Leviticus 16:1-14

Amplified Bible

Law of Atonement

16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who had died when they [irreverently] approached the presence of the Lord.^{(A) 2} The Lord said to Moses,

“Tell Aaron your brother that he ^[a]must not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil (the Holy of Holies), before the ^[b]mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die, for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.^{(B) 3} Aaron [as high priest] shall enter the Holy Place in this way: with [the blood of] a young bull as a sin offering and [the blood of] a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be belted with the linen sash, and dressed with the linen turban (these are the holy garments). He shall bathe his body in water and put them on. ⁵ He shall take from the congregation of the Israelites [at their expense] two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering. ⁶ Then Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷ He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. ⁸ Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord, the other lot for the ^[c]scapegoat. ⁹ Then 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 for the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement on it; it shall be sent into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

¹¹ “Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household (the other priests), and he shall kill the bull as the sin offering for himself. ¹² He shall take a censer full of burning coals from the [bronze] altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil [into the Most Holy Place], ¹³ and put the incense on the fire [in the censer] before the Lord, so that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on [the ark of] the Testimony, otherwise he will die. ¹⁴ He shall take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.