Leviticus 16:5-15

5 Aaron must take from the community of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

6 “Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the LORD .

7 Then he must take the two male goats and present them to the LORD at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

8 He is to cast sacred lots to determine which goat will be reserved as an offering to the LORD and which will carry the sins of the people to the wilderness of Azazel.

9 Aaron will then present as a sin offering the goat chosen by lot for the LORD .

10 The other goat, the scapegoat chosen by lot to be sent away, will be kept alive, standing before the LORD . When it is sent away to Azazel in the wilderness, the people will be purified and made right with the LORD .

11 “Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the LORD . After he has slaughtered the bull as a sin offering,

12 he will fill an incense burner with burning coals from the altar that stands before the LORD . Then he will take two handfuls of fragrant powdered incense and will carry the burner and the incense behind the inner curtain.

13 There in the LORD ’s presence he will put the incense on the burning coals so that a cloud of incense will rise over the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. If he follows these instructions, he will not die.

14 Then he must take some of the blood of the bull, dip his finger in it, and sprinkle it on the east side of the atonement cover. He must sprinkle blood seven times with his finger in front of the atonement cover.

15 “Then Aaron must slaughter the first goat as a sin offering for the people and carry its blood behind the inner curtain. There he will sprinkle the goat’s blood over the atonement cover and in front of it, just as he did with the bull’s blood.

Leviticus 16:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 16

This chapter treats of the day of atonement, and of the rites, sacrifices, and services of it, directs when Aaron should come into the holy of holies, Le 16:1,2; and in what habit he should then appear, and with what offerings both for himself, and for the people, Le 16:3-10; and that having slain his own sin offering, and that for the people, he should offer incense before the mercy seat, and sprinkle that with the blood of both, Le 16:11-15; and by these offerings make atonement for the holy place, the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, Le 16:16-19; and having done this, he was to take the live goat, lay his hands on it, confess over it, and put upon it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and then send it away by a fit man into the wilderness, Le 16:20-22; upon which he was to put off his linen garments, wash his flesh, and put them on again, and offer the burnt offering for himself, and for the people, Le 16:23-25; also he that let go the goat, and he that carried and burnt the sin offerings without the camp, were to wash themselves and clothes also, Le 16:26-28; the observance of this day, once a year, which was on the tenth of the seventh month, as a day of affliction and atonement, was to be a statute for ever to the children of Israel, Le 16:29-34.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or to make atonement for himself and his family; similarly in 16:11, 17b, 24, 34 .
• [b]. Hebrew Tent of Meeting; also in 16:16, 17, 20, 23, 33 .
• [c]. Or wilderness, it will make atonement for the people.
• [d]. Hebrew that is above the Testimony. The Hebrew word for “testimony” refers to the terms of the ’s covenant with Israel as written on stone tablets, which were kept in the Ark, and also to the covenant itself.