1 Chronicles 6:49
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
49 But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, doing all the work of the most holy place, to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.(A)
Read full chapter
Leviticus 4:20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
20 He shall do with the bull just as is done with the bull of purification offering; he shall do the same with this. The priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.(A)
Read full chapter
Exodus 30:10-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
10 Once a year Aaron shall perform the rite of atonement on its horns. Throughout your generations he shall perform the atonement for it once a year with the blood of the atoning purification offering. It is most holy to the Lord.”(A)
The Half Shekel for the Sanctuary
11 The Lord spoke to Moses, 12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to register them, at registration all of them shall give a ransom for their lives to the Lord, so that no plague may come upon them for being registered.(B) 13 This is what each one who is registered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord.(C) 14 Each one who is registered, from twenty years old and up, shall give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel, when you bring this offering to the Lord to make atonement for your lives.(D) 16 You shall take the atonement money from the Israelites and shall designate it for the service of the tent of meeting; before the Lord it will be a reminder to the Israelites of the ransom given for your lives.”(E)
Read full chapter
Exodus 30:1-7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Altar of Incense
30 “You shall make an altar on which to offer incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.(A) 2 It shall be one cubit long and one cubit wide; it shall be square and shall be two cubits high; its horns shall be of one piece with it. 3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around and its horns, and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around. 4 And you shall make two golden rings for it; under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall hold the poles for carrying it. 5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 You shall place it in front of the curtain that is above the ark of the covenant, in front of the cover that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you.(B) 7 Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall offer it,(C)
Read full chapter
Exodus 27:1-8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Altar of Burnt Offering
27 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and it shall be three cubits high.(A) 2 You shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 You shall make pots for its ashes and shovels and basins and forks and firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze.(B) 4 You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 You shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net shall extend halfway down the altar. 6 You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze; 7 the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8 You shall make it hollow, with boards. They shall be made just as you were shown on the mountain.(C)
Read full chapter
Hebrews 7:11-14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Another Priest, Like Melchizedek
11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood—for the people received the law under this priesthood—what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek rather than one according to the order of Aaron?(A) 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 Now the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.(B)
Read full chapter
Job 33:24
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
24 and he is gracious to that person and says,
‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit;
I have found a ransom;(A)
Exodus 29:33
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
33 They shall eat the food by which atonement is made, to ordain and consecrate them, but no one else shall eat of it, because it is holy.(A)
Read full chapter
Joshua 1:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s Commission to Joshua
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant, saying,
Read full chapter
Deuteronomy 34:5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command.(A)
Read full chapter
Deuteronomy 18:1-8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Privileges of Priests and Levites
18 “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no allotment or inheritance within Israel. They may eat the offerings by fire[a] that are the Lord’s portion,[b](A) 2 but they shall have no inheritance among the other members of the community; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.
3 “This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two jowls, and the stomach.(B) 4 The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.(C) 5 For the Lord your God has chosen Levi[c] out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.(D)
6 “If a Levite leaves any of your towns, from wherever he has been residing in Israel, and comes to the place that the Lord will choose (and he may come whenever he wishes), 7 then he may minister in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow-Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord. 8 They shall have equal portions to eat, even though they have income from the sale of family possessions.[d](E)
Read full chapter
Numbers 16:16-17:13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
16 And Moses said to Korah, “As for you and all your congregation, be present tomorrow before the Lord, you and they and Aaron,(A) 17 and let each one of you take his censer and put incense on it and each one of you present his censer before the Lord, two hundred fifty censers, you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18 So each man took his censer, and they put fire in the censers and laid incense on them, and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then Korah assembled the whole congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation.(B)
20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.”(C) 22 They fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?”(D)
23 And the Lord spoke to Moses: 24 “Speak to the congregation, saying: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” 25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He spoke to the congregation, saying, “Turn away from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, or you will be swept away for all their sins.”(E) 27 So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, together with their wives, their children, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, “This is how you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works; it has not been of my own accord:(F) 29 If these people die a natural death or if a natural fate comes on them, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”(G)
31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them was split apart.(H) 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households—everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods.(I) 33 So they with all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 All Israel around them fled at their outcry, for they said, “The earth will swallow us, too!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering the incense.(J)
36 [a]Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the blaze, then scatter the fire far and wide. 38 For the censers of these sinners have become holy at the cost of their lives. Make them into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the Israelites.”(K) 39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by those who were burned, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar— 40 a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the Lord, so as not to become like Korah and his congregation, just as the Lord had said to him through Moses.(L)
41 On the next day, however, the whole congregation of the Israelites rebelled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.”(M) 42 And when the congregation had assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting; the cloud had covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.(N) 43 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces.(O) 46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.”(P) 47 So Aaron took it as Moses had ordered and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense and made atonement for the people.(Q) 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.(R) 49 Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the affair of Korah.(S) 50 When the plague was stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
The Budding of Aaron’s Rod
17 [b]The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. 4 Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you.(T) 5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you.”(U) 6 Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs. 7 So Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant.(V)
8 When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites, and they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.”(W) 11 Moses did so; just as the Lord commanded him, so he did.
12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We are perishing; we are lost; all of us are lost! 13 Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?”(X)
Numbers 15:25
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
25 The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the Israelites, and they shall be forgiven; it was unintentional, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire[a] to the Lord, and their purification offering before the Lord, for their error.(A)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 15.25 Or a gift
Leviticus 21:1-22
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Holiness of Priests
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:
“No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his relatives,(A) 2 except for his nearest kin: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother; 3 likewise, for a virgin sister close to him because she has had no husband, he may defile himself for her. 4 But he shall not defile himself for those related to him by marriage and so profane himself. 5 They shall not make bald spots upon their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or make any gashes in their flesh.(B) 6 They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the Lord’s offerings by fire,[a] the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy.(C) 7 They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled; neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband. For they are holy to their God,(D) 8 and you shall treat them as holy, since they offer the food of your God; they shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, I who sanctify you, am holy. 9 When the daughter of a priest profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned to death.
10 “The priest who is exalted above his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the vestments, shall not dishevel his hair nor tear his vestments.(E) 11 He shall not go where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother.(F) 12 He shall not go outside the sanctuary and thus profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord.(G) 13 He shall marry only a woman who is a virgin.(H) 14 A widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been defiled, a prostitute—these he shall not marry. He shall marry a virgin of his own people, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord; I sanctify him.”
16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron and say: No one of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the food of his God.(I) 18 Indeed, no one who has a blemish shall draw near, one who is blind or lame, or one who is mutilated or deformed,[b](J) 19 or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, 20 or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles.(K) 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire;[c] since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God.(L) 22 He may eat the food of his God, of the most holy as well as of the holy.
Read full chapter
Leviticus 8:1-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Rites of Ordination
8 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Take Aaron and his sons with him, the vestments, the anointing oil, the bull for the purification offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread;(A) 3 and assemble the whole congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” 4 And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him. When the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting, 5 Moses said to the congregation, “This is what the Lord has commanded to be done.”
6 Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water.(B) 7 He put the tunic on him, fastened the sash around him, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him. He then put the decorated band of the ephod around him, tying the ephod to him with it. 8 He placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim.(C) 9 And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden ornament, the holy diadem, as the Lord had commanded Moses.(D)
10 Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it and consecrated them.(E)
Read full chapter
Leviticus 1:7-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
7 The sons of the priest Aaron shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.(A) 8 Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the parts, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar, 9 but its entrails and its legs shall be washed with water. Then the priest shall turn the rest into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire[a] of pleasing odor to the Lord.(B)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1.9 Or a gift
Leviticus 1:5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 The bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.(A)
Read full chapter
Exodus 29:36-37
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
36 Also every day you shall offer a bull as a purification offering for atonement. Also you shall offer a sin offering for the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it, to consecrate it.(A) 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become holy.(B)
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.