16
• 16.1 The ceremony for the feast of Atone ment was very expressive: one of two he-goats was set aside to carry the punishment for sin and there fore had to die; the other was sent off toward Azazel. Symbolically the he-goat bore the sins of the people.
The Letter to the Hebrews, chapters 9 and 10, recalls these Jewish rituals when it mentions the forgiveness of sins that Christ won through his death and resurrection.
In 16:29-34 it is again said that these commands will be the everlasting law: how do we ex plain that the church canceled them when Christ came? Paul explains this in Galatians 3–5.