Exodus 29
English Standard Version
Consecration of the Priests
29 “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. (A)Take one bull of the herd and two rams without blemish, 2 (B)and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. 3 You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams. 4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and (C)wash them with water. 5 Then (D)you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the (E)skillfully woven band of the ephod. 6 (F)And you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 You shall take (G)the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8 Then you (H)shall bring his sons and put coats on them, 9 and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with (I)sashes and bind caps on them. And (J)the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall (K)ordain Aaron and his sons.
10 “Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. (L)Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, 12 and (M)shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the (N)horns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of[a] the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all (O)the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire (P)outside the camp; (Q)it is a sin offering.
15 “Then (R)you shall take one of the rams, and (S)Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 16 and you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. 17 Then you shall (T)cut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, 18 and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a (U)pleasing aroma, a food offering[b] to the Lord.
19 (V)“You shall take the other ram, (W)and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 20 and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. 21 Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the (X)anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him.
22 “You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the (Y)fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of (Z)ordination), 23 and (AA)one loaf of bread and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. 24 You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and (AB)wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 Then (AC)you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a (AD)pleasing aroma before the Lord. It is a food offering to the Lord.
26 “You shall take the (AE)breast of the ram of Aaron's (AF)ordination and (AG)wave it for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion. 27 And you shall consecrate the (AH)breast of the wave offering that is waved and the (AI)thigh of the priests' portion that is contributed from the ram of (AJ)ordination, from what was Aaron's and his sons'. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a (AK)perpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is a (AL)contribution. It shall be a (AM)contribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord.
29 “The holy garments of Aaron (AN)shall be for his sons after him; they shall (AO)be anointed in them and ordained in them. 30 The son who succeeds him as priest, who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, shall wear them (AP)seven days.
31 “You shall take the ram of ordination and (AQ)boil its flesh in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the (AR)bread that is in the basket in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 33 (AS)They shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an (AT)outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. 34 And if any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remain until the morning, then you shall (AU)burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
35 “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through (AV)seven days shall you ordain them, 36 and every day you shall offer a (AW)bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall (AX)anoint it to consecrate it. 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the (AY)altar shall be most holy. (AZ)Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.
38 “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: (BA)two lambs a year old (BB)day by day regularly. 39 One lamb you shall offer (BC)in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer (BD)at twilight. 40 And with the first lamb a tenth measure[c] of fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin[d] of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 The other lamb you shall offer (BE)at twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as (BF)in the morning, for a (BG)pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. 42 It shall be a (BH)regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, (BI)where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 43 There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be (BJ)sanctified by my glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. (BK)Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. 45 (BL)I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that (BM)I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
Footnotes
- Exodus 29:12 Hebrew all
- Exodus 29:18 Or an offering by fire; also verses 25, 41
- Exodus 29:40 Possibly an ephah (about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters)
- Exodus 29:40 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters
Exodus 29
Common English Bible
Instructions for the priests’ ordination
29 Now this is what you should do to make them holy in order to serve me as priests. Take a young bull and two flawless rams. 2 Take unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread made with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. Make them out of high-quality wheat flour. 3 Put them all in one basket and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. 4 Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the meeting tent and wash them with water. 5 Then take the priestly clothes and put them on Aaron: the tunic, the vest’s robe, the vest itself, and the chest pendant. Put the vest on him with the vest’s belt. 6 Set the turban on his head and place the holy crown on the turban. 7 Take the anointing oil and pour it on his head to anoint him. 8 Then present his sons and put the tunics on them. 9 Tighten the sashes on them, on both Aaron and his sons. Wrap the turbans on their heads. It will be a permanent regulation that the duties of priesthood belong to them. In this way, you will ordain Aaron and his sons.
