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, (B)and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and (C)wash them with water. 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. (F)And you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. You shall take (G)the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Then you (H)shall bring his sons and put coats on them, 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

  1. Exodus 29:12 Hebrew all
  2. Exodus 29:18 Or an offering by fire; also verses 25, 41
  3. Exodus 29:40 Possibly an ephah (about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters)
  4. Exodus 29:40 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters

Instructions for Consecrating Aaron and His Sons

29 “And this is the thing that you will do for them to consecrate them to serve as a priest for me: Take one young bull[a] and two rams without defect and unleavened bread and unleavened, ring-shaped bread cakes mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened breads smeared with oil. You will make them with finely milled wheat flour, and you will put them on one basket, and you will bring them on the basket and bring the bull and the two rams. And you will bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of assembly, and you will wash them with water. And you will take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic and the robe of the ephod, and you will fasten to him the ephod and the breast piece with the waistband of the ephod. And you will set the turban on his head, and you will put the holy diadem on the turban. And you will take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. And you will bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. And you will gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and wrap headdresses on them. And priesthood will be theirs as a lasting rule, and you will ordain Aaron and his sons.[b]

10 “And you will bring the bull before the tent of assembly, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 And you will slaughter the bull before Yahweh at the entrance of the tent of assembly. 12 And you will take some of the blood of the bull and with your finger put it on the horns of the altar, and you will pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. 13 And you will take and turn into smoke on the altar all the fat covering the inner parts and the lobe on the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them. 14 And the flesh of the bull and its skin and its offal you will burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

15 “And you will take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the ram. 16 And you will slaughter the ram and take its blood and sprinkle it on the altar all around. 17 And you will cut the ram into pieces and wash its inner parts, and you will put its legs with its pieces and with its head. 18 And you will turn into smoke on the altar all of the ram; it is a burnt offering for Yahweh; it is a smell of appeasement, an offering by fire for Yahweh.

19 “And you will take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20 And you will slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe and on the right earlobe of his sons and on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe[c] of their right foot, and you will sprinkle the blood at the base of the altar all around. 21 And you will take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and you will spatter it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him, and he will be sacred, and his garments and his sons and his sons’ garments with him. 22 And you will take from the ram the fat and the fat tail and the fat covering the inner parts and the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them and the right thigh, because it is the ram of ordination.

23 “And one loaf of bread and one ring-shaped bread cake of oiled bread and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before Yahweh— 24 you will put them all on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and you will wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. 25 And you will take them from their hand and turn them to smoke on the altar beside the burnt offering as a fragrance of appeasement before Yahweh; it is an offering made by fire before Yahweh.

26 “And you will take the breast section from the ram of ordination that is for Aaron, and you will wave it as a wave offering before Yahweh. It will be your portion. 27 And you will consecrate the wave offering breast section and the thigh of the contribution that was waved and that was presented[d] from the ram of the ordination that is for Aaron and for his sons. 28 And it will be for[e] Aaron and for his sons as a lasting rule from the Israelites,[f] because it is a contribution, and it will be a contribution from the Israelites[g] from their sacrifices of fellowship, their contribution to Yahweh.

29 “And the holy garments that are for Aaron will be for his sons after him in which to anoint them and to ordain them.[h] 30 Seven days the priest who replaces him from among his sons will wear them, who comes to the tent of assembly to serve in the sanctuary. 31 And you will take the ram of ordination and boil its meat in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons will eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance of the tent of assembly. 33 And they will eat them—the things by which atonement was made for them to ordain them to consecrate them—and a stranger will not eat them because they are holy objects. 34 If any remains until morning from the ordination meat or from the bread, you will burn the remainder in fire; it will not be eaten, because it is a holy object. 35 And you will do so for Aaron and for his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; seven days you will ordain them.

Instructions for Regular Offerings at the Tabernacle

36 “And you will offer a bull for a sin offering every day for the atonement; and you will offer a sin offering on the altar[i] when you make atonement for it, and you will anoint it to consecrate it. 37 Seven days you will make atonement for the altar, and you will consecrate it, and the altar will be a most holy thing.[j] Anyone who[k] touches the altar will be holy.

38 “And this is what you shall offer on the altar: Two one-year-old[l] male lambs every day[m] continually. 39 The first lamb you will offer in the morning, and the second lamb you will offer at twilight.[n] 40 And a tenth of finely milled flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a libation with the first lamb. 41 And the second lamb you will offer at twilight;[o] you will offer a grain offering and its libation like that of the morning for a fragrance of appeasement, an offering made by fire for Yahweh. 42 It will be a burnt offering of continuity throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of assembly before Yahweh, where I will meet with you to speak to you there.

43 “And I will meet with the Israelites[p] there, and it will be consecrated by my glory. 44 And I will consecrate the tent of assembly and the altar, and Aaron and his sons I will consecrate to serve as priests for me. 45 And I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites,[q] and I will be their God. 46 And they will know that I am Yahweh, their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt in order to dwell in their midst. I am Yahweh their God.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 29:1 Literally “a son of cattle”
  2. Exodus 29:9 Literally “you will fill the hand of Aaron and the hands of his sons”
  3. Exodus 29:20 Literally “the thumb of”
  4. Exodus 29:27 Literally “lifted up”
  5. Exodus 29:28 Or “belong to”
  6. Exodus 29:28 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  7. Exodus 29:28 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  8. Exodus 29:29 Literally “to fill in them their hands”
  9. Exodus 29:36 Or “you will purify the altar”
  10. Exodus 29:37 Literally “a holiness of holinesses” or “a holy thing among holy things,” a thing of utmost holiness
  11. Exodus 29:37 Or “anything that”; literally “all touching”
  12. Exodus 29:38 Literally “sons of a year”
  13. Exodus 29:38 Literally “for the day,” or per day
  14. Exodus 29:39 Literally “between the evenings”
  15. Exodus 29:41 Literally “between the evenings”
  16. Exodus 29:43 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  17. Exodus 29:45 Literally “sons/children of Israel”