Leviticus 16

Modern

Literal

The Day of Atonement

¹Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the LORD.

¹And YHWH spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the face of YHWH, and they died.

²And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place^a behind the veil in front of the mercy seat^b on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

²And YHWH said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron your brother, and he shall not come in at any time to the Holy Place inside the veil before the face of the mercy seat that is on the ark, and he will not die. For in the cloud I appear above the mercy seat.

³This is how Aaron is to enter the Holy Place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

³In this way Aaron shall come to the Holy Place; with a bull, a son of the herd, for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.

⁴He is to wear the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments. He must tie a linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are holy garments, and he must bathe himself with water before he wears them.

⁴And he shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments he shall have on his flesh, and he shall gird himself with a linen sash, and he shall wrap himself with the linen turban; these are holy garments. And he shall bathe his flesh in the water, and he shall put them on.

⁵And he shall take from the congregation of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁵And from the congregation of the sons of Israel he shall take two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶Aaron is to present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.

⁶And Aaron shall bring near the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and he shall make atonement on behalf of himself, and on behalf of his house.

⁷Then he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

⁷And he shall take the two goats, and he shall present them before the face of YHWH at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

⁸After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat,^a

⁸And Aaron shall give lots upon the two goats, one lot for YHWH and one lot for Azazel.

⁹he shall present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering.

⁹And Aaron shall bring near the goat upon which the lot for YHWH came up, and he shall do it as a sin offering.

¹⁰But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement by sending it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

¹⁰And the goat upon which the lot for Azazel came up shall be presented alive before the face of YHWH, to make atonement upon it, to send it away to Azazel into the wilderness.

¹¹When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.

¹¹And Aaron shall bring near the bull of the sin offering that is for himself, and he shall make atonement on behalf of himself, and on behalf of his house, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself.

¹²Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil.

¹²And he shall take the fullness of the firepan of burning coals of fire from on the altar before the face of YHWH, and the fullness of his handfuls of fine incense of spices, and he shall bring it inside the veil.

¹³He is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the cloud of incense will cover the mercy seat above the Testimony,^a so that he will not die.

¹³And he shall put the incense on the fire before the face of YHWH, and the cloud of incense shall cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, and he will not die.

¹⁴And he is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the mercy seat.

¹⁴And he shall take from the blood from the bull, and he shall sprinkle it with his finger on the face of the mercy seat on the east side; and before the face of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle the blood seven times with his finger.

¹⁵Aaron shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the veil, and with its blood he must do as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.

¹⁵And he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and he shall bring its blood to the inside of the veil, and he shall do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and he shall sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the face of the mercy seat.

¹⁶So he shall make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the impurities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting which abides among them in the midst of their impurities.

¹⁶And he shall make atonement upon the Holy Place from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel and from their transgressions, for all their sins; and thus he shall do for the Tent of Meeting, the one dwelling with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.

¹⁷No one may be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he leaves, after he has made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel.

¹⁷And any man shall not be in the Tent of Meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and he may make atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of his house and on behalf of all the assembly of Israel.

¹⁸Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar.

¹⁸And he shall go out to the altar that is before the face of YHWH and he shall make atonement upon it; and he shall take from the blood of the bull, and from the blood of the goat, and he shall put it on the horns of the altar all around.

¹⁹He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

¹⁹And he shall sprinkle on it from of the blood with his finger seven times, and he shall cleanse it, and he shall sanctify it from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel.

²⁰When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he is to bring forward the live goat.

²⁰And he shall finish from making atonement upon the Holy Place and the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and he shall bring near the living goat.

²¹Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.

²¹And Aaron shall lay his two hands on the head of the living goat, and he shall confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions for all their sins, and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and he shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.

²²The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.

²²And the goat shall carry on itself all their iniquities, to a land inaccessible; and he shall send away the goat into the wilderness.

²³Then Aaron is to enter the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen garments he put on before entering the Most Holy Place, and leave them there.

²³And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting, and he shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and he shall leave them there.

²⁴He is to bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his own clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering to make atonement for himself and for the people.

²⁴And he shall bathe his flesh with the water in a holy place, and he shall put on his garments, and he shall come out, and he shall do his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and he shall make atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of the people.

²⁵He is also to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

²⁵And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.

²⁶The man who released the goat as the scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

²⁶And the one sending away the goat to Azazel shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in the water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

²⁷The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; and their hides, flesh, and dung must be burned up.

²⁷And the bull 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 out to the outside of the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins and their flesh and their dung.

²⁸The one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.

²⁸And the one burning them shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in the water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

²⁹This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves^a and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—

²⁹And it shall be an everlasting statute for you: In the seventh month on the tenth of the month you shall afflict your souls, and you shall not do any work—the native and the sojourner who is sojourning in your midst.

³⁰because on this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

³⁰For on this day he shall make atonement upon you to cleanse you from all your sins before the face of YHWH, and you shall be clean.

³¹It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.

³¹It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls; it is an everlasting statute.

³²The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest shall make atonement. He will put on the sacred linen garments

³²And the priest shall make atonement, he who is anointed and he whose hand is filled to minister as priest in place of his father, and he shall put on the linen garments, the holy garments.

³³and make atonement for the Most Holy Place,^a the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the assembly.

³³And he shall make atonement upon the Sanctuary of Holiness and the Tent of Meeting; and he shall make atonement upon the altar; and he shall make atonement upon the priests and upon all the people of the assembly.

³⁴This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement once a year for the Israelites because of all their sins.”

And all this was done as the LORD had commanded Moses.

³⁴And this shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement upon the sons of Israel, from all their sins, once in the year.” And he did as YHWH had commanded Moses.