The Priest’s Part in the Offerings

7 ‘This is the law of the guilt offering; it is most holy. ² In the place where they kill the burnt offering they are to kill the guilt offering, and he shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. ³ Then he shall offer all its fat, the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails, ⁴ and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys. ⁵ The priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar as an offering by fire to the Lord; it is a guilt offering. ⁶ Every male among the priests may eat it; it shall be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy. ⁷ The guilt offering is like the sin offering, there is one law for [both of] them: the priest who makes atonement with it shall have it for himself. ⁸ The priest who presents any man’s burnt offering shall have for himself the hide of the burnt offering which he has presented. ⁹ Likewise, every grain offering that is baked in the oven and everything that is prepared in a pan or on a griddle shall belong to the priest who presents it. ¹⁰ Every grain offering, mixed with [olive] oil or dry, all the sons of Aaron may have, one as well as another.

¹¹ ‘Now this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which shall be presented to the Lord: ¹² If one offers it as a sacrificial meal of thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour mixed with oil. ¹³ With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall present his offering with cakes of leavened bread. ¹⁴ Of this he shall present one [cake] from each offering as a contribution to the Lord; it shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings.

¹⁵ ‘The meat of the sacrifice of thanksgiving presented as a peace offering shall be eaten on the day that it is offered; none of it shall be left until morning. ¹⁶ But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day that which remains of it may be eaten; ¹⁷ but what is left over from the meat of the sacrifice on the third day shall be [completely] burned in the fire. ¹⁸ If any of the meat of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is ever eaten on the third day, then it will not be accepted, and the one who brought it will not be credited with it. It shall be an abhorred (offensive) thing; the one who eats it shall bear his own guilt.

¹⁹ ‘The meat that comes in contact with anything that is unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned in the fire. As for other meat, everyone who is [ceremonially] clean may eat it. ²⁰ But the one who eats meat from the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the Lord, in his uncleanness, that person shall be ^[a]cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them]. ²¹ When anyone touches any unclean thing—human uncleanness, or an unclean animal, or any unclean ^[b]detestable thing—and then eats the meat of the sacrifice of the Lord’s peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].’”

²² Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘You shall not eat any fat from an ox, a sheep, or a goat. ²⁴ The fat of an animal which dies [of natural causes] and the fat of one which is torn [to pieces by a predator] may be put to any other use, but under no circumstances are you to eat it. ²⁵ For whoever eats the fat of the animal from which an offering by fire is presented to the Lord, that person who eats shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them]. ²⁶ Moreover, you are not to eat any blood [of any kind], whether of bird or animal, in any of your dwelling places. ²⁷ Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.’”

²⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁹ “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. ³⁰ With his own hands he is to bring offerings by fire to the Lord; he shall bring the fat with the breast, so that the breast may be presented as a wave offering before the Lord. ³¹ The priest shall offer up the fat in smoke on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. ³² You shall give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifices of your peace offerings. ³³ The son of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh as his portion. ³⁴ For I have taken the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering from the Israelites, from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as their perpetual portion from the Israelites.

³⁵ ‘This is the consecrated portion from the offerings by fire to the Lord that was designated for Aaron and his sons on the day he presented them to serve as priests to the Lord. ³⁶ The Lord commanded this to be given to the priests by the Israelites on the day that He anointed them. It is their portion perpetually throughout their generations.’”

³⁷ This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the consecration (ordination) offering, and the sacrifice of peace offerings, ³⁸ which the Lord commanded Moses at Mount Sinai on the day He commanded the Israelites to present their offerings to the Lord, in the Wilderness of Sinai.

The Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

8 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments [which are symbols of their office], and the anointing oil, and the bull for the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread; ³ and assemble the entire congregation at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting.” ⁴ Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. ⁵ Moses said to the congregation, “This is what the Lord has commanded us to do.”

⁶ Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. ⁷ He put the undertunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him in the robe, and put the ^[c]ephod (an upper vestment) on him. He tied the [skillfully woven] band of the ephod around him, with which he secured it to Aaron. ⁸ Moses then put the breastpiece on Aaron, and he put in the breastpiece the Urim and the Thummim [the sacred articles the high priest used when seeking God’s will concerning the nation]. ⁹ He also put the turban on Aaron’s head, and on it, in the front, Moses placed the golden plate, the holy crown, just as the Lord had commanded him.

¹⁰ Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. ¹¹ He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. ¹² Then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him, to consecrate him. ¹³ Next Moses brought Aaron’s sons forward, put undertunics on them, belted them with sashes, and bound caps on them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

¹⁴ Then he brought the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull. ¹⁵ Next Moses killed it and took the blood and with his finger put some of it around on the horns of the altar and purified it [from sin]. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it, to make atonement for it. ¹⁶ He took all the fat that was on the entrails, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses offered them up in smoke on the altar. ¹⁷ But the bull (the sin offering) and its hide, its meat, and its refuse he burned in the fire outside the camp, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

¹⁸ He brought the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ¹⁹ Moses killed it and sprinkled the blood around on the altar. ²⁰ When he had cut the ram into pieces, Moses offered up the head, the pieces, and the fat in smoke. ²¹ After he had washed the entrails and the legs in water, Moses offered up the whole ram in smoke on the altar. It was a burnt offering for a sweet and soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²² Then he brought the second ram, the ram of consecration (ordination), and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ²³ Moses killed it and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴ He also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, and the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet; and Moses sprinkled the rest of the blood around on the altar. ²⁵ He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh; ²⁶ and from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened cake, a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer and put them on the fat and on the right thigh; ²⁷ and he put all these things in Aaron’s hands and his sons’ hands and presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁸ Then Moses took these things from their hands and offered them up in smoke on the altar with the burnt offering. They were a consecration (ordination) offering for a sweet and soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁹ Moses also took the breast and presented it as a wave offering before the Lord; it was Moses’ portion of the ram of consecration (ordination), just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³⁰ So Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and also on his sons and their garments with him; so Moses consecrated Aaron and his garments, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.

³¹ Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, “Boil the meat at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting and eat it there together with the bread that is in the basket of the consecration (ordination) offering, just as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’ ³² And what remains of the meat and of the bread you shall burn in the fire. ³³ You shall not go outside the doorway of the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration (ordination) are ended; for it will take seven days to consecrate you. ³⁴ As has been done this day, so the Lord has commanded to do for your atonement. ³⁵ You shall remain day and night for seven days at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, doing what the Lord has required you to do, so that you will not die; for so I (Moses) have been commanded.” ³⁶ So Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded through Moses.