Consecration of the Priests(A)

29 “This is what you are to do to consecrate(B) them, so they may serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect.(C) And from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and brushed with olive oil.(D) Put them in a basket and present them along with the bull and the two rams.(E) Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water.(F) Take the garments(G) and dress Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself and the breastpiece. Fasten the ephod on him by its skillfully woven waistband.(H) Put the turban(I) on his head and attach the sacred emblem(J) to the turban. Take the anointing oil(K) and anoint him by pouring it on his head. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics(L) and fasten caps on them. Then tie sashes on Aaron and his sons.[a](M) The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance.(N)

“Then you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

10 “Bring the bull to the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.(O) 11 Slaughter it in the Lord’s presence(P) at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 12 Take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the horns(Q) of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar.(R) 13 Then take all the fat(S) on the internal organs,(T) the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But burn the bull’s flesh and its hide and its intestines(U) outside the camp.(V) It is a sin offering.[b]

15 “Take one of the rams,(W) and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.(X) 16 Slaughter it and take the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar. 17 Cut the ram into pieces and wash(Y) the internal organs and the legs, putting them with the head and the other pieces. 18 Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma,(Z) a food offering presented to the Lord.

19 “Take the other ram,(AA) and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.(AB) 20 Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet.(AC) Then splash blood against the sides of the altar.(AD) 21 And take some blood(AE) from the altar and some of the anointing oil(AF) and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated.(AG)

22 “Take from this ram the fat,(AH) the fat tail, the fat on the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh. (This is the ram for the ordination.) 23 From the basket of bread made without yeast, which is before the Lord, take one round loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf. 24 Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and have them wave them before the Lord as a wave offering.(AI) 25 Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord, a food offering presented to the Lord.(AJ) 26 After you take the breast of the ram for Aaron’s ordination, wave it before the Lord as a wave offering, and it will be your share.(AK)

27 “Consecrate those parts of the ordination ram that belong to Aaron and his sons:(AL) the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. 28 This is always to be the perpetual share from the Israelites for Aaron and his sons. It is the contribution the Israelites are to make to the Lord from their fellowship offerings.(AM)

29 “Aaron’s sacred garments(AN) will belong to his descendants so that they can be anointed and ordained in them.(AO) 30 The son(AP) who succeeds him as priest and comes to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place is to wear them seven days.

31 “Take the ram(AQ) for the ordination and cook the meat in a sacred place.(AR) 32 At the entrance to the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread(AS) that is in the basket. 33 They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no one else may eat(AT) them, because they are sacred. 34 And if any of the meat of the ordination ram or any bread is left over till morning,(AU) burn it up. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred.

35 “Do for Aaron and his sons everything I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them. 36 Sacrifice a bull each day(AV) as a sin offering to make atonement(AW). Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate(AX) it. 37 For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy.(AY)

38 “This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day:(AZ) two lambs a year old. 39 Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight.(BA) 40 With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah[c] of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin[d] of oil(BB) from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.(BC) 41 Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight(BD) with the same grain offering(BE) and its drink offering as in the morning—a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord.

42 “For the generations to come(BF) this burnt offering is to be made regularly(BG) at the entrance to the tent of meeting,(BH) before the Lord. There I will meet you and speak to you;(BI) 43 there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory.(BJ)

44 “So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests.(BK) 45 Then I will dwell(BL) among the Israelites and be their God.(BM) 46 They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt(BN) so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.(BO)

The Altar of Incense(BP)

30 “Make an altar(BQ) of acacia wood for burning incense.(BR) It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high[e]—its horns(BS) of one piece with it. Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.(BT) Make two gold rings(BU) for the altar below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.(BV) Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law—before the atonement cover(BW) that is over the tablets of the covenant law—where I will meet with you.

“Aaron must burn fragrant incense(BX) on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.(BY) Do not offer on this altar any other incense(BZ) or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. 10 Once a year(CA) Aaron shall make atonement(CB) on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering[f](CC) for the generations to come.(CD) It is most holy to the Lord.”

Atonement Money

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “When you take a census(CE) of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom(CF) for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague(CG) will come on them when you number them. 13 Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel,[g] according to the sanctuary shekel,(CH) which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the Lord. 14 All who cross over, those twenty years old or more,(CI) are to give an offering to the Lord. 15 The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less(CJ) when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives. 16 Receive the atonement(CK) money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting.(CL) It will be a memorial(CM) for the Israelites before the Lord, making atonement for your lives.”

Basin for Washing

17 Then the Lord said to Moses, 18 “Make a bronze basin,(CN) with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet(CO) with water(CP) from it. 20 Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die.(CQ) Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord, 21 they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance(CR) for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”(CS)

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 29:9 Hebrew; Septuagint on them
  2. Exodus 29:14 Or purification offering; also in verse 36
  3. Exodus 29:40 That is, probably about 3 1/2 pounds or about 1.6 kilograms
  4. Exodus 29:40 That is, probably about 1 quart or about 1 liter
  5. Exodus 30:2 That is, about 1 1/2 feet long and wide and 3 feet high or about 45 centimeters long and wide and 90 centimeters high
  6. Exodus 30:10 Or purification offering
  7. Exodus 30:13 That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.8 grams; also in verse 15

29 And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish,

And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.

And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.

And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water.

And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:

And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.

Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.

And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.

10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.

11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.

13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.

14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

15 Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.

16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.

17 And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head.

18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the Lord: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.

20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration:

23 And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord:

24 And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.

25 And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the Lord: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

26 And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord: and it shall be thy part.

27 And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:

28 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons' by a statute for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the Lord.

29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them.

30 And that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.

31 And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration, and seethe his flesh in the holy place.

32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

33 And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy.

34 And if ought of the flesh of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them.

36 And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.

37 Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.

38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually.

39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:

40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.

41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.

43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.

44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office.

45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God.

30 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.

A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.

And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.

And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.

10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord.

11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord.

14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.

16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.

17 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:

20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord:

21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.