Leviticus 8  Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Rites of Ordination

8 The Lord said to the Moses, ² “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread; ³ and assemble all the congregation at the door of the tent of meeting.” ⁴ And Moses did as the Lord commanded him; and the congregation was assembled at the door of the tent of meeting.

⁵ And Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded to be done.” ⁶ And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. ⁷ And he put on him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and girded him with the skilfully woven band of the ephod, binding it to him therewith. ⁸ And he placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. ⁹ And he set the turban upon his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁰ Then Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. ¹¹ And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the laver and its base, to consecrate them. ¹² And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to consecrate him. ¹³ And Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and clothed them with coats, and girded them with girdles, and bound caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁴ Then he brought the bull of the sin offering; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bull of the sin offering. ¹⁵ And Moses killed it, and took the blood, and with his finger put it on the horns of the altar round about, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and consecrated it, to make atonement for it. ¹⁶ And he took all the fat that was on the entrails, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar. ¹⁷ But the bull, and its skin, and its flesh, and its dung, he burned with fire outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁸ Then he presented the ram of the burnt offering; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ¹⁹ And Moses killed it, and threw the blood upon the altar round about. ²⁰ And when the ram was cut into pieces, Moses burned the head and the pieces and the fat. ²¹ And when the entrails and the legs were washed with water, Moses burned the whole ram on the altar, as a burnt offering, a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

²² Then he presented the other ram, the ram of ordination; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ²³ And Moses killed it, and took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the great toe of his right foot. ²⁴ And Aaron’s sons were brought, and Moses put some of the blood on the tips of their right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet; and Moses threw the blood upon the altar round about. ²⁵ Then he took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was on the entrails, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and the right thigh; ²⁶ and out of the basket of unleavened bread which was before the Lord he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat and on the right thigh; ²⁷ and he put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁸ Then Moses took them from their hands, and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering, as an ordination offering, a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁹ And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord; it was Moses’ portion of the ram of ordination, as the Lord commanded Moses.

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

³¹ And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the flesh at the door of the tent of meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it’; ³² and what remains of the flesh and the bread you shall burn with fire. ³³ And you shall not go out from the door of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you. ³⁴ As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. ³⁵ At the door of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, lest you die; for so I am commanded.” ³⁶ And Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord commanded by Moses.