Law of Atonement

16 Now the Lord spoke to Moses after ^(A)the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died. ² The Lord said to Moses:

“Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter ^(B)at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the ^[a]mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for ^(C)I will appear in the cloud over the ^[b]mercy seat. ³ Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a ^[c]bull for a ^(D)sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on the ^(E)holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his ^[d]body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall ^(F)bathe his ^[e]body in water and put them on. ⁵ He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel ^(G)two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. ⁶ Then ^(H)Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. 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 and the other lot for the ^[f]scapegoat. ⁹ Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot for the ^[g]scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make ^(I)atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the ^[h]scapegoat.

¹¹ “Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering ^(J)which is for himself and make atonement for himself and ^(K)for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. ¹² He shall take a ^(L)firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord and ^[i]two handfuls of finely ground ^(M)sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil. ¹³ He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the ^[j](N)mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, ^(O)otherwise he will die. ¹⁴ Moreover, ^(P)he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it ^(Q)with his finger on the ^[k]mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the ^[l]mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵ “Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering ^(R)which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the ^[m]mercy seat and in front of the ^[n]mercy seat. ^16 (S)He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. ¹⁷ When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. ¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat and ^(T)put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. ^19 (U)With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it, and from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it.

²⁰ “When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. ²¹ Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and ^(V)confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions ^[o]in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. ²² The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off ^(W)the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. ^24 (X)He shall bathe his ^[p]body with water in a holy place and put on ^(Y)his clothes, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. ²⁶ The one who released the goat as the ^[q]scapegoat ^(Z)shall wash his clothes and bathe his ^[r]body with water; then afterward he shall come into the camp. ²⁷ But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, ^(AA)whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. ²⁸ Then the ^(AB)one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, then afterward he shall come into the camp.

An Annual Atonement

²⁹ “This shall be a permanent statute for you: ^(AC)in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not ^(AD)do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; ³⁰ for it is on this day that ^[s]atonement shall be made for you to ^(AE)cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. ³¹ It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may ^(AF)humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. ³² So the priest who is anointed and ^[t]ordained to serve as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on ^(AG)the linen garments, the holy garments, ³³ and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for ^(AH)the priests and for all the people of the assembly. ³⁴ Now you shall have this as a ^(AI)permanent statute, to ^(AJ)make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.” And just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so he did.

The Day of Atonement

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ “On exactly ^(A)the tenth day of this seventh month is ^(B)the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a ^(C)day of atonement, ^(D)to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. ²⁹ If there is any ^[a]person who will not humble himself on this same day, ^(E)he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰ As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹ You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ³² It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath.”

The Sabbatic Year and Year of Jubilee

25 The Lord then spoke to Moses ^[a]at Mount Sinai, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. ^3 (A)Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, ⁴ but during ^(B)the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ⁵ Your harvest’s ^[b]aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. ^6 (C)All of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you. ⁷ Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat.

⁸ ‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. ⁹ You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on ^(D)the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. ¹⁰ You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and ^(E)proclaim ^[c]a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, ^[d]and ^(F)each of you shall return to his own property, ^[e]and each of you shall return to his family. ¹¹ You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. ¹² For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.

¹³ ‘^(G)On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property. ¹⁴ If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend or buy from your friend’s hand, ^(H)you shall not wrong one another. ¹⁵ Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your ^[f]friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops. ^16 (I)In proportion to the ^[g]extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you. ¹⁷ So ^(J)you shall not wrong one another, but you shall ^[h]fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

¹⁸ ‘You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that ^(K)you may live securely on the land. ¹⁹ Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. ²⁰ But if you say, “^(L)What are we going to eat on the seventh year ^[i]if we do not sow or gather in our crops?” ²¹ then ^(M)I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years. ²² When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat ^(N)old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in.

The Law of Redemption

²³ ‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for ^(O)the land is Mine; for ^(P)you are but aliens and sojourners with Me. ²⁴ Thus for every ^[j]piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.

²⁵ ‘^(Q)If a ^[k]fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his ^[l]relative has sold. ²⁶ Or in case a man has no kinsman, but so ^[m]recovers his means as to find sufficient for its redemption, ^27 (R)then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property. ²⁸ But if ^[n]he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaser until the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall ^[o]revert, that ^(S)he may return to his property.

²⁹ ‘Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year from its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year. ³⁰ But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to its purchaser throughout his generations; it does not ^[p]revert in the jubilee. ³¹ The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall shall be considered ^[q]as open fields; they have redemption rights and ^[r]revert in the jubilee. ³² As for ^(T)cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession. ³³ What, therefore, ^[s]belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale ^[t]in the city of this possession ^[u]reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. ^34 (U)But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession.

Of Poor Countrymen

³⁵ ‘^(V)Now in case a ^[v]countryman of yours becomes poor and his ^[w]means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. ^36 (W)Do not take ^[x]usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your ^[y]countryman may live with you. ³⁷ You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain. ^38 (X)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and ^(Y)to be your God.

³⁹ ‘^(Z)If a ^[z]countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. ⁴⁰ He shall be with you as a hired man, as ^(AA)if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee. ⁴¹ He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers. ⁴² For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. ^43 (AB)You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God. ⁴⁴ As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. ⁴⁵ Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have ^[aa]produced in your land; they also may become your possession. ⁴⁶ You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. ^(AC)But in respect to your ^[ab]countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another.

Of Redeeming a Poor Man

⁴⁷ ‘Now if the ^[ac]means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a ^[ad]countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family, ⁴⁸ then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, ⁴⁹ or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or ^[ae](AD)if he prospers, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰ He then with his purchaser shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him. ⁵¹ If there are still many years, ^(AE)he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption; ⁵² and if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption. ⁵³ Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; ^(AF)he shall not rule over him with severity in your sight. ⁵⁴ Even if he is not redeemed by ^[af]these means, ^(AG)he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. ⁵⁵ For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

⁷ ‘Then on ^(A)the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall humble yourselves; you shall not do any work. ⁸ You shall present a burnt offering to the Lord as a soothing aroma: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs one year old, ^(B)having them without defect; ⁹ and their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ^[a]ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, ¹⁰ a tenth for each of the seven lambs; ¹¹ one male goat for a sin offering, besides ^(C)the sin offering of atonement and ^(D)the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.