The Day of Atonement

16 Now the Lord spoke to Moses after ^(A)the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died; ² and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother ^(B)not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for ^(C)I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

^3 [a]“Thus Aaron shall ^(D)come into the Holy Place: ^(E)with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put the ^(F)holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore ^(G)he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. ⁵ And he shall take from ^(H)the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering.

⁶ “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and ^(I)make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷ He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁸ Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. ⁹ And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make ^(J)atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

¹¹ “And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for ^(K)himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. ¹² Then he shall take ^(L)a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of ^(M)sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. ^13 (N)And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the ^(O)mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he ^(P)die. ^14 (Q)He shall take some of the blood of the bull and ^(R)sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

^15 (S)“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood ^(T)inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. ¹⁶ So he shall ^(U)make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. ¹⁷ There shall be ^(V)no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.