10 Present the bull at the front of the meeting tent. Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the bull’s head. 11 Then slaughter the bull in the Lord’s presence at the meeting tent’s entrance. 12 Take some of the bull’s blood and smear it on the altar’s horns with your finger. Pour out the rest of the blood at the altar’s base. 13 Then take all the fat that covers the inner organs, the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys along with the fat that is on them, and burn them up in smoke on the altar. 14 Burn the rest of the meat of the bull, its hide, and the intestines with their contents with a fire outside the camp. It is a purification offering.
15 Choose one of the rams, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the ram’s head. 16 Then slaughter the ram. Take its blood and throw it against all the altar’s sides. 17 Cut up the ram into parts. Wash its inner organs and legs, and put them together with its parts and its head. 18 Then turn the entire ram into smoke by burning it on the altar. It is an entirely burned offering for the Lord, a soothing smell, a food gift for the Lord.
19 Take the second ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the ram’s head. 20 Slaughter the ram. Take some of its blood and smear it on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Throw the rest of the blood against all the altar’s sides. 21 Then take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle them on Aaron and on his clothes and on his sons and on his sons’ clothes. In this way, Aaron, his sons, and all their priestly garments will be holy.
22 Take the fatty parts of the ram: the fat tail, the fat around the inner organs, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat around them, and the right thigh (because it is a ram for ordination). 23 Add one loaf of bread, one flatbread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that was presented to the Lord. 24 Place all of these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and lift them as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence. 25 Then take them from their hands and turn them into smoke by burning them on the altar with the entirely burned offering as a soothing smell in the Lord’s presence. It is a food gift for the Lord.
26 Take the breast of the ram for Aaron’s ordination and lift it as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence. It will be your portion. 27 Make holy the breast that was lifted for the uplifted offering and the thigh that was raised for the gift offering from the ram for the ordination. They belong to Aaron and his sons. 28 Those parts will be given to Aaron and his sons from the Israelites as a permanent provision, because they are a gift offering. They will be a gift offering from the Israelites, their gift offering to the Lord from their well-being sacrifices.
29 Aaron’s holy clothes should be passed on to his sons after him. His sons should be anointed in them and ordained in them. 30 The son who is priest in his place should wear them seven days when he comes into the meeting tent to minister in the sanctuary.
31 Take the ram for the ordination and boil its meat in a holy place. 32 Aaron and his sons will eat the ram’s meat and the bread that is in the basket at the meeting tent’s entrance. 33 They alone should eat the food that was used to purify them, to ordain them, and to make them holy. No one else should eat it because it is holy. 34 If any meat for the ordination or any of the bread is left over until morning, then you should burn the leftovers with fire. It shouldn’t be eaten because it’s holy.
35 Treat Aaron and his sons just as I have commanded you. Ordain them for seven days. 36 Every day you should offer a bull as a purification offering for reconciliation. You should remove the sin from the altar through a ritual of reconciliation, and you should anoint the altar to make it holy. 37 Seven days you should perform the ritual of reconciliation for the altar and make it holy. In this way, the altar will become most holy, and whatever touches the altar will also become holy.
Instructions for daily entirely burned offerings
38 Now this is what you should offer on the altar: two one-year-old lambs regularly every day. 39 Offer one lamb in the morning and offer the other lamb at twilight. 40 With the first lamb, add one-tenth of a measure of the high-quality flour mixed with a quarter of a hin[a] of oil from crushed olives and a quarter of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 With the second lamb offered at twilight, again include a grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning as a soothing smell, a gift offering for the Lord. 42 This should be the regular entirely burned offering in every generation at the meeting tent’s entrance in the Lord’s presence. There I will meet with you, and there I will speak to you. 43 I will meet with the Israelites there, and it will be made holy by my glorious presence. 44 I will make the meeting tent and the altar holy. Likewise, I will make Aaron and his sons holy to serve me as priests. 45 I will be at home among the Israelites, and I will be their God. 46 They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could make a home among them. I am the Lord their God.
Footnotes
- Exodus 29:40 One hin is approximately one gallon.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible