Leviticus 16 (New American Standard)

Law of Atonement

1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses after ¹the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the LORD and died. 2 The LORD said to Moses : "Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter² at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the ^a mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for ³ I will appear in the cloud over the ^b mercy seat. 3 "Aaron shall enter the holy place with this : with a ^cbull for a ⁴sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 "He shall put on the ⁵holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his ^dbody, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments ). Then he shall ⁶bathe his ^ebody in water and put them on. 5 "He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel ⁷two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 "Then ⁸Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. 7 "He shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 8 "Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the ^fscapegoat. 9 "Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the LORD fell, and make it a sin offering. 10 "But the goat on which the lot for the ^gscapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make ⁹atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the ^hscapegoat. 11 "Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering ¹⁰which is for himself and make atonement for himself and ¹¹for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. 12 "He shall take a ¹²firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the LORD and ⁱtwo handfuls of finely ground ¹³sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil. 13 "He shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of incense may cover the ^j14mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, ¹⁵otherwise he will die. 14 "Moreover, ¹⁶he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it ¹⁷with his finger on the ^kmercy seat on the east side; also in front of the ^lmercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. 15 "Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering ¹⁸which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the ^mmercy seat and in front of the ⁿmercy seat. 16 "¹⁹He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins ; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. 17 "When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 "Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat and ²⁰put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. 19 "²¹With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it, and from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it. 20 "When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. 21 "Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and ²²confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions ^oin regard to all their sins ; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. 22 "The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land ; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. 23 "Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off ²³the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. 24 "²⁴He shall bathe his ^pbody with water in a holy place and put on ²⁵his clothes, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 "Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. 26 "The one who released the goat as the ^qscapegoat ²⁶shall wash his clothes and bathe his ^rbody with water ; then afterward he shall come into the camp. 27 "But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, ²⁷whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. 28 "Then the ²⁸one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, then afterward he shall come into the camp.

An Annual Atonement

29 "This shall be a permanent statute for you: ²⁹in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not ³⁰do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; 30 for it is on this day that ^satonement shall be made for you to ³¹cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 31 "It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may ³²humble your souls ; it is a permanent statute. 32 "So the priest who is anointed and ^tordained to serve as priest in his father's place shall make atonement : he shall thus put on ³³the linen garments, the holy garments, 33 and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for ³⁴the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 "Now you shall have this as a ³⁵permanent statute, to ³⁶make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year." And just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so he did.