The Burnt Offering

1 Now the Lord ^(A)called to Moses, and spoke to him ^(B)from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(C)‘When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock.

³ ‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male ^(D)without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord. ^4 (E)Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be ^(F)accepted on his behalf ^(G)to make atonement for him. ⁵ He shall kill the ^(H)bull before the Lord; ^(I)and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood ^(J)and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁶ And he shall ^(K)skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. ⁷ The sons of Aaron the priest shall put ^(L)fire on the altar, and ^(M)lay the wood in order on the fire. ⁸ Then the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; ⁹ but he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a ^(N)sweet^[a] aroma to the Lord.

¹⁰ ‘If his offering is of the flocks—of the sheep or of the goats—as a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring a male ^(O)without blemish. ^11 (P)He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar. ¹² And he shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat; and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; ¹³ but he shall wash the entrails and the legs with water. Then the priest shall bring it all and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt sacrifice, an ^(Q)offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

¹⁴ ‘And if the burnt sacrifice of his offering to the Lord is of birds, then he shall bring his offering of ^(R)turtledoves or young pigeons. ¹⁵ The priest shall bring it to the altar, ^[b]wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out at the side of the altar. ¹⁶ And he shall remove its crop with its feathers and cast it ^(S)beside the altar on the east side, into the place for ashes. ¹⁷ Then he shall split it at its wings, but ^(T)shall not divide it completely; and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. ^(U)It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a ^[c]sweet aroma to the Lord.

A Prescribed Place of Worship

12 “These ^(A)are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, ^(B)all^[a] the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (C)You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(D)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ And ^(E)you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their ^[b]wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. ⁴ You shall not ^(F)worship the Lord your God with such things.

⁵ “But you shall seek the ^(G)place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His ^(H)dwelling^[c] place; and there you shall go. ^6 (I)There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(J)firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ And ^(K)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(L)you shall rejoice in ^[d]all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—^(M)every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— ⁹ for as yet you have not come to the ^(N)rest^[e] and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

Animal Sacrifices Insufficient

10 For the law, having a ^(A)shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, ^(B)can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ² For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once ^[a]purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For ^(C)it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Christ’s Death Fulfills God’s Will^(D)

⁵ Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

⁸ Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, ^[b]O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ^10 (F)By that will we have been ^[c]sanctified ^(G)through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.